Fly Fishing Forum banner

Keys report 5/27 - 5/28

2K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  SteelBoneguy 
#1 ·
After living in the southeast for more than half a year now my girlfriend and I decided it was time to give the Keys a try. She graciously allowed me to fish for a day and a half while she entertained herself around Key West, so I got my first crack at the spring Tarpon migration.

We arrived on the Keys on Friday to overcast skies and the bad news that the sun wasn't supposed to show until Monday. Talked to my guide and decided to give it a go anyway on Saturday. Things didn't improve and found myself driving through tropical showers to meet my guide at the marina on Saturday morning.

After a ten minute steam we were on a flat and ready to go. I had, at best, five feet of visibility and didn't really understand what we were doing there. Ben, my guide, told me to relax and that things would start happening. He was right. At the end of the first hour we saw our first roll. It was the first time I had ever seen a Tarpon:Eyecrazy: and, as you might expect my presentation ended up in my shoulder blade about one mm from the barb sinking in:mad:. Man do those big flies hurt when they hit you at that speed.

The morning was like that, hundreds of rolls but without the light we could only get shots to where they were not where they were going. The rolls tapered off and we decided to hit the backcountry to find layed up fish.

We saw a few more rolling fish in the backcountry. I had one great shot but the fly fowled and didn't get a bite. With only an hour left we decided to run one more flat before heading in.

Five minutes onto the flat and we saw three fish moving away from us. One long cast and three twitches of the fly and BOOM:eek: !!! That's it, I'm hooked for life. The fish wasn't enormous but I couldn't believe the runs and jumps! It was the most fun I've ever had with a fly rod in my hand. The fish was landed, DNA samples were taken and then released to fight another day.

I hooked up two more times in the next half hour but wasn't able to land them. The next day we got our sun but the light put the fish down and we only really got two quality shots. It didn't matter to me at that point, the trip was a huge success. I can't wait to get back:smokin: . I had an idea before, but I now fully understand the addiction that is Tarpon fishing.

Dave

PS My guide was great (thanks Juro) and if anyone needs a recommendation PM me and I'd be happy to give you his name.
 

Attachments

See less See more
1
#2 ·
Arrrggghhh!!!!! And here I was, digging into miles of twisted code in search of clues to solve the db inconsistency after a long weekend thinking I don't need a fishing fix right now, I am feeling pretty sated... then I see this PHOTO :Eyecrazy:

I am about ready to jump on a plane NOW!!

Capt. Ben Iannotta Jr is our newest sponsor and as a professional writer as well as Keys guide we will be hearing more from him in the weeks to come.

Congrats on the killer fish Dave and Welcome Ben!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top