Everglades Tarpon Fishing: SW Florida 2009

No other fly fishing destination in North America offers the kind of raw wilderness and pure angling adventure found deep within the confines of Everglades National Park.

The twisted labyrinth of mangrove islands, rivers, creeks, bays, lakes and brackish water ponds offers hard-core fly fishermen angling challenges far beyond the ordinary. During the winter and early spring mmonths, Capts. Bill Faulkner and Kevin Mihailoff ply the farthest reaches of the Everglades in search of trophy snook and resident tarpon often found in places far too remote and too clandestine to be known or remembered by name.

Dissecting the mysterious tannic waters of the Everglades Backcountry in the most technical poling skiffs puts you in places you might never have thought existed in the continental U.S.

Fish for world-record size snook and juvenile tarpon in inches of water — and if you’re lucky — you might just hit one of those calm winter days where hundreds of giant river-dwelling tarpon decide to meander across an expansive bay some 30 miles from the nearest man-made structure of any kind.

The World Angling Crew is currently filing dates for January, February, March, April and May 2009.

For more information…contact us

The Seychelles: Alphonse Island “Jeets”, Airflo Fly Lines

Travis Rummel was nice enough to introduce us to some of his friends this September out in Denver.  One of those friends, Gareth Jones from Airflo Fly Lines sent us this report of a recent trip to the Seychelles.  He also sent us a bunch of lines.  Guess what we will be fishing with this year…thats right…AIRFLO.

Flying into this remote atoll it was easy to see why Alphonse is without doubt one of the greatest bonefish destinations discovered to date.  Miles and miles of brilliant white sand flats and clouds (I kid you not) of bonefish eager to take the fly - as long as it hit the deck, these fish don’t look up.  To say I hooked 50 bonefish in the first morning is no exaggeration, I needed to get it out of my system and laughed with my Dad as we weaved in and out of each others lines with double hook up after double hook up. Needless to say, with that craziness out of the way, it was time to move onto something else - GT’s or JEETS as the locals call them, regularly cross the finger flats as they head from one area of blue water to another.  There are no push poles here, instead the guide’s idle you gently along the edge of the flat searching for the tell tale black shape of a big GT.  Once located it’s out of the boat with the 12# ready to cast large black or tan Sempher patterns tied on 6/0 Gamakatsu’s.  The set-up is pretty fierce - 100lb straight fluorocarbon directly to the fly, the line - an Airflo GT’ special with a 50lb test core, loaded on a Hatch 12Plus with enough backing to make a your own personal driftnet should the conventional approach fail… The flies are not flashy by any means and provided they were cast with a decent 6′ lead, they were seized upon with some serious aggression - GT’s are in my limited experience, the most aggressive things I’ve ever cast flies at - including Hippos, buts that’s another story.  The pursuing fights were incredible - our party landed fish during the week up to 100lbs - that fish was an absolute bus, but larger were hooked during the week including one estimated at 140lb… GT’s weren’t the only company on the flats, the legendary Milkfish would regularly put in an appearance - some in the 30lb class - and were certainly not interested in taking my stuff, and needless to say I’ll be back.  What did surprise me were the amounts of Permit we ran into, even more surprising was the numbers of bonefish they lived with - usually they had they own personal ‘force field’ of bonefish that would happily test out my crab before the Permit could get an eyeful.  Alphonse is without doubt one of the greatest saltwater fly fishing lodges on the planet, from the sultry voice on the other end of your wake up call, to the exquisite food freshly prepared each evening - Alphonse is 5 star.

6th Florida Keys Fall Bonefish Population Census: BTU

A big day is almost upon us.  The 2008 Bonefish and Tarpon Conservation Research bonefish census is scheduled for Wednesday, October 29.  Looks like the wind might blow a bit, but there should be blue skies, and seeing the fish shouldn’t be a problem  If you need more info, visit bonefishresearch.com, or download the paperwork needed to participate here.

The Curse Is Lifted:  Dave Finally Lands A Permit! 

After 301 days of going permit-less the talented Mr. Teper finally managed to wrap his hands around another vertical silver flounder!  It all began the day after our first film premier.  Dave, Capt Mark Phillips and I were out taking some much needed shots at fish following a nearly six week editing binge.  Late in the day, we spotted some tailing fish cruising off the flat with the tide.  Dave jumped in the water while Mark polled me into position with the camera.  What ensued was pure documentary magic.  Dave caught the fish and I captured the best shot of my life.  And with that, the curse of the magic shot began.  Over the months Dave managed to connect with a few but never got one to the boat.  He threatened to nail the next one to my wooden door, which only exasperated his already miserable luck. The darkest hour came when he and Capt. Jeff Legutki accompanied Bill Houze and I on a shoot in mid July as we were preparing our entry for the Drake Magazine Video Awards.  Dave managed to pass his bad luck on to Bill as Bill’s biggest permit to date came boat-side.  A freak bend was put into the edge of the reel spool during one of the last ditch efforts to escape from Bills Gold Cup-grip.  The line popped and the Captain lost his cool.  It made for awesome film, but we didn’t know it at the time.  It just seemed that Dave’s miserable luck was plaguing our efforts.  

At the Fly Fishing Retailers Convention this September, Dave had his moment of revelation as we stood at the back casting pond and threw a little known line of rods called Fetha-Styx.  As dave began his trademark left-handed relaxed cast, he turned to me and said, “this is the rod!”  Sure enough, first time out in the keys, first tailing fish in his sights, Dave’s hunch paid off as his new Fetha-Styx made short work of a nearly 20 pound permit.  As we all rendezvoused at Marvin Key for a picnic later that evening, Dave and Jeff broke the news.  Since I was fishing the rescheduled S.L.A.M. earlier that day and didn’t manage any fish to the boat, I was sincerely impressed if a bit jealous.  Maybe the good luck rubbed off because my Anglers Ron Walker and Joe Weaver managed to land 4 the next day.  Since Ron caught his last fish first, he took home most permit releases.  Congrats to Troy Pruitt and his guide Brian Helms for their overall win in the event.  For all the details on the 2008 Mercury S.L.A.M. check out the press release at ESPN Outdoors.

Fly Fishing Tarpon In Key West: 2009 Dates Now Available

Dates now available for Will Benson, Bill Houze, Mark Phillips and Bryan Holeman.

Click Here To Book A Trip

Every year, beginning as early as March, large migratory tarpon show up in the shallows around Key West.  There is nothing like it anywhere else in fly fishing.  Sight casting for 60-180 pound fish in clear shallow water is the ultimate saltwater fly experience.  These hallowed waters are also home to some of the best fly fishing guides on the planet.  Veterans of the sport know that finding the right guide, one who specializes in technical fly fishing, is critical to success.  Often times the best guides are booked years in advance and dates almost impossible to get. The Crew at WorldANGLING is currently in the process of filling dates for the 09′ season.  With lots of return clients coming back next year, we anticipate being booked solid from the end of February through July, so if you want to get some time with us on the water please Contact Us soon.  Can’t get enough during the day?  We also offer night-time tarpon trips for those interested in flat-out action.  So, get your schedules out, and get in touch with us.  Let us know how we can help you plan your trip to the Keys.