After more than 10 years since my travels to Costa Rica and Nicaragua, I was more than ready to do battle with tarpon again. In pursuit of these silver kings, my friend, Morten Vihlmann, and I were fortunate enough to be under the expert guidance of Dave Plummer, who organizes and guides trips all over the world, and specifically Florida Keys. We managed to land big and beautiful tarpon this time, and much else. 

Florida Keys
Florida Keys is an archipelago, which stretches southwest from Miami. West of the archipelago lie Florida Bay and the Mexican Gulf, and east of the archipelago lie the Florida Strait and the Atlantic Ocean. Florida Keys boasts some of the world's best saltwater fishing, and it's also here that Ernest Hemingway made his name. Today there are luxury marinas everywhere and sportfishing shops on almost every street corner. 

Shark- & Barracuda fishing
We spent most mornings fishing for shark and barracuda at a location near an island 45 minutes into Florida Bay.
Before starting the fishing itself, we had to catch live-bait for the hook and for rubby-dubby. Dave had some chopped-up seafood, we threw into the water near the boat, and it didn't take long before we had big schools of sardines (Harengula jaguana) and pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides) around us. It only took Dave three throws with the cast-net to get more than enough bait to last the day. 

We jigged with light rods for weakfish, small shark, ladyfish and sea catfish, while having two baited rods out for shark and barracuda - for barracuda we used live pinfish, and for shark we used either fish meat or big live-baits. We rarely had to wait more than 15 minutes before sharks found the bait, hit it with impressive ferociousness, and ran off at high speed, line screaming off the reel. It was always with great awe that we took the rod and struck, contemplating the heavy, toothed killer at the other end. When the shark finally stopped, we had hundreds of yards of line to pump back onto the reel - but I think it's fair to say, that after the initial run, the sharks really didn't put up much of fight.

However, trying to get the beast into the boat for a photograph is another matter. Dave warned us, that anglers had previously got bitten very seriously, trying to handle shark in the boat, but Morten and I agreed that it was worth a try. I must admit that we struggled to get them up, but once aboard we luckily didn't have any unfortunate incidents, at all times keeping a wary eye on the beast's teeth. 

We caught the following shark species: bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) to about 150 lbs, Atlantic nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) to well over 200 lbs, spinner shark (Carcharhinus brevipinna) to 130 lbs, and small blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus) and bonnethead (Sphyrna tiburo). 

You could call the barracuda a saltwater version of the pike. It is a sleek, fast and effective killer, and the Atlantic barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) can reach a length of over 6 feet and a weight of well over 100 lbs. At Florida Keys it's not unusual to catch 20-40 pounders.
Generally, it wasn't difficult to locate the 'cudas, as they always quickly appeared to check out what was happening, when the boat stopped – soon to find a live pinfish along with a great big single hook in their face.

They take the bait as readily as the shark, and if you're not quick enough with the strike, the barracuda will often bite the baitfish in half and avoid the hook.
The barracudas are seriously fast fish, much to the enjoyment of the angler, as the line flays the water making a sound like ripping paper. I guess it's unnecessary to mention that you have to be very careful of the barracudas sharp teeth, when you land it, too.
We hooked barracudas to about 30 lbs, but only managed to land one of 12 lbs. 

Tarpon fishing
The Atlantic tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) looks much like an overgrown herring with its under-slung mouth and big-scaled, silver-plated body. But here the comparison ends – the tarpon is a very tough and enduring fish, capable of surviving in even oxygen-poor brackish waters. The tarpon has no teeth as such, but sandpaper-like gums, which I found out "the hard way" (more about this later).
The Atlantic tarpon is found throughout the tropical and sub-tropical Atlantic Ocean, and it is solidly renowned for its fighting qualities and stunning aerobatics.

The best time for tarpon fishing in the Keys is March to June, when the tarpon primarily feed on mullets and are easily caught in daytime. However, we were there in July, when evening- and night fishing with crab apparently is superior.
The tides totally determine the fishing – and it's the out-going tide that counts (from the Mexican Gulf to the Atlantic). The tides have created long channels between the islands, where the currents become quite strong, and that's exactly where we fished.
You could probably try and find the crabs yourself, but it's much easier to just buy them at one of the many well-assorted sport-fishing shops. The crab is side-hooked through the shell with one of the special circle hooks, which are reckoned to give you the best hook-hold in the bony mouth of the tarpon. However, when you fish with circle hooks for tarpon you have to do things a little differently: you have to reel for all you're worth, but you mustn't strike, and you mustn't lift the rod. Though the circle hooks have a better hold on the tarpon, they still have to have time to dig in, plus keeping the rod low helps to keep the tarpon from jumping too much, and throwing the hook. Jeeeezus it was hard NOT to strike! 

