The record-size Tarpon was caught on a fishing tour organized by World Sport Fishing company

Mr Kala-Harri (Harry the Fish) Matikainen caught a giant Tarpon.It is probably th ebiggest in the world ever caught with a 40kg line by rod-fishing gear in the Gambia,West-Africa on the 21stJan 2006.
On that day Kala-Harri was fishing with his fishing-buddy Mr Matti Keskinen when the tarpon bigger than life accepted the alive bait-fish set on Harri`s own rod by the local fishing guide .
The equipment cocsisted of Penn 320 Gti2 reel which had a new Storm multimonofilament line ( only available on market summer 2006) with the durability of 40kg.The rod was a weather-beaten 20 -year-old 9 feet Daiwan Apollo AG 120 salmon rod.

Harri Matikainen in his own words:
” The sea had calmed down smooth as glass and the sun was blazing hot above our heads.During the hottest hours we fished bait-fish and other fish which keep home in the delta of the Gambia River, like snappers and barracudas.
It is only when the tide begins to push waters up the river that the Tarpons remove from the sea towards the delta where they come to feed.Our fishing day had nearly come to end when we began to see tarpons darting towards the schools of little fish.We witnessed enormous splashes and fins showing on the surface all around us in the delta.
Our fishing guide had set two rods with baits and now he wanted to set one on my old faithful rod,too.Why not, the more baits we would have in the water, the better chance to catch a fish, I thought.
And then it happened, the fish did bite the bait. But not on those strong thick powerful rods the locals use, but in my poor old-timer.

For the first three hours the fish kept rushing forward hundreds of meters of sprints again and again making the line whine and the fisher sweat. And all this time we never even saw a glimpse of the fish.

The sun began to set but still there was no sign of the fish getting tired. We were looking at the prospect of fighting the fish in the dark. Abraham, our guide, wanted to call it quits and suggested to cut the line. His proposal was strictly and adamantly turned down, after all, we Finns are famous for our stamina, we never say die.

After the hot day we didn`t have too much water left and at six p.m. I gulped the last drop. The breakfast we had eaten almost 12 hours before had been our only nourishment for that day. Needless to say, we were beginning to feel a bit shaky.
The darkness fell on us like a hood.Fortunately I had taken a small headlight with me and with that we were able to see from the line which way the fish was going. It was a good thing we had enough clothes to keep us warm in the 20 degrees Celcius.
The first time I saw the fish was five hours after it had bitten the bait. Then I knew it was very very big, that it would be my record- fish, if I got it.

This fish really showed us its full repetoire of gimmicks during those long dark hours: it liked to make sudden, long dashes forward dragging our tiny little boat behind him, then it stopped and jammed in the depths for hours and every now and then it kept swimming around the boat giving us a ride in the carrousel.With my light equipment there was precious little I could do to control its movements in this bizarre dance in the darkness.

My phone battery was rapidly coming to end, I only just managed to send a SOS-textmessage to our hotel to Mr Jani Himanko, who had organized our trip to the Gambia. Jani set the wheels rolling and after just a few hours the rescue team arrived.The director of the fishing center, Captain Mark Longster, who came with some other men, handed us the survival package: a packet of salt biscuits and a bottle of whisky! Due to language problems, there had been some kind of misunderstanding of our urge for water and food.

However, Mark acted from now as the supervisor in this fishing event and even in the end himself assisted on hooking the fish.

To make matters worse in the dark night billions of mosquitoes attacked us while we were busy taking turns in trying to tame the fish which was still performing the whole choreography of rushing and diving and circling.You could say we had our hands full.

We had ended up near the mouth of the river when the sun finally rose to watch the tired fishermen still fighting the mighty animal. My hands were cramped, my palms blistered and my back totally stuck, not to mention the shaky knees. My strenght was nearly out, I was almost as dead as the battery of my cell phone and my video-camera.

Then the fish suddenly decided to go back up the river and so we went zigzagging between shrimp fykenets and it was a miracle that neither the fish nor we hit to any leading strings or other juts.

And then, finally, almost 18 hours after the fish had bitten the bait the fishing guides first got a chance to try and hook the fish. Twice they tried, but the hook straightened out, at one time Mark almost took a dive to the depths after the fish, until on the third go the fish got out of the water and into the boat, landing neatly on top of Mark and Abraham, Matti was also there to hook the fish. Because the fish now was inside our boat, it could be officially claimed as caught.We managed to get a rough estimate of its length, got samples of its scales and then it got its freedom back,bye bye fish, you were a fighter!”
Mark estimated the fish to weight 150-200 kg.Captain Mark Longster works as a trustee for IGFA (International Game Fishing Association) record fish organization. Therefore he is much more than a layman when it comes to estimating the weight of a fish. His previous record tarpon weighed 138kg so he has something to make comparison with.

The next ”kalastusoppaat.com” fishing trip to the Gambia will take place in the fall 2006. This time we will focus on little tarpons, (20-50kg).
For further information: www.kalastusoppaat.com/040-5153687/Jani Himanko

Information from Richard Sheard
www.worldsportfishing.com
01480 403293