Hi Guys,
Wanted to touch base now home a few days, once again BIG thanks to Roge, 12 days fishing together, ie putting up with me and every minute was a blast. Sticking with the medium model fish on purpose instead of going after the tankers made it even better than last year!
Thanks again for being a great host and friend. I think we rolled with the few things that popped up smoothly.
Mangroves 2 days and “offshore” for 4 was perfect, epic hopping so many schools that first Sunday, coolest tarpon fishing i have ever experienced!
I'm gonna find somebody to go with next year and back to the basic lodging package!
Ill touch base in a bit, all my best, put me down for 2 next year!
Jordan
AND HERE'S WHAT ROGE HAD TO SAY:
On the first day, we went after the medium-sized tarpon. We started at 5:30 a.m. when the guide picked us up. After a 40-minute boat ride, we reached the fishing grounds and immediately found schools of tarpon. As the sun came up, more and more schools appeared. I’d never seen so many tarpon together in my life—one of the schools had hundreds of fish.
We had opportunities right from our first casts. That day, Jordan jumped six fish, landed one, and missed several more strikes. I landed two and jumped two. The medium-sized tarpon averaged between 20 and 50 pounds.
Jordan got off to a great start fishing with a floating line and a #12 fiberglass rod. But once the tarpon started holding deeper and moving more slowly, we had to change our approach. We switched to a sinking line and a strip retrieve, similar to how you’d fish for permit, and that adjustment produced many more strikes.
We then spent two days fishing the mangroves, where I had the chance to test some flies I’d tied based on a few things I learned last year—while also looking for a little more adrenaline by getting surface takes. The gurglers were a complete success. We had plenty of visual eats from baby tarpon cruising slowly along the mangroves. The craziest one happened when a fish ate my fly exactly like a big rainbow trout in Lake 2 smashing a Chubby Chernobyl. I hadn’t even moved it—I just watched the gurgler disappear into the tarpon’s mouth.
We also spent time chasing the big migratory tarpon. As so often happens, the island was incredibly generous, and we had shots every day. We ended up losing five fish—some because we set the hook too late, and another because we trout-set instead of strip-setting. In one unforgettable moment, a massive school stopped directly beneath our boat, and I could see tarpon well over 140 pounds. As Jordan and I said… next year will be the year....
