Tails From the Road : Florida Tarpon

I’m sure some of you have been on a trip that your family strictly outlines as “not a fishing trip.” Well, my definition of a fishing trip is going fishing every day, so on a recent trip to Florida, I still brought some rods and managed to get out for some urban tarpon action.

I’m sure when most of you think about tarpon in Florida, you think of casting to large migratory fish on white sand flats down in the Keys. While that is a bucket-list way to catch a tarpon on the fly, there are other methods to tug on the silver king that may surprise you.

For this trip, I was in the Miami area, which is a very urban setting. In this area, there are endless fishing opportunities that range from snakehead and peacock bass to tarpon and snook. The Miami urban sprawl is heavily integrated with ponds, canals, and rivers that consist of both salt and fresh water, with the saltwater areas being more closely connected to the ocean and the freshwater being mostly the ponds and waterways coming from the Everglades. For my time on the water, my buddy Max and I focused on canals that were directly connected to the ocean.

Due to the heat and humidity at this time of year, fishing at night can be much more pleasant. Moreover, utilizing factors of the urban setting and tides can make locating fish much easier than during the daytime. Max, a lifelong Miami local, knows the waterways and, more specifically, the docks where tarpon like to hang out like the back of his hand. Folks who own waterfront property often put lights around their docks for a nice look; however, these lights also attract baitfish, which in turn attracts predatory fish like tarpon. Paired with the outgoing tide, this made it so that each light we approached had 4 to 10 feeding tarpon.

The gear I was using was fairly simple: a 9-ft 8wt Orvis Recon, Lamson Litespeed M8, and Rio Flats Pro fly line. For the leader, I tied a perfection loop in the end of a 2.5-ft section of 30 lb fluorocarbon to a 2.5-ft section of 25 lb fluorocarbon and ended with a 4-ft section of 20 lb fluorocarbon (all connected with blood knots). Flies for tarpon fishing are fairly simple; some of my favorites are tarpon toads, tarpon bunnies, and EP baitfish. I’d say the color is more important than the pattern itself. That night, Max and I found that most fish were interested in white, but he mentioned that the further north you go in the waterways, the more the fish prefer a black fly. So always grab black, white, and tan/yellow colorways in tarpon flies before a trip.

Once we were at the lights, the fishing was pretty straightforward. We could see the shadows of tarpon circling the lit areas by the docks as they chased baitfish. I would make a cast to the opposite side of the light, let the fly sink for a second or two, and then use a rapid strip cadence to retrieve it across the light. Often, the fish would follow the fly for 5 to 10 ft before deciding to eat or not. If I could deliver the fly as tarpon chased bait across the light, they were much less hesitant to eat and would often turn on my fly and explosively inhale it off the surface. As long as I got a solid strip set on the fish and they didn’t immediately run under a dock, the fight was on!

Fighting a tarpon is a bit more involved compared to fighting a trout. They are famous for their acrobatic jumps, which is usually when they pop off as well. “Bowing to the king” is a phrase often used to describe how to handle jumps, which pretty much means bend your knees, point the rod at the fish, which takes the pressure off the fish and prevents the hook from being pulled out. When the tarpon isn’t airborne, adequate side pressure and trying to turn their head will usually tire them out in good time. We were able to lip multiple fish during the night and hooked into even more.

This experience was a ton of fun for me and really opened my eyes to how accessible this coveted species can be. We were under high-rises, bridges, and near busy streets the entire time. Big shoutout to Max for taking me out on his skiff, I definitely gained a lot of respect for Miami’s vast fishery and cannot wait to go back.