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Florida Keys Tarpon Fishing Report
May 5, 6, 7, 2008
Greeting from Tarpon World:
May 5, 2008,
Cas Cader from Morehead City, NC brought his friend Marty to fly fish for Tarpon with me here in the middle Florida Keys for two days. The weather finally calmed down today, with the water back up to 81 degrees, calm wind, and sunshine, the Tarpon started to show in more numbers. We had quite a few shots in the morning in the back country at laid up fish in the morning with no bites, later in the afternoon many Tarpon showed up at the worm bar however they were very spooky with the water glassy calm. We had saw at least 100 Tarpon however never got a bite, It should happen any time now!
May 6, 2008,
Today Cas and Marty joined me in a search for POONS, we located a pack of happy fish at Sunshine Key and followed them for several miles without ever getting a bite. The weather was dead calm with glassy 83 degree water and lots of sunshine. I can't believe how spooky these Tarpon are, Between 5 PM and 7 PM over 300 Tarpon swam around on the worm bar. Cas had at least 40 good casts to Tarpon with several follows however we never got a bite. It is always hard to write these reports when the Tarpon are not cooperating however we had a great time and scheduled the same dates with a couple extra days fro next year. I am sure that it is about to get real good soon.
May 7, 2008,
John Snipes from Atlantic Beach, and Dunn, North Carolina is here for the next 3 days to catch his first Tarpon ever on fly. The weather started out dead calm, with lots of sunshine and 83 degree water temperature. We traveled to and from the ocean to the back country twice before noon and only saw 4 Tarpon. I told John that we needed to be on the front side flats near Big Pine Key as the tide began to rise (2 PM) as the wind was now blowing from the Southeast at 10 knots.
John Snipes first Tarpon on Fly
As I jumped up on the poling platform and John got my TFO TiCr 12 weight rod with my Mako #9550 fly reel ready I spotted a school of happy, rolling, Silver King heading our way about 200 yards away and closing slowly. I placed the boat directly in the path of that school and directed John as where to place the fly. John made a good cast, waited for my direction, and then stripped the (Shrimparoo) fly which enticed a red hot 70 pound male Tarpon to charge up and eat the fly. John set the hook like a pro, cleared the line onto the reel. and fought the fish valiantly as that Tarpon jumped 12 times in the first 5 minutes. Twenty minutes later John Snipes wound the leader into the tiptop of the fly rod and scored a release. I took some pictures and then released that Tarpon, John's first ever!
Ready for release
Twenty-five minutes later after seeing more than 400 happy Tarpon swimming by John cast to a school of 100 tailing POONS and had a 125 pounder attack his fly. That big female jumped twice and then broke the 20 pound tippet and swam away. As I began to pole to the next school my pushpole stuck in a crevice and broke the tip off. We called it a day and headed to the dock at 4:30 so we could fix the pole and get ready for the next great day of Tarpon fly fishing. I am really happy that Tarpon season is finally under way, I love my job, wish you were here. More Reports to Follow.
Regards:
Jake
Snipes' First Silver King
Captain Jake Jordan
Jake Jordan's Fishing Adventures
PO Box 309 (US Mail)
223 Lemonwood Drive (Freight)
Havelock NC 28532
252-444-3308 Home/Office
305-872-6060 Cell
www.jakejordan.com
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