Ka-plop!
Okay, that's it!

The second cartop-to-windshield avalanche at a stop sign is a strong signal: Ditch Jackson winter for somewhere that mosquitoes, sunscreen and T-shirts outnumber gloves, parkas and plug-in car heaters. Evacuation by car is the answer. Unfortunately my ol' gear room isn't primed for fast winter getaways. I figure at least two "rigging days" before departure. Let's see what the fly rod corner portends. Ahhh, here's what I'm looking for, a nice, powerful 9 weight. Graphite? Naturally. Nine-feet? Of course. I'll just wind a fresh intermediate line on a spare spool, throw in a weight forward floater and a 200-grain Teeny fast sinking head and I'm ready for anything.

Hmmmm.....what's this battered blue tube? Haven't tooked at this rod in ages. Thing must be 30 years old, and it still feels good. Scientific Anglers doesn't even make fly rods anymore. Wow I'd forgotten about this ancient fiberglass System 9. First quality "big rod" I ever owned. Yep, just got out of the Air Force in '69 and was back editing newspapers in South Florida. Lunched weekly with Lefty Kreh when he managed the Miami Herald's Metropolitan fishing Tournament. He sent me over to Lee Cuddy Distributing to get a 9 weight. Not many places peddled better fly rods in Miami back then. Might have cost $55 or $60.

Some great stories go with this rod. Yeah, I remember "testing" it down on Old Cutler Road, south of the sprawling condo developments and million dollar mansions of Kendali/South Miami. Used to be extensive vacant mangrove tracts, criss-crossed with tiny brackish water canals. Baby tarpon liaed in those ditches. John Emory at Cuddy's gave me some small pink, white and brown polar bear hair flies that were great canal patterns. Watch for a tarpon to make a roll, cast beyond it, let the fly sink for a minute, and begin slow strips. Pow!

Sometimes more than one of those three to 10-pound fish would blast the fly. I missed a lot of'em when l'd snatch the fly away with a big rod-tip hook set. Didn't matter. It was great action. Mosquitoes were the only problem. They were terrible...wore a rain jacket, smoked Hav-A-Tampa Jewel cigars and fished in Levis and a pair of cutoff garden gloves. The few friends I took on these afternoon tarpon hunts ended up diving into the car after ten minutes. The bugs drove 'em crazy. After a while I just went alone.