Golden Fly Tarpon Tournament: I Went Bonefishing

Posted under fly fishing news by Dave Teper

The 2008 Golden Fly Tarpon Tournament has been completed and the champions announced. Congrats go out to Capt. Scott Collins and angler David Dalu as they beat out a group of fine anglers. Included in the field were our friends, Capt. Mark Phillips fishing Doug Behrman, and Capt. George Wood fishing my friend Brian Bavosi. Although all of our friends hung fish, tough fishing prevented any sort of slaughter fest… even for Andy Mill.

Brian and I had been in the Bahamas and the Marquesas for a couple weeks prior to the tournament getting him accustomed to the weather and the fishing, as he has suffered through a long winter with almost 600 inches of snow in Steamboat Springs, CO. The fishing in Grand Bahama with Bernard Bevans was as it always is…awesome! Just when we thought the trip couldn’t get any better we got to Key West, and Will put us on more tarpon than we needed, although we couldn’t get enough.

After Key west, Brian and I headed up to Islamorada so he could fish his fancy little tarpon tournament, and so I could hopefully bum some bow time. The next 2 days I found myself on the front of Capt. Eric Lund’s boat, and scored big with him. An 80lb. tarpon, a 5lb. bonefish, and a 18lb. permit all fell victim to the bright blue boat. The next day I found myself on Jeremy Fisher’s boat, and when he asked what I would like to do, I replied “Dude, everyone is tarpon fishing, lets go stick a pig bonefish”. And we did.