If you are new to saltwater fly fishing and are going to focus on trying to catch redfish and tarpon, this article is a great way to learn about the stereo types and the culture. I poke fun at myself and others on most of these because they are true to some degree, even if they are exaggerated. I will explain each one.
Real quick, as an intro: I am Jay Talbot and I am the owner and artist of Jaybo Art. I've been selling my artwork in the salt water fly fishing space for 10 years now. I mainly post to Instagram so you can check me out there @JayboArt. This is a series I am doing where I am creating an illustration every week day. They are numbered and dated.
Which brings us to today's Illustration. I was short on time as I often am in the mornings, then this concept came to mind of "Things that saltwater fishermen say." I figured it would add entertainment value as well as potential education value for newbies. The illustration is just a visual of me on a flats boat trying to cast my fly rod at some redfish. I intentionally made it look like a bad cast, because as fly fishermen we make fun of our casts all the time.
Lets get into it. Photo first then explanation.
There are definitely a portion of the salt water fly fishing community who truly believe that catching a fish on the fly is the only way it counts because any other method is way too easy. These people only bring the fly rod and if they don't catch anything then that is okay by them.
This pokes fun of anyone who hasn't been around the flats that much and are super amped to be fishing for redfish. Everything that moves starts triggering the brain to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was indeed a redfish. However, seasoned anglers assume it's a mullet and try to keep their emotions under control. The guides will say "see that wake? That's redfish."
This is a big topic for salt water fly fishermen. If you want to see chaos ensue online, post a photo of a big tarpon out of the water. Tarpon over a certain size aren't allowed to come out of the water by law in Florida because it does have impact on the fish's health. However, I believe you can keep 1 tarpon but that could cause mass chaos if that happened and was posted. Tarpon are one of the most sacred sports species to target on the fly, so we like to see them live. They also live to 80+ years (I think) so knowing that they are an intelligent old fish that has parasites makes it weird to keep one even if you weren't a conservationist.
This is a classic. If you have fished inshore long enough chasing redfish- this will eventually happen to you. The tide will go out quicker than you expected, or you've never been to a spot that locks you into a creek, or something. It will eventually happen and you better have plenty of sunscreen and water. Hopefully you don't get stuck at high tide. Low tide is okay because it could be only a couple hours or less depending on what level you got stranded.
Flip Pallot is a saltwater fly fishing legend. He was apart of one of the first technical poling skiff builders called Hell's Bay. He is an amazing story teller and had his own TV show called The Walker's Cay Chronicles. He still is very active and his name is synonymous with Saltwater Fly Fishing.
One obsession of saltwater fly fishermen is always trying to find tarpon. Big or small. If you are in a coastal town where tarpon could be, there is a chance that certain ponds could have baby tarpon in them. The whole concept is cool.
If you have fished for tarpon on the fly and you try to find them yourself, you have likely said this before. Your mind can get very creative trying to chase a fish that lives in, and passes through so many different types of water. From freshwater, to inshore, to off shore even, to jetties, to beach fronts, to the marsh, to breakers. The possibilities are endless and it could drive a person insane.
I hope you enjoyed these. Maybe this could be part 1 of this type of post.