Tarpon Fishing Tampa Bay
Tarpon Fishing Charters
Well, here we are in early May where the love bugs are swarming and the butterflies are flying. This can only mean one thing, Tarpon! Typically when you start to see the change of the seasons and the cold fronts are in the past, these two things normally indicate the Tarpon Migration is on. Be sure to check out our previous blogs for Tarpon Migration and a the complete guide to Tarpon Fishing to learn about these majestical creatures. This time of year the weather starts to break from mild to hot. Just recently we had a very small front roll in which did not bring in to much cold air and much needed showers since it has been so dry as of lately in Tampa. One thing about the rain we received is that it increased the humidity as of lately where now it gets sweltering hot by 10 A.M. in the morning. This is ok though because as a fishing angler it brings the most joyous time around for the year on our Tampa Bay Fishing Charters as we switch gears and starting hunting the Silver King himself, the Tarpon! There is nothing like fighting a creature that weighs more than you sometimes in a drag screaming competition to see whose will breaks first, you or the fish. Although you can not eat tarpon they are classified as a sport fish which will make a memory that will last forever if landed. Just watching them in schools go up and down the beaches from Ana Maria Island down to Clearwater Beach is nothing but remarkable, since these fish have came a long way from the Caribbean to join us on their path. It is also awesome to change locations this time of year as we as Tampa Bay Fishing Charters start to migrate along with them and start launching closer to the beaches to stalk them. There is nothing like seeing that color change from the typical Tampa Bay water to that pristine Gulf water in order to fish for Tarpon. It sometimes feels like your visiting the Florida Keys the water is so crystal clear and pretty.
Tampa Bay is a huge estuary that holds a ton of species which makes it a very unique place to visit and fish. Some of the common species people come down to visit and fish for are Redfish, Speckle Trout, Snook, Snapper, Grouper, Flounder, Sharks, and Tarpon. Of course each species can be found in different parts of Tampa Bay, but during certain times of the years it is not uncommon to find a mix variety of species in just one fishing spot. However with Tarpon, they come in during certain months of the year and take up some real estate in which they will call home until they start to fatten up and move offshore to spawn, which at that time they will start the reverse migration and head back south before winter comes. Just knowing the life pattern of the Tarpon can help you become a better angler in searching for your trophy fish, because it allows you to apply your knowledge that you already know about the fish and next you start putting in the time and effort on fishing the projected path. Of course, the more time you put in, the better the outcomes you have on hooking up. To me fishing locations for Tarpon are like our road highways. Its the only way to get from point A to point B when driving across start or even out of it at that matter. Then of course along your car ride you make some stops along the way to eat. This is comparable to a Tarpons journey when they start their Migration up our beaches and coasts. They simply follow the outer sand bars of the Beaches, such as Boca Grande, Ft. Myers, Longboat, Bradenton, Ana Maria, Egmont Key, Pass a Grille, Honeymoon, and Clearwater Beach travelling north bound until they decide to turn back south after their spawn offshore. So pretty much all these are game when fishing for Tarpon. Yes that is a lot of ground to cover when fishing for them, but a good tip to know is they always start south and move north, so it is best to align the south bound highways with early season migration which normally is the first of Spring Season.
Fishing the beaches is just one location when locating Tarpon. That is the highway route when we talked about driving your vehicle on the highway getting from Point A to Point B. Now lets talk about the pit stops along the way to grab that food on your journey. Just like us, Tarpon will stop along the way of their journey to grab a bite to eat. These are based off of the moon phases, New moon, and Full moon produce the buffet they are looking for to gather more energy to keep pushing forward along the way. During these moon phases the Tarpon will stage up at the passes along the beach. Passes are basically entry ways from the Gulf to the intracoastal parts of the water. They are typically deeper then most areas since big boats and barges use them to move goods and products on our waterways. These deeper areas on these moon phases produce a certain type of food the Tarpon love to eat on, which is Crab. During these moon phases, the moon produce what we call a Hill Tide which is where the water comes all the way up to the highest point we would typically see all year then flushes out to a Negative tide. Its like a toilet bowl when you flush it, pretty much. When the water flushes out of the Bay it also drags out dead grass that crabs like to hold onto. The tide is so strong when it flushes it rips any of the sea grass that is not sustainable and the crabs on the bottom pinch onto these grass strands which then rises to the top of the water. These guys make easy targets for Tarpon to eat on as they float on the top. They also are a high protein for the Tarpon which makes them go wild during the New Moon, and Full Moon phases. These moon phases normally last 4 to 5 days and the water goes back to a mediocre type of flow, which then the Tarpon use to progress their journey down the beaches now that they got their calorie count for the week.
