by Capt. Matt Mitchell
May is prime time tarpon fishing, with not only a busy schedule of clients but also several Tarpon tournaments throughout the month. It’s without a doubt my favorite fishing of the year. Doing it daily allows you to hopefully stay with the fish, though changing weather can make it tough.
The way I fish for tarpon is a two-part thing, and often it is more like hunting than fishing. The first part of the equation is to locate the fish. This is usually a visual thing, though side-imaging sonar is an amazing tool when the fish are not rolling. Creeping around the fish to get your best shot at them comes next. Setting up in the travel lanes will give you the most shots at these fish.
A few days this week we sat in huge amounts of fish, all that can be described as “tarpon soup”. Having located this many fish, it’s far from a sure thing that you will get a bite. Sitting in rolling fish for hours, both floating live baits and pitching baits at rolling fish, there were just very few hooked. Frustration levels are through the roof, as you know that eventually these fish have to eat. What triggers one fish to bite while many others flip you the fin and pass your bait by, I will never know.
One memorable morning this week, after moving into the travel lanes of these fish, I found a sand hole where the tarpon just basically lay up. After making cast after cast at these fish, it finally happened, and the float went down, and the leaping tarpon went nuts. After a 30 min fight, I unhooked the fish and watched it swim off unharmed. We had sat in a pack of more than 30 boats for several hours, and were only one of the three boats that got a bite.
Working hard for just a single tarpon bite that you know will make the day’s trip is high pressure. I’ve tarpon-fished almost every day this month, and I’m right at 50% success. I have days when I hook 3-5 fish, and I have days when I simply don’t get a bite. Several times this week, it was a single pitch to a fish that resulted in that one bite, and we caught a tarpon. When this bite happens so fast after hours of boredom, it’s chaos. Trying to stay focused after 100 casts for this one bite is tough. Once hooked, even if the angler does everything right, they can still lose the fish.
There is simply nothing like Tarpon fishing; it’s the Super Bowl of fishing. When it’s good, there’s simply nothing like it. I tell my clients that going in can be an expensive boat ride, and I’m either coming home a rockstar or a loser. After 5 trips in a row hooking at least one fish this week, I had a little tarpon swagger going before it came to an end, and I crashed and burned.
Capt. Matt Mitchell moved to Sanibel in 1980 and has lived in St. James City since 2000, when he started his fishing charter business. He spends over 300 days a year “living the dream” fishing. For questions and info: bookings@captmattmitchell.com
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