Finding The Right Florida Keys Tarpon Fishing Guide
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The following list is by no means comprehensive. However more of a set of guidlines to get you started out on the path of booking a South Florida tarpon fishing trip in the Florida Keys. Feel free to add to the list or to customize it to fit your needs.
1. Don’t just book your Florida Keys tarpon fishing trip with the first guide you find. As with everything in life, some are more successful than others. Make a list of what you feel like are the top guides that fit your budget and needs. Research them out. Do some homework. If you’re looking to have a memorable fishing trip that you will be talking about for years to come, plan for it. Find the right one. Look online, if your here you can do this. Call the local chamber of commerce to get some information:
Key Largo Chamber of Commerce at (800) 822-1088
Islamorada Chamber of Commerce at (305) 664-4503 or toll free at (800) FAB-KEYS
Greater Marathon Chamber of Commerce at (800) 262-7284
Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce at (305) 872-2411
Key West Chamber of Commerce at (305) 294-2587
2. While looking for a South Florida tarpon fishing guide, be conscious of what your after. Talk with the guide on specifics so nobody gets their wires crossed. Tell them exactly what you are looking for. If it’s a “special” outing as a present. If you want to do some flats or backcountry fishing. What’s been running and what could possibly be running the day of your booking. What’s the best outlook. Will one of your passengers be a young one. Tell them if you’ve ever fished before or not and be honest. Listen to what they have to say.
3. Ask them about their Florida Keys tarpon fishing experience. If you were honest in number 2 above and told them your fishing experience above it’s certainly not inappropriate to ask for their qualifications. Heck, it’s not inappropriate to ask for their qualifications even if you didn’t tell them yours. You want to choose someone you’re comfortable with as you will be spending some solid time together on the water.
4. Talk with your guide on how many people will be in your party during your south Florida tarpon fishing excursion. Some boats can handle more while the smaller skiffs for certain types of fishing are simply not designed for more than two people.
5. Florida Keys tarpon fishing trips vary in prices depending on the method of choice. You can expect to pay somewhere along the lines of $350 to $550 for an all day eight hour trip. Remember though, sometimes that 99 cent value meal is not always as good as the 3.99 combo so cheaper is not always better. That’s not to say that you can’t find value in a fishing trip. And just like any restaruant or service industry, tipping is always customary. If you think the guide did everything possible and you had a wonderful time, a typical tip of 10%-15% is advisable.
6. When booking your Florida Keys tarpon fishing trip, deposits are typically required for advanced bookings. Some are more and some are a bit less but a typical figure for you to work from ranges around $100. But don’t think that anything is wrong if some guides ask for half of the charter up front.
7. If something unfortunate should happen that would cause you to cancel your south Florida tarpon fishing trip, most all reputable guides have a cancellation policy. Have them explain this to you prior to your booking so you know what you are getting into. The policy is there to protect the guide not you as this is the way they make their living and have to plan effectively. Most cancellation policies though are fair in that respect in that it would allow you ample time to cancel and the guides time to re-book the day. A typical cancellation policy would go something like this: 14 days prior - full refund of deposit, 7 to 14 days prior 50% refund on deposit, within a week, deposit forfeited.
8. There’s only one person that I know of that can control the weather, moon, sun and tides. If you have your heart set on Florida Keys tarpon fishing a certain way, just remember that it’s not the guides fault if something goes haywire in the weather/fishing conditions. Be flexible and roll with it. Maybe it just wasn’t in the cards to fish that certain way and still catch fish due to the outside forces. Most knowledgable guides know the conditions and will put you on the fish to the best of their ability barring these types of conditions. Believe me, they’d rather have you catch some fish and be a return customer in the future than to take you out a certain way and not have you catch anything.
9. Go “offseason” South Florida tarpon fishing. Truly the only thing that can be considered offseason fishing in the Florida Keys is that there simply aren’t as many people fishing during that time. The fishing is excellent year round, just the fishing pressure is not as extreme. The offseason is considered the winter months of September, October, November and December. For the most part though, winter is still tropical in the Keys.
10. Speaking of offseason, what about off days. Plan your Florida Keys tarpon fishing journey around weekdays instead of weekends. There’s typically a lot less boat traffic which means less fishing pressure from other anglers.
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Backcountry Florida Keys Tarpon Fishing
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So just what is meant by the term “backcountry” fishing in the Keys? Well this Florida Keys Tarpon fishing article is a prime example of what some might call backcountry fishing. More often than not the term takes on quite a few different meanings depending on who you are speaking with but it’s certainly one outlet in backcountry fishing. All in all, there’s literally something for every angler at every skill level while Florida Keys tarpon fishing in the backcountry.
