Scientific Anglers

The Billy Pate Tarpon Series is the first of a number of blog reviews of the Scientific Anglers series of fly-fishing videos from the 1980’s.  These videos featured a number of top fly-fishing talents, several of whom are still active today.  We’re sure you will enjoy viewing these and although some of the content is dated, many of the concepts presented are as sound today as they were nearly 40 years ago.  

Some of these were part of the Mastery skills program that supported the Mastery product offerings from Scientific Anglers.  State-of-the-art equipment (for the time) was used to film, produce, and edit these particular videos.  They were some of the first fly-fishing educational productions available to the public on a video format. 

The YouTube links for the videos have been included so you can easily access all of them.  Feel free to rate and comment.  We hope you enjoy this part of our fly-fishing history and heritage!

Fly Rodding for Tarpon 

Released in 1988, fly-fishing legend Billy Pate spent 3 years working on the completion of these two videos.  Pate was recognized as the holder of multiple world records and known to have landed over 4000 tarpon on the fly in his lifetime.

Fly Rodding for Tarpon was filmed in the Florida Keys and gives the beginning saltwater angler a complete overview of the pursuit of this top game fish.  Pate covers all aspects of what is needed to catch them on the fly.  The equipment needed, what flies to use when, how to locate and see the fish, how to present and retrieve the fly, then how to fight and land the fish are all included.

We can see that there have been significant advancements in equipment over the last few decades.  Rods are lighter and stronger, lines are more feature-loaded making them cast and perform better, and reels have sealed drag systems.  The IGFA leader design shown is used much less often these days, as the pursuit of catching record fish has dropped off.  Instead, the shift has gone hook a fish and get a few jumps or get them in as quick as possible and released.

There are certainly many more flies available that will fool tarpon and the average size used is likely smaller, but certain situations pointed out by Pate still apply.   When it is slick calm use a subdued color fly, when the wind is up, use a brighter color.  It is important that the guide and angler see the fly if at all possible, to observe how the tarpon reacts.  The Cockroach pattern Pate shows still catches plenty of fish today.

The need for water temps to be over 78 degrees and winds of 5-10 mph for the best chance of success still applies.  Keys tarpon still prefer water depths of 3-6 feet as Pate points out.  There is great footage of finding fish and identifying their behavior.  Fast moving fish are nervous, slow moving are happy.  Daisy chaining fish are shown along with how to present flies to them.

State-of-the-art graphics (for that time) are used to show how to lead fish properly and get proper angles for fly presentation.  Head on shots are still the best!  You learn how to strike fish, although Pate’s method of keeping striking with the rod multiple times may not be as popular.  Fighting the fish by keeping constant pressure, changing angles of pull, and applying the “down and dirty” when the fish gets close are still valid and used today.

Few, if any guides, still use lip gaffs these days as shown in the tape.  But we can forgiver this piece pf equipment as it was another time and still a developmental stage in the tarpon fly-fishing game.  Bottom line- the concepts shown all apply today for the beginning tarpon angler.  Nostalgia aside, anyone would benefit from watching this video and it is good refresher for experienced tarpon anglers. 

Challenge of the Giant Tarpon

Here we see Pate taking the lessons from his first video to the next level.  Filmed on the flats off Homosassa, FL, this is an area where tarpon that are much larger than those in the Keys can be found.  The pursuit of record fish pushing the 200 lb. mark is the focus of this video.   In the Keys, a 100 lb. tarpon is big.  On the gulf-side flats it is a small fish.  These were, and still are, the fish of legends.  

Tarpon roam the Gulf of Mexico and the largest of them migrate inshore yearly in late April, through May, and into June.  As Pate describes, they are bigger, move faster, and fight harder.  The angler has to be able to cast farther quickly and accurately with no more than two false casts.  Leading the fish with the fly is much more critical in order to have any chance for success.

On the angler side, increased physical and mental toughness is a must as the fight from a hooked giant tarpon can last into hours.  In addition to better skill, plenty of luck is needed.  The guide and angler have to know each other and work together to have any chance of landing one of these fish.

Pate describes 4 types of fly lines needed to cover any possible situations.  Floating, intermediate, and several types of sinking lines may all be needed.  Shortly into this video we can see this is not for the casual or beginning fly angler.  This is definitely the big leagues and not for everyone.

If there is a downside to this tape, it is seeing a record-size tarpon dead and hanging on a rack.  Again, we are looking at a time when the pursuit of record-size fish was much more popular and fish that size had to be killed to be documented.  Today we would hope that getting an accurate length and girth measurement to calculate weight would be sufficient to satisfy one’s competitive nature and official recognition not be required.  Thankfully, the International Game Fish Association now has Catch and Release procedures for records.

There has been a sharp decline in the number of tarpon on Florida’s gulf-side flats the past few decades.  The 1970’s through the 90’s were the peak of this fishing.  We can only imagine what it must have been like to see dozens of 150 lb. plus fish in a single day.   There are various theories for the decline, but nothing definitive has been proven.  We can only hope that Billy Pate’s giants will one day return in the numbers they were in the past.

Thank you for viewing these two tapes that were key components in the development of tarpon fishing on flies.  We hope you found them enjoyable and educational.  Our next videos in this continuing series will feature Gary Borger in Fly Fishing for Trout and Fishing the Dry Fly.  Please check back and join us for more Scientific Anglers Mastery videos.

Scientific Anglers has partnered with the American Museum of Fly Fishing in the effort to digitize these classic film masters for future generations.