Watch: Tarpon leaps over boat, narrowly missing captain’s head

A Florida fishing guide experienced a close call recently when a free-swimming tarpon leaped over his boat, narrowly missing his head as he sat in the captain’s chair.

“Oh my god!” Ben Olsen exclaims in the accompanying footage, captured near Marco Island.

The footage shows the incident at regular speed and in slow motion. The tarpon is seen launching from the starboard side and passing within inches of Olsen’s face, and clipping a rod in a holder, before landing beyond the port rail.

Olsen, co-owner of Thorne Bros. Custom Rod & Tackle, told For The Win Outdoors that the little publicized incident occurred as he was guiding two clients in mid-February.

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“We were using electronics to find small groups of tarpon so we were right on top of them,” Olsen said. “My initial reaction was simple reflexes!  If you watch it in real time it happens in a split second.  It is not at all unusual to have tarpon free jumping, even very close to the boat.”

The footage was captured by Eric Bakke, one of the clients, via hat-cam. The front angler is Chris Coreless.

Had the tarpon scored a direct hit, Olsen could have been seriously injured.