Few fly fishing guides come from such fishing royalty as Dustin Huff. The son of Steve Huff—legendary South Florida guide and saltwater fly fishing pioneer—it seemed Dustin was destined to follow in his father’s footsteps, but that’s not how he saw it. To him, he was just a guy who loved fishing, and guiding was a way he could make a living at it. Decades later, Dustin Huff has won all three major tarpon tournaments and is among the most respected guides in the Keys. For Tarpon Week, we sat down with him to learn about growing up in the Keys, get a glimpse into the life of a tarpon guide, and hear what it takes to fish at the highest level in tarpon tournaments.
Flylords: When did you know you wanted to be a guide?
Dustin: I took my first client out when I was 13, and I had a pretty good idea that’s what I was going to do. I attended the University of Florida, but came back to the Keys and guided every summer. I couldn’t wait to get back here to do it full-time. It seems like it was destiny for me to some extent, you know?
Flylords: What was it like to have Steve Huff as a dad?
Dustin: He was a better dad than he was a fisherman. Back when he was guiding, and when I started, guiding wasn’t the cool thing to do. It was just something we loved to do and could make a living at. That’s why I did it, and that’s for certain why he did it. There wasn’t much limelight surrounding it at that point. I can certainly appreciate who he is now and what he did, having followed in his footsteps. But while I was growing up, he was just a great fisherman to me, and I didn’t realize how great he really was until I was older.
Flylords: Tarpon and permit are extremely difficult to catch. What draws you to these fish?
Dustin: As a kid, I fished mainly for tarpon and bonefish. At the time, the Keys were probably the best bonefish destination in the world—I never caught one less than seven pounds, which there are hardly any that big now. I became interested in permit fishing later because of my dad and legendary permit angler, Del Brown. Del would invite me along on the weekends, and I’d cast for cudas while they fished for permit. During this time, they invented the Merkin fly pattern, a fleeing crab imitation that most permit flies today are based on. The little bit of weight on the fly and its design made permit a lot more catchable. When I started guiding full-time, Del kind of fell into my lap as a client, and I started making a name for myself as a permit guide. Del was definitely a big catalyst to my permit fishing.
These days, I mostly fish for tarpon. In 2014, Thane Morgan and I fished our first tarpon tournaments and somehow won the Gold Cup, and I’ve been doing it ever since. It’s somewhat all-consuming, trying to stay at the top of your game and compete against the best guides and anglers. You’re constantly experimenting with new flies, hooks, and leader configurations, trying to find the next breakthrough. That’s how I became consumed by these two species.
Flylords: Can you take us back to the first tarpon you ever caught?
Dustin: I caught my first tarpon on the fly on Sugarloaf Beach when I was 12, and I thought I was going to die trying to land it. I’ll never forget that moment. It’s extremely vivid in my mind to this day. There was a guy named Bill Hassett who fished with my dad all the time. He’d invite me to go out with him, and that’s when I caught my first tarpon on the ocean side of Sugarloaf and my first bonefish on the East side of Long Key.
Flylords: If you had to describe your ideal tarpon angler, what skills and qualities would they possess before stepping onto your boat?
Dustin: I look for someone who can stand on the bow, strip the line out, take one or two false casts, and throw the whole line into a 10-mile-an-hour wind. That’s ideal. The stereotype that you have to be wary of trout anglers has a lot of truth to it. I’d rather have somebody who’s never seen a fly rod than someone who has a preconceived idea of what fly fishing is, because it’s not that down here. The most difficult anglers have always been those who trout fish and think they know what they’re doing, but can’t double-haul.
Flylords: What’s the most memorable tarpon you’ve ever guided a client to, and why does that fish still stand out?
Dustin: My most memorable tarpon is also the most scared I’ve ever been. Thane Morgan and I were fishing for the four-pound-test tarpon record, which we have now. Thane hooked a fish, and I gaffed it probably a minute after it was hooked. It pulled me out of the boat and ran 50 yards, did a big circle, and came back and jumped all while I was riding him, holding onto the gaff. He skipped off the gunnel of the boat and took off again—another 80 yards later, and I was finally able to climb up the gaff and get a hold of him. They came and picked me up in the boat, and we got his ass.
