Fly Fishing the Florida Keys

by Kevin McKay
April 4th to April 7th 2008

Laying here on the picnic table looking at the stars and drinking Corona, it is 80 degrees and I am in the Florida Keys. I reflect on how I ended up here. About four months ago I heard the news of a fellow UPS driver. He was getting a hair cut and the barber felt a bump at the base of his head. A week later he was told he had brain cancer. What hit me hard was he was only a year or two from retiring! I am 20 years away and realized some things can't wait. I have always dreamed of just taking off for the weekend to Florida. So I spoke to my wife about it and being the incredible wife that she is, she encouraged me to go and maybe take her next year. So, away I went!

As with all trips it really starts at home. I spent weeks tying flies and bugging Jim from Eldredge Bros. Fly shop about his experiences there. I did decide to hire a guide for a couple of days, Eric Wallace ofwww.coastalflyangler.com, for tarpon and permit and maybe even a bone fish. I found some great friends out there, I had people getting me printouts of maps and article of the area. I also had the privilege of meeting Matt and his family, who were very good to me.

As I stood on the bow of the boat I could see a dark shape slowly moving towards me. It was a ways out but its dark body against the white sand made it stand out in the sea of blue. The wind was blowing and the sun was shining. Unfortunately, I had planned my trip when April winds blew the hardest but that wasn't stopping me. As the shape got closer I cast my bait fish pattern in its direction. I started stripping line. It was a five foot shark and it caught site of my fly which was on its path, with one push of its tail the shark was on my fly. It opened its mouth and was about to grab the fly but changed its mind at the last minute. My heart was pounding,! My first shot at a flats fish was not my last. I think I had five more shots at the big shark and only one other gave my fly a look, very exciting fishing.

As I stood there with my one bone fish slider in hand, Matt told me to cast to the mangroves. I got about three strips when wham! The fly was gone, a barracuda. I lost several more flies and soon the wire leader and a big white fly came out. We would be ready for the next one. As Matt poled me around the flats I spent the next several hours casting to anything that swam. Most of the cuda were from 12 inches to a couple of feet long but I did get a few cast off to one as long as my leg.

I only had one shot at some bones. As the tide was dropping we could see five fish working the edge of the mangroves. I cast my bone fish slider a head of them and worked it back to them. The line went tight and my reel was screaming, high fives and yelled, "My first bone fish ,baby!" But as it got closer to the boat we could see it had a unique shape, it was a three foot shark, a bonnet head shark. The disappointment soon left me when it made another run out. I could have spent all day just chasing sharks, they are one powerful fish.

After a long day fishing with Matt, I headed deeper into the Keys with the windows down and the radio cranked, it was 86 degrees out! I had just left Maine where it was in the 40s and snow on the ground with more snow on the way. Doing this solo trip, I had a lot of time to think. Many things crossed my mind but the thing that stood out was how lucky I am to live my dream, to have friends and family that support my crazy addiction. It is an addiction, but it is one I embrace.

On Saturday morning I met Eric around 8 a.m. and soon we were shooting a cross the bay, our first target was tarpon. After we stop the boat Eric went over the game plan. Basically stand on the bow of the boat with line stripped into basket, fly in hand and wait and wait and wait. This is my first time and all I knew about tarpon was they jump and they are big. I had no clue what to expect. So I hope this will give you a better understanding of tarpon fishing. First off it is not fishing, you are hunting, you and the guide spent hours starring at the water for six foot shadows and it could be ever 10 minutes or hours between each cast but when you see the size of the fish for the first time, you heart will stop and you will know why you are here thousand of miles a way from your family just standing on the bow of a boat getting pounded by the wind. We had tough condition and Eric did a hell of a job giving me shots at fish and positioning that boat in those high winds. I think we had 10 or more shots at tarpon and two of the best shots, something went wrong.

The first real shot or best shot was on the second day, the sun was up and wind had dropped just enough to see in the water better. We could actually see some fish approaching us, so we could wait for them. I through to two o-clock at three tarpon with not even a look when Eric says flip it to 10 o-clock. I could actually see this fish heading at me, 80 to 100 pound fish. I flip the fly out in front of the fish, when Eric yell that the line is wrapped around the tip and to pick it up and fix it, in that time the fish cruises us by.

The second shot was at the end of the second day, we had floated the flat for a couple of hours with out seeing a fish and out of no were there are two at three o-clock, Eric position the boat for a shot and I fire off a cast and the line land three feet short, a big knot had developed from all the bouncing around for the last two hours, oh well that is fishing.

I did have a couple of shots at permit, Eric polled us up onto a flat and I was stripping line into the basket to get ready. When he yell right there, flip it, flip it . I look right of the bow of the boat there is a big permit, there was no mistaking the shape of that fish. I flip the fly out right beside the fish and it turns and looks at the fly but it also looks at us and is gone!

As we staked out waiting for cruising permit, I can see this familiar shape cruising the shallows, a small shark. Eric say hit on the head and see if it will eat the crab pattern. I did but a little jack swimming with the shark was on it in a flash.

The next shot was the most exciting. Eric had a cuda rod set up and thought I might need a bend in the rod, so we started messing around with barracuda, which is a blast. These fish will come from no where and attack your fly and some are three feet long but there is a time and place for them and it isn't when you are permit hunting as I found out. My back cast had found a mangrove and as I was just about to reach for the fly I catch a fish out of the corner of my eye," it's a barra... Pemit?"I say. Eric looks and yells break the fly off, break the fly off! Get the permit rod, throw the rod in the boat. Now I have a rod in the boat with line very where and the tip is sticking up about a foot. The fish still has no clue we are even there. Eric says cast, cast! I throw out the line and whack! It wraps around my rod. I get it untangled and take another shot and now my line is wrapped around the rod in the boat and falls to short. I get that untangled and get another shot and the fly lands just out in front of the fish, the permit leans in on the fly and Eric says strip, strip but the leader wasn't tight enough so the fly doesn't move quick enough and the fish is gone.

I recommend if you go don't just target one fish on your first trip. There are many species to put a bend in your rod. Also take some time to see the Keys, see the sites and take in the smells. Find you way down into Key West, there is good food and great sites to see. And be patient if you target tarpon and Permit, you are hunting not fishing, the reward will be well worth it.