I'll keep this brief, only had one booking this week but it was pretty darned good. The night time tarpon on fly in Biscayne are going strong. We hooked up at 1Am ( my night trips are best on a falling tide, this morning we were in business just before 2Am and we fished until daylight...) at Miami Beach. My angler was Jonathan Wexler, a skilled fly angler from Colorado. With a slack high tide our first spot was a bit slow, the moment the tide started moving - so did the fish... Using a light rod, an 8wt Sage mated to a Nautilus reel we were off to the races. The first fish was 30lbs and just full of fight. Thirty minutes later we leadered the fish and went back for more. All of our fish were right at the surface in the shadows under bridges and that light 8wt was all we used. Jonathan went on to jump eight fish from 20lbs all the way up to 80 at different bridges. Yes, an 8wt is badly outgunned by a 60 to 80lb fish, but it was great fun. As usual no two fish behaved the same after feeling the hook. Some tossed the fly quickly, others were in for the long haul. We fought a 60 to 70lb fish to a standstill in 45 minutes near a marina wall before the fish finally dragged the leader back under the breakwater... We got four out of eight fish to the boat, but I didn't have my camera aboard.... The action finally quit as dawn approached, and I was off of the water at 7:30, this morning.
This action will continue now until almost the end of April except when water temps fall during the occasional cold front. Night time baby tarpon sight fishing... my idea of tarpon heaven. The recent very bad cold weather and all the fish kills from Tampa down to Islamorada haven't affected the Biscayne Bay babies... they're in good condition and there are lots of them averaging 20 to 40lbs with a few quite a bit larger....