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Posts: 899
| Anyone here tried their hand at tarpon? Any advice as to when/where/with who would be the best bet to hook one of those silver beasts?
Thanks,
Chris |
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Posts: 82
Location: deep in the slop | i know a lot of people that fish the calousahatchie river or whatever in ft meyers fl. i think like late feb to late april is the hot season or something like that. i cant remember that well. hope thats a start at least. |
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Posts: 122
Location: Bloomington, IL | I haven't done it (yet!!) but have seen a number of tv shows that really got me excited about it. There is actually a series on the outdoor network called the Tarpon of Boca, focused The Boca Grande Pass in way south FL on the gulf side. They catch some MONDO fish there, but its a friggin ZOO. They have established rules for the area about etiquette, etc, because there are so many people fishing the same spot that it can get unruley pretty quickly. |
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| I have done it once for the bigger fish on the ocean outside of Ft. Lauderdale and hooked up 2x but lost both fish. One broke off, the other one's hooked pulled. It could be a pretty tuff game to walk away with acceptable results if it is your first time and the fish are not "on". The day we were out, the fish were everywhere, but they simply would not take it. The 2 I did manage to hook were more or less by accident. I casted at fish and they would not take it, then out of nowhere an eater picked it up.
On another trip, we went into the everglades for the juvenile tarpon. Not as big (up to 40#s) but alot less pressure.
The juvenile fish go crazy. They jump a ton and fight harder then any fish I have ever hooked before. The biggest I landed was in the mid 20# range. In the 6 hours that 2 of us casted (the guide spotted and controlled the boat), we hooked up on more then a dozen, boating 6.
For the life of me, I cannot remember the name of the guide we used, but if you are interested, I can likely find it for you. |
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| http://frontrunnercharters.net/?SRC=TC1A1291331333
this is not the service I used, but they do the everglade tarpon trips.
I made a call to my friend who put our trip together, this is who he has used the last time he went back down there..
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| I have gone tarpon fishing quite a bit and I can tell you it is a blast. My recommendation would be to go to the Sarasota FL area the last week of May to the middle of June. You will see on average 50-100 fish a day. Most of the fish you catch are in the 75-100 lb range. I've landed around a dozen between 20-150 lbs. We use 8-9 ft spinning rods with live crabs for bait. Count on screwing up the first couple of tarpon you hook. Count on a HARD 45 minute fight for a 100lb fish. Once you figure out what you are doing you can hopefully get that down to around 25 minutes on a 100lb fish. Sometimes they just won't quit and you will be out there 90 minutes. It is pseudo sight fishing. You are typically casting to groups of 2-12 fish. Sometimes you find a big school of 50 fish. This is done within a mile of the beach in 8-20 feet of water. My dad and I use Tom Stephens at www.topnotchfishing.com for our trips down there. It is a father/son guide team. |
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| what he said. |
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Posts: 899
| Thanks for the info guys. I really hope this works out, I've been thinking about this trip for years. I'm not too worried about obtaining acceptable results...we're all musky fisherman so we know how it goes sometimes. I just want to see a 50+ pound fish tailwalk. That would be awesome!
-Chris |
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Posts: 32958
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Cool fish, I went a few times out of western Florida during mercury Marine OEM meetings there.
I put a tarp on my boat now, closest I've been since Mercury sold Mercabo. |
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Posts: 86
| I pretty much grew up in Ft. Myers, FL. Just moved to Kentucky last year. Best bet in Florida would be May-June and anywhere from Tampa south to Naples. Boca Grande has the reputation for big fish and lots of them but I don't think it's worth the crowds. Sanibel and Captiva Islands have nice ($$$$) resorts with guides right there. You'll want to fight your first one all the way to the boat but after that it's all about hookin' up and getting a couple jumps out of 'em before being busted off. Next to Muskie they're my favorite fish to catch. Good luck and enjoy. |
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Posts: 743
| I have always wanted to fish for baby tarpon,you little guys,3 to 4 ft or so. I've seen it on tv a few times and t really looks like a blast. |
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Posts: 457
| KSauers - 8/8/2008 4:49 PM
I have always wanted to fish for baby tarpon,you little guys,3 to 4 ft or so. I've seen it on tv a few times and t really looks like a blast.
Not quite babies, close, though. I used to fish down there a lot, we used to fish the canals around St Pete, and points south. We would have days of 150-200 fish with ease.
Now, if you want to catch a big fish, there are some stellar guides in the Keys that get on BIG fish during the migration. My biggest is a 115 class fish on the fly, there are bigger to be had by far. If you'd like, I can forward you some of the names of guides I have fished with from various areas. Best bet is to call them and get the skinny on what you're after.
@ Steve- I see what you did there! |
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Posts: 7
| Tarpon are pretty much everywhere in my area, and they're not hard to catch depending on how you want to fish for them. In our inshore waters on the Banana river they average 10-30lbs, with some bigger fish caught in the channels from time to time. The big girls live on the beach, and they are rolling right this very second. You can throw big plugs, or swimbaits, but if you want a sure thing pitch a 4lb striped mullet out into the surf with a 9/0 circle in his back. Just freeline him, chances are 50/50 it will be a bull shark that gets him first but perseverance pays off. You don't need a guide to find them, if you can find musky you can find tarpon. And you can use the same gear you use to drag inline spinners. Personally I'd have to agree with Hooper, the smaller fish are more fun and you can use much lighter gear. The big ones will turn your arms to jelly after 15 minutes.
Edited by Local66 8/9/2008 6:54 PM
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Posts: 7119
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | I was jellified for sure after this one. 45 minutes to get in, felt like quitting and being sedated after this fish (guide estimated at 125lbs). Lost one MUCH bigger that jumped after breaking my line, had eyes as big as dinner plates!!
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Posts: 7
| My biggest was 117lbs on a 10wt. I never want to do that again. |
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