While you can catch tarpon year-round in the warm blue waters surrounding Islamorada, the big show takes place in May and June. This is when the giant fish converge on the area like the college kids drawn to Joe Roth's Holiday Isle a few months earlier by the same urges, and I don't mean drinking beer.

Tarpon come to our area from the gentle waters of the Gulf of Mexico as well as the depths of the windswept Atlantic Ocean to engage in the annual prehistoric spawning rites that regenerate their species. On a calm morning, it is not uncommon to see dozens of fish "daisy chaining," or swimming in tightly knit circles, with the males fertilizing the discharge of egg-laden females. Marine biologists say that ripe females will lay as many as one thousand eggs.

While these fish are totally preoccupied, they will stop momentarily to snack on pinfish, mullet, crabs, and shrimp as well as lures or small flies stripped in front of their large underslung jaws. Their favorite food is the palolo worm, which hatches every year in the water of the southern Keys on low falling tides on a new moon. This is truly an amazing phenomenon. It generally starts in the evening. Small worms emerge from the bottom of the offshore shallows and ride the falling tide out to sea. It is then that they are intercepted by the hungry spawning tarpon. It is said that the worms are thought to be an aphrodisiac and may fuel the passion of the tarpon spawn. Whether that's true or not, these large fish lose all perspective when the hatch begins. Their usual wariness also disappears, and it is not uncommon to see them bouncing off skiffs as they clamor to suck down as many palolo worms as possible. It is also amazing to see these huge fish which grow to more than two hundred pounds, will stop to scarf up small feather flies. It speaks volumes about their incredible eyesight.

THE BITE AND THE FIGHT

On the flats, you get no fight until you learn how to recognize and respond to a bite. Bites from some species are mysterious, seldom felt, and hard to read Tarpon, and permit, our glamour quarry, all eat best when the fly moves straight away from them. Important but somewhat lesser species, like Redfish and Snook do the same thing. Since they rush the fly head on, they often push the line toward you and eat on the end of a slack line. It's rare to feel the initial bite of a Tarpon as they keep moving along with the school when they eat. Permit are often found alone and pin baits to the bottom. Reds and Snook often stop to chew.

Tarpon often announce a bite with an easily read flashing side and occasional huge boil. Seeing a Tarpon bite is a problem for most of us. There is no doubt when a fish responds, but a mouth offers little resistance if the fish are not properly pointed before we attempt to set the hook. Tarpon mouths hinge like the loading ramp of a cargo plane, the upper lip is much like the top of a tunnel. If you pull on the string while the fish is pointed at you, the fly usually pops right out of their mouth

You have to strip until you feel the weight of a Tarpon in your hand or against the rod tip to make sure some of the fish is between you and the point of the hook. Reaching for the sky before you feel the fish in your hand leads to failure most of the time, a trait called "snatching." Moving the rod to set the hook is a mistake with most Keys flats species.

There are times during the fight when you can break their spirit. If you pressure the fish properly, without breaking him off- and you may be within ounces of breaking him off - you can subdue him rather quickly. To do this you must understand your tackle and know within the "nth" degree what your tackle will take. When a tarpon, or any large fish for that matter, is green and running away, there is no way to stop him with light tackle. But, the moment he slows down or stops, try to pressure him. Do not make your drag any tighter than it is, but very gently apply pressure. When using spinning tackle you may do this by gently placing your finger down on the spool as you lift the rod or you may do what is called "cupping" it. You cup your hand around the spool as you lift the rod, bringing the fish back toward you. Be careful as you must know exactly how much pressure it will take to break your line.

SMALL TARPON

Baby tarpon weighing up to about 20 pounds and small tarpon up to about 50 pounds are a delight to catch on tackle matched to the task. They are aggressive fish and jump wildly in protest to being hooked, but they can be handled on fairly light gear if you know how to apply the pressure.

