Tarpon Fishing an Ultimate Challenge with One of the World’s Top Saltwater Gamefish

Tarpon fishing is considered to be one of the most exciting sports, and is almost readily available to all anglers around the globe. With all the qualities of a tremendous sport-fish, tarpon fight ferociously when hooked. Leaping clear of the water, sometimes as high as 10 feet out of the water, and their powerful bursts of speed can really test the skill of anglers and the best of tackle.

Distribution

One of the world’s top saltwater gamefish, the distribution of tarpon covers all tropical and subtropical waters around the world. Often, they can be found in temperate climates with high temperature from above 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Characteristics

The tarpon’s body is deep, compressed flanks and large scales. The tail is deeply forked. The lower jaw which contains an elongated bony plate has a protruding upturned lip that covered the upper jaw.

The dorsal fin consists of 12-16 soft rays has no spines, and the last ray is greatly elongated. The anal fin has 20-25 soft rays.

With a nickname, ‘silver king’ the tarpon’s back is bluish-grey, the sides are of brilliant silver and a whitish belly.

Tarpon fishing is mostly done in coastal waters and estuaries where they’re primarily found. Juvenile tarpons can be found in freshwater rivers and lakes, often in stagnant waters. They’re hardy creatures able to cope with all types of salinity and environment, except coldwater.

Diet

Tarpon travels in schools, and they’re not choosy eaters. They feed on crabs, sea-worms, mullet, anchovies, shrimps, sardines and also fish fry found among plankton. Though they feed during the day, they are much more active feeding at night.

Angling Methods

The methods for tarpon fishing include drifting with live or dead-bait, casting with artificial lures or flies, trolling with large spoons and plugs, and jigging when fish are found in deeper water.

Bait

Baits used can be crabs, mullet, pinfish, sardines, threadfin herrings, shrimps and other natural baits.

The best fishing time is at night when tarpon are active feeding.

Tackle

Tackle used depends on the size of the fish you’re after, and also the technique you’re using. The fishing sites which include bays, rivers, lagoons, estuaries, shallow-flats, deep channels and open-waters also play a part with the gear used.

A 7-8 ft. baitcasting or spinning rod with strong backbone combined with a reel spooled with 20-30 lbs. line is standard. The drag of the reel must be silky smooth, because tarpon when hooked will make repeated leaps to escape, and take off like a bullet-train. A strong leader of 80-100 lbs. mono is needed to prevent cut-off by its sharp and tough gill plate.

As for fly anglers, a 10 ft. fly rod on 12 wt. line with enough strong backing will definitely give you a hell of an experience with this ferocious fighter.

Hooks used must be very sharp to penetrate the tarpon’s tough, bony mouth. And to have a nice, firm hook-up, several hard jerks of the rod is a must to prevent losing the fish, when tarpon starts performing its’ many leaping dance.

Safety Tips

Tarpon are known to cause havoc on board, damaging boat and equipment as well as injury to anglers. If the fish is still green, don’t bring it on board or even close to the boat. It’s far too dangerous with the tarpon’s reputation to hurl themselves off the water, repeatedly and wildly when hooked. The technique is to play with it until it’s really done.

Gaffing the fish is best performed on the lower lip, which will not injure the fish for release. Tarpon are not considered good table fare, but rather for their fighting abilities. Most tarpon fishing’s anglers practice “catch and release” with this fantastic gamefish.

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