Tarpon reigns over Tampa Bay again, king in local waters
Tarpon addicts from all over are heading to the waters around Anna Maria Island with hopes of hooking a silver king.
Whether you’re a tarpon junkie or a tarpon novice, the tarpon season is filled with high levels of anticipation and anxiety. Dreams of hooking up with one of the strongest, most beautiful fish to call our waters home — if only for a brief season — will clog your brain.
The seasonal visit of the silver king can be short, so don’t waste time. Plan to start your hunt for tarpon around sunrise or shortly after for the best chance of a hookup.
As you approach Bean Point at the northern tip of Anna Maria Island, you’ll understand why. A virtual outboard motor city awaits the silver king’s as they move into the pass.
On joining the pack, you’ll see anglers on their mark, ready for a hookup. Your pulse will rise and you’ll break into a sweat, anticipating your first cast to the school. Silver kings are rolling just off the stern. Boats via trolling motors begin to close in on the school as you quickly cast your bait. Quickly your bait sinks and you wait to get connected. Almost immediately, a silver king sends the drag screaming off your reel, faster than you can comprehend. It takes everything you’ve got to hang on.
There’s an explosion on the surface as the fish comes rocketing skyward out of the water. The fight continues as you struggle to regain line. Thirty minutes go by — the fish circles your boat, refusing to come closer — circling, circling and, finally, giving way, to surface alongside the boat. After a leader touch, a quick photo and careful revival, the silver king is released to fight another day. After this experience, you have caught tarpon fever. You’ll never be the same.
Charter guides around AMI are reporting more action. Capt. Aaron Lowman at Island Discount Tackle in Holmes Beach is cruising the beaches and passes in search of tarpon — and he’s finding them. Preferred baits are live crabs, threadfin herring and shiners. Upon sighting fish, Lowman is carefully and quietly approaching the school until he is within casting range. Once this is achieved, Lowman is casting baits just in front of the fish, as if to lead them to the boat. This technique is resulting in multiple hookups during a morning of fishing. His tarpon catches are running 75-150 pounds. Bigger fish are mixed in for lucky anglers.
On tarpon breaks, Lowman is fishing structure for other species, including mangrove snapper, flounder and catch-and-release gag grouper. All three are being reeled up on live shiners combined with a 3/4-ounce knocker rig. Keeper snapper and flounder are promptly being put on ice, while the gags are returned to the water. Snapper and flounder up to 18 inches are the norm.
Capt. Rick Gross of Fishy Business Charters is working the tarpon scene in the passes both north and south of Anna Maria Island and at Egmont Key. Targetable numbers of fish are being found. Live crabs or threadfin herring are producing bites from schooling fish in the passes. Tarpon weighing 80-150 are the norm, with an occasional larger fish in the mix. Early morning is proving to be a good time for a good bite, although fish are hooking throughout the day.
On the flats, Gross is catching redfish with some regularity. Schooling fish are being found around mangrove shorelines during outgoing tides. Live shiners free-lined and cast up under the bushes are resulting in a strike. Slot and over-slot reds are the norm.
Gross says the spotted seatrout catch is found across the deeper grass flats in southern Tampa Bay. Free-lined shiners or shiners under a cork are producing a bite. Most catches are 15-22 inches.
Capt. Warren Girle is targeting tarpon by patrolling the Gulf beaches and keys from Longboat to Egmont for tarpon, and they are becoming common, especially around the passes. Preferred baits are pass crabs and threadfin herring. Girle likes to pitch a free-lined crab just in front of incoming schools of fish so the crab has time to sink among the fish. As for the threadies, dead baiting and free-lined live baits are both producing bites. Tarpon sizes range widely — 50-185 pounds.
Although Girle is spending most of his time ailing from tarpon fever, he is snooping around in the backcountry of Sarasota Bay for schooling redfish, spotted seatrout and catch-and-release snook. All three species are responding to free-lined live shiners. Mangrove shorelines, oyster bars and sandy potholes are all likely spots to find fish, according to Girle.
Jim Malfese at the Rod & Reel Pier is seeing the usual suspects reeled up to the boards. Spanish mackerel are responding to anything silver, such as spoons or Gotcha plugs. Speck rigs in hot pink or white are worthy of the Spanish mackerel’s attention. Mixed in with the macks are jacks, blue runners and ladyfish. Fishers using speck rigs may also encounter a stray pompano now and again, but rallies on these fish are not occurring.
Pier fishers using shrimp are catching the occasional flounder and mangrove snapper. Although the mangrove snapper is not abundant, Malfese expects more to show in the coming weeks. Right now, snapper 10-12 inches are being caught mixed in with flounder of the same size.
Finally, with all the tarpon around, it’s inevitable that someone will hook up from the Rod & Reel Pier. Malfese said one such hook up occurred on a speck rig, another on a live shiner. Both hookups were short lived.
We call these “zing-pow” fish. They peel drag for a second or two, and then — with a pow— the line snaps from too much weight and bad drag.
Send high-resolution photos and fishing reports to fish@islander.org.