In the 1950s, tarpon fishing on Florida Bay was a lonely game, with few players.
Spring is here and giant tarpon are returning to the fishing flats of Florida. Facing off against this annual invasion are great picket lines of flyfisher-men, by now a familiar sight on the shallow banks of the Florida Keys, South Dade and (a bit later in the season) Homosassa. The rankest novices among them are aching to do battle with fish weighing a hundred pounds. The veterans are dreaming of hookups with tarpon twice that size.
Less than 40 years ago, the idea of catching a 100-pound tarpon on “regulation” tackle was looked upon by most fly fishermen as not merely a dream, but a fantasy as far-fetched as interstellar travel. Even after the first few 100-pounders had been duly and officially recorded in the late 1950s, strident voices all over the land —some of them in South Florida—were still protesting that the public was being hoodwinked; that it was patently impossible to catch a fish of such size on fly gear. Read more
