Tarpon Fishing

Tarpon Fishing Boca Grande Florida best in world

Prime season: End of May through June, timed with the crab migration. The full moon at the end of May, and the new moon June, are ideal. Later in the season, you’re more likely to encounter single fish, but they’re often hungry. These are big, spawning-class tarpon, anywhere from 40 to 150 pounds, with larger fish possible.

Conditions: Calm and sunny is best. Optimal water temp is difficult to predict; some years they show sooner, others later. Early-arriving tarpon may lie low, not feeding until the sun warms the water.

Threadfin herring: Catch these silvery, active baits with sabiki rigs early in the morning, before you begin looking for tarpon. Pods of herring often school up offshore of passes, and you’ll frequently find them along the beach while you’re actively seeking tarpon. It’s always good to have a sabiki ready to drop to add to the bait supply. Hook a threadfin through the nose with a circle hook.

Crabs: Hook them through the edge of the carapace, bottom up. Take time to “screw” the hook into shell to avoid breaking. Sharp hook very important. Go to passes on a strong outgoing tide, and stock up on crabs with a long-handled dip net. For long-term storage, keep your supply of crabs in the water inside a crab pen with no opening (or a pinfish pen bent closed), and feeding them once in a while; this seems to toughen them up. Live crabs are available at tackle shops in season, but they get expensive. The shop may run out of the larger ones early, leaving nothing but dime-size crabs impractical for casting.

Float rig: When fishing passes and bridges, put a slotted popping cork 4 to 5 feet above hook to keep the bait near surface. Can put the float rig out back and let it sit while casting another rod. If the current is ripping, don’t need the cork.

Afternoon/evening bite: Can sometimes be as good or better than the morning. Most fishermen have gone in by then. The afternoon seabreeze can roughen things up, but many days it calms down right before dark.