It’s tarpon time on the Space Coast! Spring and early summer are my favorite times to chase the silver king, and with the warm, dry weather lately, it’s the perfect storm for chasing these awesome predators!
When looking for tarpon there are many environments they prefer, inshore it’s residential canals, deeper docks, mangrove shorelines with good water depth, and even backwater areas with very little oxygen, tarpon are the only species of fish that can actually take in oxygen and store it in their swim bladder, which is partial to how they breathe; therefore, sometimes, areas with little oxygen are great habitats for them whhere they pretty much can dominate their surroundings.
As far as baits — swimbaits, small lures, topwaters, pretty much any shiny and small fast moving baits are great for tarpon. These fish in the 5-20lb range are definitely aggressive towards lures. However, fish from 25-100lbs are best caught slow trolling black mullet, or fan casting small live mullet on a small float and a long leader.
The beaches also start to produce this time of year as well and typically fish from 50-200lbs. Large, artificial baits like the D.O.A. bait buster, swimming mullet, or even large Storm swimbaits are a great choice. Pogies and large mullet are great live bait choices when available, but often these tarpon are feeding on glass minnow schools and prefer small presentations like D.O.A. Terroreyez and small glass minnow or baitfish imitation lures for the fly anglers!
Tarpon are incredible fish and have been around for many, many years. Be sure to take great care with the catch and release. When live bait fishing utilize circle hooks, and never remove fish over 20lbs from the water to ensure a great revival, not to mention, it’s the law.
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