Baby Tarpon in Flamingo

There are a couple of things in life I will rarely pass up on.. One of those is an opportunity to chase big fish with a fly rod. So when Captain Chris White asked me if I wanted to head to Flamingo to try to catch some baby tarpon I was more than willing.

Flamingo is a small little "town" inside the Everglades National Park. The town consists of a couple boat ramps, a little boat rental place, and a food trailer that is only open sometimes... So town may be a large over statement.

Regardless, the fishing there is pretty unreal. It's the opposite of the Atlantic side. The water is murky, sometimes muddy. There are huge, expansive channels bordered by thin, widespread flats. Here you can find snook, redfish, lady fish, sea trout, tarpon, and tons of other cool fish. I was specifically here this day in hopes of feeling a tarpon on the end of my life for the first time, but I would, as always, settle for anything eating my fly. 

The day started off slowly and I found myself switching flies pretty regularly until I settled on this bright orange, krystal flash looking fella I tied up myself shortly after arriving in Florida. (I'll show you all what it looks like sometime...) I don't know if it was the fly (I think it was) or if it was the tide (Chris thinks it was) but all of a sudden we started seeing a little more activity and before I knew it I had a split second hook up with a 10 pounder. He exploded out of nowhere crushed the fly and I trout set him out of sheer surprise... Chalk 1 up for the tarpon. Several more flashes later I was still blanked on these little guys. My next and final hookup was on a pretty solid tarpon that just inhaled the fly I strip set the hell out of him and he bolted straight at me! I caught up to him just in time for a little bit of tail walking, but that was all I got. He smiled, gave me the middle fin, and swam away. Now I took some pictures of this trip but I no longer have that piece of technology... But that's another story for another day. 

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