Big Tarpon start to show up in the lower Florida Keys starting in February .
I have had several good days of tarpon fishing this month and look forward to a great 2019 season for both tarpon and permit. Yesterday was awesome with lots of big tarpon rolling and laid up in slick calm conditions . We missed a bunch but had many shots and then fed a smaller fish and a HUGE female ate the fly!! It was a rush for sure. After that we went permit fishing and saw a bunch. The vis was getting tough late in the afternoon and we saw most of the permit too late to get a good set up. Can’t wait until tomorrow to do it all over again. Getting ready to pre-fish for the March Merkin Permit Tournament.
Chris C from Montana fighting a nice tarpon on fly
I took these photos last week on a super rainy day. My angler, Tom and I waited for a tiny window in the heavy rain and lighting to sneak back out and got a fish on the second cast then the fish jumped, and she was a big one. The rain picked back up to torrential and we fought it for almost and hour before leading it and getting the hell off the water with big smiles on our faces. Corona time!!
We are getting into fall with cooling water temps and pretty darn good fishing. It is possible to slam which is a tarpon, bonefish, and permit all in the same day.
Guides day off yesterday and my buddy Rob Kramars and I got into some pretty good post cold front fishing. I caught a snook on fly and Rob fed three juvie tarpon. Pretty good day in the lower keys considering it’s January and the water was 69 degrees.
