Fishing for Tarpon in the Florida Keys

Event Article

Bow to the King - Fishing for Tarpon in the Florida Keys (continued)

Getting the Jump on some Tarpon: The Florida Keys offers anglers a wide range of potential “checklist” species but prior to the event I decided to focus on Tarpon versus offshore or freshwater species due to the timing. Tarpon are migratory and during May and June they can be found in large numbers in the region as they prepare to spawn offshore. Thus I doubled down for three opportunities to target these fish inshore and went out with Captain Glyn Austin, Captain James Marko at night, and Captain Steve Nagy the next day. Joining me on the boats was John Bretza and Dave Brown from Okuma, and Scott Goodwin, Editorial Director of BD Outdoors.

Scott Goodwin, Editor of BD Outdoors, works Hyperlastics lures for Tarpon

Steve Miller, AFW Sales Director, was on hand to show us the latest Hi-Seas leader products and we would end needing all of them in our pursuit for Tarpon

Though fishing in the Faro Blanco Marina is not allowed as we prepared to launch on the first day I got my first look at the fish that we were hoping to get the jump on, as there were a number of 40-60lb Tarpon that were schooled up right under the marina’s famed lighthouse. Distinguished angler and lure designer Patrick Sébile, was demonstrating how to work his new Ocean Born Flying Popper when a Tarpon blew up on it on it. Patrick was able to shake the fish off but it pretty much answered the question whether or not the fish would eat artificial lures this week. More than anything the sight of the violent surface strike really got all of us excited as to what the next two days could potentially bring.

Our primary Tarpon outfits made use of the latest Okuma Azores spinning reels spooled with Hi-Seas braid tipped with long fluorocarbon leaders

We geared up with Okuma medium-heavy rods and the company’s latest generation Azores spinning reels to tackle these beasts. Circle hooks are mandatory, making it all the more challenging to keep these fish pinned.

Tarpon are known to be line shy, and while they don’t have sharp teeth, their jaws are rough and contact with line has been known to end many battles . For this reason we turned to Hi-Seas 40-60lb. fluorocarbon to reduce the risk of getting cut off.

Captain Paul Michele, Navionics National Sales Manager, finds the fish

Fishing with new ABOA lures hardbaits I was able to land a variety of inshore species but the tarpon continued to elude me

Bow to the King: To kick things off we head out with Captain Glyn Austin to target the Tarpon near the famous Seven Mile Bridge, Henry Flagler’s engineering marvel which connected the Keys via a network of bridges back in 1912, and known more recently as the bridge that was blown up in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1994 movie True Lies.

Key to finding the fish is navigating the area and finding the hot spots, which is why we relied on Navionics to get the job done

One of the most exciting new features offered by Navionics is their new SonarChart Shading (with Satellite Overlay) presents a detailed rendering of the seafloor and lake bottoms in varying shades of blue making it much easier to visualize the region. This feature is now available on HotMaps Platinum and Platinum+ charts

Fishing the bridge meant adjusting to the tidal flows, which change direction depending on the incoming or outgoing tides. It was here that I got my first look at the many Tarpon breaking the surface which more resembled dolphins at play, as they surfaced for air, versus more traditional schooling fish.

Davey Brown, Senior Marketing Specialist at Okuma, jumps a tarpon

We fished for the tarpon using a variety of baits as well as live bait including free lining blue crabs, but it was Scott that showed us that the fish were in an aggressive mood by hooking a fish on a Band of Anglers Hyperlastics Dartspin Pro minnow. Over the course of the next few hours we had a total of six more bites, with Dave of Okuma landing his first Tarpon. Scott continued to work lures and had three hookups, but in every case once the Tarpon jumped they came unhooked. I was starting to see a theme here, and while getting the fish to bite was already a win, keeping the fish pinned through their aerial acrobatics was the real challenge.

Davey's first tarpon!

A quick unhook and release!

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