Fishing for Tarpon in a Mangrove Paradise

May 17th, 2026

My wife and I took a baby moon to a tropical paradise, relishing in each other's company one last time when it's just the two of us. My wife luckily humored me in my request to have one morning dedicated to going on a fly-fishing guide service in the lagoons targeting fish such as tarpon and snook. This would be my first

experience fly-fishing in salt water which really feels like a whole other world altogether.

We disembarked on the skiff at first light and motored across a large bay and navigated through narrow channels bordered by mangroves. We spotted a couple large alligators in the process which certainly added to an exciting safari-like experience.

We arrived at a wide channel after going through a small inlet and killed the engine, the boat ran parallel to the shoreline about 25 yards away as we crawled along with the guide guiding the boat along with his gondola pole in complete silence. It was a very peaceful scene with the sun just coming up, it felt like we were the only people around for miles.

The guide handed me a six weight with a squid-like fly tightly knotted on at the end of the leader. I was instructed to cast as closely to the shore as possible and start stripping very slowly before picking up the speed as it came closer to the boat. It didn't take long in the clear mossy-bottomed water for silver streaks to jolt out from below the fly in strike attempts. They were all baby tarpon, which I learned are

interestingly more sought out by anglers than the adults which can be more elusive and difficult to hook into thanks to their bony jaws. The baby ones I found were also quite difficult to hook, getting many strikes but very few hooksets. Thankfully, over about a 10 minute period I was able to hook into two fish of about 25-28 inches and was able to haul them in safely. These fish seemed about surprised over being hooked as I was, as they didn't go on long impassioned runs as I'm used to experiencing in the trout waters back home but rather shook their heads annoyed, but didn't seem to realize they were being pulled over until the fish were essentially pulled up into the boat.

The rest of the morning, which was spent in shallower water was spent honing in on snook which is a close second to the most popular fish in these waters. We encountered a few schools of them but I apparently lacked the finesse to encourage one to strike. I also had a hard time in general seeing these guys, the guide became quite frustrated with me for not placing the fly right near their noses but I was casting blind most of the time. Unfortunately, besides a few baby

barracuda, I was unable to catch any additional fish. It was okay though for a short 3 and a half hour excursion and I knew I couldn't expect too much out of fishing in a place and in a different style that was way out of my usual comfort zone. I was grateful to come away with the experience with catching the tarpon that I did catch and feel like I know more now for the next time I'm in similar waters to have a much more productive day.

Since I caught two juvenile tarpon during this trip, it granted me one more point for the Legendary Angler program, which brings my total number of points to a nice even 20. This means I only have 80 to go before achieving my dream of being a Legendary Angler.