Good sunglasses with the right lens colour make a huge difference for spotting fish, something I usually suck at. I've had good glasses before - Maui's and Smith's and Kaenon's. I recently got a pair of Maui Jims with the HT (High Transmission) lens, and I spotted more fish than I ever have before, anywhere.
Invest in quick dry underwear. It's fantastic to have all the lightweight, quick dry pants and shirts you can imagine, but wet underwear stay wet. For a long time.
Spend as much time on your feet as you can before you go. Otherwise, after two days standing on the bow of a flats boat trying to keep your balance your feet and ankles will hurt and swell up like they've been smashed with a sledgehammer.
Short shots at fish are almost harder than long shots. Okay, not almost, they are harder.
Apparently I say "out" and "about" funny. Never knew that.
Driving with Bjorn is likely to result in some... we'll call them "slight detours".
One of the greatest things you will ever experience is hand feeding the tarpon at a place called Robbie's in Islamorada. If you ever want to feel like a little kid again, you need to go and experience this.
Fishing for Oceanside tarpon will RUIN you. You will get home and not be able to think of anything else, except the fish you saw and had shots at and had follow your fly, and getting back there to do it again.
After fishing drinks and stories as the sun sets on Islamorada.
When I was a kid there was one summer when my sister and I, along with the two girls who lived beside us, were obsessed with the soundtrack to the movie Cocktail. In particular, the song Kokomo by the Beach Boys. We knew all the lyrics and would sing them over and over, day after day. I just got home from a trip to Florida, and the first day after Key Largo was mentioned that song popped into my head and would not leave, that one section of chorus a little mantra playing in the back of my mind. That summer we spent singing those words resonates with me as I always envisioned these fantastical places of blue water, white sand and hot sun, where life was pure happiness at all times. I never really imagined that these places where real and that I would ever have the opportunity to visit them. The idea of traveling to paradise always makes me feel like a little girl, and that childhood fantasy of sunbathing on a tropical island with a cute guy by my side has been slightly altered to fishing flats and aquamarine coloured waters in the hot sun, and ending the days having cold drinks with good friends.
We never actually spent time in Key Largo on this trip, but we did drive through it on the way to and from Islamorada. Paradise? Yes. While the hot sun part of the dream was a little hit and miss, the fishing and cold drinks with friends part came true. Now that I'm home it still feels like a dream, albeit one I was able to take pictures of and that was shared with other people.
There is never enough time on trips like these. I almost get resentful of the time I spend sleeping, as short as those few hours are. I come home and I obsess over the shots I missed, the casts I messed up, the times I did everything right and didn't get a look, the follows that never became eats, the eats that never materialized into hooked fish, and those fish I did get to hand, so strong and beautiful. I lament over the weather and wonder if I fished hard enough. I try to remember the masses of information that were offered to me and hope I can remember it all. I close my eyes and see tarpon swimming at me. I take a deep breath and imagine I'm smelling salty air and tropical flowers. I miss the people I fished, shared laughs and great conversations with, in this case Matt and Bjorn, Davin and Eric. I desperately wish that a year wasn't 12 months long so that our next trip could be starting tomorrow.
There are so many stories to tell from this trip, so many experiences to share, and so many people to thank. Kokomo was about a fictional place off the Florida Keys, but for me now, Kokomo is a state of mind enriched by memories that I hope to have the opportunity to make more of.
Have I ever mentioned that one of the biggest reasons why I love working in the fly fishing industry is that I get to meet the most incredible people? People who are motivated, talented and passionate, and incredibly inspirational. In the past several months I've had the pleasure of creating new relationships with a number of anglers who are pursuing their dreams in this crazy world, and I'd love to introduce a couple of them to you.
Wild Reverence
Shane Anderson, of North Fork Studios, is dedicating an enormous amount of time and effort to filming a documentary on the plight of wild steelhead throughout their native range. Please check out the website here - Wild Reverence, and "like" the Wild Reverence Facebook page for updates on the filming.
Silo4 - A Deliberate Life, and the Fishing Poet
Matt Smythe is part of the team at Silo4 and the voice behind the blog Fishing Poet. I'm sure at this point there aren't many anglers who haven't at least heard of "A Deliberate Life", the first film project from Silo4 and one of feature selections in the 2013 season of IF4. Heartfelt story telling, creativity and a genuine sense of community are evident throughout Matt's work.
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On the same note of great people doing great things, here are a couple new ventures from some of the most dedicated women in the sport, women that I am proud to call friends and who are truly a never ending source of inspiration for me.
Whitney Gould Guided Fly Fishing and Flycasting Instruction
Whitney is an incredible angler, superb guide, and one of the best spey casters I know. She is one of the hardest workers in the industry, and is now offering guiding services and instruction through her own website, Whitney Gould Guided Fly Fishing and Flycasting Instruction.
Frigate Adventure Travel
Kate Taylor is bad ass, plain and simple. She is the voice of Rogue Angels, guides in Alaska during the summer and Oregon during the winter, and hosts trips in the Baja for a couple of months in the the spring time. She and partner Justin Crump have started up Frigate Adventure Travel, and recently returned from a hosted trip to Christmas Island.
Write 2 Fly-Fish
A little newer on the scene but equally as passionate, Lisa Schweitzer is combining her love of fly fishing with her love of writing in her new project, Write 2 Fly-Fish. Lisa is a brilliant writer, an incredible angler, and brings a fresh and unique perspective to the sport.
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I hope you'll take a little time to get to know these fantastic people, and support them in their endeavors. And I hope they provide you with some inspiration, to pursue what you love, to push yourself to learn and grow, and to pass some of that inspiration on to others.
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