Back To Earth…Mostly

To say I had a good time chasing Tarpon around Islamorada in the Florida Keys would be an accurate, though puny statement of the magnitude of all that I experienced, learned, witnessed and accomplished.  I set up a trip for five guests to join me with three guides.  They were to fish for 5 or 6 days, while we stayed at Roland Martin’s Lime Cay right by the Lorelei; a popular gathering place for anglers and guides.

I got in a couple days early to make sure everything was in place and to get some time on the water before everyone showed up.  My good friend Captain Eric Lund put me on a white hole ocean side and I fed, hooked and leadered the first tarpon to eat my fly, after only a few hours of fishing.  I figured the week would be a piece of cake.

The first bit of trouble arrived on Sunday night.  Bob and Larry volunteered to stop at Costco and load up on food for the week.  They did a great job shopping, except for one critical error.  Over Larry’s protest, Bob bought three bunches of bananas, claiming they were important for his morning cereal.  I’ll leave it at that, but you can check this post if you need more information.

A moderate breeze is considered ideal for fishing tarpon in clear water.  I’d experienced that when I fed my first fish.  By Monday morning, the only moderate breeze was what was coming off the ceiling fans.  There were very few fish on the Back country side, so the guides wanted to fish Oceanside.  It was not quite a gale, but it was tough, especially for novice tarpon anglers.  Everyone saw lots of fish, but no one hooked up. There were a few eats, but nothing came tight. The next two days were much the same.

Big Keys Tarpon are seldom easy to catch on the fly.  Imagine rocking around on the casting platform of a flats skiff, ocean side, when the wind is blowing 15-30mph into an outgoing tide, while you are trying to cast off-shoulder, to fish that are moving, and demand a perfect presentation.  Keep the fly moving, strip, don’t strip, bump it, don’t bump it, you spooked them, they never saw it, too far to the left, too short, do you even see the fish?  Then finally, it all comes together.  The cast is on target, it’s the right fish, she’s closing in, and elevating toward the fly, opening the bucket, adrenaline surges, this is the moment, and you pull the trigger too fast.  At first you won’t admit it.  It was just bad luck, but you know you screwed up. The self loathing sinks in.  It’s your only eat in two days.  Your psyche is scarred and you feel inadequate.  A few cold beers and the fishing flap at the Lorelei helps somewhat.  The consensus is that the fish are being very picky and no one is getting many eats.  Tournament anglers and top guides are getting blanked amidst literally thousands of migrating tarpon.  But you had your chance and you blew it.  It still sucks. In case there is any doubt, I’m talking to myself.

Some anglers were blaming it on the Mullet.  There were massive schools and tarpon were seen blowing up in their vicinity.  There were also schools of pilchard and plenty of pinfish around.  Many of the Tarpon were south bound and possibly moving to position for the impending palolo worm hatch expected on the full moon.  I specifically picked early May, hoping to get shots at fish before they got loopy on the worm.

By Thursday, the bananas had left the building and things started to get better.  The wind was finally moderating. Casting and standing on the bow seemed easy by comparison to the preceding days. Ari stuck a big one first and Captain Brett Greco leadered a tarpon nearly equal to her weight.  Craig had some eats and jumped several fish, breaking one off.  Bob and Larry both had eats and Bob jumped some fish.  Matt, never touched a fish, because he got called away to Pago Pago on some sort of business, but he probably would have.

By Friday, everyone was feeling a bit desperate (or maybe that was me), but resigned to the fact that it was still a really cool trip.  Then Bob got it done, hooking two fish.  Jeremy leadered one and Bob’s tarpon dream was fulfilled.  That was the end of my five day plan, but Craig and Ari decided to fish on Saturday with Brett while I took off with Eric to explore the back country.  The weather was finally calm and the water was glassing out.   We got a late start, but the first spot we checked had several rolling tarpon.  Eric got busy on the platform and spotted some fish.  I had three tough shots at tarpon angled away, but I was getting that fishy feeling and Eric was too.  Then we discovered a big laid up fish also facing away from the boat.  I had no choice but to put the leader over its back, but tried to pull the line short.  Everything I’d seen up to this point said this was a no win shot, but a shot is a shot.  I could not see the fly, but Eric was looking down on it from the platform.  I’d just tied a juicy black and red bunny, fox, and raccoon creation that morning and it sank down slowly in front of the fish.  I did absolutely nothing until she slid forward and ate it.  Eric waited two seconds before shouting; “hit it”, just as I was coming tight.  The fish went ballistic, launching into four crazed, gyrating jumps before running out 150yds of backing.  Thankfully, Eric’s friend Holly was along and got busy with my (wife’s) Cannon T2i (thanks honey).  The fish could not have been a better performer, laying down another series of jumps and then finishing with two more near the end.  I got the leader to the rod twice and badly wanted to hold her bucket, but she just would not quit. She pulled the boat around for a long time and finally Eric grabbed the leader and she popped my 40# Gamma like 3/0 tying thread.

I was beyond thrilled and Eric was relieved to have finally gotten it done with me after several challenging days.  Holly documented the episode like a pro and we shared in one of those moments that will be seared in my fishy tainted brain for a long time.

In all, I only had six tarpon eat in eight days.  I leadered two, whiffed on two (adrenaline before the hook up is bad) and had two fail to stick.  On my next cast after landing that special fish, I struck an even larger fish.  The line came tight on the strip set and I took one extra jab with the rod and then the hook came back with a folded up point.  That’s Florida Key’s Tarpon fishing; a piece of cake, followed by self loathing, and hopefully finished off with some Jubilation and a little reminder that it’s never easy, but completely worth the effort.

Tagged as: Brett Greco, Eric Lund, Florida Keys, fly fishing, Fred Telleen, Islamorada, Jeremy Fisher, tarpon