FISH OF THE DAY TARPON!

TARPON FISH OF THE DAY NOT FOOD JUST FUN!

There are really two separate tarpon that we all think is one but they are not! The Atlantic tarpon and the Pacific tarpon are so much fun to catch that you sometimes cannot get a boat through Boca Grande Pass for Tarpon Anglers.  Tarpon can be found from Virginia to Brazil, and all of the Gulf of Mexico, and throughout the Caribbean. Tarpons can be caught as far away as Senegal, Angola, and even Africa. If you go to the Pacific Japan, Tahiti, and Australia all these place have the Silver King.

Tarpon Roll and have swim bladders used to breathe so they come to the surface and take gulps of air, which gives them a short burst of energy this makes them great fierce fighters and such a trophy for the angler. The rolling can also let you know they are there when you are out on the water. Usually found in clear, warm, ocean waters, relatively close to the surface. Tarpon can be found in salt marshes, tidal pools, creeks, and rivers all have one thing warm, shallow, dark bodies of water with sandy mud bottoms. As they get let’s say full grown they spend most of their time in saltwater but as they start from small baby tarpon to teenagers they stay in close and travel in salt, brackish, and freshwater.

Tarpons grow to about 4–8 ft. long and weigh 60–280 lbs. They have very identifiable dorsal with bluish or greenish backs. Tarpons have shiny, silvery scales that cover most of their bodies, excluding the head with very large eyes, and a lower jaw that is very low and sticks out a lot!  Tarpon are very athletic and s jump up out of the water when hooked making them very challenging to catch. The term Jumped is used by anglers and most of the time it is we Jumped 6 and got one to the boat!

Tarpon usually Spawn late spring to early summer and require a lot of food so insects, fish, crabs, and grass shrimp,; they swallow their food whole and hunt nocturnally a lot of the time. That is why it is some time harder to catch tarpon in the day. You can sometimes throw the dinner plate at a tarpon and not get a take. Wahoo we like very early and very late in the day for larger tarpon the smaller one in the channels and tidal areas much easier to catch they eat all the time and are growing. Adults occasionally fall prey to sharks, porpoises, crocodiles and alligators let’s say when you come into someone else’s neighborhood you will find trouble sometimes.

You can catch tarpon on the beach, pier on boat. If you fish the beach get their dark 30 and the tarpon are usually a good ways off the beach, sometimes a quarter to half mile, Kayaks work. Look for the fish coming up to breathe. Tarpon are spooky so be quite and if you are fishing beach area in a boat and you get into fish, crank your big motor and it is over. Live bait works best and we like a tarpon rig with a bobber pinfish, shad, menhaden mullet all work. Remember TARPON WILL FIGHT UNTIL THEIR LAST BREATH. THEY WILL BE TOTALLY fried when you get them to the boat take time and let them get back and watch for sharks, big sharks more than once the head is all that was left on a tarpon hooked on the beach front. If you fish from the bridge you have problem seen this on TV ANCHOR YOUR BOAT SO THAT YOU ARE 1 / 2 TO 3 / 4 OF THE WAY UNDER THE BRIDGE. They like shade like people like shade.. WHEN YOU HOOK A FISH then you can crank the boat and try and get the fish away from the bridge pilings. Use a 4-8 oz. sinker and a breakaway they make copper ones, when the fish hits the wire will break and release the sinker and the fight is on. Set the hook twice. Fishing for Tarpon in the backwater bays it is different and much like fishing for snook or other species, Medium  Heavy to heavy action rod and top water baits, slash baits, and swim baits all work from MirrorOlure, Bomber Yozuri, Storm and many others. Look closely and site them a trolling motor and a pole are critical for the ability to stay stealth on tarpon. We are happy to share all we can to help you catch your own Silver King and send us a email to info@wahootackleandfishing.com and we will answer. If you want to book at Tarpon Trip we can do that to, WAHOO!