As if released from a time capsule, a long-lost film reel brings us back to a lost world of ’70s-era Tarpon flyfishing in the Florida Keys. No digital refuse. No soon-to-die tourists. Just a glimpse of Eden—and a look at a formative cultural artifact in the world of flyfishing.

Words: Kirk Deeter

“Hook one tarpon on a fly, and you’ll never think of any fish or the act of flyfishing the same way again.

This is the price you pay for biting that apple.

Having your fishing world spun off its axis by a tarpon doesn’t necessarily equate to angling damnation (sometimes tarpon obsession is quite the opposite). Yet the deeper you dabble with silver kings, especially in the Florida Keys, the more stories you inevitably hear about the way things ‘used to be.’ Your penance becomes wondering about what really was.”

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