Tampa Bay Tarpon Fishing!

The west coast of Florida in and around Tampa Bay has some of the best tarpon fishing found in the world. We have the opportunity to fish for large tarpon 8 months of the year and juvenile fish year round. In the spring, sometime between mid March and mid April, the water becomes a steady temperature of 65 degrees. The schools of bait begin to show up and the resident tarpon come out of their winter hiding places and begin to roam the flats and frequent the bridges looking for food. We refer to this time as early tarpon season. Honestly the fishing can be hit or miss. As many other guides head to the bridges I prefer to head to basins and edges of grass flats looking for laid up fish soaking up the sun and warming themselves. Many people “nick- name these fish ‘spikes, “sleepers,’ or as a good friend of mine refers to them, as ‘sleepy t’s’ as they are lying on the surface or near the surface motionless. These fish are perfect for fly fishing. A well placed fly is rarely refused and makes for some really heart stopping excitement. You can also catch these fish by throwing a shallow running soft plastic or a free lined crab fished right in their face.

Around the first of May we start splitting our time looking for laid up fish and fishing the beach as the migration of Tarpon start to head into our bays. Hooking six 60lb-150lb Tarpon in a day is not uncommon. The migration of Tarpon lasts until sometime in the middle of July and then the fish start to thin out on the beach. But if you’re interested in sight fishing with the fly rod we continue to have very consistent fishing as singles and small pods of fish continue to cruise the beaches through Sept. This is a great time to catch really big fish. This is not because the big fish aren’t on the beach during the migration but because there are so many fish that the odds of catching 60 lbs are the same as catching 150 lbs. In late summer the single fish on the beach all tend to be big. If sight fishing isn’t your thing, from June until Nov. there are Tarpon around the bridges, in basins and passes and the all throughout Tampa bay You can fish these fish by throwing flies and plugs, drifting live bait, or fishing dead bait on the bottom.

If you’re an avid Tarpon Fisherman you will not be disappointed on the amount of tarpon you will see from June until Sept.