‘I thought I had lost a finger.’ Local angler recalls scary fishing accident near Skyway

Leiza Fitzgerald is no stranger to fishing in tarpon tournaments.

For those who remember the televised Professional Tarpon Tournament Series that ran from 2004 until 2015, Fitzgerald was a staple on competitive teams in search of the largest fish that would be brought to scales, with some close to 200 pounds.

“I fished many of the Professional Tarpon Tournament Series in Boca Grande. We put together a women’s team and wanted to try to make a difference by fishing against the men,” said Fitzgerald, who soon had a new mission with tarpon tournaments. “We realized in those tournaments there was a lot of stress put on the fish by having to drag them to the scales and tire the fish out, so we wanted to go to catch-and-release on most formats.”

Starting up a catch-and-release format tournament for tarpon in Tampa Bay, Fitzgerald was a part of the committee that established the Ed Alber Tarpon Rodeo, which has since been renamed the Tampa Bay Watch Tarpon Rodeo honoring Ed Alber.

Fitzgerald joined Captain Brett Norris for the 18th Annual tournament in June to attempt to catch and release the most tarpon in a one-day format.

“The goal was the most fish caught and (the) tiebreaker would be the time caught. We had wristbands and could leader the fish at six feet of leader, you just needed to show the wristband and leader touch to be counted as a catch,” explained Fitzgerald, who wanted the tournament to be as little boat-side time with the fish as possible.

“Tournament day was some of the roughest conditions I had ever tarpon fished in. Many of the boats stuck to harbors and bays that were protected, but Brett went to the Skyway. Getting out was a pure challenge, it was rough, and we took our time and didn’t punch through any waves.”

Norris set up in a Skyway stall near the big bridge and the crew could see tarpon actively rolling around their area. But the sharks in the water were more aggressive and eating their baits.

“We were going to move and when Brett turned the Power Pole trolling motor, one angler fell out of the boat when a wave hit from the side,” said Fitzgerald. “He was able to get back in the boat without a visit from any sharks.”

The group set up and started fishing once again, this time seeing tarpon even closer to their baits. Fitzgerald was prepared to fight a tarpon on her line.

“I put a bait out and started drifting it back and got a strike. At the same time, the boat came up from a wave and when it did, it gave slack in the 50-pound braided line and blew around my pinky, ring and middle finger as I closed the bail,” recalled Fitzgerald who soon faced one of her scariest moments ever while fishing. The line came tight around her fingers like a lasso as a tarpon started to run on the other end.

“As soon as I closed the bail the line started to cut into my pinky. I screamed and lunged forward before ‘degloving’ my middle and pinky finger,” Fitzgerald said.

Norris and the other anglers reacted quickly, opening the bail and cutting the line. But the damage was done. Fitzgerald looked down into the deck of the boat where a pool of blood quickly formed. When she saw it, she passed out into the boat.

“I thought I had lost a finger when I saw the amount of blood. We wrapped it up and they got me to shore. I went to the ER where the gash was too big to stitch, so they gave me antibiotics and patched it up. The ordeal on land took about 45 minutes so I said, ‘Let’s get back out there.’”

While in the ER, her team was able to produce their first tarpon of the day. Fitzgerald had no fear of being back out in the rough weather, but unfortunately, no further fish were landed.

The single fish was good enough for third place on a day when rough conditions made it difficult to land tarpon for every boat.

First place, which went to team Directed Capital, was secured by catching two fish. Altogether seven fish were caught between the 38 teams.

“That was the most fearful situation for me personally,” said Fitzgerald. “I’ve seen other things like boats sinking and remember being fearful for them. But for me as an angler, that was scary. You don’t realize how fast it can happen and don’t know if I had any way of preventing that.”