Fly-fishing for Tarpon in Grand Cayman

Since my last blog entry I have had one of my all-time favorite vacations--a 25th Anniversary trip to Grand Cayman. Although this was not a fishing trip, we couldn't help but take the opportunity to spend one morning wielding a 9 1/2 ft. 8-weight fly rod in search of bonefish and tarpon. My, oh my! What an experience that was!

My husband and I hired a guide, Davin Ebanks, for a half-day trip to the turtle grass flats on the East End of the island. After ducking and dodging several times trying to get used to everyone driving on the left (wrong) side of the road, and being terribly glad that Davin had picked us up at our hotel so my husband didn't have to drive, we made our way to the spot Davin had chosen for us on this day. Davin, by the way, is a delightful young man, educated in the United States, but schooled in manners and congeniality on this most hospitable Caribbean island. Probably the best part of our vacation was how incredibly nice everyone on the island was, and Davin was no different.

An adrenaline rush is a major understatement for what happened to me when, as I was short stripping this large top-water fly in such a way that it would literally skip across the surface of the water, a large tarpon came up from underneath it, taking the fly in his mouth. One long, hard strip later and that tarpon propelled himself high in the air in an acrobatic move that would have made the Ringling Brothers proud! Although I fought him for a few minutes, after 5 or 6 flying leaps from the water, my tarpon freed himself from my line, but that was only mildly disappointing. What an incredible experience it had been to see him take that fly and then run and jump high into the air on the other end of my line.

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