Tarpon fishing along the areas beaches has been spotty as of late due to cooler water temperatures. Lately the water temps have been bouncing back and forth between the seventies and eighties. The lower temps will either shut the tarpon down or they will leave to find warmer water. Higher temps will bring the tarpon in and turn the bite on.
Tarpon are often called “silver kings” or “poons” so you will see me use these terms in this article.
Last week Dan and Ramona Rutkowski went out Matanzas Inlet in search of tarpon and were rewarded with two silver kings that they brought to the boat and released. Both fish were in the 80 lb. range. Dan said they didn’t find any tarpon on any of the bait pods they came across but instead they found them by accident as they were cruising around searching for signs of poons. They noticed a silver flash in the water and stopped the boat to investigate. What they found were a couple of schools of tarpon that were lazily hanging out just a few feet below the surface. Dan said most of the fish they saw seemed to be kind of sluggish which he said was probably caused by the cooler water temperatures. They placed their baits right in front of the fish’s noses but they refused to eat the baits. They finally found a couple of fish that cooperated with them and the fight was on. Dan emailed me some of the pictures he took while Ramona battled her fish. He had some great shots of the tarpon leaping out of the water.
If you want to try your hand at catching a tarpon, start by trying to choose a day when there is no wind. Morning is usually the best time because the ocean is flat and it is easy to spot the pods of bait on top of the water. As the day wears we usually get the afternoon breezes and this puts a chop on the water making it difficult to see the bait. Once you locate bait you’ll have to throw the cast net and fill your live well with it.
Your tackle should consist of a rod in the 30 to 50 lb class with a reel to match. Line should also be in the same size class to match the rod and reel. You’ll need a 50 to 80 lb leader attached to the line with a triple surgeons knot. On the end of the leader you want a 5/0 to 9/0 circle hook depending on the size of the fish. Hook your bait in the back and cast it to the edge of the bait pod and our good to go.