Rolling Tarpon

[greyghost]

Larry
I fish out of Mobile, AL and in the hottest months of the summer tarpon can sometimes be seen rolling, in schools, a hundred yards or so off the beaches between here and Pensacola. I have never caught one and the only locals I know who have caught any fish for them with dead bait on the bottom. Any suggestions as to what lure I might toss at them to get a strike?

Greyghost

[dahlberg]

Hi GG,
I've seen what you describe along beaches both on the atlantic coast of central american and on the west coast of central Africa.
If they're really flying along in a single direction, obviously heading for somewhere they can be tough to impossible.
If they're moving more slowly I've had reasonable success a couple of different ways.
One is getting a shallow running minnow lure, no longer than 4" or so in front of them. The Bagley finger mullet (sinking model) or the small Storm shallow thunder (no longer made) have been the most consistent producers. Usually a medium to slow retrieve with the lipped lure, or a slow NON-Snappy almost do nothing 6"stroke with the lipless lure has been the overwhelming favorite. The problem is reaching the fish which might require wading out far enough that you get knocked on your butt every now and then by a wave. Also the hook-up ratios are pretty poor due to the small hooks necessary on these lures to make them run properly. Odds go up if you switch out to stiffer, stronger hooks like Owners.
I've also done very well with homemade spoonlike lures made of casting resin with various amounts of lead and braided flashabou tubing cast inside it, that can be skimmed and danced on the surface. I make them with a hole all the way through the center which the leader is fed through before fastening it to a 4/0 or 5/0 treble. When you get a hook up the lure slides up the line and the fish is left with only the hook to shake, which dramatically increases the number that stay buttoned up.
A third option, which requires an offshore wind, is to fly a mullet hooked with a circle hook out on a kite and let it buzz along just under the surface.
Sometimes, if you search along the beach you can locate "eddy" areas or pockets in which bait gathers and during certain tide periods or early and late in the day they actually feed there.
On outgoing tides I've had some success floating live baits like pinfish, crabs, small jacks, mullet ect. out on balloons.
Hope this gives you a few ideas. Let me know how you do!
best,
L

[greyghost]

Larry
Thanks for the excellent suggestions, I will give them a try. I should have mentioned that I will be fishing from a boat. I have a 17 ft. bay/flats boat that will let me get outside the confines of Mobile Bay on calm days. I am usually looking for redfish, flounder or cobia when I am fishing the beaches and on the occassions that the tapon pop up (and I usually see them early in the morning on flat calm days and they will be in a school just lazily rolling along, not in any particular hurry) I cast whatever lure I have on at the time and , so far, it has been ignored. I will have a rod rigged with one of your suggested lures from now on. I will let you know if it works. The tarpon should be around about one more month before they leave for the winter.

Greyghost