Brooks Schoen took this tripletail offshore of Jekyll Island in the spring. Photo by Capt. Spud Woodward. Photo by Capt. Spud Woodward.

In this era of the Game Cube, the X Box, and other devices seemingly designed to paralyze youngsters in front of a television or computer, it’s encouraging that children still play hide and seek. While most of us leave that game behind with our youth, a group of saltwater anglers has discovered a new and socially acceptable way to play hide and seek courtesy of a peculiar looking and acting fish that visits the Georgia coast -- the tripletail.

Looking somewhat like a freshwater bream on steroids, the species gets its name from the location and shape of the extended dorsal and anal fins, which makes the fish appear to have three tails. Usually mottled brown or gray in appearance, the tripletail has an almost supernatural ability to instantly change color. The mouth, located at the tip of the snout, looks deceptively small, but can quickly open wide to engulf unsuspecting prey.

The drab and chunky tripletail makes up in angling challenge what it lacks in beauty. Imagine a 10-pound bluegill with the fickleness of a wily old gobbler and the personality of a mad Brahma bull when hooked.

MYSTERY FISH
Like many other migratory saltwater fishes, the first tripletails arrive in Georgia waters about the end of March, when nearshore ocean water temperatures have reached the mid-60s. The appearance of cannonball jellyfish off the beaches is a sure sign that it’s tripletail time in coastal Georgia. By mid-April, the fish are here in good numbers, and May can be one of the best months to target them.

While scientists are still working on ways to accurately age tripletails, some believe the species can reach a weight of 5 pounds in the first year, making it one of the fastest growing saltwater fish. The Georgia record is a hefty 38 pounds, 14 ounces, just a few pounds off the all-tackle world record of 42 pounds, 5 ounces caught off South Africa.

While a 30-pound tripletail is exceptional, Georgia anglers catch several tripletails over 25 pounds every year. All sizes make great table fare, but most anglers prefer to keep the mid-sized fish and release the big ones, as they’re usually older females, which are more important as spawners than as dinner.

Offshore, anglers usually find tripletails around Sargassum weed and other floating material. Inshore, tripletails lie at the surface near fixed structure, such as channel markers, pilings and crab-trap floats. Small fish, shrimp or swimming crabs pass close by or may seek shelter around the structure or even under the floating tripletail itself. To these small prey the tripletail is just another place to hide. Unfortunately, for some, they don’t notice the difference until they’re ambushed.

Curiously, the tripletails that congregate in the waters offshore of Jekyll Island during the spring and early summer exhibit a variant of this floating behavior. They simply lie on their side in open, shallow water without any association with structure or buoyant materials. While the behavior itself isn’t unusual, it’s very much a mystery why hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tripletails pick this small area of the Atlantic Ocean to call home for a few months each year. Especially when there are plenty of other places along the Georgia coast with similar features.