Tarpon
Over a year ago I began fly fishing for Tarpon. Although limited success my first couple of trips, I worked hard and
jumped 15 on my last day out last year. A lot of my lack of success I believe could have been avoided if only I had
worked on a few things. In this article, I will go through a few things that I feel are necessary in order to be a
successful tarpon fisherman along with the gear needed to help you be successful.
First and foremost is casting.
Practice, Practice, Practice. I can not preach enough on how important it is to make sure you place that fly in the
right place. Your guide can find the fish, put you in the right position for a cast and tell you where you need to
place that fly, but if you can't get that fly where it needs to be all of that hard work, anticipation and hopes are
blown if that fly isn't there. A guide will have rods, reels, flies and everything else you might need, but an 11 or 12
weight rod does not cast anything like a 4 or 5 weight. To my surprise, that rod doesn't even cast like an 8 weight.
If you can afford to get a good rod, do so. Once, you find what rod that is right for you, get out in the yard, tie on a
huge fly, cut off the hook point (or bend it in with pliers) and practice. The time spent practicing your cast will pay
dividends on itself.
Reels
After you have your cast down, and you have the shot at hooking into one, it is important to make sure you have the
best reel you can afford. One of the largest mistakes I had made was purchasing a reel with a standard arbor. Fact
is, the reel does not gain enough line on each turn of the handle to fight a huge fish like a Tarpon where gaining
line is the name of the game. Look for top end names like Tibor, Abel and Nautilus. These reels are fish fighting
machines. Fact is, when you hook one, you want to break its will and do it fast and that is what your reel needs to
do.
Line
So, you have the rod and reel. Next is the line. I recommend having one floating line and one sink tip line. The sink
tip with a clear tip is perfect for those quick pick up and cast again situations and highly recommend this over a
full intermediate sink line. The chance to have more shots means more fish. This along with the ever important
floater (the line to choose if you only have one line) will have you sitting perfect for any situation. Another trick to
fishing for Tarpon is making sure you have a line that can load the rod quickly. When talking about loading of rods,
I have found that for the quick casts needed to get the line out there fast, typically it is best to overweight my rods
by one line weight on the floaters, but keep true to the rods weight for sink tips. Again, this really depends on the
rod you use, the slower the action the truer I would stay to the line weight of the rod, but If it is a fast action rod it
may be worth sticking to this rule.
Leaders
Now, when it comes to leaders, there are a million different ways to fish for Tarpon from the extreme cases of
straight 80 - 100 lb leaders (which I strongly do not recommend unless you love buying fly lines) to stealth leaders
which can get longer than 15 feet to your typical quick change leader. After breaking one off you can quickly throw
on another while the bite is still on if you are using a quick change system and not having to worry about tying a
perfect improved blood knot.
Fly Boxes / Flies
The bugger beast is king on this one. Also, if you are looking for a starting selection of flies, send us an e-mail or
call us and we can set you up with a location specific selection to aid in your success.
Sunglasses
Get a good pair of sunglasses that are polarized. I would recommend purchasing colors such as bronze, rose or
vermilion. These colors seem to work the best day in and day out on the flats. If you usually wear glasses, get a
prescription pair of sunglasses. Vision is definitely something you do not want to sacrifice when you are sight
fishing under any condition, whether it being on the stream or on the flat. The next best thing for vision would be to
find a hat with a dark inside of the brim this can cut down on the glare as well. Most hats do not offer a dark under
brim, but you can always use a sharpie to modify a hat you already have. I would recommend a light color on the
outside of the hat however. It gets hot out there and you do not want to wear something that will be sucking up the
heat. I am always looking for an extra advantage and use the Simms Flats Hat. This hat was built for these
conditions with lightweight material, an extra long brim and black underside to the brim, this thing is second to
none.
Camera
The next most important part of your gear is a camera. Nothing brings a smile to my face faster than when I look at
the picture of my first tarpon. All the hard work paid off and it is time to show everyone. I recommend having some
kind of waterproof camera just because you are on the water, and accidents happen. I know that a lot of cameras
on the market now come waterproof and I am sure they work great. I personally use a digital camera with a
waterproof case, I know cannon makes a few of these cases for some of their models and would recommend it, but
if this is not an option or you plan to take high quality pictures with another camera that may not be waterproof,
just make sure to bring a dry bag so that nothing happens to your expensive equipment when you are not using it.
Boat Bag
There are a lot of boat bags out on the market. Patagonia makes the Great Divider which is really good along with
the Simms boat bags. I have the Simms bag, but find it difficult to zip and unzip as well as find a place on the boat
where it is not in the way (they typically do not fit inside a hatch). For the cost and functionality I personally prefer
a dry bag over these over-sized and difficult to access bags.
Clothing
One of the most important things I found when fishing for Tarpon was taking care of your skin. It may not always
be hot, but the sun will always be intense. The best way to protect yourself from the sun is clothing that is meant
to handle these conditions. I rely primarily on Simms to help me out with this, but I know Patagonia makes very
good stuff as well as many other companies. I think a lot of the clothing you wear really comes down to your
personal choice and style. The big thing is to make sure that it covers you and protects you from the sun. Also,
don't forget the sunscreen for areas which are exposed to the sun as well. Any area unprotected will get burnt...
badly if you are not use to these conditions.
Shoes
Personally, I don't like to wear shoes. I like to know where the fly line is on the deck of the boat and I just have a
better feel for my surroundings. I typically just load up my feet with 50 spf sunscreen 2 to 3 times per day when I
am out there to make sure I am protected from the sun. If you don't want to do this, no problem and it is probably
better for your feet and fly line in the long run. My only suggestion would be to remember to bring shoes which have
white soles and are clean on the bottom before you step on the skiff. This can be done by just dipping the soles in
the water before stepping on board the boat. Your guide spends a good portion of his waking days on his boat so
just out of respect, try not to drag dirt onto the deck of the boat or scuff it up. Crocs are great boat shoes, but
beware of leopard's foot. The holes in crocs can tend to lead to strange looking spotted feet, it may be a fashion
statement depending on your view, but I would load up the sunscreen on the tops of your feet if you do end up
wearing these.
Hope this helps, and as always feel free to call or drop me a line as I am always ready to talk tarpon!
