“Mr. Furimsky, your mission, should you elect to accept it, is to hook a nice big tarpon—90 lb. class—in the dorsal fin and actually land it.” My friends, Chuck Furimsky (owner and manager of the Fly Fishing Shows), and Harry Schoel (a mutual friend from Holland), went after the finny denizens of the deep—actually finny denizens of the flats—and connected. Harry landed his first tarpon, and that’s when Chuck decided to do him one better. The trick is to get the tarpon to take the fly with it’s dorsal fin rather than its mouth—a tough sell to say the least. Well, being a strategist, Chuck got the fish to eat the fly and then jump and throw it. As the tarpon settle back into the water, a quick move of the fly rod crossed the line over the fish’s body such that the hook impaled the dorsal fin. And then the fun began.

Why, Chuck asked, should one be subject to a mere fight, when one can be subject to a double fight. Why fight just one end of a fish when one can fight both ends at the same time? And so it was Battle Royal to say the least. Finally, just a Chuck was ready to drop and cry “Uncle,” the fish slide in next to the boat and surrendered—more to get the annoying thing out of its fin than because it was tired in any way. And then the ignoble ignoring of the others. They were so devastated by Chuck’s pinnacle of performance, they felt so overwhelmed by his feat of master angling, that they wouldn’t even take a picture of his fish!! Can you imagine the shame they will have to bear for the remainder of their angling days. They had a chance to record an historic moment and let it slip by out of envy and spite. Tisk, tisk.

Chuck had to settle with a picture of a smaller fish caught by conventional, in-the-mouth tactics. Our sympathies go out to you, Chuck, you are one of those rarefied individuals that has not only the ability to hook tarpon in unconventional ways, but of landing them unconventionally, too. Your next mission? Hook a 30 lb. albacore in the dorsal and land it in under an hour.

Harry’s first ever tarpon, and a nice one, too. Congrats, Harry.

Chuck, fighting both ends against the middle.

Ho Hum, Chuck had to settle for a picture of a smaller tarpon–still a nice fish though.