"Dragon tail" tarpon fly was very yicky

sunflower

I saw these flies for sale from a fly shop. I liked the way they looked for tarpon.
I was pretty excited when I tried one in a pool- they have amazing movement.
Very "wormy," exactly what I want (I usually use marabou).

The word on the street is that they pick up a lot of water, "cast like a sock," foul easily, and fall apart quickly.

I wasn't worried about them falling apart. One fly per tarpon is fine with me- and I don't make that many casts.

I took one out this morning. Pretty perfect conditions.

Fly looks amazing in water.
Mine had a monofilament loop to prevent fouling- it worked well.

Unfortunately, it cast like a sock.
Brutal. Even with an intermediate line.
It was super-super hard to get a tight loop, get the fly to turn over, or to cast it well and far.

Probably a good enough fly for short casts, but not really great for getting anywhere over 40 feet out for a tarpon.

lemaymiami

Tough out on the flats or oceanside - but up inside small rivers with big tarpon - might be just the ticket... worked deep... 

sunflower

I'm not going to give up on it.
Hell, I should be able to cast a parachute if my loop is good enough!

lemaymiami

I've had an assortment of dragon tails in my tying supplies now for a year or so - but have yet to do any tying with them (everything else is working just fine - and guides mostly stick with what they know works...).  This summer as things slow down (very few bookings when it gets into mosquito and thunderstorm season..) I'll have to do a bit of experimenting with them...  I'll post up what I come up with and actually make a point of tossing the results at tarpon of every size to see what happens... 

noelg11892

Ive used them alot for bridge tarpon at night to great effect. Usually on the 12, I usually cut em down a little and put a brush head on em and thats it. Cast like crap but you can send It decently enough. At night ive had big tarpon sky on them. Im also pretty sure they were hitting needlefish/ballyhoo on the lights so I matched the hatch  really well. always keep a few in the box for when they dont want tiny flies. But thats just at night I dont fish tarpon alot during the day. 

sunflower

I'm not surprised.
These things look A-MAZING in the water.
I just have to see if I can get one out in fron of the fish.

lemaymiami

In the rivers that drain out of the Everglades along the west coast we're working big tarpon that are holding like salmon at one spot or other.  We try to work our flies across current then allow them to sink down to where the tarpon are then dredge them back in front of them.  At times it can be very productive in those dark waters -and we're not making very long casts at all so they should work...  on  a full intermediate line - at times 8 to 11 feet down...  A big tarpon in a small river is a real handful (understatement)...