The SeaHunter Season 4 Episode 1 | Tarpon

the tarpon has these giant eyes those eyes are there so they can see things well at night and in deep water [Music] to have these scales that are build like armor they're almost unpenetrated by by gaff and the fish itself to me is is my Moby Dick ever since I've been a little kid I've been enamored with tarpon I love all kinds of fish I love chasing all kinds of fish species some about tarpon that keeps me coming back and keeps me wanting to know more and more about it [Music] as a youngster eight nine years old I met I was already enamored with tarpon at that time and fly fishing for them and I'll never forget the first time my dad took me to Alan Radha and I walked down the docks of bud marries and the loralei where all these iconic guides that I'd read stories about over the years as a youngster were there you know and I walked by Billy Knowles and Hank Brown and Cecil keep all these legendary guides that were literally they kind of based the foundation of this sport they took it to that next level they were there when when fly fishing but big tarpon became popular so to be around that as a little kid I looked at these like iconic figures they were my heroes and then throughout the years I started my first years of guiding I actually started fishing against these same guides that were my heroes as a kid and tournaments Here I am this youngster a young teenager in a tournament captain's license fishing against these legendary heroes to me and the more I think back about it it was it was surreal I was I was young and dumb enough to not let it psyche me out but looking back it was probably one of the coolest experiences of my life and now after a 30-year career - some of these youngsters coming up today I'm that guy [Music] you know what him yes sir I'm feeling it today buddy I am too brother that man is feeling it right there too he's always feels how you doing Joe oh yeah Joe Joe I love it he's feeling it man with Joe Joe gives you the blessing this could it be poon City you're my very food city soon it will be poon when was it last I met edy a tournament so had booked me a couple days we went fishing and I just had a blast with a guy his charisma it affects you immediately there's not a better person than that guy a little crazy sometimes but that's what's cool about him you never know what's gonna come out of EDS mouth next you're castin dialed in it's all right now you always improvement Rob about a little blessing before we go let's do it let's do it come on Lord thanks for this a great day and thank you for Rob and our friendship thank you for his family just bless us today as we enjoy your incredible creation catch a lot of fish have a lot of laughs a lot of fun we ask all these things in Christ's name Amen amen amen that's it it's Sunday morning it's time to preach but here's my pulpit [Music] Alvarado is really the mecca of where fly fishing for big tarpon began it started here in the 1850s actually with bamboo rods and silk lines the first guy ever recorded catching a big tarpon on a fly rod was on the bay side of Island Robert the unique thing about Allan Drogheda the environment itself is you have Florida Bay you have the Atlantic you have these big channels in the ecosystem of the Everglades all drains at this portion of the cuse so the tarpon come here every year they stage to go out for it migrate so you have gulf fish coming down the west coast of Florida you have atlantic fish coming down the east coast and they meet right here in the middle of the keys in the biggest largest numbers of the whole keys they're right here in Iowa Murata before they go offshore and spawn [Music] you Rob looking those are beautiful don't look at these I'm not your top so what's up what assured it I know you love this shirt is it a proven tarpon catch yeah call my first improvement on the fly in the Bahamas with this shirt brand-new just tie-dyed boo-boom yes sir every day i tarpon fish and this was this is one difference between tarpon fishing to me and everything else every day i tarpon fish is a competition to me it's a competition between me and the tarpon it's a competition between me and every other guy tarpon fishing that day because I want to practice like I play so when a tournament comes around and it really means something I'm going fishing just like I do every day and I'm not doing anything different still trying just as hard 5 foot lead we're not going to not a big lead not a big lead ok ok no problem 5 foot lead 5 foot lead soon as it hits ok ah you're right here ok now when you do that Rob you'll be relaxing the wrist it looks like totally - not moving up yeah what do you I'm not I'm not stripping with my whole arm that's a key you can't do it fast enough that way you know these fish are traveling these ocean flats I'm not in an eating mode they're migrating from A to B going from that channel to the next channel they have love on their mind they're here they're not thinking about no food they're here to spawn it's right but one thing that happens on these flats these worms hatch out of the core I'm gonna party we have to do that money today on the crossing