After 8 Years: Landing the Jungle "Silver King" on Fly in Costa Rica

What a trip! On day 3 of 5, the stars aligned and everything came together. The jungle finally offered up the Silver King of my dreams!

It’s been an incredible journey which started 8 years ago on the first trip here with Costa Rica fishing legend, Benn Gilmour, by my side. I hooked a few and lost them all. It was a baptism of fire, putting me in my place and realising I had much to learn and improve on if I was ever to extract a Tarpon on fly from the fresh water jungle rivers of Costa Rica.

It wasn’t until this time last year that I made my 2nd trip, again with Benn. There were lots of Tarpon around but my skills and luck were still short. I hooked 3 in 6 days; losing them all to the trees, their jumps and the snaggy ground they call home. Such is the nature of the beast!

Third time’s a charm?? This trip provided great opportunities from the get-go with 3 fish hooked and lost on the first afternoon, 2 on the second day and then another early on the third. I was fishing well and it felt good.

Later that morning of day 3, we found a group of Tarpon feeding on small baitfish being washed into a swift flowing channel from a big lagoon. There was one really big fish in amongst them that kept showing. Sneaking in to position and silently anchoring up enabled me to make a number of casts and dead drift the fly right to it. A dozen casts in and time stood still as the big one rose up and inhaled my fly – BOOF!! From then on in it was a complete blur!

Thankfully, everything went right from the hookset, bowing to the King on the jumps, keeping it out of the snags and staying pinned. 20 mins later the huge fish was boatside and I was in bits – finally! To be blessed with a fish like this as my first on the fly is just crazy. Willy caught the whole thing on camera, so there’s great footage of the cast, bite, set, jumps and the whole caboodle to come. The ‘eat’ was epic!!

A truly amazing moment in my fishing life and a long time coming. I owe it all to my fantastic guide and host Charlies Chavarria who has tutored and aided me in my development and growth as a fly angler through the years, teaching me the ways of the jungle tarpon. Without him this would never have been possible. What a legend! Huge thanks also to Willygoodfishing for accompanying me on this trip and being there with the camera!! Cheers mate!

If you like the look of this then reach out to Charlie and check out his company – give him a follow! He can put you on the fish of your dreams!! FACT!

I’m now back in San José and have dropped Willy off at the airport. This evening sees the arrival of my globe trotting amigo and YouTube angler Alek van Mensvoort from the Netherlands. Tomorrow, we head back to the river together for 5 more days of fishing….watch this space!