I'm not easily put off by most things associated with the water -- I've been known to do some really dumb things in the past with fish.

Like many other anglers this time of year, I've been targeting tarpon. But it's not tarpon that have me re-evaluating getting out of the boat to fish, it's sharks -- lots and lots of sharks of all sizes.

I was lucky to have a pod of tarpon come by the boat the other day. My client and friend cast and hooked a decent fish in the 100-pound class and after a few spectacular leaps, the fish settled into a dogged battle. After a short time the fish was subdued enough to bring to the boat for photos and release when it screamed away from us as if freshly hooked. From under the boat shot a very large bull shark in pursuit. The shark caught the tarpon and simply exploded it into a pink hole in the water.

A few years ago, my son hooked a very large fish, one of those over 150-pound monsters, and had all he could handle early in the fight. About a half hour into a battle that was going to take considerably longer, a big hammerhead attacked it, shredding its tail in the process. The fish was stunned, as were we, and my son was able to quickly bring it to the boat. We broke it off so it could have a chance to escape and it slowly swam away from us. It made it about 30 feet when the hammerhead attacked it and turned the water into a pink frothy soup. That gave us quite a startle.

I prefer to tarpon fish some of our area's quiet backwaters, away from the maddening crowds. Early mornings in the backwaters as the sun comes up with tarpon rolling is a great time, especially if your boat is the only one in sight. It's been fun and productive; these fish are undisturbed and eat flies readily. The downside is that it only lasts for a few brief hours. My last half-dozen or so trips into these backwaters have resulted in quite a few fish and the reason I may not wade-fish the rest of the summer.

These backwaters are absolutely loaded with sharks, mostly small blacktips, but there are enough 4- to 6-foot -- and larger -- creatures around to make one think twice before stepping out of the boat. At one point I could count 15 different sharks on the surface around my skiff.

When blind-casting towards rolling tarpon one occasionally hooks a ladyfish or trout -- a mild irritation. Most of these minor annoyances have been munched in half by sharks as they were retrieved to the boat. The last couple times out we ran across sharks tearing into ladyfish, trout and jacks as they fed on the abundant bait pods. The water's surface was churned up with fish eating each other.

Of course we had to cast into the melee, resulting in hookups, cutoffs and excitement. The little blacktips are terrific sport and will readily take a fly, especially a brightly colored pattern. Cruising fish, like the ones seen fining around the boat, will also chase down and strike a fly -- if they can see it. Cast close enough to the fish so it sees the fly and begin stripping. Watching one of the small blacktips "light up" before it strikes the fly is very cool. Their runs are strong and fast and they are so abundant at present that it pays to target them.

In short, they are fun to catch -- just don't get out of the boat.

Capt. Rod Walinchus is an author, illustrator, fly-tyer and charter guide specializing in fly-fishing.

By Capt. Rod Walinchus