{"id":2151,"date":"2018-06-18T12:36:09","date_gmt":"2018-06-18T10:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?p=2151"},"modified":"2018-06-18T12:43:54","modified_gmt":"2018-06-18T10:43:54","slug":"tarpon-fever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?p=2151","title":{"rendered":"Tarpon Fever"},"content":{"rendered":"

My long held dream of catching a Tarpon on fly remains just that.<\/p>\n

No excuses.<\/p>\n

On a recent trip to the Kwanza River Lodge in Angola I had my chances and came up short.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kwanza Lodge and River mouth<\/p><\/div>\n

Actually I could come up with any number of excuses of course, but sometimes simply wanting something too badly adds fuel to the adrenaline coursing through your veins when the goal is in sight and things go all to hell.<\/p>\n

Now when I say in sight, I mean literally swimming in front of you.<\/p>\n

These magnificent fish grow to around 140 kg\u2019s in this neck of the woods (or jungle) and the larger specimens move between the ocean and the river depending on tides and seasons.<\/p>\n

Once Tommo had landed at 75 kg monster on live bait at sea and shown us pic\u2019s of the behemoth, we realized we were well out of our depth with our puny 12 weight fly rigs and scuttled back to the relative safety of the river.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Tommo up close and personal with his giant Tarpon<\/p><\/div>\n

Not to say there are not very large Tarpon roaming there as well, but the \u201cjuveniles\u201d of up to 40 kg seemed a much more realistic option to target. Until Gareth caught his first one of about 10 kg\u2019s and took around half an hour to land it.<\/p>\n

When it comes to fly fishing, actually seeing the fish you are casting to is the holy grail of the sport. Tarpon are probably the largest fish on the planet that will happily gobble a seemingly insignificant small fly when hungry and will do so both under the water or on the surface.<\/p>\n

 When on the move, the smaller Tarpon will swim in schools, often within meters of the beach and remain close to the surface, regularly \u201cporpoising\u201d and at these times will generally compete for any fly coming near them.<\/p>\n

When attacking, these ancient predators will open their cavernous mouths and gulp a large amount of water, prey and all, in and over their gill plates, filtering any solid matter which remains as food.<\/p>\n

This is where things got tricky for me. The accepted mantra of slow strip for Tarpon, which makes perfect sense considering how they eat, was easier said than done. General practice when seeing a fish coming for your fly is to speed up the strip, thus inducing a strike. Of course when the fish is busy inhaling your fly with a wide open mouth it doesn\u2019t help one iota if you pull the bloody thing out.<\/p>\n

The Silver King, as it is reverentially referred to the world over, has not survived since prehistoric times by being easy prey itself. For 6 full days we wielded heavy 12 weight outfits from a ski boat in a deadly dance with wind, waves, fatigue and sharp hooks- looking for our chances.<\/p>\n

They came. But few and far between. Much of our time was spent casting blind into murky water, more in hope than with any specific plan. At times a huge silver splash nearby would reignite the belief and keep tired arms moving. At others, the mirror calm water helped not at all.<\/p>\n

The times of madness came with low light, early morning and evening.<\/p>\n

As the tide changed a scum and papyrus line would form in the river attracting marauding groups of juvenile \u201cPoons\u201d. Seemingly unperturbed by the motors, we were able to get close enough to put flies amongst them. The first fish Gareth hooked somersaulted 6 feet out of the water and spat his fly disdainfully back at him.<\/p>\n

We continued to pay school fees.<\/p>\n

Gareth got the hang of it and landed two nice fish, over the week. I, on the other hand suffered terribly from what in hunting terms is known as \u201cbokkoors\u201d an adrenaline induced malfunction of the brain, causing an inability to do what your mind is telling you to do.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Gareth with a manageable Tarpon on fly near the river mouth.<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019m seeing a shrink now and he thinks he\u2019s getting on top of it. Yeah right, easy to say from your leather armchair, wait until that Silver King is coming at you\u2026.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m hooked!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My long held dream of catching a Tarpon on fly remains just that. No excuses. On a recent trip to the Kwanza River Lodge in Angola I had my chances and came up short. Actually I could come up with any number of excuses of course, but sometimes simply wanting something too badly adds fuel to the adrenaline coursing through your veins when the goal is in sight and things go all to hell. Now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":2154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Tarpon-Fever.png","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5205,"url":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?p=5205","url_meta":{"origin":2151,"position":0},"title":"My Silver King","author":"Brad Cartwright","date":"March 13, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I simply love fishing, not sure why, but there it is. I\u2019m happy to sit on a rock and watch the water. Whip a popper till my arms are sore, or try my hardest to land a delicate little fly on the spot. For me it\u2019s a primal instinct, not\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/WFT_BLOG_Feb19_OP.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/WFT_BLOG_Feb19_OP.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/WFT_BLOG_Feb19_OP.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/WFT_BLOG_Feb19_OP.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/WFT_BLOG_Feb19_OP.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3381,"url":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?p=3381","url_meta":{"origin":2151,"position":1},"title":"Kwanza Barracuda and Jacks","author":"Craig Thomassen","date":"September 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"We were at Kwanza River Lodge, we had traveled there specifically to target the giant African threadfin which move into the river during the winter months. Our quest had been successful, we had caught some very nice threadfin in excess of fifty kilos and were now ready to have some\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"b2ap3_thumbnail_Trevala-3.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/b2ap3_thumbnail_Trevala-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3367,"url":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?p=3367","url_meta":{"origin":2151,"position":2},"title":"My quest for a Giant African threadfin","author":"Craig Thomassen","date":"August 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Kwanza River in central Angola is well known as one of the places where one can catch world record sized tarpon. What is not so well known, however, is that during the winter months when the tarpon are not really around there is another species of fish that moves\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"b2ap3_thumbnail_DSC_7720.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/b2ap3_thumbnail_DSC_7720.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5496,"url":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?p=5496","url_meta":{"origin":2151,"position":3},"title":"Great Expectations","author":"Gareth","date":"May 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Every fishing trip deserves a happy ending. 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Excuses there are many, most validated by the need to bring home the bacon and not having\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fly"","block_context":{"text":"Fly","link":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-on-2019-FB-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-on-2019-FB-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-on-2019-FB-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-on-2019-FB-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-on-2019-FB-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-on-2019-FB-1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2546,"url":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/?p=2546","url_meta":{"origin":2151,"position":5},"title":"Gkhui Gkhui and the Magic of the Karoo","author":"Rhuan Human","date":"November 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It was mid-November and I was heading south to one of my favorite locations\u2026 As the last bit of concrete and steel from South Africa's judicial capital disappeared in my rearview mirror and the horizon lit up with dancing illusions on the salt pans of the Great Karoo my mind\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Photot_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Photot_1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Photot_1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fishbook.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Photot_1.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8sv9-yH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2152,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151\/revisions\/2152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishbook.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}