We arrived to heat and humidity, even the nights were damned hot, and the wind felt like a giant hairdryer. The first night we wanted to dip our feet in the water to cool off, but after Dave had explained about all the hammerheads, tiger shark and barracudas in the area, we reluctantly decided against it. It apparently happens frequently that tarpon commotion by the boat attracts big hammerheads, and they even take tarpon during the fight. We didn't get any tarpon the first night, though - but we certainly did all the other nights. 

Morten, who had thoroughly entered "vacation-mode", was ripped out of his dreams, when the line exploded off the reel. He reeled for dear life, and after only half an hour we had a 180 lbs tarpon gasping at the side of the boat. This was Morten's first tarpon, ever – quite an average weight to maintain…
Night time photography of fish beside the boat is not very exciting, so I volunteered to lift the fish into the boat. Photo-wise it was a sound idea, but my arm suffered poorly from contact with its gill-covers - my arm looked as if someone had used a cheese grate on it, blood seeping from everywhere. Fortunately, the photos turned out ok. 

We had tarpon every night at outgoing tide, which arrived 45-50 minutes later every day, and the smallest weighed about 120 lbs.
Then the last night it was my turn to do battle with a very big tarpon. I like to think that I fought well for an hour, but for the first time in my life I had to hand over the rod to someone else – Dave fought the fish for another half hour, and then me again for half an hour, but the fish just didn't budge. The line had been grated on the side of the boat and eventually it broke.
We did have the fish close enough to the boat to touch the leader, which, "over-there", counts as a caught fish, but I do consider this one 1-0 in the fish's favour – it beat me, but I'll be back!
Dave estimated it to 180-200 lbs, and we had it on 30 lbs gear, so that might explain it partially. 

During the night fishing we experienced something peculiar; as soon as the flow of the outgoing tide picked up, some fluorescent organisms rose to the surface and drifted with the current. They looked like small floating Christmas lights – a very fascinating sight. One night we even saw masses of fluorescent worms in the surface. 

A couple of mornings, going to and from the shark/barracuda fishing spots, we tried to fly fish for the tarpon. They weren't that hard to locate, actually, and they weren't as wary as we'd imagined, but getting them to take the fly was not easy. To our great exhilaration, one of the first tarpon Morten cast to took the fly, but spit it out just as quickly, and that was about it –although, a few tarpon followed the fly, but none of them took it.
I must say, it's a hugely exciting way to target tarpon, and I can only try and imagine what it must be like to fight them on such gear – probably not for the faint hearted. I can't wait to try again, hopefully next year… 

Other fishes
I have always found it interesting to try and catch as many different species as possible, and it was no different in Florida. When we fished for big live-baits with jig, we put a piece of sardine on the hook, and if we retrieved it just a little too slow, there was no getting past the sea catfish. Dave has nothing but loathe for these slimy and venomous creatures, but to a species freak like me it was great:
"Oops, sorry Dave, got another one…" (hehe)…
Considering their size, they fought quite well, too.
We caught two different species: hardhead sea catfish (Ariopsis felis), and the pretty gafftopsail sea catfish (Bagre marinus), both species grow to about 11 lbs. We also caught spotted weakfish (Cynoscion nebulosus) and mangrove snapper (Lutjanus griseus) on jigs.

Besides the fishing, there were lots of things to do – we had just a week there, and saw only a fraction of the sights, animal life, bars and restaurants. But every day on the water we had exotic visitors near the boat: big loggerhead turtles, giant and gentle manatees, elegant eagle rays and playful dolphins. 

Florida Keys can offer great fishing for other species, as well: marlin, sailfish, bonefish, sawfish, other species of shark and ray, and much else. Locally, a day marlin fishing costs around US$ 650-900 for the whole boat, and tarpon fishing costs around US$ 350 for 4 hours, morning or evening.
If you want to fish with Dave Plummer, you can either contact his Travel Company via his website: http://www.fishandsafari.com/ or contact me on my email: info@jjphoto.dk , as I receive information about vacancies directly from Dave.