Florida Keys Video

Not once in my life did I ever consider myself to have good fish karma. Time and time again I watched my friends land bigger trout, steelhead, and salmon than I did. And when I did hook a nice fish somehow I managed a way to lose the battle via broken tippets, thrown hooks, and lousy knots. However, on this trip, the tide had turned. I was given the opportunity to fish with an old boss who was to be in Miami for the week. I had spent countless hours putting together various presentations for him and he agreed to compensate my time for 3 days in the Florida Keys. Needless to say I graciously accepted. We were to begin the trip searching for bones. Considering I never fished warm water salt and never even seen a bonefish in person I was filled with excitement. Arriving at the marina at 7am to meet our guide I felt terribly uncool. He was decked out in the standard Florida guide apparel and I had just arrived after two weeks straight of finals, looking as if I had been living in a library. That first day I firmly believe I was the palest kid in Florida. Not to mention I forgot sunscreen, bug spray, and FOOD. Already feeling unworthy we embarked for our quest of bones, snook, & tarpon and what would be the best 3 days of fishing in my life. The first day I managed to fool my first bonefish after spooking countless others. After cruising through 2/3 of my backing he was landed and logged in at 12lbs even. My first and only bonefish of the trip and one in which I doubt I will ever top. It seemed as though everytime it was my turn to step up on the bow I would get into a nice fish, while my partner would see almost nothing or catch little sea trout. He claimed I was stealing his karma, well….perhaps. But I wasn’t complaining. He is a great guy and managed to have an equally good time as I was having despite catching nothing but sea trout. On our final day of the trip we instructed our guide that we weren’t too interested in Redfish and Snook and suggested going after a fish that would stand out in our memories. We really wanted a chance at a nice permit or tarpon. It just so happened that the day before his buddy was fishing to laid up tarpon all day. So naturally we raced to that location. As soon as the engine was cut I noticed a dark shadow drift past the bow. I looked back at the guide and asked him if he had seen it. He just smiled back….I knew it was a massive Tarpon and it turned out they were all around us….tailing, cruising, breaching, & feeding. A dream for any tarpon fisherman. My knees never stopped shaking. Each one was like a submarine slowing cruising around pouncing on mullet. After a few bad casts the guide said to me…”there he is” 10 O’Clock 70 feet, Can you reach him” I replied where?…..”right there, that Solar Panel at 10 O’Clock” Sure enough I saw what appeared to be a submerged Volkswagon. I dropped the cast, counted to 3 and stripped as delicately as I ever have. The fish noticed my fly instantly and slowing tracked it as if it was a KGB spy. “Faster” yelled the guide. I went faster, and so did the fish. Without warning the fished pumped his tail and flashed at my fly with his big old bucket mouth wide open. The fly was gone and so was the Tarpon….all 6’6” of him. I pumped as hard as I could, waiting for the beast to explode…but it never happened. He was already too far out in the backing to do anything now. I kept hoping it was a good hook set. The guide kept laughing, claiming how fat he was because he couldn’t get his whole body out of the water when he finally did jump. An hour and a half later and about 2.5 miles from where he was hooked we finally brought the beast boat side. My boss put the camera down to gun the engine in neutral if any sharks came near. Despite all the attempts from the area sharks to take a free bite he was set free to his aqueous environment. This part I will never forget: I had battled a fish weighing nearly as much as me and while we managed to land him at no time was I in control of the fight, even at release that fish had the upper hand. It took me over an hour and with 30lb. tippet. I have much to learn before I could ever bring these guys in on 12lb and under 45 minutes. I enjoyed the rest of the afternoon nursing my shoulder, sipping a few Red Stripes and watching my partner catch nothing but Sea Trout.