We spent last weekend at the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset, NJ. Not doing a trade show ever in my life left me kind of wondering what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to see many familiar faces from our small close-knit fly fishing community. The last show I attended was in 2003 so we were due to show our faces and tell some great fish stories. I met a lot of very nice people from the tri-state area and some of the best guides on Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod. If you happen to be an avid fly fishing enthusiast, I suggest a visit to this show someplace in the country. You can learn more about the industry, places to go fly fishing and try out some of the newest in fly rod and reel technology.

I came back to Key West late on a Monday night and the next two days would be very challenging. I was priveledged to be part of a television production this week that will air in April as far as I’ve been told. It was a different kind of television show that put the “best of the best” fishing celebrities from Florida up against each other. One of them fished with me on the flats for two days. Day one we missed a couple nice fish, but that is to be expected. The second day we had a banner day and even landed a bonefish which put us in the money spot for advancing to the next day. Besides a bonefish we also had some very large sharks to the boat, great barracuda, jacks and some shots at permit. It was a new experience for me, TV land is much different than real life. We fished hard and if you tune in to the Outdoor Live Network sometime in April you can view the “Ultimate Playground” and maybe see some footage of me fishing.

Yesterday was a landmark day for me. My first tarpon of the season and he was a whopper! 140lbs. and fighting hard. I think I know why they have the term “Tarpon Belly,” because my entire stomach is red from the butt of the rod lodged in it for the fight. For a guide who doesn’t get to fish much, this put me in a very good mood for the entire season. The tarpon are around and I just hope after this next front blows through that they will still be making the rounds on the flats. It would be great to have an early run of them.