These smaller fish are found along the mangrove keys that pockmark the fiats, often back under the overhanging branches. They are particularly abundant on the high spring tides of late spring, summer, and early fall, when they lie under the mangroves waiting to ambush their prey. Because they are motionless, anglers tend to mistake them for barracuda. In some places, and especially where there is a deep cut or hole in the bottom, you may find as many as 20 of them together.

Many of the coves and little bays leading off the flats hold tarpon of this size, especially in the Caribbean. You can sometimes see bubbles on the surface marking the spot where they rolled, gulped air, and then let it escape. There are flats in Florida Bay where the smaller tarpon prowl regularly and they are often caught when one is blind casting for a mixed bag.

Tiny darters and other small plugs that do not splash loudly are a perfect choice. Smaller plastic worms and action-tails may also be used. And these fish suck in a shrimp almost as fast as a youngster makes a candy bar disappear.

Nothing surpasses fly fishing for these smaller fish. An 8 or 9 outfit with flies tied on a 1/0 hook is perfect. Fish them as you would giant laid-up fish; drop the fly right in front of them. You may have to tuck it under an overhanging limb to reach them. The strike is often instantaneous.

A silent approach is paramount in this type of fishing. Once the tarpon know you are there, they will move off. On some days, you may see them working their way back under the mangroves where you cannot reach them with a cast, or you may at least suspect that they are there. Some of the Marathon guides have developed a trick worth remembering on such occasions. You only get one shot at the fish, so you had better be ready.

They take the pushpole and slap it down on the water several times, fully extended toward the mangroves. Shortly after that, the fish may start to come out, and that's the time to drop the fly in front of them. Those tarpon want to see what made the commotion. If you hook a fish back in the mangroves and it starts swimming under the limbs, thrust the whole rod in the water much as you would if a fish went under the boat. This keeps the line deeper so that it may clear the branches that touch the surface or dip beneath it.

Whenever you have an opportunity to do this type of fishing, whether for baby tarpon or the giants, don't pass it up. You will never have a more meaningful or memorable angling experience. In fact, as one fellow put it, "I thought I died and went to Heaven."

The Mullet Run

Fishing is good all summer, great during the mullet run, northward in spring, southward in fall. Spring action is in April and May, ending by early June. The fall action is most predictable, and most remarkable. Prime time begins in mid-September and extends through October, peaking in each area as the mullet run peaks. The fishing is usually best from Canaveral southward, getting good in South Florida in late September after the first fronts arrive to run the fish off from more northern beaches.

It's almost too easy at times. The mullet gather in thousands, a seemingly endless line stretching along the slough and sometimes right up into knee-deep water, and the fish-both tarpon and many monster snook follow along.

The routine is to carry a castnet and a five gallon bucket, net up three or four mullet 6-8 inches long, stow them in the bucket, and run one out unweighted on a 3/0 to 5/0 hook.

Lip-hooking is good for durability, but some anglers prefer to place the hook behind the dorsal, so that they can hold a bit of back-pressure on the mullet and cause it to flip and flutter at the surface--the tarpon can't stand it.

The bait is fished right in the midst of the rest of the school, but when a fish approaches, you'll notice that the schoolmates disappear as if a wind has blown them off. When your bait is suddenly swimming alone, hang on and get set for the explosion.

Revolving spool reels that will hold 350 yards of 30 are needed to give you much of a chance at landing the tarpon, because many head for the Bahamas when hooked. Some anglers use the largest of surf type saltwater spinning reels and 30 pound test with good results. The spinner makes casting easier for most fishermen.

Areas within a quarter-mile either side of any inlet are usually particularly productive, as the baitfish work in and out of the backwaters with the tide flows.

So long as winds remain moderate and the surf is clear, the fishing holds up. This can run into November some years.

Other years, the first big northern fronts arrive in late October--and some years a late tropical storm mucks up the water and blows the fish out early.

In winter, tarpon become harder to find, but some pod up on the inside in deep areas with warm water.

 Good luck from Captain Charlie !