Have had 3 days of fishing so far in the Keys and it has been really tough. 25 knot winds all day have made the fishing hard, and coupled with the migratory Tarpon not having arrived yet, it is extra tough.

Yesterday we decided to drum up some enthusiasm with the sharks:


Ready for action (or at least the sun!)




The first fish was for me, an 8 foot, 175lb Nurse Shark. The pictures don't do it justice. They don't put up much of a scrap but any fish that size will still pull hard!




Then my dad got in on the act with a 75lb Lemon Shark, which put up a much better fight.









Today we poled the flats and saw very little. Had a couple of shots at Tarpon in the 25 knot wind. Fouled one of them up and was unlucky with the other.


My dad managed a Bonefish though, which was at the least quite fun!




Hopefully by the end of the trip the old man will have worked out how to photo fish properly!

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Hi Chris,

Nice pics - do you have to tip your flies with anything to get the sharks to take? I've had a lot of last minute refusals.

Good luck with the tarpon,

James

Hi James,
Apparently if you tip them with anything you get a take straight away, but then it's not exactly getting them to eat a fly!

We spent about 4 hours casting to them - hooked 4 and landed 2. We cast at them hundreds of times and they would refuse at the last minute. The problem is that if you use a blood trail to bring them to the boat then they start hunting by scent rather than with their eyes (which are poor anyway).

Anyway, we got them to eat the fly without tipping it with anything, but it's hard and frustrating work - you have to literally get the fly in to their mouth yourself!

The Spinner Sharks I've caught from round Miami seem a lot more eager to take a fly - whether it's because they are in deeper water I don't know.

Chris

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Hey Chris.....It might help if you try using shark flies when you are targeting sharks......Mind you that looks a half decent Tarpon Fly in that Lemon's gob

PS. have you tried breakfast at Rosies place yet?

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Brian G

Looks great fun Chris , nice photos, hope you get some tarpon.
Cheers Ray.

Hey Brian,
The more traditional shark flies weren't working, or were fishing at the wrong depth so I stuck one of those nice Tarpon flies on and bang!

Not tried Rosies yet, but did hit the Chinese last night which was filling!

Cheers,
Chris

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Very interesting how the weather impacts the tarpon movements.

I was fishing in Islamorada in the last week of March and we found plenty of tarpon. But getting them to eat was a different matter. Weather was reasonably settled and warm.

Then we went north to Biscayne bay and the weather went rapidly downhill....so did the fishing.

Have fun the rest of your trip.

Ah, hell's bells!
We fished from 7-9.30 this eve and jumped 9 Tarpon, resulting in precisely 0 landed!
Lost a couple round in the bridge, had a couple of Gamakatsu hooks straighten and the rest just threw the hook.
Better luck tomorrow hopefully

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Told you it can be fun by the bridges when they turn the lights on

Bit surprised about Gammys straightening though.....Presume you were using fairly small shrimp patterns when this happened and they were not tied on the SC15's

While I tie all my Tarpon Flies on Varivas 2600/Sakuma 420s now days, I used to tie them on Gammy SC15's and can't remember ever having one straighten out.

Glad Lenny is doing the business for you, and while it is a great shame about Jeff (and I do hope he is going to be OK) Lenny is every bit as good at the game.....Have fun tonight, and try to keep a few on this time

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Brian G

Hey Cooky

Sounds like good fishing at night- do us a favour and find out which bridge you were under?

You must try Rosies for Dinner- Steak Churrasco is bloody magic for under $10,I think her place is actually called Cocos Kitchen right next to Win Dixie.

Good luck with the Secret Sauce .

Colin