hi all,
just a quick report and a few pics from a days SWF down at Key West, Florida. A mate and I did a 4 week road trip from LA to Miami a couple months back and I thought it would be rude to not do a day fishing at Key West considering that it was the best time of year to target Tarpon. I did a bit of looking online and found a suitable guide to take me out where the target species would be Tarpon, Bonefish and the elusive Permit. Guide Peter had us on the water at 5.45am, just as it was starting to break daylight as this is the best time to target Tarpon.
At this time of year they are congregating to spawn and are up on the surface early in the morning breaking the surface and schooling around. I was rigged up with a 12wt Sage and a clear floating line with 20lb trace with a 60lb shock tippet. We used the electric motor to get within casting range of the schools and it was a massive adrenaline rush to see the tarpon which were mostly in the 50-100lb + bracket breaking the surface. We tried a couple of diferent patterns with no luck before changing to an oversized San Juan worm looking pattern. This was cast out and then a slow roley poley retrieve was implemented. I had been warned when a strike occurred to not lift the rod but to keep stripping. Half a dozen casts later I had a take and managed to hook up, the power of the tarpon at close quarters was incredible and all of the line flew out of the stripping basket making a tangle as it went (got to love the clear lines for that trait) but somehow went through the guides without snaping off. It then jumped a couple of times and again following Peters advice I had to "bow to the king" and lean forward when ever it jumped to avoid being snapped off. My buddy missed the jump shot but it left a substantial hole in the water when it came crashing down. To see a fish in the 70lb + category come clear out of the water about 30 feet away was something I will never forget.
It then proceeded to tow us around for the next hour and a half and made it right into shore and almost went through some piers and around marker bouys etc. It was a stubborn fish and usually fish in that size bracket are under control in about half an hour. The fact that it was my first tarpon and also that the reel was set on left hand wind didn't aid the cause
When fighting the Tarpon you had to keep the rod tip down so to exert the maximum amount of pressure on them and to also force them to not take a gulp of air as every time they came up it gave them some extra juice! I finally got it to the boat and once the trace was in the rod guides Peter was ecstatic as that constitutes a landed Tarpon. Due to Tarpon being protected nets and lip gaffs aren't used so you have to hand line them to the boat which as it proved is a mission. The fly eventually pulled next to the boat which left a bitter sweet taste in the mouth as I would have loved to have got a photo up close and to see the true size of the beast.
We tried for another Tarpon but once the sun came up they were mainly staying deeper and are reluctant to take a fly when down deep. With the sun up though you got a better idea of the size of some of them, and some weren't far off dolphin proportions. With a tarpon under the belts (an * fish as my mates like to call it) we went off in search for Bonefish and Permit. We spooted a few bones and I managed to land my first bonefish (albeit a small one) on a small clousers after a horrible cast, must have felt sorry for me.
With two fish out of three in the bag for the slam we went in search for a Permit. We managed to spot a couple but they spooked before we could present a fly so had to be content with 2/3 of the slam. With temperatures approaching the mid 30's and high humidity it was a welcome relief to call it a day around 2pm and head back to Key West. A fair few mojitos and Jamiesons followed the fishing that night and Duval street certainly isn't a bad place to unwind after a day on the water. Key West was a great little place and I will definitely be back one day to chase the tarpon and maybe get that slam!!