Fishing with Simon Last Week

I’ve been fishing much, so I will be uploading the days in lag order.

Last Sunday (a week ago tomorrow) I fished with Simon Becker. Joining us was Kathryn Vallilee.

We started by permit fishing, which was quite good. Kathryn had a couple great shots, nearly hooking one on her first. The fish was behind the fly, excited and wagging, but never sealed the deal. I had a couple, coming tight to one (I think…) for a second before the hook pulled. We traded shots on permit for a few hours, before Simon took us to look for the pons.

The tarpon fishing was incredible. Kathryn started and hooked three, I hooked two, Simon hooked one, Kathryn hooked another couple, then I did–it was on. We weren’t fishing proper tarpon leaders, in pursuit of watching them jump and hooking another one, but in all I think we dried off nine giants–amazing by any standard.

Following the tarpon extravaganza, we left for a shot at the permit that had yet eluded us. Simon and I were trying to keep up our average of hooking at least one permit a day, and we very nearly did. Simon had a fish that he had an apointment with, an individual animal that he’s been trying to get acquainted with. I had a single shot at this fish that ended when my line tangled in the stripping guide. I was left to watch as the animal tailed around in front of my before it blew out when it saw the boat.

After that we had a final stop before we called it day, seeing none.

I’d like to thank Simon for another amazing day, and I’m looking forward to fishing with him tomorrow. Jason Schratwieser was to join us, but has some sod to lay (seriously) and can’t make it so I’ll be flying solo.

The next day I fished was Tuesday with Joe Rodriguez and Frankie Marion, last Tuesday. I’ll upload that report shortly.

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