Ahoy Tarpon anglers! Are you feeling ready to battle the silver king?
Tarpon fish are known for their heart-stopping leaps, explosive runs, and boundless endurance. They are also wildly acrobatic, and can be a jaw-dropping weight and size fish!
Tarpon fishing elevates the concept of “Sport fishing” to new heights. When you try to catch them, they work hard to exhaust you before you can exhaust them! That’s why the mayhem, thrills and sense of accomplishment you can get from Tarpon fishing are powerful and unforgettable, giving you bragging rights for years to come. If you’ve never caught tarpon, you’re in for a treat.
This blog describes the exciting experience of tarpon fishing and offers tips and advice for effectively catching them.
Where and When to Go Tarpon Fishing
Florida waters are a goldmine when it comes to targeting Tarpon, especially South Florida and the Florida Keys. While the absolute best times to target Tarpon tend to be the spring and summer, you really can succeed with Tarpon throughout the year. Below are some of the top tarpon fishing spots:
- Boca Grande is world famous for Tarpon fishing, especially around the Crystal River and Homosassa Bay. It’s so popular, it even gets crowded!
- The Florida Keys: Large Tarpon abound around Key West Harbor, the Bahia Honda Bridge, and Marquesas Keys. The best months for Tarpon fishing here? May through late July. Additional spots in the Florida Keys for Tarpon fishing are around the Channel Bridges, Seven Mile Bridge, Tom’s Harbor, and Long Key, as well as on the flats (e.g. Jack Bank near Marathon and Buchanan Bank near Islamorada.
- The Everglades National Park and the Ten Thousand Islands are great for targeting tarpon. The Sandy Key and Rabbit Key Basins, along with nearby canals and rivers are a great place to target tarpon. Most anglers target tarpon here during the peak season of March to July.
And further afield, you’ll find great Tarpon fishing along the Atlantic Coast especially productive from January through June.
Catching Tarpon: Tackle and Gear
Fishing for Tarpon in Florida’s warm waters is a WOW experience, both exciting and memorable! No more waiting and waiting some more for a bite, because Tarpon are so plentiful (and hungry)! And when jumping as high as ten feet, they rattle like a rattlesnake, performing dazzling acrobatics at the end of your line.
Tarpon are fighting and big fish! Typically, a tarpon on your hook will jump two or three times, and it could take you as long as an hour to pull the fish in!
Before you go head to head with tarpon, make sure you have beefed up tackle and gear. It takes great bait, a super-strong line and a really sharp hook. Your charter captain can equip you with all of these. If you’re on your own consider the suggestions below.
Tarpon Fishing Gear
- As a rule of thumb, use heavy tackle and gear to catch big tarpon. If you use light gear, you and the fish need to work hard and long and the fish will likely be half dead before you can reel it in. Then, if it’s too late to revive them, the fish will sink and drown. By using heavy tackle, you and the fish don’t have to work so hard. You’ll both have less stress and survive the struggle.
- You’ll need a spinning reel suited to the size of the tarpon you’re aiming for, along with a medium/heavy rod and a. very strong braided line. Getting specific, if you’re going after medium-sized tarpon (up to 4 feet long), you’ll do best with a 4000 series spinning reel and a 7-foot rod that’s medium heavy. You should then use 20 pound braided line with a 30-pound mono-filament leader to spool your reel. Once the tarpon fish you’re targeting are more than 4 feet long, step up your gear to include a 5500 series reel and a 50 pound braided line.
Best Bait for Tarpon Fishing
- Live bait: You can’t go wrong with bait fishing for tarpon. The best bait for tarpon anglers is live bait fish with a circle hook, because Tarpons find live bait’s movement and smell irresistible. Typical live bait used to catch tarpon: Large shrimp, declawed crabs and fish like pinfish, mullet, pilchards or sardines. Add a rattle or cork above the bait to slow down the bait long enough for the fish to get it fully into their mouth. Use a leader that’s at least 4 feet long, so the cork won’t be too close to the bait.
- Fresh dead bait: If you aim to catch a trophy tarpon, position fresh dead bait, like a chunk of lady fish or mullet on the bottom. Tarpon fish swim around looking for food all day and a nice still piece of high-calorie bait is a powerful attraction.
- Best Artificial Lures: When the silver king is hungry, most artificial lures work! Some particularly good ones include top water walk-the-dog style lures, Zara Super Spooks, the White Berkeley Gulp with a red jig head, DOA CAL 3” shad with a paddle tail, MirrOlure Top Dog, and the MirrOlure suspending finger mullet. And stick with natural color combinations or white. Gold and silver spoons are also great because you can cast them so far out and cover a wide span of water.
