I am proud to admit that I am a full-blown tarpon addict. My trip with Tom was my breakthrough Keys trip. I had been to Islamorada 3 times over the past 15 years before committing to a "serious" trip to the Keys. I tried to book another guide in Marathon who was recommended by a friend here in Houston. He was not available but he referred me to Tom--Tom was available only because he had a cancellation a couple of days before I called him. The day I arrived (3rd week of May, 2004) the wind layed down for the first time in 3 months. The fish were very cooperative, it was easy to cast, but I was definitely a spaz the first day--**** fever, I guess. I ended up landing 7 tarpon (10 to 50 lbs.) out of 11 or 12 jumped over 5 days of fishing. Tom had me using a small brown shrimp pattern with a light, incredibly sharp Tiemco hook. In the Everglades, we only landed tarpon on spinning gear using offset, laser-sharpened hooks with soft plastic jerk baits. We jumped fish on flies but never landed one--those fly hooks were not sharp enough, in my opinion. I will be fishing with the Everglades guide, Kevin Mihailoff, again in 10 days. We caught more snook with him than anything else. I hooked my first Texas tarpon last summer at Pass Cavallo on a fly. For me, it has been a lot easier to hook Florida tarpon.