Flyfishing the Florida Keys with Capt. John Spear TARPON
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| Casting to Tarpon
There are three different and distinct tarpon behaviors that you will encounter while fishing for them - swimming tarpon, rolling tarpon and laid up tarpon. All three fishing situations will require accurate casts - so practice your casting. Catching fish always makes your trip more enjoyable. Swimming Tarpon - Tarpon that are swimming the beaches and banks are moving with a mission. You must be able to get your fly in front of his nose to get a bite. Your guide will usually have the boat staked out a known tarpon groove waiting for the fish to swim by. You know ahead of time where the fish is coming from and where he is going to be going. The best shot that you could have in this situation is a head on shot. That is you will be casting directly at the fish. The speed of the fish, the clarity of the water and the amount of sunlight will dictate how close to the fish you should lay the fly. You must remember to put the fly on the up-current side of the fish far enough ahead of the fish so that the fly will sink down to his level and be swept by the current right in front of his face. Remember a 6 foot long fish will not alter his path very much to eat a 3 or 4 inch fly. There is always the exception. Sometimes a tarpon will turn and rush 4 or 5 feet to smash a fly. We like fish like that. Usually though your cast has to be accurate. The worst thing you could do is cast long and land the fly to close to the fish. It is amazing how scared a 100 pound fish can get by a 3 inch fly hitting him in the head. Naturally these fish are moving and you must be able to deliver the fly quickly as well as being accurate. Rolling Tarpon - There will be situations especially in water 4 to 8 feet deep where fish will come off the bottom and roll on the surface once and descend back down. These situations occur most often in "lakes" where the fish are holding and feeding. The water in these lakes can become cloudy and limit your visibility and the visibility of the tarpon in seeing your fly. The cloudy water is also an aid to getting a smashing strike. Sometimes after the tarpon roll they will put their dorsal and tail fins up and slowly sink back to the bottom. They will usually blow air bubbles 4 or 5 seconds after they descend. Putting a fly on the bubbles or better yet just ahead of the fish while it is rolling will initiate a strike. This fishing is probably the most demanding and requires very fast presentations. The faster the fish goes down the quicker you must cast to get a strike. You can tell by the angle of the fish's roll weather he is going down slowly or quickly. This fishing is like skeet shooting - you have to be fast on the draw. It can be very rewarding with the right presentation.
Laid-Up Tarpon - There is no prettier sight than a 100 pound tarpon sleeping a foot below the surface without a care in the world. The secret to getting laid up fish to eat is putting the fly in front of the fish the FIRST time you throw it. Speed of presentation is usually not important. Your guide has time to position the boat for you to get you a great shot. Stealth is important as not to disturb the fish until you do so with a fly lightly touching down a few feet from her face. In cloudy water you can sometimes make out the outline or shadow of the fish but can't tell which end is the head. If there is any current at all the fish will most likely be facing it. If you can't tell you still have a 50% shot at getting it right. Remember- you must put the fly where it has to be on the first cast. By the second or third cast the fish will know that something is not right and will usually sink to the bottom or swim slowly away.
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Copywrite: 2000 Capt John Spear
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