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Fishing Report for Homosassa, Florida
Capt. Mike Locklear
August 5, 2000
Homosassa - Saltwater Fishing Report
Recapping Homosassa Tarpon Action - Part 1
My apologies goes out to the readers who look for a weekly report from me. During
tarpon season, I get tight lipped for fear of too much company on the flats. Another
reason is that I like concentrating on fishing more than I usually do during regular times.
But the bottom line is when I travel the coast, my computer is left at home.
To make up for my lack of reports, I will recap the trips taken starting back on May 4
when Ben Bumgardner of Gastonia NC returned to the Homosassa Flats in pursuit of the
mighty giant silver king tarpon on fly. The next few reports will be a series on fly fishing
for tarpon with some current reports of river tarpon fishing and redfish on the flats
Both Ben and I had prepared ourselves as much as we could. Ben had been thinking
about catching a tarpon on the fly since last year when he hooked and fought several the
old conventional way. My preparations were to have all the gear in order. New fly lines
were put on. A new batch of flies and leaders were tied. New Motorguide motors were
installed by Capt. Steve Kilpatrick with his magic switch box that would allow me to turn
the motors on and off with the touch of a button with the foot.
Rumor had it that some guides had already hooked a few tarpon in the green holes. The
new moon would provide a neap tide that would allow us to fish a shallow water flat
where tarpon would cross by.
I anchored the Pro-Line to give Ben a few lessons since he had never cast a 12 weight fly
rod. The G Loomis GLX is so light, Ben thought it was a 9 weight. Within in minutes
Ben was casting 35-40 feet fairly consistent. I thought if Ben did not get buck fever he
would be ok.
I pulled the anchor and just as I was getting onto the poling platform, I noticed a dark
shape coming our way. The wind was perfect. The sun was overhead with blue skies
and the water was gin clear. I would guess the water depth at 4 feet. Soon the one large
black shape appeared to be three as they got closer. I know then that tarpon were closing
in on our port bow.
I instructed Ben to make the same practice cast as minutes before. I was worried that the
fly was not going to make it in the path of the fish, but Ben pulled through and landed a
nice shot a few yards in front of the string of three tarpon. The fish continued to swim
toward the fly as Ben began stripping the fly and the lead tarpon responded perfectly,
coming directly to the fly and opened its large black mouth around the tiny fly. I know
that Ben’s heart was pumping in the 140’s but he did not show it right away
I could see the leader go to the side of the tarpon’s mouth as it slowly turned away. I also
saw slack in the line which was not a bad thing as the fish got going the other way in due
time. Finally, Ben jabbed the fish with his stripping hand and then managed to let all the
line out through the rod and onto the reel without the fish coming up for a jump.
As soon as the fish got onto the reel and felt the drag he peeled off a good 20 yards
before it jumped the first time. I attribute this to a lightly set drag. We had experienced
a time when all went right and nothing went wrong. Both Ben and I agreed that we had
experienced some very good luck.
It was all by the book after that as Ben looked liked a seasoned pro fighting his first
tarpon on the fly. He was very excited at first and rightly so. Hooking a tarpon is kind of
like shooting any big game animal. The adrenaline does pump.
The 100 pound tarpon did go into the backing about 125 yards before we started
recovering line. It took about 90 minutes to land the fish and Ben’s long time friend,
Johnny Houser got proof using a video camera.
We got the fish along side and I pulled the fly from the corner of its mouth and then
watched in awe the 5 foot fish swim away. Ben was truly satisfied with himself and kept
saying during the first leg of the battle, “I can’t believe I am fighting a tarpon on the fly
rod!” During the last leg of the battle Ben kept saying, “I can’t believe how strong this
fish is, will he ever give up?”
Both Ben and I have told the story several dozen times to anyone who would listen since
May 4. I told Ben to say to all that would listen that there ain’t nothin’ to catchin’ a
tarpun on the fly rod! Ha! Ha!
My next report will be for the week of May 8.
P.S. Just a short note to let you know how the fishing off Homosassa is. I got back on
August 4th and fished with Capt. Randall Marsh’s Dad and friends. They landed 6
redfish between 4-5 pounds in four hours fishing. The water is very warm and there is a
lot of floating grass making it hard to use artificals. All the fish were caught in a span of
30 minutes near the top of high tide. One report of a tarpon caught by an unknown
angler using a mullet head in the river near Marker #45 happened on August 5.
More Fishing Reports:
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