Spent a few days last week down south in the Florida Keys chasing tarpon. Day one was out of Islamorada, and the trip officially began the night before at the Lorelei with a blackened fish sandwhich and some cold Kaliks.
In the first hour of the first morning of my trip I found myself and my 11wt fly rod tight on a tarpon of about 80 lbs. Got a bunch of great jumps right at the boat, and landed her after close to 30 minutes of pulling. That afternoon the wind quit and everything slicked off. It made feeding the fish quite difficult (and at least for me, impossible), but the calm waters took the magic out of spotting some big laid up residents in the back country. 100+ lb fish on a 2-3 ft grass flat is quite a sight to see, as they look like 6-7 ft sections of submerged tree trunks.
Day two was a blow out, on my own around Big Pine Key. Day three I enjoyed sharing bow time with Glenn Pittard on Marshall Cutchin's skiff around the waters of Key West. Both of them run the show for the fly fishing media site, MidCurrent. It was such a treat to learn from and listen to the stories that Marshall has to tell from his years guiding those waters.
Finally, Day 4 things turned back on for us. I was fishing with my friend Dave Dalu - the first time we'd shared a day on the water since I moved from Charleston about a year ago. Back in the Big Pine area and Dave's playground, we found some happy fish both on the ocean as well as some back country basins. We fed 9 that day, and I got to watch 7 of them from the poling platform. I fed two fish and jumped them both off after the hook set. No fish to the boat that day, but it was a wonderful way to end the trip.
Dave's trip, however, was just beginning - as he stayed down there to fish in the prestigious Golden Fly Invitational Tarpon Tournament. After 3 days of competition, Dave came out on top - an impressive follow up to his 2007 win in the Hawley. Congrats, my friend.
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