Episode 145: Earle Waters - 80's in Homosassa

I fished the fabled Homosassa flats for a few years in the late
eighties, before it was obvious I couldn’t get much better at this
game because of the lack of fish. Sure, they came and went—big ones
too—and great records were caught a few years after, but I wasn’t
fishing for records. I wanted to be around the best anglers and see
what this big tarpon house was all about. Some of the famous names
were still there, like Billy Pate and Tom Evans, and Doparik, of
course. I stayed in Bayport, where there were a number of rooms all
in a line. This is where the guys I gravitated to took residence
for the month of May. All the boats would be lined up, with their
batteries charging after the long days of fishing. I loved every
second of the tarpon pulse that you could feel in the air. I wanted
to meet everyone and ask every question I had. There was a name
that I heard often but never met: Earl Waters! I read everything I
could about this tarpon fever that had a hold of me. Earl was one
that had his hand in about everything over there—whether he was
guiding a famous name or writing about how he was catching all
these great fish. I know that many went to him when they had
trolling motor issues, because he was a genius with the air
switches that would turn them on and off with a step of your foot
on a button on the tower. Then there was his big cobia he became
famous for—and yes, a thirty-pound world record permit he caught on
6-pound test. He was a local with the desire to unturn every rock
to find the answers of this incredible fishery he called home. On
today's podcast, he gives us a detailed look at how he built a life
in fishing around one of the greatest tarpon flats the world has
ever known: Homosassa, Florida.