tarpon

[left field]

After a month in town, it's time for some tarpon fishing.

Went out for the afternoon, mostly to blow the shit out of my system. I haven't fished for months and I never throw an 8wt. 

First thing I saw in the boat:

Gotta love that. 

We hit the deep mangroves. Tight to the sides and overhead with almost no place to cast. The guide pointed to a hole and told me to cast in there. I'm pretty good short and tight so that wasn't a problem. Third cast, tarpon exploded and I set badly. We had a setting lesson. Next cast, I hooked another but he shook me. Next cast, a snook in the boat. Three more casts, and another snook. 

Then the crocodile showed up. Two metres long.

  

The guide and the owner of the company (who was with us to ensure I had a good time) pulled up their sleeves and showed their scars from crocodile bites. It was like that scene on Jaws.  No way I was pulling down my pants to show my vasectomy scar.

We left the mangroves and poled along the edges casting back to them. Damn, my cast was bad. Couldn't load the rod or get a decent haul. I was using my Sage salmon rod with a new Orvis line but it wasn't right. Thankfully, I borrowed a friend's Winston and with another line it was much better. 

Though I cast for another three hours we didn't see a fish. Oh well, good to get out there and see the sun on the water.

Even if it didn't see me.

[The_Real_TCIII]

Looks like an amazing time! Im headed out soon hoping to find an unfrozen stretch of stream and catch a 9" trout lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Nytracker]

Bucket list is tarpon on a fly rod and peacock bass.. an old friend of mine that passed was getting peacock bass in the canal system in Florida.  Never made it down before  his passing. 

[SpacemanSpiff]

Looks like a blast. 

[left field]

Can't link the video but you can check out my first tarpon in the mangroves on instagram @campechetarpon latest post.

https://www.instagram.com/challenge/?next=/campechetarpon/%3Fhl%3Den

Gives you a sense of how tight everything is.

Edited February 2, 2022 by left field

[Waterfowler]

Where are you?

[left field]

Campeche in the Yucatan. Heading north to Rio Lagartos tomorrow. 

I hadn't planned to fish there, but the outfitters were kind enough to comp me a day. First class operation and I am stunned with how beautiful Campeche is. 

I wish I could post the video to show how insanely dense the mangroves are. I caught a tarpon the lept into a dead tree and hung there as we scrambled to get to him. He got off just before we got there.

[left field]

Day Two of fishing.

Call him Ismael, as that is his name.

Hard guy to find. No real internet info and it was only through another guide fiend that Ish and I fished together for tarpon.

And we fished.

We spent six hours searching the mangroves and the open bay for tarpon and only managed to hook and lose a few small ones. We searched, bullshitted and worked on my double haul.

Finally, at 2:00 we saw a triumph of tarpon rolling in the middle of the bay. 30 or so were exposing their backs as they chased shrimp. We circled around to take advantage of the wind and bang, we were on. 

Fifteen hookups and five landed in an hour.

Back at it tomorrow. 

 

[left field]

Tough day. Major storm last night and a lot of wind today. Managed a few hookups and one tarpon to the boat, but the wind was too strong on the open water. 

We decided to try deep in the mangroves. After pulling ourselves through the trees into a tiny channel we came out to a 10’x15’ pool filled with rolling tarpon. This was “trout water” and my casting shone as I was hitting the pockets perfectly. 

Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a strike despite trying a half dozen flies. I would drag a fly across a tarpon’s nose and he would ignore it. 

I was facing forward on the bow thinking about changing flies again when there was a great crash behind me. I thought a jaguar had taken Ismael and I quickly turned with the dull mango knife in my hand. A tarpon had jumped into the boat and was thrashing at Ismael’s feet. There was another huge thump as a tarpon smashed into the side of the boat. I don’t think we spooked them as much as they just wanted to screw with us. 

The boated fish flipped back into the water and we decided to call the morning and try for a sneak of snook this afternoon. 

Still …

[left field]

So I fired a guide on the water today.

Took a chance and headed up to a little known tarpon area and found the only recommended guide in the town. 6:00 am start, so I shot up last night and took a small room in a beach hotel. $35 with AC. But the AC didn't work so it was a sweaty night. $35 doesn't go as far as it once did.

I met the guide and his partner at the dock and we set off for the mangroves. At first I was a little surprised with the boat as it didn't have a bow casting platform. Instead I had to use a beat up piece of plywood in the belly of the boat. That immediately put me at a height disadvantage and the line kept catching on the plywood. Oh well.

We hit the mangroves and I quickly realized that these guys didn't know how to find tarpon as we all we did was drive in an out of the mangroves. After two hours, I had only cast maybe 20 times and they were all blind casts into muddy water. 

They finally decided to try an open water spot and they set up into the wind so my cast was pretty much screwed. This was deep water and with only a floating line on, there was no way I could get down. I was switching to my heaviest fly when I noticed that both guys had now grabbed spinning rods and were casting at the bow and stern. 

I reeled in and watched them for a minute. Neither asked me if I was okay and I finally asked the guide to if he always fished when someone was paying him to find fish.

"All the time," was his response.

"In that case, take me back to the dock and you guys can carry on fishing."

They reeled in, drove the 20 minutes back to the dock. I explained I had never seen that before and explained that a sure fired way to piss off a client is to catch a fish on his time. I gave them half the agreed upon rate. 

He knew I was writing an article and asked if I needed any more details. I looked at him and said, "You really don't want me writing about this."

So it goes.

Am now recovering the best way I can.

 

[wolc123]

41 minutes ago, left field said:

So I fired a guide on the water today.

Took a chance and headed up to a little known tarpon area and found the only recommended guide in the town. 6:00 am start, so I shot up last night and took a small room in a beach hotel. $35 with AC. But the AC didn't work so it was a sweaty night. $35 doesn't go as far as it once did.

I met the guide and his partner at the dock and we set off for the mangroves. At first I was a little surprised with the boat as it didn't have a bow casting platform. Instead I had to use a beat up piece of plywood in the belly of the boat. That immediately put me at a height disadvantage and the line kept catching on the plywood. Oh well.

We hit the mangroves and I quickly realized that these guys didn't know how to find tarpon as we all we did was drive in an out of the mangroves. After two hours, I had only cast maybe 20 times and they were all blind casts into muddy water. 

They finally decided to try an open water spot and they set up into the wind so my cast was pretty much screwed. This was deep water and with only a floating line on, there was no way I could get down. I was switching to my heaviest fly when I noticed that both guys had now grabbed spinning rods and were casting at the bow and stern. 

I reeled in and watched them for a minute. Neither asked me if I was okay and I finally asked the guide to if he always fished when someone was paying him to find fish.

"All the time," was his response.

"In that case, take me back to the dock and you guys can carry on fishing."

They reeled in, drove the 20 minutes back to the dock. I explained I had never seen that before and explained that a sure fired way to piss off a client is to catch a fish on his time. I gave them half the agreed upon rate. 

He knew I was writing an article and asked if I needed any more details. I looked at him and said, "You really don't want me writing about this."

So it goes.

Am now recovering the best way I can.

 

 

With the open border, and big northward migration that has been going on for over a year, you were lucky to find any guide.    

 

[left field]

I talked about that with a few guys and guides. Consensus … why would I leave paradise? 

[BizCT]

Stinks when you get a bad guide/outfitter but it happens. At least your other days sounded great


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[left field]

They were fantastic and provided a great contrast. 

Tonight, however, was a hell of a thing.