Florida Everglades Fly Fishing: Tarpon & Snook On The Tamiami Trail

by | Salt Water

Baby Tarpon Hook-Up

An evening phone call from Maine from Jeremy Cameron. “Hey Marsh, I’ll be flying to Florida, I’m renting a car and I’ll be at your place at 12 noon tomorrow. Can we hit the Tamiami Trail for a couple of mornings?” ”I’m free. Let’s do it”, I said. So, I email directions to my place to Jeremy, and we are at the Tarpon creek by 1:45 the next day. Some serious wind had blown in overnight and the day’s best fishing was well gone by, but I wanted to show Jeremy the spots and give him the casting tour of this great fishery. We saw Manatees, several huge Alligators, jumping Mullet, and several Tarpon to which we cast tiny Clousers. I got one solitary good hit. Tarpon fly fishing is hard, even Baby Tarpon are hard to hook and hold. Jeremy landed a small Snook and we knew the Snook fishing would be still good, so we headed back to the canals that parallel Rt. 41.Standing on a guard rail back casting a Deceiver between speeding cars and trucks, Jeremy was dialed in to ‘his spot’. He’s had success at this hole on an earlier trip to Florida and I think the confidence factor played a role for him, because he landed several plump Snook, and a huge Gar in addition to briefly hooking other “unknowns” (I think they were probably Tarpon).Our mutual friend, headrush999, called when we got home to my place and came over to chat about the next day’s plans which end up being an early 5:30 AM trip back to the Tarpon Creek on the Trail. This time the weather was cold, windy and rainy. It was dismal. But in the car as we sip our coffee, I keep saying stuff like, “Well, we know there are fish there, and that they like to eat real early…” As we rig up at the Creek, Dave has his windbreaker on and I have my fleece pulled up snug while Maine guy Jeremy is off and in a sweater and shorts, still armed with Maine winter-seasoned blood. He shoots film and Dave and I fish. I keep asking Jeremy to fish but he’s more interested in working with his video camera to capture this magical place, the rolling Tarpon and Dave and me casting. Our reward is a splendid video of an 18-lb. Baby Tarpon hooked and played.Around 9 AM we went back to “Jeremy’s Snook hole” and sure enough, the fish were on the prowl and also on the bite, crashing bait along the shore to give us casting, hooking and landing fun for another 2 hours.When the weather’s terrible, not many guides venture out with clients to fly fish in the choppy waters. An alternative, even though conditions are miserable is to fish the Trail like Jeremy, Dave and I did; Tarpon Creek, a place where you can cast safely fromland land Baby Tarpon and eager Snook in the canals of the Everglades.

11 Comments

  1. jeremy on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    marsh,

    thanks for a great day on foot. we always have a blast fly fishing together and yesterday was no differet and i am sure tomorow morning will be the same.. .

    great to see you – especially outside of the frozen tundra of maine…but soon enough – there will be no bettter place in the world to be than maine — and that is when you will show up again…you got a great little gig going on down here. especially great for the flyfisherman who is interested in fly fishing florida from a trout perspective…find the fish, “rising” fish, stealth…no noisy boat or any of that stuff….just fly fishing simplicity. feet, rod and reel…..

    see you tomorrow morning marsh..looking forward to it…

    PS. I gotta say …It was so cool to watch you target a rolling baby tarpon, cast and hook and battle him…all on foot, that was very cool marsh….thanks for letting me tag along.

  2. jeremy on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    PS – I forgot to mention — if anyone is interested in a specific type of fly fishing in naples florida…no boat..wondering the trail and wading the flats and casting to fish… check out marshall’s services. marshall is a good friend and fly fishing companion in maine and he has brought his trout tactics with him down to sw florida…a guided trip on foot is something that is, in many ways, or more holistic experience than being in any kind of boat. i highly recommend this – especiallly to flyfishermen who enjoy fly fishing to trout.

    http://www.flyanglersguide.com/

  3. greg on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    sweeeet, Hats off gents, when its cold and your catching nada, video can make your day and hate everyone in the video.

  4. Shaq on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    NICE STORY!!!! love that type of fishing, gets my heart pounding in the frozen north. Jeremy, you are all over the place..NICE!!!

  5. waterwhippa on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Great to see you guys had a great outing. The weather there looks very inviting compared to the mess up here.

  6. patm on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    great story and video. love the guard rail casting platform.
    still planning to be in that neck of the woods in march

  7. Marcel_Karssies on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Hey, I rather fish with Dave and Marshall in a cold Florida casting to Tarpon than sitting down here in the office any day.

    Have you guys been to the creek behind Lake Avalon yet, I am still curious if that water houses any baby Tarpon like Dave said…

  8. MarshallD on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    yes, Marcell, I’ve been over a couple of times….a long walk….a shabby, litter-strewn canal which opens marginally. Unaestetic environs…but possibly it was Tarpon I saw crash some bait way out of casting range….I made maybe 14 casts and left. I’d much rather go down to the trail, even though it’s a bit of a drive, I think chances are way better hooking bigger Tarpon there. Hope you have warm weather to try for pikes!

  9. Fisherboy on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Nice work guys I look forward to seeing more………

    Austin

  10. RickW on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    This brings back memories, I lived near Pinellas park for a year when I was 12 or so. I wasn’t fly fishing back then, but I do remember prowling the canals on foot casting small plugs to the snook, and catching a redfish or seatrout here and there. Had a BALL!
    Thanks for the flashback

  11. zdog on November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    dang that sonds awsome and do you live near their my buddies say its good fishing