Yesterday I got down to the ramp at first light. As I’m dropping the Adios into the drink I spy a fin glide by, 20 feet away. Tarpon. Damn, I pick up the rod and fire a fly. Wham, the tarpon rolls on the it but misses! The next cast is right on his snout and he gulps big time. The rod bucks and off the tarpon roars, crashing through the marina night. A moment later he is free. Jumping a tarpon at first light? Its already a great day.
Later out on the flats, the snook bite is on. Not as good as the day before, but plenty of action. And one is near 30 inches. He stages a long, sweet slug-fest of runs and aerial action. I’m in heaven; my biggest snook yet on the 6-weight.
6-Weight Snook Morning
That fine fish took a slider. And the surface strike was a thing of beauty. Turns out surface flies work wonderfully down here. In this case I was using a small silver Farnsworth Slider. A slow retrieve and a floating fly line round out the presentation. Next I going to try bigger sliders and poppers. Yes, going to have to dig out the 10-weight for those flies.
Farnsworth Slider
Love the reports Ed. Are you standing and casting and sighting the fish before casting. Have you fallen off into those shark infested waters yet?
Hi Gary,
Yeah fell off once and lost my right arm; thank God I’m a lefty! At the moment I’m not doing as much sight-fishing as I would like. At this time of year SWF gets daily afternoon thunderstorms. This regular rain and the two large rivers at the head of the Charlotte Harbor tend to stain the water. Still I stand and cast for part of each day. The rest of the time I work from the “Larry” chair or wade. The chair is high enough off the deck to make casting easy. I position myself upwind of an area where there is nervous water or wakes and then drift silently down. Did the SWFlorida slam today- red, snook,and trout.