by Capt. Matt Mitchell
Tarpon fishing has kicked into high gear this week. Fish were found throughout the area,, with the northern sound being the better bite for me during the morning hours, then the bridges and the passes coming alive on the late-day hill tides.
No one method seemed to work best from day to day. Some days it was a crab bite, other days a pinfish, then, when nothing seemed to work, a cut bait would get a bite. When tarpon fishing, having a variety of bait cannot be stressed enough, as there is nothing worse than being in a pack of boats and not having what the fish have decided to eat.
Cut bait fishing for tarpon, although not glamorous like sight fishing on live bait, can often get it done when nothing else will. My go-to bait is fresh silver mullet. I cut the tail of the bait, breaking the stomach cavity, so the bait will sink. With a 9/0 or larger cut bait circle hook, I hook them not too deeply on the cut end. The key to a circle hook working is that the bait pulls off the hook when the fish eats; otherwise, you will see the bait come flying out of the fish on the first jump. Another tip when cut bait fishing for tarpon is to leave some slack in the line when the rod is in the holder. This allows the fish to move off with the bait before it feels pressure and jumps.
My favorite way to fish these tarpon is on the flats by slowly moving around them on a trolling motor and casting live baits at them. In a perfect world, I would do this every day, but many days, the conditions and what the fish are doing just do not allow this. Setting up on the highway of tarpon on an anchor or power poles and making long casts with live baits also works well.
When the boat is set up stationary, anchored from the stern, it’s possible to fish live baits out of the front down tide, and soak cut baits out of the sides. This method, when I’m not able to move around and cast at rolling fish, covers all the bases. Having another rod with a float and live bait hooked and in the live well gives u a pitch rod if a fish shows close enough to cast at.
Bridge-and-pass fishing on the big outgoing tides can be done either on an anchor or with a spot-lock trolling motor. Crabs under floats drifted back work well along with weighted live and cut threadfin herring. Chumming with cut-up threadfin is also a good move to draw the fish to you. When big schools of tarpon sit in and around the bridges, this bite can be amazing.
Tarpon also get out along the beaches in large schools at first light. The north end of Sanibel, all the way to Boca Grande, is where the fish can be found pretty close to the beach. While at the eastern end of Sanibel, they tend to be a little further out as the water is shallower.
As a guide, staying on these tarpon day to day is challenging. What I have learned over the years is the many places tarpon frequent. Once you locate the fish with consistent weather, it’s possible to return to them day after day. Many of these places are well known, but having a few lesser-known places that don’t have the boat pressure can be a game-changer.
Although side imaging sonar has changed the game in locating tarpon, there is something about seeing rolling fish that makes your heart race.
