It was a dream fish for me....tiger shark on fly actually happened!

Randy Richter

So....I'm a shark on fly fanatic.  I've landed ten species of sharks on fly, including makos and hammerheads, and just love the visual take.  It's not everyones thing, I know, but it's my thing.  I;ve always wanted a tiger shark on fly.  I've researched it, thought about it, dreamed about it.  The problem...you just don't see tigers very often, they're a needle in a very big haystack.  But I was headed to the Keys on a flyfishing trip anyone, where we would spend two days fishing blackfin tuna on the shrimp boats and other stuff on the wrecks.  I decided to stay an extra day, and fish with Captain Keith Tucker out of Islamaroda, who had some ideas about tiger sharks.  Certainly not guaranteeing we would find one, it's a lottery ticket item, but the time of year was right, the tide was right, and we were going to head to an area where tigers had been spotted.  And sure enough, about an hour in, 7.5 foot tiger pushing 300 pounds sneaked up and materialized at my feet.  He stayed deep, would make a slow pass on the boat, swing out, disappear for ten minutes, and come back and do it again.  On the fifth pass, he tracked the fly for a bit, and on the sixth pass, he came back and just absolutely garbaged the fly.  Then it was just an hour and fifteen minutes of pulling and avoiding crab pots.  Was able to lay him right up alongside the boat.  Just a beautiful, gorgeous animal.  Unless you're sea turtle, then you probably don't dig them.  So excited I couldn't sleep that night, which is what flyfishing is all about.

Also landed a 28 pound blackfin, a nice amberjack, a big jack creavalle, bar jacks, rainbow runners, blue runners, lane, mangrove , and yellowtail snappers, spanish, cero, and king mackeral, little tunny, houndfish, a small African pompano, and even a few ballyhoo on fly.  Wonderful trip.

lemaymiami

Great report... the one time we had a small tiger (only seven feet or a bit less) come up into our chumline at a marker off of Lostman's River... my angler declined to even make a single cast at it... Tigers have a presence - the first time you see one up close, particularly in shallow water... you're not likely to forget it...

We don't see them very often but but when an eleven footer is checking out your 17' skiff you tend to remember it... Outstanding catch and I'm betting not many have ever hooked up a tiger on fly... 

Randy Richter

lemaymiami said:

Great report... the one time we had a small tiger (only seven feet or a bit less) come up into our chumline at a marker off of Lostman's River... my angler declined to even make a single cast at it... Tigers have a presence - the first time you see one up close, particularly in shallow water... you're not likely to forget it...

We don't see them very often but but when an eleven footer is checking out your 17' skiff you tend to remember it... Outstanding catch and I'm betting not many have ever hooked up a tiger on fly... 

Bob, thanks!  I have to admit, I love sharks on the fly, the take is like no other.  I know not everyone shares my love for sharks.  But I would have a hard time getting past someone not taking a cast at a tiger.    

RiverScout

That's awesome.

I caught mako on a fly once and it was a rodeo.  Only 4 and 5 feet and they took 30 minutes. Can't imagine the fight on something like this.

Randy Richter

RiverScout said:

That's awesome.

I caught mako on a fly once and it was a rodeo.  Only 4 and 5 feet and they took 30 minutes. Can't imagine the fight on something like this.

Honestly nothing like a mako for sure, I somehow managed to stick a fly in a 700 pound mako once, and it was about the craziest thing I've ever seen for 45 seconds or so.  Even the little ones are spectacular.  With the tiger, it's all about the presence of the animal, and how uncommon they are.   They're really strong, but the fight itself is pretty boring.

poncedorado

Amazing story, awesome example of the "why not try, why not today" mentality that is so rewarding when it pays off.

I've seen two total tigers, both maybe 6 footers. One I caught as incidental bycatch bottom fishing on a reef, and another a few years later that we saw feeding on shrimp boat bycatch floating on the surface. Catching one on fly on purpose is incredible. Congrats

sunflower

That's an amazing achievement. Great for you.
I got chills reading your story. Thanks for sharing.
Each of us has our own dreams. For me, it was originally a wahoo, tarpon, and an amberjack.
Later it became a milkfish, a trigger, a permit.
I'd still like to catch a GT, and some sort of tuna on fly.
I hooked a blackfin shark a year ago while mainly fishing for tarpon and permit ... I was amazed by the strike and by how much fun the fight was. This must have been a thousand-times that.
Congratulations on such a magnificent catch.
Treasure the memory.

Randy Richter

poncedorado said:

Amazing story, awesome example of the "why not try, why not today" mentality that is so rewarding when it pays off.

I've seen two total tigers, both maybe 6 footers. One I caught as incidental bycatch bottom fishing on a reef, and another a few years later that we saw feeding on shrimp boat bycatch floating on the surface. Catching one on fly on purpose is incredible. Congrats

Thanks!  I appreciate it.  I've had the good fortune to catch some pretty cool stuff on fly, but this is way up there.  You just never know.

Randy Richter

sunflower said:

That's an amazing achievement. Great for you.
I got chills reading your story. Thanks for sharing.
Each of us has our own dreams. For me, it was originally a wahoo, tarpon, and an amberjack.
Later it became a milkfish, a trigger, a permit.
I'd still like to catch a GT, and some sort of tuna on fly.
I hooked a blackfin shark a year ago while mainly fishing for tarpon and permit ... I was amazed by the strike and by how much fun the fight was. This must have been a thousand-times that.
Congratulations on such a magnificent catch.
Treasure the memory.

Thanks!  Did you ever get a wahoo on fly?  My wife and I each got a small one last year, going to spend some time targeting them this year.  If I remember, next time I put together a group for the Keys blackfin trip, I'll send you a message.  

sunflower

Not a wahoo on fly.
Wahoo and amberjack were fish I wanted before I started fly fishing.

lemaymiami

Amberjack are wreck fish and not hard to find or get a bite from doing what we used to call deep jigging on wrecks from 100 to over 200 feet deep.  Years ago, before a commercial fishery was established for them an average size was forty pounds, with a few up to 100lbs… Now they run much, much smaller.   Any skilled light tackle guide in the Keys should be able to put you on them… particularly down in Key West during winter time.  You can even get shots at them on really shallow wrecks with a fly rod then…

The harder you pull on an amberjack - the harder he pulls on you…

sunflower

I can't imagine pulling up an amberjack with a 1:1 fly handle-turn retrieve, no butt, and a 9-foot rod.
They are tough-enough with a big Quantum reel and a 6-foot Shimano Trevala.

Randy Richter

sunflower said:

I can't imagine pulling up an amberjack with a 1:1 fly handle-turn retrieve, no butt, and a 9-foot rod.
They are tough-enough with a big Quantum reel and a 6-foot Shimano Trevala.

I've found that an 8 foot 16 weight, and a BIG reel, like a Tibor Pacific or a Mako 9700 will handle AJ's up to 50 or so without breaking too much of a sweat.  No experience with anything bigger yet.

striperphil

Randy, great pictures and a great story that I enjoyed reading. One hell of an accomplishment. Last winter a friend and I were fishing the reef in about 20 ft of water. We had a big cuda start working the chum line and I drifted back a ballyhoo and caught it. He trashed my rig and I was lazy and didn't re-rig. Went back to yellowtail fishing and lo and behold a 6 ft tiger showed up in the chum line. The only rod I had that could possibly handle it wasn't rigged. I rigged as quickly as I could hoping he would hang out for a while, but we never saw him again. Only time I've ever had a shot at a tiger and I blew it biggly. Lesson learned!  

Docked Wages

impressive!