shot Lee doesn't eat pick up go right across his tail in efficient number two or number three all right but important also again as soon as that fly hits you know the unique thing about tarpon fishing in general especially fly fishing forming the keys is the water is clear it's very shallow and this fish is giant so it's a sight fishing situation you're actually hunting before you make a cast you're trying to find a fish because the water is clear you see these fish sometimes long distances away so the angler has time to get nervous really nervous and once once you present a cast you know you can see the whole game it's so visual you got to talk that fish into and the bite in the fly and once he eats you hook them you jump in he's going crazy he's making these big runs it's also visual and you're throwing out a fish that's been here for millions of years this is one of the last fish that that is still a prehistoric giant that still lives on Earth today it's badass [Music] strip it good job ed watch the line get on a real you hit him good yep got it now good job brother good job yeah what do you mean so don't don't put a lot of heat on the righteous try get to try and get your leader in the rod tripled over that lease on it then I want you to lay the coals to him these fish are coming here to spawn and they're using these flats just traveling as a highway to stage and gather before they go off and do the big movement in the spawn so you have to talk this fish into eating that has no desire to eat the fly has to end up in its area of awareness because literally this big and the fish can't know how it got there wine down and get it head itches so you get this reaction bite you gotta somehow get this little hook it's made for trout fishing basically sunk into this hard bony mouth and then once they feel the pressure their immediate react responses to start jumping it's the most rewarding fishing I've ever done and I've been fortunate to travel all around the world catch thousand pound blue marlin bone fish dolphin you name it my last state of fish tomorrow was it can be catching big tarpon on a fly rod and I Murata think that thing ate under your tennis shoes you almost had the leader in the rod tip and he ate the fly awesome epi C epic that's what it is baby epi say Rob release my fish good job bro now let's shake hands with him hey woke up a little bit good good oh hey brother that's alright he went the other way yeah you did well done crap well then hey let's go catch a big one yeah yeah faith Rob that's what it is that's the theme I feel it what do you think I don't know what color fly you won't put on there you think we should put a match this orange match this outfit to be nice I don't have any that color is well Rob you perfect you did unbelievable you know you're you're in this I call it my office my office is 16 feet long and 5 feet wide you and another guy for 10 11 12 hours a day sometimes for 8 10 days in a row every hour every minute you're fishing is not necessarily action-packed with fish there may be 2 3 4 hours goes by nothing's happening all of a sudden it'll just burst out in meaning you know he's just blind bulldog Clippers [Music] Clippers rock when you go to your local tackle store just start barking bulldog Clippers and Rob do I like the sound of the sounds of tarpon fishing like [Music] there's no telling what's coming out of edge and that's another thing I love about being with him he's just fun fun guy to be with whether the fishings great or not he's a cool dude to hang out with [Music] he's a tarpon and tarpon is deeper and [Music] normal day at tarpon fishing I often start the day at the gym 4:30 work out for an hour eat breakfast come back prep the boat get icing the coolest get the flies that I tied the night before because every day I'm trying a new fly will flash the boat look at the weather look at the tide make a decision on which way to go south or north and then the day begins and you kind of feed off of that first decision I start swearing on your like at home man I need a day off and you get one day off and you can't wait to get out there again and do it again so you're fishing fish yeah okay you're gonna recast yeah yeah see how they came out of water yeah we watch that versus yeah I think one of the most rewarding things for a guide you know that's been doing this a long time that's good he's gonna have repeat customers and you become family with these guys they're no longer a client you know relationship it could be the guy that started Apple computers or it could be a janitor out of high school the fish doesn't care where they came from or what their bank account is I do it every day most guides do it a lot every day we see hundreds or thousands of fish a year this guy may only do it for a week and he lives for that week 365 days a year he can't win it when his last day with you this tarpon season is over he can't wait till the first day the next year too fast too fast go up go up and down wait a second then do it there that's it yes you weigh well Robin out fish next times gonna be like I can't hear it yet are you even casting and it's pretty cool to have an impact on