Fishing Flies On Sale

posted by admin on Nov 9

The tarpon is one of the world’s favourite sporting fish. Stunningly beautiful and known as the Silver King, their aerobatic leaps make them a favourite of fishermen worldwide. From March to July thousands of tarpon pass through the harbour in Key West on their way to the spawning grounds and anglers are drawn into town in order to do battle with them.

There are many different methods for targeting tarpon, the method varying depending on the type of water that is being fished. Tarpon can be found on sand or mangrove flats and also in shallow river inlets. For these venues the preferred method is either fishing a fly coupled to a very strong rod and line or using an artificial lure. At some venues such as Islamorada the favoured style is livebaiting with small fish such as pilchards or herring. The favourite method in Key West is using a by-product from shrimp fishing. Let me explain what is meant by shrimp boat trash. Many shrimp fishing boats work the waters in the Gulf of Mexico and apart from netting shrimp they also catch a lot of small fish called menhaden. These are bagged up in onion sacks and sold as bait to the tarpon fishing boats in Key West.

The method sees the Captain cutting the manhaden into chunks and continually throwing them behind the anchored boat to attract the tarpon. The anglers fish with a whole menhaden on the hook, and it is drifted back in the tide towards the feeding tarpon.

The tackle recommended when fishing for tarpon in Key West is extremely straight forward. Our favourite rod for tarpon fishing is the 7ft 9in Conolon Boat  12-20 lb test curve rod from ABU. It retails here in the UK at £74.99. There is also a 3 piece version (the Conolon Boat Traveller) which probably better suits the jet-setting traveller. That one sells for £79.99 in the UK. Incidentally, I use that very same rod to fish for sturgeon on the Fraser River near Vancouver and last year landed my biggest ever fish with a length of 9ft 1inch and weighing…who knows, there was just the two of us fishing and there’s no way you can lift such a beast but I'd put it at around 400 lbs. Anyhow, returning to tarpon fishing. The most popular reels for tarpon fishing are the Shimano TLD 15 or TLD 20 lever drag multipliers. The TLD 15 retails at around £80 in the UK, whilst the TLD 20 is about £15 dearer. Whatever reel you choose, it has to be super free running, because you’re attempting to make your bait drift down in the current at the same speed as the pieces being thrown in by the Captain. My own preference is for the bigger TLD 20 because the larger spool revolves slower when you are drifting your bait down in the tide plus it needs less turns of the handle to reel in when the bait has drifted as far you want. You’ll want the reel completely loaded with nylon, I prefer the Ande grey in breaking strains of either 15 or 20 lbs. To the end of the line is tied a 10 foot leader of 50 lb fluorocarbon and a large circle hook. Of course all of the light tackle boats have first class tackle for you to use should you not have your own.

Let's now take a look at the actual fishing method used in Key West. Your captain will have taken you to one of the top tarpon spots, perhaps the yacht basin, Bokacheeka, the entrance to Key West Harbour or maybe the North West Channel. The boat is anchored at the bow and if there are other boats fishing they’ll very likely be moored only a few feet to one side or the other. The idea is that if everybody is chumming then there will be a good supply of bait drifting down to the fish, keeping them in one big pod rather than splitting it up. The skipper will start chumming with the pieces of menhaden and you’ll put a whole fish onto your hook. There’s a particular way to put these baits on the hook but don't fret, the captain will demonstrate how it's done. You now let your bait drift down the current, paying particular attention to your line as it runs from the spool of the reel. A bite can be quite gentle and will normally be detected by the spool of the reel suddenly running faster. As soon as you detect a bite you need to reel like hell….don’t strike !!. The beauty of a circle hook is that it seemingly hooks the fish itself if you simply tighten the line by turning the reel as fast as possible.

Once a fish is hooked all hell will be let loose, the fish will almost certainly jump clear of the water and it will definitely start running towards Cuba !!. Remember when playing a tarpon that if he jumps he’ll throw the hook unless you immediately lower the rod to ease the tension on the line. This lowering of the rod is known as “bowing to the King”, and you’ll get plenty of stick from anybody else on board if you lose a fish because he jumped and you forgot to bow. If the hooked tarpon is a decent size the skipper will release the anchor and set off in pursuit of the fish. It's not unusual to unhook a fish a mile away from where it was hooked. It can be a tiring and long fight but with any luck you will finally have the fish alongside the boat ready for a swift photo before it is safely released to continue its journey to the spawning grounds. I remember a ‘first-timer’ fishing with us one year. He hooked his first tarpon and as it jumped he excitedly asked “how big is that” to which one wag replied “about forty minutes” !!.