September 2006
Greeting from Vieques.
There’s
one word that best describes Vieques this time of year: quiet.
September is officially the slow season down here. With the kids
heading back to school up north and hurricane season warming up,
we don’t see too many tourists on the island these days, and
that’s fine with me. In addition to giving me time to work on
some other projects around the house, I also get the chance to
take myself fishing whenever I feel like it.
I decided to do this the other evening when the conditions
seemed right to catch a tarpon from shore at one of my favorite
spots. Getting to this area doesn’t require a boat but a sturdy
four-wheel drive vehicle, like my old Jeep Wrangler. I tossed my
10 weight Sage fly rod into the back seat and 7 month old
terrier/mutt, Maggie, into the front seat and headed off through
the old Navy base at Camp Garcia.
This is one of my favorite drives on Vieques. From our house, it
starts off as a beautiful run up Route 997, cresting the hill at
Destino, and looking down over half the southern side of Vieques
and the bio-bays. Then we turn into the former navy lands at
Garcia Gates for a dusty two mile run over the dirt roads
leading to the old air strip. After that it’s really off-roading
for another mile to get to the little bump of land in Puerto
Ferro known as Tres Palmitas. This last stretch is often a real
test of a vehicle, especially after some rain. There are several
knee deep pot holes and some of the mud bogs even make me
nervous despite my Jeep’s big engine and excellent 4-wheel
drive. It always reminds me of the drive we used to make to our
hunting camp in Bald Eagle, Pennsylvania when I was a kid during
deer season. The only thing missing is the sheets of ice
covering the mud and the cold water coming up through the floor
of my uncle‘s horrendous International Scout, but I’m OK without
all that.
Maggie and I got to my spot in one piece and, as usual, were the
only ones around. I’ve fished this bay nearly 100 times in the
past year, from shore and by boat, and it usually holds tarpon,
especially near sundown. It also holds every mosquito and sand
fly imaginable and while I was applying my triple layer of Deep
Woods Off, Maggie was blasting down the road chasing land crabs
and generally going crazy, her normal beach routine.
I was going to be in luck tonight. Immediately, I could see a
school of bait rippling the surface about 50 feet from shore. A
few seconds later, a small tarpon rolled just on the edge of
them. I waded out about 5 yards until the water was up to my
shorts and started casting. On many nights, I’ve stood at this
same spot and made hundreds of casts to rolling fish with no
results. Other times I’ve hooked up right away and fortunately,
this would be one of those nights. When I was stripping in my
third cast, the line came tight. I gave it a quick jab and the 3
foot tarpon launched itself out of the water just a few rod
lengths away.
Once you hook a tarpon with a fly rod, the most important thing
is to get the loose line up and on the reel. I my case, I had
over 50 feet of it floating in a pile in front of me. As the
fish started swimming off, quickly taking the slack up through
the rod guides with it, I felt a strong and unwelcome tug from
the line below me. At that moment, Maggie came back and decided
to swim out to me to check on things. She swam right through the
fly line, wrapping it around all four legs. I didn’t have time
to give her the Bad Dog routine, I simply shoved her half
underwater and upside down, hoping the fish would pull the line
off her legs. It worked and I quickly had the tarpon on the reel
and my sputtering mutt swam herself back to shore.
On the 10 weight rod I was using this was an easy fish, about 20
pounds, and I had it to shore in less than 15 minutes. By now
Maggie was back in the water with me playing her favorite game
of chasing anything that moves. Just as I was getting really
soaked and muddy from wrestling with both the fish and dog, I
heard a bunch of excited voices behind me. Four tourists in a
rented Pathfinder found their way to my spot and were just in
time to film the end of the fight. They were actually a welcome
sight as I enlisted one of them to hang on to the rod as I once
again untangled my dog, unhooked the tarpon, and sent it back to
the deeper water. I hope the Gregg and Maggie show is the
highlight of their vacation video.
My secret tarpon spot at Tres Palmitas obviously isn’t that
secret if the tourists can find it, and the dirt road is
actually drawn on the visitor’s guide map. So if you’re coming
to Vieques and want to try landing a tarpon on your own, rent a
4 wheel-drive and give it a shot. If you run in to a Gringo with
a fly rod and a crazy little dog, you’ll be at the right spot.
Capt. Gregg McKee,
WildFly Charters
