A day in Key West
This is a journal entry from a memorable day of fly fishing for tarpon in Key West, Florida. Prior to this trip, I had only fished for tarpon in the waters of Honduras and Mexico. After having success catching smaller tarpon from docks and in the mangroves, I wanted more. I really wanted to see those fish swimming down the flat; I wanted to see a laid-up tarpon, tarpon that were daisy chaining, and the massive schools (meatballs) that come through the Florida Keys in May and June. I had known of the tarpon fishing in the Florida Keys from countless hours of indulging in YouTube videos, books, podcasts, and, of course, the occasional fishing story from a buddy. This was something I knew would come to fruition during my guiding and fishing career, but I had no real plans of making it happen anytime soon until my good friend Bryan Gates, whom I fish with in Colorado, reached out to me, inviting me to fish with him and Captain Nicholas Calabro in Key West for three days at the end of May. This was a dream trip for me. Enjoy!
May 22, 2024. Key West, FL
Wow… right now i am sitting on a skiff in the biggest tarpon arena in the world… The Marquesas. It’s currently 12:04 PM. The morning commute from city marina started dark but by the time we arrived to our first spot beautiful shades of pink and orange began to light the sky. Bryan put me on the bow first, it’s barley day light so we’re looking for rollers. Nicholas had us into the fish right away. We had a school of rolling fish in casting range so I took a shot, as i was retrieving the fly I went tight, the fish spit the fly about 30 feet away from the boat but as I continued to retrieve my fly another tarpon followed the fly damn near to my rod tip. Done.
We moved a little and had another pod of rolling fish, I had a shot into the mix but no dice..
Time for another move.. this time we ran a bit further to a popular ocean side spot that was a available. Bryan is on the casting platform now and right away we had several strings and a big meatball (massive school of tarpon) come through. Bryan had a some shots at a couple strings of fish with no success and then said it was my turn.. We were right in them, I’m on the bow now just waiting.. We we’re on a point in between a two keys where the fish were happily swimming through. Nicholas with his amazing sight spots another meatball tracking towards the boat, finally the lead fish is getting into casting range. I make a cast to the lead fish and get an eat but I missed the hook set.. “triple digits” Nicholas muttered as I gather myself to make another cast into the middle of the massive school of fish. I recast.. strip.. boom.. I’m tight, the fish doesn’t know she’s hooked yet.. finally she goes for her first run. Peeling line from my hand and finally from the reel I let out a shout of victory. “Way to recover there buddy! That first one was twice the size of this one!” says Nicholas. “Hey fuck off!” I say jokingly “You know what happened? When he ate it I dropped my line before I could set” After a few good jumps and some fun pulls she chewed through the leader.. Perfect. Thank you God.
…what an afternoon…
Bryan is on the bow as we slide into the arena.. “Okay we got a fish at twelve o clock coming at you “ says Nicholas calmly from his poling platform “Fish nine o clock, moving left, lead him, ok good.” “One o clock going right. Good try buddy.” Nicholas’s calm but deliberate tone made it easy to stay relaxed in a rather chaotic setting. As soon as we got in there were big fish all over the and first few didn’t want to play the game but finally Bryan finds a player. Bryan made a great backhand cast about 40 feet away to a big fish meandering towards us in casting range. The fish sees the fly and becomes interested, Bryan continues to wiggle his worm just right and she eats. This fish quickly turned to run the other direction while Bryan was holding the fly line and the fly broke off (we were fishing 20 lb IGFA legal leaders). Nicholas quickly ties a new fly on and we’re back at it. Bryan frustrated with himself wanted to come down from the bow but I encouraged to stay there and get a few more shots as he just succeeded in feeding his first big tarpon but after a few more tough shots with no luck Bryan says it’s my turn.
I’m up now and it’s the same scenario; fish everywhere but now the fish are mainly laid up. "Okay I’ve got some fish at 12:30 moving to one o clock. See em? Go ahead and give them a big lead to the right” says Nicholas. It’s a wad of about 3 fish.. I make a cast to the right side of the wad, the fish are tracking well right toward my fly. I begin to slowly strip the fly as the fish are getting closer, the outside fish sees it and begins to follow, I sped up my retrieve just slightly and now she’s really on it.. a little faster and boom she eats.. I go tight for a moment and then feel the tension of my fly line lessen.. she gone! I didn’t set the hook at all, I was really overthinking the hook set as we were fishing a worm pattern and double hand stripping for the retrieval (when the fish ate the fly and I felt tension I instantly dropped the rod from my armpit down to my right hand to prepare to for a run which in turn gave the fish enough slack line to spit the fly). In this particular situation I thought I didn’t hold the fly line long enough to set the hook. My idea of how to fix that? get a good firm strip set then hold the line tight until she runs… NOPE.
By now its almost 3:00 PM and a glare began to cover the surface just enough to make it tough to see to the fish. Bryan is up now.. We’re see a lot of laid up fish, shot after shot, we were denied. Bryan frustrated and hot from the late afternoon sun hands me the rod...
After only a few moments of slowly working our way around the arena, we start seeing fish again but now they’re moving and happy once more. After a couple shots at laid up fish, Nicholas spots a group of fish; theres about 3 of them coming towards us. Eleven o clock, 60 feet.. ploop.. my fly lands gently on the right side of the fish about 10 feet in front of group. This was one of the few times I could really see my fly in the water, I’m reading the fish.. I began stripping the fly.. she sees it and follows, I’m stripping just fast enough to keep it on her nose.. a little quicker and her eyes cross as she looks up to the fly. BOOM! well it was more like KAPLOOSH!!!!!!! The beautiful fish inhales my fly from just below the surface and I go tight.. this time I keep the rod under my armpit and hold onto the fly line a little longer.. a little too long… Bink! Broke her off. Wow.. I loved it, the interaction with that fish and the eat was all so visual it was so much fun that I could’ve cared less about fighting that fish because I fed her and I’m the type to count my small victories!
Nicholas ties another fly on and we’re back at it.. “15 more mins” Nicholas says from the poling platform.. We’re in them again.. some laid up and some moving.. “Two o clock, 60 feet coming at us” I make the cast a little closer to the fish than I should’ve but she’s interested, I’m moving the fly just right.. gulp.. she eats the worm pattern like a trout sipping an emerger. I never went tight to this fish.. “She missed it” I said hoping Nicholas saw what I saw. “She didn’t miss it, you missed the hookset” Nicholas says laughing. Thats the end of day one. What an afternoon in the arena. Thank you God.