Fishing Forum

Whether you choose to fish inshore or offshore, there is plenty of action to be had for a variety of species. On some days, you'll have to do more searching than on others. That just depends on the conditions that exist on the day you go fishing.

Offshore, the action for sailfish, dolphin, and kingfish has been excellent as long as the current is running north and there is good clean blue water. The wind has been up for about the last 2 1/2 weeks, so if you can't handle rough sea conditions, then your days have been very limited.

Inshore, there are places to hide some from the full force of the wind when you're tarpon fishing. Although the tarpon action has improved dramatically, it still has its ups and downs.

Tuesday (3/27) evening, Joe Lay and Henry Kolsch experienced NE/ENE winds @ 15 - 18 knots. The fish were rolling everywhere in the main channel at Government. The key word is rolling. We couldn't get a single fish to feed. Moving to the south side of the jetty after dark provided Henry with his first tarpon. After bending the rod over, the fish swam right to the boat before making a jump. It then proceeded to keep swimming under the boat and never made a blistering run that they are know for. The one good thing about this fish was that it showed the stubbornness that almost every tarpon has.

Wednesday (3/28) morning was the one day this past week when we had a brief break from the wind. It was E @ 9 - 13 knots. The current was running south and it had the fish spread out. Clint Jones, his 8 year old son Colin, Mike Mazur, and Ric Hawthorne were my guests for the morning. Toward the end of our first drift, we were fighting a dying wind and dropping kite. Something took off with the long bait and Ric was hooked up. The fish fought deep and made a circle around the boat toward the bow. When we got it close enough to identify, it was a nice cobia. The next action came while working the kite baits back out to deeper water. In 205 feet, a sailfish came up and took a look at the short bait. It didn't like it and disappeared, only to go out and eat the long bait. Mike came tight on the line and popped it from the clip. At the same time, the sailfish jumped and gave us back an empty hook. The final action of the morning came several minutes later. A large barracuda skyrocketed the long kite bait and this time Colin got to fight his first offshore fish. He did a marvelous job and the fish put up a great fight. The fish was released.

Wednesday (3/28) evening, The wind picked up some to ENE/E @ 12 - 15 knots. On our third drift for tarpon, we got our reward in the form of 100 pounds of explosive silver dynamite. As is normal for most tarpon that are caught on the south side during an incoming tide, the fish wasted no time in heading straight for the deep water of the main channel. Once in the main channel, the fish fought deep and hard. My angler was up to the task at hand and soon had the fish along side for a release. Next, we checked the edge of the drop off before heading in to try for tarpon in the Bay. At the channel edge, we marked and saw a large school of jack crevalle. Using a surface chugger, we caught and released a fish of about 12 pounds. The Bay tarpon were cooperating this evening and we only had to go to one location. Within minutes of putting out the first bait, we caught and released a beautiful 30 pound fish. About five minutes later, we hooked a larger fish that managed to bite through the leader, but not before making two spectacular jumps. Before I could get two baits back out, we had a third fish on that jumped 10 feet behind the engines while running straight at the boat. The action settled down for about 10 minutes before we had our fourth fish on. We survived the first run and series of jumps. The fish changed directions and made another jump. We had the fish coming toward us nicely when it made another jump and that was the one that gave us back our very sharp hook.

Thursday (3/29) evening, we had high hopes of a repeat performance from the tarpon. The wind was NE/ENE @ 14 - 19 knots. The fish were in the same location as Wednesday. The only difference was that this evening they had lockjaw. After dark, we went into the Bay. A day later and tonight the fish were absent. We moved to a second spot and saw fish busting to our right. We moved to that area and the fish moved further to our right. Another move and once again the fish moved. It was as if they were taunting us.

Friday (3/30) evening the wind started out reasonable and got progressively worse. It was ENE/E @ 12 - 26 knots. The fish were in the same spot as if on cue. Our first two drifts had us marking lots of fish and we caught two spanish mackerel. The water got rougher as the wind blew harder and we moved to some calmer water inside the jetties. The tarpon were rolling and marking and we got our reward on the third drift. The tarpon made several giant leaps before fighting hard and deep. Toward the end, it made a few more half jumps before we released the fish.

That brings my reports up to date. April has me scheduled to fish many trips. There are a few openings so call and ask about the dates that are still available. It's springtime and fishing will only keep getting better and better. Don't miss out on it.

See you on the edge or at the Cut.

Captain Dave
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Way to go skipper, it seems you filled out nicely this week. I hope the phone is still lighting up as much as the fishing has. Keep the reports coming they're great.
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What are your favored conditions for Tarpon down there?

Here's a senario for you.

There's no "flats" around here. Open water tarpon is all we've got in my area. Closest reef is 3.5 miles out and is around 30' deep. How would you target Tarpon in those conditions? What water temp do you find to be the best? What type of live bait? What type of rig?

I figured i'd rack your brain a bit to see how you schooled the silver stallions. Thanks in advance. [cool]
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None of my tarpon fishing is done on flats. We fish the Inlets and beaches around the inlets in water ranging from 10 - 45 feet deep. Along the beaches we drift live shrimp. The fish are usualy no more than about a 1/4 mile offshore. When we fish the main channel (45') @ Government, we use a breakaway lead attached at the top of the leader to get down to the depth where the tarpon are hanging out. You can also use a troll rite type jig head. The idea in deep water is to get the bait down to the fish. If the fish are achooled up, you'll have no problem marking them on your recorder. The idea is to get uptide and up wind of the school, deploy your bait and have it drift back through the school. Once the baits are put out, we put the rod in the rod holders and wait for the rods to bend over severely. We use circle hooks and the fish hook themselves. When the mullet make their return run in the spring, we use either mullet or small blue claw crabs. The crabs we drift and the mullet are nose hooked and slow trolled. The tarpon are here from about mid-December through the end of June and sometimes into the first two weeks of July. Generally once the water temperature goes below 70 degrees the tarpon get lockjaw. The rig is very simple. Make an 18 - 24 inch double line with your main line. To that connect 12' of 50# mono with a knot to knot connection and finally tie on an 8/0 size circle hook from Eagle Claw style L2004EL or P170 using a clinch knot and you're in business.
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Thanks for the tips Capt Dave!

From what it sounds like, your pretty much targeting them based on optimal water conditions I.E. water temp and migration. It sounds like they make thier run with the Kings. Kings like that 70-75 degree water temp. Maybe a little cooler, like 68.

Have you ever used a "fish finder" rig? It's very similar to the rig i've posted below, but a little different. OK, for starters, where this illustration is showing the hook being attached, you actually attach the lead. Cast out the lead attached to the main line. Where the swivel is on the rig, attach a 24" leader with your circle hook on the other end. It allows the bait fish to swim up and down the main line, through the entire water column. When a fish hits, it runs down to the lead, the swivel catches it, and fish on. [cool]

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