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Sports

Cheers, Mr. Olson, to You and Your 29 Tarpon

Tarpon fishing has endured many changes since Walter P. Olson reportedly caught 29 tarpon in one day in 1925 in St. Petersburg.

What a day it was for Walter P. Olson in June 1925.

And what a suit.

Evidence of a legendary day on the water remains in an Atlanta Journal photograph section from Wednesday, June 24, 1925. The stained-yellow, back-and-white photo is now patched together with clear tape.

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Still, Olson's deep-set eyes flash a roguish gaze, and a small cigar juts from his mouth, perhaps in celebration.

Dressed in white from his fishing hat to his dress shoes, his suit is void of wrinkles. Wind dashes his tie and a flap from his sport coat to the side.

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The caption reads: “FISHERMAN'S DREAM. 29 tarpon, the largest weighing 180 pounds, were caught in one day in St. Petersburg, Fla by Walter P. Olson.”

Cheers to Mr. Olson — he and his pearly white threads.

Such a day is highly unlikely these days.

Although tackle and fishing regulations have changed drastically, bait, tactics and most fishing spots have not. Tarpon are scattered off the beaches and under the Sunshine Skyway fishing piers and will gather into large schools throughout the rest of the spring and the summer. Silver kings also reportedly have been hooked from Egmont Key to Anclote Key.

This weekend's new moon will help get tides ripping. Try suspending baits such as threadfins, pinfish or crabs beneath corks at varying depths. Tarpon should be showing up around area bridges, and anglers can hit strong outgoing tides and free-line a live bait — try casting up the tide and letting the bait run into an eddy by a piling. Tarpon usually stage up beside the tarpon waiting to ambush a bait.

Too bad we cannot get advice from Walter Olson. The man did manage to reportedly catch 29 fish in a day. To do so, he would have to catch a tarpon every 20 minutes for a tad under 10 hours. Many tarpon frays last more than 30 minutes for the average angler — sometimes a few hours. A long day it must have been for the man.

Unfortunately, in the early 1900s, tarpon were usually strung up for a photo before being tossed into the bay. Some fishing guides, such as Capt. Rick Gross of the charter boat Fishy Business out of Anna Maria Island, remember that in the 1970s (and prior) there were no limits on the number of fish that could be kept; there was only a size limit, which was about 12 inches on many species.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission implemented a $50 kill tag regulation in 1989. Since, the sizes and numbers of tarpon along the Gulf coast has increased. In a few decades, according to many old-school fishing guides, the average tarpon has increased by about 30 pounds.

But what's that explosion from history? That must be Walter P. Olson laughing, his little cigar bouncing with each chortle.

It will never be like 1925 again. Call it robbery, or a savage fish kill — or whatever — but Olson tore up the tarpon that day in St. Pete.

Maybe Olson had a hunch that some 86 years later his patched-up picture would be scanned and uploaded to a website, preserved indefinitely.

Because what a suit.

Apparently pressed, and frozen in a frame, it will always sway like a legend in the breeze.

Want to cast your rod for a 26 tarpon? Try one of these Dunedin bait shops:

  • , newly opened on the Dunedin Causeway
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