Tarpon season is in full swing and that is all the fishing I have been doing lately. For years I have been asked what is my favorite fish to fish for and the answer, hands down, is tarpon. The next question is why do I like it so much?
I like it because: Tarpon are big and beautiful. They jump, run fast and fight hard.
Tarpon can be caught on live baits like threadfin herring, pinfish and crabs. Dead bait like mullet, ladyfish and Gulf menhaden are real effective and artificials like the MirrOlure 77M, 65M and TT series along with the DOA Bait Buster will do some heavy damage on the ‘poons.
Tarpon can be caught in shallow water. All the sand bars near bay area passes like Bean Point, Passa Grille, John’s Pass and Egmont offer good shallow water tarpon fishing. Homosassa is famous for its world record tarpon caught on the expansive Nature Coast flats.
Tarpon can also be caught in deep water like the 90’ hole at Egmont Key, the Skyway Bridge and the deep hole in Boca Grande Pass.
Tampa Bay land based anglers, right now, are catching lots of tarpon off the Skyway fishing piers and the Redington Pier using live bait.
So that’s why I love tarpon fishing. There’s lots of different ways to fish for them and catch them and it doesn’t require a big expensive boat and long runs offshore. Anybody can do it.
I caught my first tarpon when I was 7 years old with my mom and dad. Our entire family tarpon fishes together and we have created memories galore.
For more information on how to and where to, go to You Tube and look around. My You Tube channel www.youtube.com/fishinwithbillmiller has lots of good videos to get you started.