Day Three and Final results


3rd and Final Day Fishing the 22nd "Loop" Golden Fly Invitational Tarpon Tournament.
Carlos Duncan w/Capt Rob Fordyce:- 4 release fish and 2 weight fish
Ed Young 2w/ Capt Scott Collins:- 2 release fish and 1 weight fish
Roger Fernandez w/ Capt Tad Burke:-1 release fish and 1 weight fish
Rick Moeller w/ Capt Steve Thomas:- 1 release fish and 1 weight fish
Days total Tarpon Caught and Released: 25 release fish and 9 weight fish
Tournament Total Tarpon Caught and Released 78 Releases and 22 weight fish
Grand Champion and Guide:- Ed Young w/ Capt Scott Collins
1st Runner Up Angler and Guide:- Carlos Duncan w/ Capt Rob Fordyce
2nd Runner Up Angler and Guide:- Roger Fernandez w/ Capt Tad Burke
3rd Runner Up Angler and Guide:- Nathaniel Linville and Capt John O'Hearn

Had my first Tarpon experience this week. Staying beach front in Cape San Blas, Florida. Watched rolling Tarpon off the beach front from the deck while drinking morning coffee and afternoon beer. Decided to rent a kayak and give it a go. I never got closer than a hundred yards but my brother had one roll 30 yards from the yak. Awesome experience.

Hey Ags, So my guide Drew Delashmit and I fished the Golden Fly Tarpon Tournament last week in Islamorada. We finished 8th out of 28 boats. We fished the Lower Keys so we had to run 50 miles each morning before we even started fishing--an hour and 15 min run.

Day one was slick calm and mostly cloudy in the morning. We had fish rolling around us all morning and lots of good shots but they were snotty as hell and we got no bites. Fishing slowed down after that. Bagel day one.

Day 2 was much better to us and we caught a huge 125 pound toad that ended up being the second biggest fish of the tournament. Because these were touchy big fish, we had to switch to my 10wt to get the bite. Landed her after pulling on her hard for about 30 minutes.

Day 3 started with a 5:45am departure and a line of thunderstorms between us and our destination. It's a little unsettling to be running in the dark directly toward a thunderstorm--we had an impressive cloud to cloud lightning show in our faces that lit up our path intermittently. Luckily a gap formed in the storm that allowed us to pass. Most of the rest of the day was filled with clouds, wind, and rain. Nevertheless, we found some big schools swimming on the ocean right off the bat and quickly jumped a 50 pounder that threw the hook on the first jump. Determined to stick my next fish, I broke off a nicer borderline weight fish (close to 70#) on it's first jump. We finally hooked up with another 50 pounder that we quickly broke off after leadering it that gave us another 200 points. By the end of the day, the wind was blowing 25 with gusts to 40. We actually managed one last bite with seconds to spare at the end of the day, but she didn't stay on. The subsequent 1 hour and 45 minute run back to Islamorada into that 25mph headwind across several deep water crossings was a complete butt kicking.

All said, I was happy with our showing as we are relative newbies to the tarpon tourney scene--this is only our second Golden Fly. Pastor Ed Young won and my buddy Nathaniel Linville, owner of The Angling Company in Key West, came in 4th and won biggest fish with a huge 142 pounder.

I must say it was an honor and a rush to participate in something like a major tarpon tournament.

I'll post some pics when I figure out how to. lol

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