A big part of your memory comes from pure adrenaline, so that would have to be it for me. That fish was also a major accomplishment because it has the largest line-class-to-weight ratio in the book right now (27:1). Our goal when fishing for records was to put them away for good so that numerous other tarpon wouldn’t die along the way. I don’t know if that record will ever be broken.
Flylords: What advice would you give to tarpon anglers looking to take their fishing to the next level?
Dustin: A lot of people practice casting all the time, but it’s more important to learn how and where to deliver the fly. Tarpon aren’t inherently spooky fish, but they get hammered so much that they seem wary at every turn. Big, flailing overhead casts will spook oceanside fish every time. Instead, practice a low and tight cast that you can slip in front of a fish, and you’ll get more eats.
Tarpon fishing is a game of inches, and the interest point is the most important part of the puzzle. You have to get the fly in the right place to draw an eat. You can never have the fly coming at them. They always need to see the fly going away. If you can do that consistently, your odds will skyrocket.
Flylords: On the flip side, what advice would you give to upcoming tarpon guides?
Dustin: Take things slow. Figure out what you’re doing and try to befriend some local people, because I know the Keys have a reputation for being a hard place to get into. Respect is a big part of this because there are only a finite number of places where fishing is doable around here, so when people try to create new ones, it doesn’t go over well. If someone’s in your spot, try somewhere else. At the end of the day, respect goes a long way in this community.
Flylords: What is it like guiding on a tournament day versus a typical guide day?
Dustin: Tournament days are much more grueling. I think adrenaline plays a big part in wearing you out, but there’s a ton of prep work, and the hours are much longer. I heard Rob Fordyce say that every day you’re fishing during the year is prep for these tournaments, and I see it the same way. When I’m guiding, I’m trying new leaders, seeing which hooks stick them best, and which colors they’re biting on. These tournaments are always at the back of your mind when you’re fishing every day. It’s a lot of little things that can make a big difference for you on tournament day.
The truth is, being in a tournament can ruin what would otherwise be a really good day of fishing. If you don’t actually catch them, you’re screwed. On a regular day, if you hook several of them, which can happen, and you lose them all, you still have a blast, right? Not in the tournament; you want to kill yourself.
Flylords: This year, you and Thane Morgan won your first Golden Fly Tournament and the last of the big three tarpon tournaments. Take us through the tournament and what it means to you to have now won all three of the major tarpon tournaments?
Dustin: The Golden Fly has been a monkey on our back for a long time. In 2020, it was canceled because of COVID. On the Monday the tournament was supposed to be, we fished and caught 11—four weight fish and seven releases. That’s the most Thane and I have ever caught to this day. I almost said, “Let’s just quit now, because we blew our wad when the tournament wasn’t even happening.”
In recent years, Thane had been dealing with a lot of physical challenges, but going into this season, he was back and extremely healthy. I attribute a lot of the win to his health and positive attitude, but it was great to see him back, feeling good again. We definitely got lucky, but winning any of these tournaments comes with a certain amount of luck. I wouldn’t say the fish stayed on for us because they really didn’t, but enough did to win. Thane’s always been all in on this whole project, so it means a lot to win the last of the big three.
Flylords: How have you seen your fishery change during your career, and what are the biggest threats going forward that anglers and guides should be aware of?
Dustin: In my lifetime, I’ve watched the bonefish disappear, I’ve watched the permit dwindle to barely fishable numbers, and I’ve watched the tarpon recede from the West in a way that’s scarier than anything. It could have something to do with the crabs being gone from the channels in the Lower Keys, which I believe is tied to the 2010 Gulf oil spill. There’s a current loop that comes down to Key West from that area in the Gulf off of Louisiana. They dumped millions of gallons of dispersants on top of an already bad situation. Could that have something to do with it? The timing lines up with it, and I would almost certainly say it does, but I’m no scientist.
Another issue with the fishery is pressure. If you ever watched the film Tarpon, from the ’70s, there’s a point when my dad is worried about the boat traffic back then, and the fish getting run over. This was back 50 years ago, and fast forward to 2020, when this place was on lockdown; it was the best fishing I’ve ever had in my life. There was nobody fishing the bridges, no one running them over on the flats. It was like going back 100 years, so that makes me believe that pressure is a big part of the problem. Had COVID never hit, I would have always wondered how pressure affected the fishery, but now I’m certain it has a lot to do with it. I don’t know if there’s a solution to it, but it’s definitely a factor.
