Yall have inspired me - here's the longer trip report from my Keys trip. Lots of non-tarponness included.
Tarpon only TLDR: Jumped one. Broke one off.
Guided trip on Tuesday:Tuesday was my Birthday so I did a guided trip to try to scratch tarpon off the bucket list. Plan was juvy poons to start the day and then some variety later. Left the ramp at sunrise and stopped at the first spot gulfside. Looked for some rollers along the bank and not much was going on.
Went to spot number two oceanside. Started poling towards the shore and began seeing rollers up against the mangroves in some off colored water. We kind of worked them into a cove, and the guide had to work at it to get me close enough for a good shot with my crappy casting without spooking the fish. I finally got a little more comfortable throwing his 10 weight and put it out in front on one. Stripped it across his nose and got one airborne (about a 2 fter) but it came right off once it hit the water.
Missed maybe 3 or 4 more decent shots and lots of shorts to fish further out. Finally got a good cast at a 3 fter. Came tight, and pop! Wind knot. My fault for casting sloppy in the heat of the moment when I finally had a good wind angle on a fish I could see and knew I could reach. Had one more good follow but no more eats. Fish were getting spooky and pushing up under the mangrove branches. We called it and headed to another flat with an incoming tide to try and find some bones.
Ran up the coast on the ocean side to the next spot. First time on a mav hpx, and I was impressed. Came up on a sand / hard bottom flat. Started poling down the shoreline and saw some sharks cruising in the distance. Worked towards the sharks and they were being followed by permit. I got a cast off, but I was so jumpy from just seeing a permit that it was no where near close enough. Kept working the flat, and saw some more permit following sharks and/or rays, my casting was not up to snuff to make a decent presentation at the 75 ft out we're seeing fish. The guide says we spooked out about a half dozen bones at one point, but I never even got a glimpse. Worked at it for a while, and the tide stopped coming in.
We talked about cranking up to catch the tide at the next spot. I start reeling up my line and we see two big permit coming right at our 12 o'clock (15-20 ish pounders). I pull some line back out and cast about 20 ft in front of them because I didn't want to spook them. I'm calm enough now that I actually lay the fly where I'm trying to. I strip in the slack and wait for them to get closer.
They're keep coming straight on. At about 10 ft, I get the fly moving so that it's not sitting on the bottom. Slow ticks to keep it moving until the fish close the gap.
I can see that the bigger one is closer to my fly now and they're still closing the gap. I go to a tick-tick-wait kind of strip tyring to look shrimpy. Now they're about 30 ft from the boat and 5 ft away from my fly. My heart is pounding because I think I'm about to have a huge stroke of rookie luck and hook a permit. They turn 90 degrees. Not spooked or anything. They just decide to change directions. I sat in shock for a few seconds but it seemed like an eternity just watching my best shot die away. I pick up and lay it out in front of them. Not close enough to get them to turn. They're gone. I probably should have casted closer to them and taken the risk of spooking them. Lesson learned. Hit a few more spots but don't really see much. Boat traffic is picking up and some guy blows across our line on the last flat we try and work.
Guide asks if we want to go stake out at the cut and wait for the tide to drop to see if maybe we can get another shot at poon. My wife has been a trooper all day and I can tell she's worn out. We head in.
I'm already trying to figure how I can get back in peak season.
Canal:I was hoping to sneak in some time fishing in the canal that our house was on in the evenings. I contemplated taking my underwater light rig (flounder set-up really) but the truck was pretty loaded so I didn't take them. Ended up being a good call because there was not much action at night in the lights on either side of us. Cast a little at some schooling mullet on night but overall, not much action.
Marathon:Cruised around in my boat some and checked out some of the protected flats in and around Marathon. Found one little cove with some bait popping and stopped to throw flies at them. No luck. Mostly poled around everyone else on the trip so they could see some nature. Saw lots of small perch in the grass, 8-12 inch cudas, rays, sharks, and a few iguanas in the mangrove tunnels. Cool stuff.
Dry Tortugas:Took the ferry from Key West to Dry Tortugas one day. Awesome trip. Got to throw flies into some crazy beautiful water. Worked the docks they have there for a bit, but didn't see much cause boats and seaplanes were coming / going pretty frequently. Walked the beach for a bit and talked to a fellow fly fisher who was camping at the island. He was posted up on a small hill, watching for rolling poons so he could run down the waters edge and bomb out a cast. Said he saw a few the day before, but no hookups. I blind casted for a bit but didn't have any luck.
There and back again:Hauled my gheenoe 1300 miles one way. The house we rented had a nice canal front dock, so I put it in the water and left it there all week. So nice to be able to just hop in for a quick cruise around and hop back out.
On the trip there we hit rush hour in Mobile and got held up before/in the tunnel for about an hour and half. Just as soon as traffic started clearing because everyone was turning off for Gulf shores, someone flipped a car about a 1/4 mile in front of us. We sat on I10 for about an hour and chatted with people from the cars around us. Not a great way to start vacation.
I pulled the boat the night before we left. Had my buddy drive the truck up the ramp and once hes about half way in, I hear a PSSHHHHHH. Once he's up the ramp, I jump out of the boat and can feel the air coming out my tire. We jump in the truck and hurry back to the house we rented. Slap the spare on so we can roll out in the morning. End up driving from Marathon to Orlando on the spare and stop at discount tire for lunch and patch. Smooth sailing the rest of the way home.