Another Stopping Point the Tarpon may use and hang around on, are the Local Bridges we have around Tampa Bay. Tierre Verde Bridge, Long Boat Pass Bridge, and Gandy Bridge just to name a few, provide a great hide out spot for these fish to hang around as they ambush baits in the Shadow lines at nigh or even during the day as the Sun gets higher. Depending on the tide, we use a technique called chunking which is basically cutting up slices of Threadfin Herring, and drifting them back into these shadow lines to turn on the fish. Just the scent alone of these bait fish make a Tarpon Hungry and sooner than later will entice them to eat a meal. Just be sure to catch at least a cooler full of Threadfin Herring as you will be going through a lot of chum to get them fired up. Fishing the Bridges are fun because as a by catch you often get Sharks, Snapper, Grouper, Mackerel, Trout, and Cobia in your chum line if they are around. The only downside to fishing the bridges is the break offs that come along with it. Tarpon are not dumb fish, once they feel that hook in their mouth they will start heading for structure and go in between the bridges makes it nearly impossible to get them out of, since they zig zag in between the stalls. That is ok though, because honestly, feeling the bite to watching the acrobatic show of a few jumps in typically all I need to call it a success.
Once August comes around, Tarpon are still in our region, and our Fishing Charters Tampa Bay, we will start to look back into fishing up the bay for them. As the end of summer comes these schools of migrating fish that you were once seeing along the beaches and the passes will soon disappear. Normally around the Full moon these fish decide to take their fat selves off shore to spawn then head back south to prepare for the winter months. That is when it starts to happen, when the fish come back up inside Tampa Bay to eat their final meals, to build up enough energy to make their long journey home. It is a good time to start fishing some our local reefs we have here in Tampa Bay. These reefs hold a large assortment of live bait fish that Tarpon like to eat such as Pilchards, Pinfish, and Threadfin. The local bridges are also good areas as well where you find the same baitfish lurking around. Targeting these areas are good if your still trying to land your trophy but what I love about the late summer Tarpon are the juveniles ones that like to hang out in deeper channels or canal systems. I mean, do not get more wrong, I love fighting a big fish but after doing it all summer it kind of feels nice to take it down a notch or two and fight some of the smaller ones, in which in my opinion are more acrobatic and fun. The smaller ones you will be able to find can range from 5 lbs. to up to 30 lbs., although some times a big momma will be lurking in the same area which can be up to 100 lbs.
Tackle and Baits For Fishing Tampa Bay Tarpon
When deciding on what tackle to use for Tarpon, will depend on what size your are going to target. Are you going to fish for the Tarpon in the passes? or are you going to fish for them in the canals? The size of the tarpon will determine what tackle to use and equipment to land your fish without harming it. I would have to say for the larger scale fish, that you will normally see in the passes and along the beaches using a good 8ft stiff rod, that can range from 30 to 60lb range will be sufficient enough when battling these beasts. You can pair it with a 8000 to 10000 Series Spinning Real to get that max drag pressure to land the fish of a life time. As far as leader and main line, using a 50 to 65lb braid to a 60 to 80lb fluorocarbon leader, with a 6/0 to 7/0 out Circle hook will certainly get the job done. These types of setups seem like overkill at times but at the end of the day, the plan is not to do any harm or kill the Tarpon when you release it. After a long battle with the Silver King , depending on the water temperature and duration of the fight, this can really cause harm on rejuvenating the fish back to enough energy to swim away. Just like how you feel like when your done fighting the fish, tired and whipped. Well, the fish feels it two times worse, so using the heavier tackle will ensure you battle the fish quickly and efficiently so it can swim away to be caught another day. It also saves the fish from getting eaten by a Hammer Head or Bull Sharks since they follow the Tarpon Migration along our beaches during the summer time. If you ever find yourself in the predicament, where a Shark is following your Tarpon, you can do one of two things. First, you can open the bail and let the Tarpon Swim as fast as it can away from the Shark. It does not work 100 percent of the time, but the ration on keeping the Tarpon safe goes up much higher rather then still trying to fight the fish. Secondly, you can do doughnuts with your moto around the Shark. At times this will disturb the sharks feeding habits and scare him off. Again, it is not 100 percent but will increase your chances of landing your fish.
What else is biting on Tampa Bay
The bite has been on since early Spring arrived. Ever since the first migration of bait that pushed into our region , on our Tampa Fishing Charters we have been keeping the rods bent, catching Trout, Snook, Redfish, Jack Crevalle, Ladyfish, and even got a great Gag Grouper bite recently. There is just a very abundant amount of fish inside Tampa Bay right now where you can literally pick a species and actually go out and target it. This makes it a great time to get out and enjoy the outdoors, especially since we are not quite in rainy season yet where the afternoon showers start to build up and then disburse once the sea breeze kicks in. Make sure you check out our complete guide check list before your next outing to get the ins and outs on how to prepare for your day on the water. Also check out the navigational blog we posted a few weeks ago about navigating the waterways to familiarize your self on what to look out for when out on the water.