- A strong line: Start with approximately 8 feet of a 100 pound mono, add a swivel and double your line at about the 6-foot point using a Bimini Twist. And when you get a bite and the fish jumps, slacken your line, so your line won’t break.
- A really, really sharp hook sized 2/0 to 4/0: You need this in order to cut through the Tarpon’s bony mouth. It takes many anglers about 5 takes in order to land one Tarpon because of the fish’ bony mouth! That’s why many anglers sharpen their hooks even when they’re sold as “super-sharp”hooks.
How To Catch Tarpon: Tarpon Fishing Technique and Tips
Tarpon fishing is notoriously hard and requires certain techniques and methods in order to do it right. Read on for the step-by-step approach to successful tarpon fishing!
The Angler’s Playbook for Reeling in Tarpon
Once you hook a big Tarpon, it almost always takes a wild leap in the air and starts thrashing about. The moment it the tarpon jumps in the air, you have to instantly drop the rod tip to slacken the line. This is one of the rare situations in fishing when slack in the line is a necessity while fighting the fish. Some people call this “bowing to the King”.
With no slack in the line, the Tarpon can too easily snap the line by violently shaking its head. Even when you realize the importance of bowing to the King, you can have trouble doing this, because the fish’s leaps are so sudden. What to do? Raise the rod and tighten the line with the reel the moment the fish re-enters the water. When the tarpon finally stops jumping, you then put as much pressure as you can on the line and change your angles often. The fish becomes disoriented and enables you to reel it in sooner. If you apply pressure from only one direction, that smart tarpon realizes how much it needs to resist in order to prevent you from reeling it in and it will put up just the right amount of resistance. Also, if you allow the tarpon to rest, it will emerge out of the water, take a big gulp of air, and gain a second wind.
If you apply constant pressure on the tarpon and give it chances to rest rather than rotating your angles and pulling very hard, you’re likely to lose the fish. Your line needs to keep moving. If the line is slackening (not peeling off your reel), you need to keep reeling. If you give the fish rest and time to refresh, you are much more likely to lose it or exhaust yourself beyond words in the struggle.
Set the Hook Properly on a Tarpon
Wait until you can feel the Tarpon’s weight. As the fish is swimming off, put the reel in gear and start reeling in order to get the circle hook caught in the corner or top of its mouth. Be sure to take in the slack line until you can feel the tarpon’s weight again, wait a few seconds for the bait to be fully in the fish’ mouth, and strike hard twice. Keeping the tip of your rod close to the water and holding the rod butt securely against your stomach, move your body back and forth, making the line get further into the fish’ mouth.
Once you firmly set the hook, the tarpon will jump, flip, rattle and leap. Give the line some slack by lowering your rod tip and pushing it in the direction of the fish. And hold on! The tarpon tells you it’s finally tired by rolling onto its side. That’s when you pass a short-lipped gaff through your catch’s lower lip.
Tarpon Fishing Regulations
Tarpon are a “Catch-and-release” fish according to tarpon fishing regulations. That’s no big loss, because apparently, tarpon are not good to eat! The challenge to you and your captain is to catch and release the tarpon as quickly as possible, to minimize the stress on the fish. Because lifting tarpon by the lip gaff can hurt them badly, it’s best to try to remove the hook while the fish is still in the water using a long-handled dehooking tool. Or you can cut the line as near to the hook as possible.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you fly fish for Tarpon?
Yes – fly fishing for Tarpon is very popular and common in Florida. Fly fishing is a great way to target juvenile tarpon and baby tarpon as they tend to migrate in the shallow mangroves, lagoons and flats.
What is the typical size of a baby or juvenile tarpon?
Baby tarpon, or smaller juvenile tarpon or Mangrove tarpon, are typically between 5 to 30 pounds. Small tarpon are almost as fun to catch as the reel deal large fish!
What does it mean when tarpon are rolling?
Tarpon are special in that the fish roll on top of the water in order to get oxygen or gulp air. Tarpon have a unique air bladder, similar to the lungs of mammals. The rolling fish expel the used air through their air bladders, transferring oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide. You can expect to see tarpon rolling after hooking them as it helps them fight for longer periods.
Why are Tarpon so hard to catch?
Tarpon are difficult fish to catch for two main reasons: their size and acrobatics. Large tarpon can grow up to eight feet long and weigh up to 200 pounds, and be more acrobatic than other similar sized sport fish. For those who want to fish for tarpon, you’re in for a challenge. Also, Tarpon’s bony jaw makes it difficult to securely hook the fish.
What is the best time to fish Tarpon in the Florida keys?
The best time to fish for large tarpon in the Keys is typically March, April and May, when the water temperatures are at least seventy-five degrees.
Why are tarpon called the “Silver King”?
The fish is known as the silver king due to its size, strength, and glistening silver scales.
