Tarpon or bust — the craze for the silver king continues
Tarpon are the No. 1 ticket for anglers for yet another week. Tarpon junkies from near and far are flocking to local waters just for the opportunity to match wits with the elusive silver king.
If you haven’t seen the pass at Bean Point on a weekend during tarpon season, you’re missing a spectacle. I think you could almost jump from boat to boat to reach Passage Key. While all of this is going on, you still have large offshore boats with triple 300s on the stern, running full speed right through the pass. And to them I say what the heck? It can amount to a big spoiler for the anxious anglers on the smaller boats.
What a joyous time of year, spending 10 hours a day chasing tarpon in the 95-degree heat only to be swamped by a self-entitled so-and-so on his or her way to a favorite grouper hole. I’m not saying that all offshore fishers participate in this little game, but I will say I’ve seen boats intentionally run through tarpon schools and leave laughing as they blast out of the pass.
On a lighter note, we had three keeper gag grouper hit our tarpon baits on a recent charter. The biggest was 34 inches. Too bad season is closed — they were returned into the pass.
Capt. Aaron Lowman at Island Discount Tackle in Holmes Beach is in pursuit of tarpon along the beaches and passes in our local waters. When fishing the passes, Lowman is employing two techniques to attract a bite from the silver king: one is by drift fishing and casting live crabs at schooling fish, the other is anchoring and chumming with threadfin herring.
While at anchor, Lowman instructs clients to feed ample bait to the tide. These baits sink slowly back behind the boat amid the chum. Once the tarpon are dialed in on the slick, they eat the bait. Then the battle ensues. Average sizes for tarpon are 80-120 pounds.
Lowman also is targeting mangrove snapper around the local reefs and wrecks. By using a chum bag, Lowman is attracting schools of mangrove snapper to the surface, where they can easily be reached by free-lined chunks of fresh-cut shiners. By doing this, Lowman is leading his clients to snapper up to 18 inches.
Finally, spotted seatrout are still in the game for Lowman. Deep flats where clear water and current are combined are resulting in slot-size fish being caught on live shiners.
Capt. Warren Girle is ailing from tarpon fever. If you see Girle on the water during this time of year, nine times out of 10 he’s tarpon fishing. Girle is targeting the silver kings with a variety of techniques.
While fishing the beaches, Girle is targeting schooling fish with live crabs or threadfin herring. By using his trolling motor, he slides alongside the fish and presents baits to them. While doing this, multiple hookups are attainable.
When fishing the passes or surrounding sandbars, Girle is anchoring and chumming to get a bite. While at anchor, Girle is chumming with fresh-cut threadfin herring. He then uses the same as bait — match the hatch. Average size of the tarpon hookups for Girle is 100-140 pounds.
Jim Malfese at the Rod & Reel Pier is seeing large schools of shiners gathering around the pier and its surrounding shoreline. These shiners are still young, which makes them prime targets for many species, including Spanish mackerel, mangrove snapper and snook. All three species enjoy gorging on these small baitfish. To target the snapper and snook, try using a light leader and a small hook. The stealthier you are, the more hookups you’ll get. Now, you may lose a few fish, due to using light gear, but your hookup ratio should increase.
Pier fishers using live shrimp are catching mangrove snapper. The same applies for rigging when using the small shiners as bait. Malfese says keeper-size mangrove snapper are being caught with some regularity.
Finally, when targeting the Spanish mackerel, try using white or chartreuse crappie jigs or speck rigs. These small jigs mimic the tiny baitfish and just drive the mackerel plum crazy. You can expect to encounter blue runners, jack crevalle and ladyfish.
Send high-resolution photos and fishing reports to fish@islander.org.