Silver king in a kayak?

Belton angler made it happen last summer

For every sportfish that swims, there is a size threshold that, when breached, grants the particular species trophy status. Each threshold is dependent upon the fish’s availability as well as it’s status in the piscatorial community.

In the world of saltwater fish, all but a select few species achieve the popularity to become truly “trophy” fish. However, at the very top is a short list of species that are so elite, any specimen is automatically granted entry to the trophy list.

One of these is the tarpon, often referred to as the “silver king.” Landing a tarpon from a powerboat is an incredible feat worthy of instant bragging rights.

However, besting a silver king from a kayak is the stuff legends are made of. Last summer, Upstate angler Brad Knight of Belton accomplished that very feat.

Knight is an avid angler who fishes for practically any type of fish that swims. He also runs a part-time fishing guide business for anglers wanting to learn to — or improve at —fishing from a kayak.

“I’ve been making trips down to the coast around Beaufort for several years,” said Knight. “I usually make the trip a couple times a year with my brother and a group of buddies, but this time, no one else could go, so I decided to head out alone.”

Knight is no stranger to catching large fish from his small plastic boat. He’s caught sharks as large as 6 feet from his 14-foot Hobie kayak and, in fact, caught several 4- to 5-foot sharks on the same trip before the big tarpon showed up. His game plan was to head out at daylight from Beaufort’s Station Creek public ramp and fish one of his favorite deep holes in Trenchard’s Inlet.

“I was anchored up on the backside of a hump near Skull Creek that drops off into about 60 feet of water,” said Knight. “The tide started coming in pretty hard, and I could see fish suspended under me on my … depthfinder. Earlier in the day, I caught a few bottomfish — whiting, croaker, and bluefish — to use for bait, mainly for sharks and big redfish, but I was really hoping to get a tarpon to bite.”

Tarpon are highly migratory fish that make their way north into South Carolina waters during the summer. Knight said he’s been lucky enough to have hooked several tarpon in the past while fishing from his powerboat, but he’d never been able to land one and had never hooked up with one from his kayak. Early on a Saturday afternoon last summer, he got another chance when the cut bait he was dangling beneath his kayak was eaten by a 6 ½-foot tarpon.

“I immediately cut loose the anchor, and the fish towed me around in a half-mile circle for over 2 hours,” he said. “He kept staying in the deep water and would come up about every 15 minutes to gulp air and head back down.”

The fish made seven acrobatic leaps out of the water — the kind of action that tarpon are famous four — and Knight’s one-man show began to draw a crowd. Several onlookers even began directing the boat traffic coming in and out of the inlet around Knight so he and the mighty fish could do battle.

“Right after the fish jumped, a man and his son idled over in their powerboat and asked if I needed help,” Knight said. “I handed the boy my camera and asked him to take photos. Other boats were stopping to watch the fight as well.”

The tide turned, literally, in Knight’s favor when the big fish began to tire and the tide pushed the fish and angler into shallower water. With no place to run, it didn’t take too much longer for Knight to bring the fish to the side of the boat, where he was faced with how to land him.

“I thought about grabbing the big fish by the lower jaw like you would a catfish, but it’s jaw was huge. Luckily I had a small hand gaff in the boat and used it to hook him in the lower jaw and get him under control to remove the hook.”

Based on length and girth estimates, Knight and several experienced onlookers placed the fish in the 160-pound range, which would put it over the current state record of 154 pounds, 10 ounces. But Knight hated to kill the fish just for the chance of beating the record. After reviving the fish in the water, he released it back into the wild.

“I know this was about 99- percent luck,” Knight said in a website posting, “and I don’t ever expect to do it again, but it sure was fun!”