Tarpon: "If They're Brown, They'll Suck It Down"

So says Andy Mill about the likelihood of getting a particular tarpon to eat. Besides suggesting that the biggest mistake anglers make is throwing flies too close to fish, Mill says fly fishers need to keep flies in front of the fish longer (read neutral buoyancy and slow strips). “‘Instead of casting and stripping, feed the fish,’ Mill said. ‘Tarpon are scavengers. They want to eat. You want to leave the fly in a tarpon’s face as long as possible. Even if he’s not hungry, he’ll bite it to get it out of the way.'” And all I can say about his advice to do nothing when a tarpon eats a fly is: Finally someone’s got it right. Steve Waters in Florida’s Sun-Sentinel.