INSIDE THE ULTIMATE FLY BOX
ORANGE BUTT TARPON BLUE-COLLAR TARPON
conditions takes practice. Let us not
forget to mention that tarpon—like
TIED BY TIM BORSKI
TIED BY JOSEPH KONONCHIK
most fish—have their days when they
HOOK: TMC 800S, sizes 1/0 and 2/0
HOOK: TMC 800S, sizes 2/0 and 4/0 just won’t eat anything, regardless of
THREAD: Black 3/0
THREAD: Blue 3/0 or SSNF perfect casts.
TAIL: Tan Craft fur, barred with dark-olive
TAIL: Light-gray bucktail under natural chinchilla
Once hooked, playing a tarpon
Pantone marker and topped with a few
straight-cut rabbit strip, with four
strands of orange Krystal Flash
strands of pearl Krystal Flash on each side demands another set of skills that can
BODY: Hot-orange chenille
BODY: Natural chinchilla cross-cut rabbit be perfected only by playing big, strong
COLLAR: Gray squirrel
HACKLE: Kingfisher-blue schlappen
fish. Their spontaneous bursts of energy
are explosions of power that can leave
ON STILL DAYS under a blazing
one hanging on
sun the flats shimmer in heat waves.
for dear life
The horizon flickers. Sky and sea
as the huge
never meet. On such days, you will
fish
suffer for every inch of skin you missed
blasts
with your sun screen. You pray for a
away,
breeze. You spend long hours bobbing
leaving rod
up and down, staring into
pumping and
blinding water, trying to
reel spool turning
spot fish. On some days
at melt-down speed. A 100-
they are easy to see, at
takes
pound fish writhing in mid-jump like a
other times almost invisible.
a bit of
10-inch trout is something to behold.
Experienced eyes are always best
getting
There are no words to put these images
during these times of poor visibility—
used to;
in perspective.
but even trained eyes can miss fish.
dropping
It is a sport that demands expensive,
Panicked casts at cruising tarpon
such a large fly
top-of-the-line equipment. The wear-
that seem to appear out of nowhere are
into a small window
and-tear of the saltwater elements and
part of the game. Casting to moving
at the perfect time
the punishment a hooked tarpon puts
fish with 3/0 flies and a 12-weight rod
in all kinds of weather
on your tackle demands that all your
S UMMER 2002 69
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