Yesterday evening I decide to take my revenge upon the harbor night life. For the past two days I’ve been tricked time and time again by several Tarpon just kissing my flies and a 10 lb Snook that simply gave me the fin. I could not accept the fact that with a full moon, good tides and the weapons in my fly box I could not hook or land one of these fish. I was forced to admit that my fly weapons were not what these fish were interested in. So, I passed several hours on the tying bench to improve my fly patterns. I tweaked several of my fly patterns and tried find the right combinations of color and profile. I added a bit more ostrich here, some rabbit strip there, EP fibers heads etc.I parked the car and walked to the docks where the Tarpon had been the nights before. Once again, the Tarpon were active and rolling between 20 and 50 feet away from me. I mad a first cast at two cruising Tarpon and spooked them. I realized that there were two possible things happening. Either my fly was scaring them or they remembered me from previous nights of trying to trick them. I switched the fly and made a second cast. A Tarpon came up close to the fly. I was sure he was going to eat it, but at the last minute he decided to give it a kiss and turn away. What! I could not believe I was burned again. Now, I was really determined and mumbled to myself, “you want to play those kinds of games? Well I have some tricks up my sleeve too.” I snipped off my fly and tied on a small green cookie fly. I made a long cast further away from the rolling Tarpon as the Tarpon were following a well defined and consistent path and I did not want to strain there “spooky behavior.” The fly landed nicely on the water and I let it rest for a few moments as it began to slowly sink. As I had hopped the Tarpon followed the systematic pattern and began working their way closer to me. When they got to the ideal position between me and my fly, I began stripping the fly fast in hopes of getting the fly in front of their mouths. When the fly was in perfect position I changed my retrieve using slow and short strips. I stopped stripping for a moment and a Tarpon grabbed the cookie! After a down and dirty hook set the Tarpon started jumping and flipping around and pulling hard in an effort to get under boats or around buoys. This time, I won the game, and it felt good after being burned so many times. I took some quick photos and released him. He swam back to his home and I drove back to mine.