There is a common misconception that Florida tarpon fishing is all about making 90-foot hero casts. Wrong. Often—especially when the light is poor—you don’t see the fish until they are close. At these times it’s important to be extremely accurate, and land the fly with the line straight so you can immediately move the fly. There’s no time to strip the fly into position and no room for error. Watch 20-year flats veteran Capt. Bruce Chard give some quick instruction and coach Colorado trout fisher Kara Armano to her first tarpon in her first hour of tarpon fishing EVER.
Take a close look in the “Kara” video and you can see the dark outlines of the tarpon as they move toward and past the boat—and that’s from a low, seated vantage point. Much easy to see up on the bow of the skiff.