Evening with RT, this morning with Jared Cyr

Two days ago, I went out for an evening excursion. My cousin James is on vacation from teaching school in Africa, and as such needed to catch a tarpon.

We started at 7:30, and after a brief boat injury (I won’t go into the details here, but let’s just say that low tide can be a risky mistress) we were on the spot. As soon as we arrived we got a fish in the air, losing it on a jump. Though things looked promising at first we had an hour of slow fishing until things turned on further.

After a short move, RT deployed a bait for James and in no time a fish took off with the circle hook stuck squarely in its jaw. James stuck with the program, and in short order had a 100 pound tarpon by the boat. We took some pictures and released the beast. Soon, we jumped another on bait and caught a barracuda on a pinfish that threw the hook next to the boat.

As for the resident fly fisherman, I was able to get four bites. The first was lost to the trolling motor as it got close to the boat, and the second was lost next to the boat after a long fight in shallow water. The third broke off on a jump, and the fourth never stayed stuck long enough to clear the line.

A great evening was had by all except for the lower unit.

 

Today, I spent the morning and early afternoon fishing with Jared Cyr. We were hoping to have a relaxed fun day on the water, but the decision to permit fish of course prevented the relaxation part.

We found the best fishing early, and had a few shots at groups of fish in the early morning glare. Of the shots we had, a few were of note. The first was over the back of a pair of fish that were swimming away from us, and while one of them fell in nicely behind the fly we never came tight. The second was at a pair of fish that were gliding down the bank, and on my first cast a line tangle kept me from the distance we needed. The third was a decent (but not great) shot at a group of mudding fish that very nearly worked–a fish took a hard look before politely saying no, likely due to the farther than ideal placement.

After that we had one shot at a single fish and poled some empty flats before we headed home.

I’d like to thank RT and Jared for a few great days.

In related news, I just spoke to Kat who was prefishing for the Del Brown today with Drew Delashmit. They hooked two permit; the first broke off, the second they caught. Based on that, it looks like Aaron and I have our work cut out for us in two weeks.

 

There is more to come: Friday with John O’Hearn, Saturday through Monday with Joe Rodriguez for the Poor Boys Tournament in Islamorada.

The following Wednesday and Thursday I’m with Aaron and we’ll be joined by Jason Schratwieser, and Saturday we start the Del Brown.

 

nathaniel