Just a heads up to the other tarpon fanatics out there. Went to Tortola for my honeymoon in late April and took my 9wt down there because you can find some bones here and there.
First day on the beach (Smugglers Cove) with the wife a school of 6 small tarpon (40lb to 60lb) went cruising by 20 ft from the beach. They were busting up a school of fry and just cruising back and forth. Ran up to the house and got the fly rod and pulled out a purple and green streamer I use here in Charelston for the reds.
First cast, standing on the beach, WHAM, 50lb tarpinski nails it and she is in the air immediatly. I of course know i have a slim chance of landing this fish on a 10lb leader and an 9 wt. So, I put the drag almost to freespool and let her run. I got 5 or 6 fantastic jumps out of her and had to follow the fish out to chest deep water.
After about 10 minutes the fish is about 150 yards out, backing is 1/2 gone and she turns and charges me. I cant keep the line tight enough so the backing sunk into a shallow 2ft reef and got caught up on some coral. had to break it off and lost all my fly line. Because I didn’t think i would get into a ton of fish I didn’t bring a back up so i was toast the rest of the trip.
Over the next 7 days i probably saw about 200 tarpon off the beaches and even snorkeled on the same beach (smugglers) with school of 4 bones. They were there every morning and as you can imagine i was extremely frustrated being out of action w/ no tackle shop on the island.
A great place to take the wife for vacation while you get to catch bones and tarpon.
