Your guide, who will be on a platform on the rear of the boat approximately two feet higher than where you are standing and has years of experience spotting fish, will see the tarpon first. When he does, he will often use the positions of a clock to guide you to where to look for the tarpon. Twelve o'clock is straight ahead of the boat, three o'clock is 90 degrees to the right, 9 o'clock is 90 degrees to the left. I find it's a good idea as soon as the guide spots a fish to point your rod tip to where he says he sees the tarpon. When he sees where your rod tip is pointed, he can fine-tune where you're pointing.
Big as they are, you'll have a great amount of difficulty seeing the tarpon unless you are wearing polarized glasses, and even if it's an overcast day, polarized glasses will still allow you to see further into the water. When the guide sees the tarpon, you must be prepared to present the fly immediately. If you are staked out, the tarpon will be moving past your position, and you'll often have just one shot at a particular fish. If you are poling across the flats, looking for laid up tarpon, you have to get the fly there before the fish sees you and vacates the area.
Whatever the situation, you always need to be ready cast. This means holding the fly in your stripping hand, with about 20 feet of slack line hanging from the tip of your rod. (You need your leader and some line out of your rod hanging free to allow you to load your rod and cast quickly--just don't pull so much out that it drags in the water or catches on anything.) You should also have about 60 feet of line pulled off your reel, lying in loose, neat coils at your feet. (Not under your feet.) If you are prepared in this manner, you should be able to make up to an 80-foot cast without a moment's hesitation, and with only one false cast.
I can't stress enough how different this type of fishing is from trout fishing. On your home river you may find some trout rising, string up your rod, choose and tie on a fly, and work your way up slowly on the fish from behind. When you are tarpon fishing, you very often get only one shot at a fish. If you aren't ready or capable of casting when and where the guide tells you, you won't be getting into many fish.
Just as your guide directs your casts, he will very often tell you what to do after your fly hits the water. If you lead the fish too much, you may have to wait for the tarpon to get to your fly before you begin your retrieve. If your cast was too far ahead of the fish, the tarpon may change course, and you'll have to pick up and cast again. If the fish is deep, your guide may advise you to wait and let the fly sink. Your guide will also tell you how to adjust your retrieval speed based on what he sees the fish doing. The important thing is that he will see much more than you from his vantage point, and you should follow his instructions meticulously.
When the tarpon grabs your fly, you'll need to drive your large-diameter hook deep into its hard, bony mouth. This doesn't mean lifting rod as you would when striking most other species. To set the hook into a tarpon, point the rod tip at the fish and draw the line tight with your other hand, driving the hook into the fish. A bend in your rod will only reduce the amount of force you can apply to the hook, and you'll need everything you can get. Most guides will get you to set the hook two or three times, drawing the line tighter each time, until the hook is buried and the fish is running away with your line.
Hopefully you've kept the coils of line at your feet away from anything that might cause a tangle. Put the point of your index finger and thumb together, forming a circle for the line to run through. Keep that arm extended away from your body, so the line is less likely to wrap around anything as it jumps from the deck of the skiff and whistles through the rod guides.
If the fish jumps, you must get slack into the line quickly. A 100-pound tarpon free-falling on the end of a tight line with a 20-pound-test weak spot will almost always break off. To counter his jump, you must throw your arm straight out toward the fish, point the rod at the fish, and bend at the waist. "Bowing" to a tarpon is the quickest way to give him slack. Once he's back in the water, you can stand back up and lean on the rod.
One note about jumping tarpon: These fish can jump quite high, and a flats skiff rides quite low on the water. Every once in a while, a freshly hooked tarpon ends up in a boat with the guide and anglers. If this happens to you, don't try to tackle the fish. A tarpon is just one huge slab of muscle. Not only can a green tarpon completely vandalize a skiff, he can also break bones and cause other serious injuries. The best thing you can do is stay out of his way. Some guides will even tell you that if the tarpon jumps in the boat, you jump out. It's not something that happens very often, and you'll probably never have to deal with it, but it's good to know what kind of an adversary you are dealing with in case he demands your respect.
As soon as the fish is on the reel, and you've survived the first jump, the most dangerous part of the encounter is over. From here on in it's matter of strength and endurance--yours against that of the Silver King. Near the end of the fight, things can get dicey because you have a very large fish on a very short line that doesn't allow for any stretch. But if you have a good reel, follow the guides instructions, and the fish is a tired as he should be, you'll be able to get the boat alongside the fish and the guide will slip a gaff through the fish's lower lip and pin him against the side of the boat.
Walt Jennings lives in Venice, Florida. He is a Fly Fisherman contributing editor.
