Let me set the scene for my past Sundays’ fishing excursion. I shut down my engine as I pulled into a Flagler Beach canal, lowered my trolling motor and readied my fly rod to begin fishing. As I worked my way into the canal I noticed that things were awfully quiet, very few mullet jumping, a lack of bait and nearly a dead low tide. I thought to myself, am I wasting my time or should I move to find some moving water. I decided to stay and give it a shot since I had limited myself to 3 hours of fishing. Working my way down the first half of the canal I didn’t have a single hit or blowup on my topwater fly. As I continued into the second half of the canal I had my first unsuccessful strike. I continued on and had a couple of more strikes but still no takers. I finally connected with a snook that was about 10 inches.
When I reached the end of the canal I worked it for a few minutes and had a good strike, but once again a missed fish. I worked my way up the other side of the canal and landed another small snook. I then decided to go back and work the end of the canal one more time. On my third cast something inhaled my fly and began to run with it. The fish then jumped about 3’ in the air and I knew right away what it was, a small tarpon. He proceeded to jump three more times before I got him to the side of the boat. Once I had him there he took one took last jump and landed right in the boat.
This was by no means a big tarpon as standards go, it only measured 25”, but it was still big fun on a fly rod. It was also my first tarpon on a fly rod. There’s only one goal I have in mind now when it comes to tarpon and that is to land a larger one on fly tackle. Oh well, I guess this means I’ll have to spend more money on a heavier weight fly rod and reel. Something else I can add to my already vast arsenal of fishing tackle.
The big talk this past week was of the 8 king mackerel that were caught off the pier on Sunday. That was a record according to some of the regulars that have fished the pier for years. Neil Foglia has caught 4 kings so far this year weighing 10.12, 15.3, 23,and 28 lbs. One more and Neil will have a record for the most kings in a season. Neil has caught his kings using live spots, bluefish and pogys for bait. Other than kings the pier is also yielding whiting, pompano and black drum.
Roy’s Bait House reports that Bob Quartero was offshore for 2 red snapper, 1 dolphin and 5 king mackerel. Inshore Chuck Kaszupski and Chuck Jr. fished Stomach Lake for 3 trout, 18, 19 and 20 inches. Greg Wilke – 24” black drum. Wes Cooper – 27”-6.8lb trout, 22”-5.5 lb black drum. Robert Cassesse – 26 ¼”-6.3 lb trout. Alan Norman – 23”-3,9 lb red. Bob Rees – 24”-4 lb trout.
Photo: Capt. Rob Ottlein caught this 25” tarpon while fly fishing using a topwater bubble head fly.
When I reached the end of the canal I worked it for a few minutes and had a good strike, but once again a missed fish. I worked my way up the other side of the canal and landed another small snook. I then decided to go back and work the end of the canal one more time. On my third cast something inhaled my fly and began to run with it. The fish then jumped about 3’ in the air and I knew right away what it was, a small tarpon. He proceeded to jump three more times before I got him to the side of the boat. Once I had him there he took one took last jump and landed right in the boat.
This was by no means a big tarpon as standards go, it only measured 25”, but it was still big fun on a fly rod. It was also my first tarpon on a fly rod. There’s only one goal I have in mind now when it comes to tarpon and that is to land a larger one on fly tackle. Oh well, I guess this means I’ll have to spend more money on a heavier weight fly rod and reel. Something else I can add to my already vast arsenal of fishing tackle.
The big talk this past week was of the 8 king mackerel that were caught off the pier on Sunday. That was a record according to some of the regulars that have fished the pier for years. Neil Foglia has caught 4 kings so far this year weighing 10.12, 15.3, 23,and 28 lbs. One more and Neil will have a record for the most kings in a season. Neil has caught his kings using live spots, bluefish and pogys for bait. Other than kings the pier is also yielding whiting, pompano and black drum.
Roy’s Bait House reports that Bob Quartero was offshore for 2 red snapper, 1 dolphin and 5 king mackerel. Inshore Chuck Kaszupski and Chuck Jr. fished Stomach Lake for 3 trout, 18, 19 and 20 inches. Greg Wilke – 24” black drum. Wes Cooper – 27”-6.8lb trout, 22”-5.5 lb black drum. Robert Cassesse – 26 ¼”-6.3 lb trout. Alan Norman – 23”-3,9 lb red. Bob Rees – 24”-4 lb trout.
Photo: Capt. Rob Ottlein caught this 25” tarpon while fly fishing using a topwater bubble head fly.