Father and Son Flats Fishing Trips with Key West and Florida Keys fly fishing guide Capt. Dexter Simmons flats fly fishing for Tarpon, Bonefish, and Permit on the Key West & Florida Keys flats.
My son Ben and his buddies Alex and Dylan landed this Tarpon!Capt. Dexter Simmons of www.keywestflyfishing.com and Fly Fishing Paradise invites Fathers and Sons, Mothers and Daughters to join him on FlatsMaster for a fishing adventure. Capt. Simmons hopes to lure vacation anglers to Key West to have fun family fishing while sharpening their fly fishing and flats fishing skills for Bonefish, Tarpon and Permit.
Capt. Dexter's guides John Cusack, Sr., with his son in law to a Permit double!Two, Three and Five-day ''fishing trip packages'' are available. The packages include lodging and charter flats fishing and instruction by expert, certified guides led by Capt. Dexter Simmons. Fathers and sons will sight cast to fish on the Key West flats while learning new flats fishing techniques from the expert guides. "This program is unlike other fly fishing schools in the Florida Keys that teach on land. We teach on the water while we are fishing, so the Dads and their Sons have a chance to catch fish while they are learning!'', Capt. Simmons explained.
Capt. Dexter helps a young ten year old hold up this 35 pound Permit.
Capt. Dexter guides 13 year old Nic Forti to an 80 pound Tarpon with his 21 year old brother Michael!
Click Here for a Sample Video of Don Wilkerson Tarpon Fishing with Son in Law Mark!Capt. Simmons encourages Mothers and Daughters who like to fish to attend the camps too. Capt. Simmons did say that there is a minimum age requirement of 10 years old for the son or daughter on the fishing trip. "We enjoy teaching kids how to fish, and having their father or mother along with them makes it even more of a fun event for everyone."
Capt. Dexter Simmons has a degree in elementary and secondary education, and a masters degree in sports and recreation management. He has taught classes at the Florida Keys Community College, has held fly casting seminars for various groups, and teaches fly casting and fly fishing to anglers 250 days a year while guiding the waters around Key West. Capt. Simmons has written numerous articles about fly fishing on the flats of Key West and the Lower Florida Keys. He has been published in the Fly Fishing America magazine and posts a weekly fishing report on numerous web sites as well as on his own site, www.keywestflyfishing.com. Capt. Simmons encourages anglers to contact him with questions or inquiries and can be reached by telephone at 305-745-3304, or by email at captdexter@prodigy.net.
"Can You Teach Me to Fly Fish?"
by Capt. Dexter D. Simmons (All Rights Reserved)
During the past several years, there were many times when I wanted to teach my step-son, Ben, how to fly fish. One day in particular is memorable.
We were fishing on a beautiful Spring morning for Tarpon. Ben, then 12, was with his buddies Alex and Dylan and they were excited about the prospect of catching a big fish or two. I had my 10 weight fly rod out and was casting into a channel where the Tarpon were rolling. Ben asked if I would let him try a cast or two. Knowing that this was his first time casting the fly rod, I hesitated then agreed to show him how to do it. Ben's arm strength at 12 was under-developed and he had a hard time controlling the big stick with the tarpon taper sinking line and the rather heavy Tarpon reel attached.
"O.K. Ben, here is how we cast the rod." I helped Ben out by standing right there next to him and grabed ahold of his casting hand and his stripping hand to show him the casting stroke. Back and forth went our false casts from 10 to 2, 10 to 2, 10 to 2. Ben asked me what 10 and 2 meant. I explained that straight up in the sky is 12 o'clock. "When the forward cast stops the rod is pointing to ten o'clock, and then on the back cast it stops at 2 o'clock." We worked at this for about five minutes when Ben said, "When do we let go of the line and let it fall in the water?" "When you think you are ready to cast the line, then let the line slip through your stripping hand fingers like this, stopping the rod at 10 O'Clock," I replied and helped Ben time the release. The line sailed through the air, the forward loop unfurling with the leader and fly following behind, landing about 40 feet from the bow of the boat in the channel. A few Tarpon rolled fifteen feet down-tide of where the fly hand landed in the channel.
"Did you see those fish roll?" I asked Ben, but he was busy fumbling with the stripping line. I looked down to see what trouble was, and to my amazement the line was rocketing out of Ben's grip into the channel. "Squeeze the line!" I implored. "Fish on!" Ben screamed to his friends. The 60 pound Tarpon jumped about 30 feet from the boat and threw the fly in one magic moment for Ben and his friends. "Whoa, I can't believe he took it!" Ben was excited and we all were excited for him. Later that same day, Ben would land a 90 pound Tarpon on conventional tackle with his two buddies helping him. They shared the fight and the experience.
Ben wanted to learn to fly fish, and I was excited to teach him a few basics. I knew there was always a chance that a Tarpon would take the fly during the lesson. I was thrilled that Ben had a chance to feel the fish fight, if ever so briefly, on the fly rod. He had learned a valuable lesson. Fish will actually take flies! It is not an impossible sport to try to learn after all. Ben, now 14, is still to this day more comfortable with conventional tackle. But every once in awhile we break out the fly rod for him just to get him hooked up!
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