This year has been a banner year for Tarpon in Central Florida. Many anglers were able to catch their first tarpon and experienced anglers caught more than they have in recent memory.
The tarpon where found everywhere from a few miles offshore to the inner canals of the ICW. Active tarpon where found just about everywhere that there were baitfish this year.
On a recent fishing trip to New Smyrna I was able to hook into 3 tarpon and landed 2 of them. They ranged in size from 20lbs to around 100lbs. Of course the largest one got away!
I have fished the New Smyrna area for many years and I can recall many summers when I didn’t even see a Tarpon, much less catch more than 10 in a year. I don’t recall ever seeing this many in the area.
I found that using live pinfish was one of the most productive baits for tarpon this year. I was able to catch a few on Berkley Gulp Alive soft plastic lures. They, however, were not able to catch the larger fish. I only caught the big ones on live bait.
The mullet run seemed to excite the tarpon making them a little bit easier to catch. While the mullet were running heavily tossing a large finger mullet near a tarpon would often elicit a strike. I used large circle hooks and no weight. Free lining seemed to work out very well as the tarpon tend to feed in the upper column of the water. A good cast, just beyond the fish, and retrieving into the path of the tarpon led to many of the strikes I had during the Mullet Run.
I have talked to a few of my fishing buddies and we have all wondered out loud if the heavy freeze of this past winter had anything to do with the banner year for Tarpon.
Did you catch any Tarpon this year? Do you think the freeze had anything to do with it?