No pictures today. But, a lasting memory.
We decided to head to Islamorada, south of Key Largo. It was a hot, clear day of fishing, with a dab of rain to cool us off a little after lunch.
Dave settled the boat on the ridge of a flat, which serves as a varitable runway for traveling tarpon. Most of the morning and early afternoon we cast to small schools of tarpon.
It was before lunch that it happened. I made a short cast to a group of oncoming tarpon, and an 80lbs tarpon came surging out of the water to take the fly. The fight was on. And just as quickly, the fight was off. The fish jump three times, and on the third launching, it broke off the fly. (As the fish made its first run, Dave kept shouting for me to "bow to the fish," until I turned and said, "I have no clue what 'bowing' to the fish is!" It only took another half-minute to learn. Bowing to the fish is the process of slightly lunging toward the fish when you feel it is going to jump. If you don't, its sheer weight will break your leader.)
Amazing! For years I've watched these monsters jumping out of the water on TV, and today, I saw first-hand the spectacular show a hooked tarpon puts on.
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