THE OUTDOORS PAGE : Outdoor Notes : Tarpon Is Angler’s New-Found Favorite

Arnold Gold is one of those individuals who pauses occasionally to wonder which is really hooked, the fish or the fisherman.

Gold, 44, a Century City lawyer, has found his escape from business litigation briefs 2,400 miles away in the Florida Keys.

“I’ve landed and released marlin up and down the Baja, bluefin tuna off St. John’s, wahoo and the great barracuda around Bimini and yellowtail, yellowfin and albacore out of San Diego since 1961,” Gold said.

But since his recent introduction to it, give him tarpon fishing in the Keys every time.

Tarpon are at the top of the warm-water species scale--from 75 degrees to beyond 100--so West Coast fishermen seldom learn to appreciate them. Gold, though, can’t stop talking about them.

He caught his first four in only three hours one Sunday evening last month. They weighed 115, 130, 85 and 100 pounds. Since the fish were released, he has only the word of skipper Vic Gaspeny for that, but it’s good enough.

“His estimates are rarely off more than 2 or 3 pounds,” Gold said.

Gaspeny, contacted in Florida, said:”I’ve won a few bets over the years.”

Gold fished from Gaspeny’s 17-foot single-charter Mako out of Islamorada. Tarpon are sought in the shallow channels between the Keys, so they left the dock after 5 p.m. and were drift-fishing by 5:30. At 5:40 Gold got his first strike.

Said Gaspeny: “They’re a spectacular fish--incredible leapers, sometimes 15 feet in the air. They shake violently, and they’re strong.”

Gaspeny said that Gold’s flurry was good action but not uncommon. “I’ve had a couple of trips like that this year,” he said. “(Tarpon) are more consistent in June and July but you can get red-hot action earlier, as Arnold did.