Just be aware that when talking to some people about backcountry fishing that they will literally take on it’s own connotation. Yes, some describe backcountry Florida Keys tarpon fishing to mean the channels and flats right near the Keys. Some will also say that its also the flats along the ocean front side of the Keys. Both are very productive fishing grounds so don’t be surprised if your guide happens to take you along those routes. However, backcountry fishing also takes on other meanings as well.
What most people think of when describing backcountry Florida Keys tarpon fishing is almost jungle like and totally uninhabited. A place where you can go and never see another boat in the same fishing vicinity almost the entire day. A place teeming with wildlife and where fishing species and dominance abound. South Florida tarpon fishing in the Florida Keys certainly has that as well. Go North my friend, go North. Just north of the Keys lies mangrove laden swamp-like waters and shallow water areas that suit the bill. Teeming with wildlife and spectacular fishing grounds. Refuge areas like Key West National Wildlife Refuge, National Key Deer Refuge, or Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge. You might even find yourself in some Naitonal Parks like Biscayne National Park while Florida Keys tarpon fishing.
Whatever you and your guide deem backcountry fishing, then that’s what it is. As long as you’re not in the middle of a populated area or out in the Gulf, that’s what backcountry Florida Keys tarpon fishing is to me. But really, who cares what you call as long as you’re catching those spectacular south Florida tarpon.
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Florida Keys Tarpon Fishing Flats
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Close your eyes and picture this. A quick and easy thirty minute boat ride from the dock you arrive at your destination where the sky seems to touch the bay as it reflects in it’s distant still waters. You, at the front of an 18 foot perfectly designed shallow water flats skiff. Standing on the casting platform as you’re gazing into the shallow waters ahead of you in some of Florida Keys outstanding backcountry flats as you start your South Florida tarpon fishing journey. It’s peaceful. Calm and quiet. You can actually hear yourself think as the sun is starting to rise thru the dimly lit morning hours.
As you’re hired guide starts to pole you along these shallow waters on your Florida Keys tarpon fishing quest you begin to notice the once seemingly lifeless water ahead of you spring to life. Schools of tiny baitfish swimming frantically around trying to avoid being some fishes next meal. Birds wading along the shoreline. Little sharks swimming by wondering whats for breakfast. Just then it hits you, you can see everything in this crystal clear south Florida tarpon fishing estuary.
You find yourself drifting in all it’s glory. You have to make yourself focus on the task at hand, Florida Keys tarpon fishing and catching the elusive giants. You feel your blood pumping, heart beating. You feel alive and in sheer excitement anticipating when you will roll up on your first school of Florida Keys tarpon.
Mounted atop his specailly designed poling platform, your guide coordinates boat movements with effortless precision. Ever present. Ever aware. Searching the surroundings perched from his nest. You know you’ve made a good choice as you can see the wrinkled tan lines around his eyes knowing that he’s been doing this for a while. Your Florida Keys tarpon fishing captain, silently poling you along in your south Florida tarpon fishing journey.
Then it happens. Whispering quiet he tells you, “Get ready, some action at two o’clock”. You look but can’t really see what he’s saying and peer back over your shoulder looking at him for advice. “Look, nervous water”. “Say what”? Nervous water is simply when the small wakes or waves travel a little differently than all the other wakes around it. A typical tell-tale sign that somethings there. You finally spot it as he gives one more push to the pole to get you a little closer. With a big gulp, you really see what he was looking at, as shiny five feet long Florida keys tarpon roll on the surface playfully about fifty yards ahead of you. The picture perfect sight you and your guide have been waiting to see while south Florida tarpon fishing on your Florida Keys tarpon fishing trip.
Locating tarpon seems to be effortless in these waters but the next challenge you will face could make or break your entire South Florida tarpon fishing trip. You’ve got to get close enough to present a bait to one of these Florida Keys tarpon. Tarpon are weary when it comes to these shallow waters. Almost feeling vulnerable and will run and hide if given the chance. The guide continues to push you along almost floating on a cloud over the surface of the water. The tarpon is in the cross-hairs. Now the guide calls on you to make the cast just ahead of the schooling tarpon. Not to close as it will scare them. Not to far as they won’t see it. You throw and it’s a beauty. Tarpon on. Reminiscent of an old school fighter, the tarpon blasts in and out of the water for what seems to be a hundred yards stipping line from your reel. Only difference is, the oceans their ring. They are tough. They don’t go down by jab to the temple. You have to throw haymakers. You gain about half your line back on the spool, just then he realizes the boat and makes another mad dash for open water. What seems like an eternity passes while south Florida tarpon fishing before you get another glimpse at your quary. Once your Florida Keys tarpon fishing battle ends and the tarpon surrenders so to speak, exhausted from the fight, you get a quick picture and slowly release him back to his home to fight another day.
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