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Tarpon are the greatest of all fish ... nothing compares to the take, jump and runs of a tarpon. But I will say, as fun as they are to catch on conventional and spinning gear, nothing beats the fly rod ... nothing at all ... no fish and nothing else ... it is the greatest of all fish for me ...
... I can remember each and every one, as they all have different personalities, and levels of aggressions [the behemouths and the babies] ... ripping the fly line across the surface of the water so it sounds like the water is tearing ... watching six foot long missles coming at you, trying to remain calm ... it's the greatest ... the glisten of their silvery backs in the early morning sun as they role on the surface or get into a daisy chain on slick calm water, not another boat around ... finding pods laid up in the backcountry in slightly tanin colored water, where they pretty much eat anything in front of them ... full moon night throwing flies in the dark at rolling tarpon in the passes on the West coast, and seeing the reflection of the moon on their sides ... drifting bait on a flat calm February night off Miami beach, tarpon exploding on crabs sounding like M-80s ... it's all amazing ...
... but if you really want to get into them, move to South Florida ... you can pretty much catch them year around, different places, different locations ... all awesome ...
... I have been fortunate to have lived as a single angler in South Florida for four or five years, and that was all that mattered ... when, where and how could we find and catch tarpon on any given weekend .. great. They are truly a cult status fish, anglers devote their fishing lives to tarpon ... guys like Andy Mills, the former skier who married Chris Everett Lloyd (I think they split), he pretty much fishes solely for tarpon pretty much all the time ...
... no other location has the options available for tarpon than South Florida ...
... but when it comes to locations, tides, techniques, etc., it's serious business ... if you can book a trip with a guide, it's not cheap, but worth every penny a hundred times over ...
.... if you can head down to the Keys right now, you can find them in the Everglades, pockets of the backcountry in the Keys and out in the Marquesas and in the Lakes area for teen-sized fish up into the 30-40 pound class ... which are a lot of fun ... or you can head up to the Space Coast area for some fish on the beach fronts.
If you have only one vacation to take ... schedule it around tarpon fishing ... not easy, but worth every single penny ... of course get a good guide who can do what is necessary to catch fish. I encourage everyone to pursue them. And if you need to go on vacation from tarpon, head down to Central America or the West Coast of Africa for some big, big tarpon.
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