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.

You can listen to Episode 145: Earle Waters - 80's in Homosassa online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Episode 145: Earle Waters - 80's in Homosassa is an episode from Mill House Podcast by Mill House.

This episode is 90:47 long.

This episode was published on Aug 15, 2025.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Mill House Podcast when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.