somebody's life that way [Music] there's a sign in North Carolina we're a lot of fighter jets land and the sign reads hardened the noise that's the sound of freedom I love it they're good that's good start throwing it ok that line a little bit right a little bit right right there drop that don't shoot it well well strip a trip fast those more left in there you fairy keep trippin hit him hit him watch the line get on the real bro awesome what's that fly light go man Robbie Rob you gotta give me some love on that that's a pretty good job keeping your composure oh I try Rob but it all choked with the best oh no no no no whoo nation go up here and get the leaders give the leader come on now the pillar module has landed right up on the front head got it got it yep good job bud and let's shake hands with him he's with some other fish yep there oh that's a nice fish yes it's a nice fish son as someone driving the boat you're trying to keep the anglers fly line in the rod yeah because it anytime you get more line out than that there's so much stretch yep the pressure that you're trying to apply is not getting applied to the interesting pulling pulling pulling and when you surges oh yeah talk to me puma punku want to see him jump yeah i don't getting tired quicker that's right a lot of people as they pump the fish back like you're doing yeah when they go to wine they drop the tip and then reel and that that relieves the pressure off the fish you're actually winding the same pressure down as you want guess who taught me that rob poor dice oh yeah that was perfect that was perfect way to give you tip the two most common places these fish are lost are at the beginning when you're clearing okay you know you get wrapped up on your reel like you did while you cleared it or as we get ready to land this fish yeah grabbing that's the point where he's the closest to the boat all right it's the least amount of fly line out of your tip okay so it's the least amount of stretch kind of pull right yeah that's it I'm trying to get his head upright keep his head on to get his head up but as you get his head up then go a little lower so you're pulling right down his body I just like that okay yeah you backed him up the up soon as you change that rod that's right that's right that's right I would lead my success over a 30 year career to one thing I've never been satisfied with my knowledge of the game I'm trying to better myself I've never been satisfied with what I know about whatever species I'm chasing that day and tarpon I'm even to the fullest extent that way you don't get even close to reaching your fullest extent of understanding something or being good at something until you've done it 10,000 hours I don't know how many hundreds of thousands of hours I got tarpon fishing but it's brought more than 10,000 do we slack you slack why came out I mean guys okay yes sir food ooh watch the line brother you ain't gonna win that fight baby great fish is awesome awesome great coaching are you kidding me fish is a heck of a nice one brah nice tarpon yeah a swim good now buddy keep going there you go neutral right Big Daddy yeah Rob whoa oh that's what I'm talking about the bronze nut gun on us yeah whoo go catch another let's catch another one that was good teamwork there yes team [Music] you don't always have the Chamber of Commerce bright sunny calm day yeah when do you have clouds you have whatever or a mixture of both though the conditions weren't perfect they were good enough and I felt like we'd catch a fish or two it doesn't always work out conditions may change at least one more minute the ones we miss there's one a couple of casts about hip back they were just terrible but that's alright you even happened to happen to happen to you human being you that happens you gotta just delete it and go on yeah as you said you can't worry about it and listen to your game no give yourself to the guy don't just listen [Music] you know there's in in any guide situation wherever you are in the world I think there's a pecking order there's a there's veteran guides there's guides that are in between being veterans and newbies and then you got the rookies and as you come along guides earn respect from one another by the way they behave on the water and by the way they respected veteran guides as you gain respect from those older guys they kind of take you in and allow you to be part of their little group and they start sharing things with you and sharing experiences and techniques and I find myself now doing that with some of the young guides today and it's it's cool to pass on your knowledge to some of the rookie guides and and so forth but there's nothing more rewarding than to have one of your family members show a desire to do what you do and learn the game that you're good at and teach them and watch them prevail as an angler it's awesome [Music] [Music] you

Channel: The SeaHunter TV

Views: 8,355

Rating: 4.860465 out of 5

Keywords: TFO, Islamorada, Lorelei Restaurant and Cabana Bar, Maverick, Rob Fordyce, Pastor Ed Young, The Seahunter, Tarpon

Id: Vw7zyplBOtc

Length: 21min 15sec (1275 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 17 2019