Clearing the fly line for tarpon means getting the loose line at your feet to feed cleanly onto the reel after you set the hook, without it wrapping around your foot, your wrist, or the reel seat and breaking the fish off. It is the one step that decides whether all the hard work of finding the fish, presenting the fly, and setting the hook actually pays off. In this How 2 Tuesday I walk through exactly how I coach anglers to clear the line and land more tarpon.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
You clear the fly line by feathering it out of your line hand as the tarpon takes off, then spreading your arms wide so the rod hand and line hand are not close together. Jam the butt of the fly rod against your right forearm so the line cannot slip under the butt and reach the reel seat, and make an okay symbol with your left hand. Instead of watching the fish, look down at your feet, make sure you are not stepping on the line or wrapped in a loop, and let the line shoot to the reel.
Because they want to see the fish jump so badly that they get careless right at the most critical moment. The line shoots up off the deck and wraps around a foot, a leg, a wrist, even a neck, or it slips under the butt of the rod and catches around the reel seat, and the line snaps. You have done all the hard work of finding the fish, making the presentation, and setting the hook, and then this one last step gets you. It is soul crushing, and it is almost always avoidable.
No. When it is time to clear the line, look down at your feet, not at the fish. Make sure you are not stepping on the line and that it is not wrapped around anything, and get the line to the reel before you look up. The best jumps usually happen later in the fight when the fish is close to the boat anyway, so you are not missing much. Your attention is far better spent making sure you do not step through a loop of fly line and break the fish off.
You want the line in a stripping basket or in the cockpit of the boat, and you want that cockpit very clean. If the line gets in the water it ends up behind the boat, caught around a trim tab or the guide's push pole, and that causes a break-off. A stripping basket helps a lot. If you have a secondary angler sitting on the cooler, it is their job to manage your fly line and keep it from going overboard.
One way I have practiced is to strip the line out, tie the end to your dog's collar, and throw a tennis ball. A disciplined, hard-driven Labrador retriever can run about as fast as a tarpon can swim, so if you can clear the line on the dog, you can clear it on a tarpon. Your dog gets a little tired of it, but it is great practice when you are landlocked and getting ready for a trip. You could probably talk one of your kids into a twenty-yard dash for the same effect.
Fishing barefoot lets you feel the line under your feet so you know when you are standing on it, but a lot of people get badly sunburned that way. A good compromise is fishing in socks. You can still feel the fly line underneath your feet, so you know the instant you step on it, and you keep the tops of your feet from getting torched in the sun. Either way, the point is to know where that line is at all times so you do not break the fish off.
Here are the steps I coach every angler through. I walk through each one in detail in the episode.
I unpack each of these in the episode. Press play in the player above.
You do everything right. You find the fish, you make the cast, the tarpon follows and eats, and you drive the hook home. Then the angler wants to see the fish come out of the water so badly that the line jumps off the deck and wraps around something, and pop, it is gone. I have seen it happen so many times that I built a whole routine around preventing it. I tell those stories in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The fly line does not belong in the water. It belongs in a stripping basket or a clean cockpit, because line in the water ends up around a trim tab or the guide's push pole. If you have a buddy on the cooler, their job is to manage that line. I explain how I keep my cockpit dialed in the episode, so press play in the player above.
You can practice clearing the line at home by tying the end to your dog's collar and throwing a tennis ball, or talking a kid into a sprint. A good Labrador runs about as fast as a tarpon swims. It sounds funny, but it works. I share how I have used this drill in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Pay attention to your feet and you can watch the fish later. The best jumps come close to the boat anyway, after the line is already on the reel and ninety-five percent of the danger is behind you.
The Florida Keys opened on June first and the tarpon are snapping. If you can get down here, do it. I hope this tip helps you land your first tarpon or put another one in the boat. Press play in the player above.
How 2 Tuesday is my weekly series where I break down one fishing skill at a time, from knots and casting to gear, tactics, and the habits that make you a better angler. Watch and listen to every How 2 Tuesday episode from Tom Rowland.
tarpon · fly fishing · clearing the line · stripping basket · reel seat · Hawks Cay · Florida Keys · Labrador retriever · How 2 Tuesday · Saltwater Experience
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's How 2 Tuesday series I break down one practical skill or lesson at a time, from fishing technique and gear to the habits that make you a better angler, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
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