Florida Keys Tarpon Fishing Flats
Filed Under Florida Keys Tarpon Fishing, South Florida Tarpon Fishing |
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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[...] 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 [...]