T A R P O N

WHY WOULD YOU travel into the jungle, stay in a rustic and simple lodge and sometimes blindcast for hours to tarpon that has so much natural food that they can be hard to tempt with flash and feathers? The answer is simple: Because these jungle tarpon are big. That’s right; B-I-G!

YOU KNOW the 80 pounders most guides call 100 pounders and the 100 pounders they call 120? We have A LOT of those and quite a few that are bigger. Much bigger. Genuine 200 pound plus fish swim these waters and fish of 150 lbs or more are hooked every week of the season.

WHILE WE HAVE SEEN enough other tarpon locations to know that we are sitting on something very special we want our guests to understand that big fish get big for a reason. These jungle poons are not stupid. And they have a lot of food. The fishing can be really easy when they are feeding hard and sometimes we hook four or five fish in less than an hour’s fishing. At other times, you may see more big tarpon in a day than you have seen for weeks at other destinations – but fooling them into getting a bite can be tough.

IN AN AVERAGE WEEK, anytime during the season, our six fly anglers fishing from three boats will hook between 30 and 50 tarpon and land around a third of those. That’s not that many fish but during most weeks the average size is 80-100 pounds and the biggest fish of the week is usually between 150 and 180 lbs! And though we have seen a few tougher weeks over the last few seasons we have seen more weeks that are even better. On the really good weeks…well, you probably wouldn’t believe it anyway…

WE FISH long days, hitting the water at first light and making the lasts cast just before darkness. Unless we are in the middle of some crazy fishing we run back to the lodge for lunch and a much needed siesta before we head back out for the afternoon.