It was a steamy hot, still morning when I boarded Capt. Tommy’s 18 foot Hell’s Bay boat for my first ever fly fishing trip for Tarpon. I had been encouraged numerous times to "Come and see what your husband does for a living during Tarpon season" but had always demurred, thinking it would be too hot or too rough or the day too long (or starting too early!) Tommy convinced me that we were on "Kathy Time" so I didn’t actually get to see the sun rise, but many of Tommy’s clients do have that honor.

After a seemingly short ride, we pulled up on one of Tommy’s favorite Tarpon Flats just in time to see a lone angler hook up & jump a very healthy fish on a fly rod and then fight him for a fair amount of time. As I watched the fight, Tommy got his boat situated in the right spot and then prepared his fly fishing gear to begin spotting fish. We didn’t have long to wait, as several fish headed right towards the boat almost immediately. A couple of long, beautiful casts later those fish were history but many more were on the way, in groups of 10 to 15 or in smaller 2’s and 3’s. I can never get enough of watching Tommy cast a fly, he makes it look so graceful and easy. One of the first things Tommy cautioned me about was that if a Tarpon comes in the boat, you get OUT! Sometime in the first hour we were there, a lone fish took the fly and the excitement began. It is so amazing to watch a fish weighing as much as a small person (or not so small) fly through the air, it’s so still you can hear the tarpon straining, and chuffing and slapping as it tail walks and then the tremendous splash only to go airborne again. This particular fish jumped no less than 6 times in the 20 minutes of tug of war, man against beast, the beast towing us and the boat along behind as Tommy strained time & again to reel it in. Finally he reeled the leader into the tip and broke it off, an official "Catch". As the family Cheerleader, it was up to me to clap & cheer & praise my big strong fisherman.

Meanwhile, the Lone Angler, David hooked up on another fish and broke what he admitted was his 2nd rod of the day. Tommy took pity on him (he was now casting his only remaining 8 weight) and loaned him an 11 weight rod. After the trade and a bit of boat repositioning I turned my attention to watching David for a while. As I watched, he was casting from his poling platform at some fish I could see headed his way. One of the fish went for his fly right next to his boat. (Keep in mind that this is a fairly new Hell’s Bay with a pristine white deck-obviously well cared for) The Tarpon went airborne inches from the boat, flew up about 8 feet and landed with a smack in the middle of David’s boat. This was not a happy fish! As it slapped and thumped and tried to beat it’s way out of the skiff, poor David just stood out of the way on the platform with his mouth & eyes wide wondering what in the world his was going to do. All we could see was the fishes tail as it flopped & contorted, scales & blood flying. We heard several "Aaarrrrrggggghhh’s", whatever that means, as the pieces of broken fly rods flew out of the boat followed closely by fly boxes and other equipment. We watched his expensive Cobia Rig fly 10 feet off the bow of the boat as well. This couldn’t have lasted more than 3 or 4 minutes (but felt longer-in slow motion) before David finally had to do something, so he jumped into the fray, immediately soaking his sungloves with slime, etc. as he tried several times to rescue this fish - or maybe he was rescuing his boat. The happy ending is that eventually the fish was placed back in the water and swam away, leaving the stunned angler saying "That was nuts, that was so crazy" as he gathered up his floating and sunken belongings and scrubbed his boat deck clean. Total damage & loss - one slightly bent boat ignition key and probably several ruined items of clothing. I’m wondering how long it took for his heart rate to return to normal? All this from a fish Tommy estimated to weigh somewhere between 30 & 40 pounds.

What a day! What an adventure! Those few hours we spent on the water has given me a taste of why so many anglers catch the Tarpon bug and then get eaten up by it!

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