Credit to all Tarpon Anglers

Questions about Saltwater Fishing

Credit to all Tarpon Anglers

Postby detroitmuskie » Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:09 am

I'm a diehard Muskie Angler and recently bitten by the Tarpon Bug! I've since been bitten have chased them for 4 days in the Everglades. I was lucky to hook and jump 13 Tarpon from 120-200# and lost every single one! They would only react to plugs or sight fishing with a 10" Hogy. I had some great fights and jumps but every single one spit the hooks! I'm now dedicating time to learning how to fly fish for Tarpon and maybe increase the odds of actually landing one eventually! Credit to all of you that chase Tarpon and actually land them on artificial baits! I don't know if I was unlucky or just not setting the hook right and fighting them right!!
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Re: Credit to all Tarpon Anglers

Postby dahlberg » Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:37 am

Ha! Welcome to the club. It's sorta like AA. I got bit back in the seventies and have never been the same again!!
Sounds like your luck has got to change pretty soon from sheer statistical probability!
What kind of hook set up were you using?
best
L
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Re: Credit to all Tarpon Anglers

Postby detroitmuskie » Thu Apr 04, 2013 11:18 am

On the plugs... I would set as soon as the fish would strike and usually off to the side and as hard as I could! On sight fishing I'll admit I "flinched" a few times tossing a circle hook Hogy bait. A few fish would "suck" it in and most strikes were just a few feet away. I reacted to the close strike of a 150# Fish and pulled the bait right out of it's mouth. The water was shallow (3ft or less) and ones hooked they would go nuts jumping out of water constantly eventually spitting the hooks. I couldn't keep one on long enough to even do battle with it. It seems it was near impossible to get those treble hooks to stay pinned in them. Really frustrating because I was getting strikes and with plugs it's the most violent strikes I've even seen. They come shooting out of water a full speed, smashing the bait and jolting my body. Totally addicting way to chase them!! I just need to keep one on longer than 5-7 jumps!!
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Re: Credit to all Tarpon Anglers

Postby dahlberg » Thu Apr 04, 2013 2:39 pm

Hmmm. It's pretty rare for them to toss a circle hook, but sometimes they do. sounds to me a little deep breathing and a few more encounters and you'll get the drill. No hurry with the circle. you can even just sort of thumb them tight against a loose drag to get the hook up.
When casting artificials I've done best with smaller very stiff hooks and slow lazy zig zag lures. My nmber one is the small subsurface wide glide. Gotta be careful not to pull to hard when they're close and really revved up. Don't need an xxheavy musky stick, better like heavy or med heavy. Figuring out your most efficient pulling angles and how to fight them to land them quickly is a whole 'nother part of the story, and a fun process.
And, as you may have been told already several times, when they leap it's usually wise to bow to the king.
best,
L
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Re: Credit to all Tarpon Anglers

Postby TJones » Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:42 pm

Great post! Detroit, you are not alone... Your experience is very similar to what mine was. Made it to the keys to fish tarpon only once, but hooked a bunch fishing plugs around the bridges at night. Same deal, I could get a few jumps out of them before throwing the hooks. The only one I landed I got on a shrimp with a single hook. Looking back, I think I was trying to fish too tight a drag at the beginning of the fight, but hindsight is 20/20. Glad to hear you had a great time! Hope to make it back down there myself sometime in the next couple years.
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Re: Credit to all Tarpon Anglers

Postby aka anglinarcher » Sun Apr 07, 2013 1:39 pm

LOL - you guys were bitten, I was defeated! In 1979 all I did was fly fish, so on a trip to Florida I decided I too was going to fly fish for Tarpon. I remember breaking all three of my 10 weight fiberglass fly rods on those rascals - never could get the hang of bowing to the king. :oops: I did catch a few "baby tarpon" later on my 8 weight.

Looking back, it is a good thing I was so young and lived in the Western US. If I had lived closer and been a little older, I might have been a Tarpon addict. :mrgreen:

:mrgreen: Go get them guys, and on one that you release, tell it that one is for Anglinarcher. :mrgreen:
I think my bucket list has a hole in the bottom!
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Re: Credit to all Tarpon Anglers

Postby detroitmuskie » Sun Apr 07, 2013 2:43 pm

I'll admit on a few we sight fished with a 10" Hogy and circle hook I "flinched" pulling the bait right out of their mouths. What can I say.....I had 2 150# tarpon eat right at my feet in a blink of a eye and I reacted! Completely my mistake! They are an amazing species and all I can do is think, read and continue to learn about them. I'll be back and hopefully get lucky enough to land one (water release) and enjoy the fight for more than a few seconds/minutes. Thanks for the support guys! I'm gonna go back in the fall but until then in stuck chasing 50" Muskie with casting gear and I'm gonna pick up the fly gear and spend some time learning so I can go back one day and get them that way! I'm sure it will take at least a few years to be good enough to fly fish for them....
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Re: Credit to all Tarpon Anglers

Postby Ahab » Tue Apr 23, 2013 8:56 pm

Growing up in MI it took me 10,000 casts to land my first steelhead, about the same for the first salmon but I caught my first muskie with one cast in the south channel of Lake St. Clair. Buddy owns a house on Harsens Island.

Now I live in FL and several of my buddies from MI come down every year to chase tarpon. It all started because there is a bragging board at two of the guys work and they wanted to post the pic of the biggest fish.

They are thick in the keys right now and next month they will be in my backyard of Tampa Bay.

The single best lure I have found is the Magnum Long A from Bomber lures. The one with two hooks, not three. The nice thing about Tampa is that the fish are hit hard in the keys and then blasted in Boca Grande, but they have time to settle down in the big water of the bay. They hang around from May until July.

You mention going back in the fall. I would suggest not doing that. There are fish around but it is much harder getting them to bite. The spring is the best time. If you hit the days leading to first new moon in May you will get more shots than you can handle in a day. In June there is a worm hatch - Paolo worm on what is called the "hill" tides. Hill tide is simply when there is two tides of huge proportions (roughly 5'), the worms hatch and the tarpon eat so many they appear to get drunk on them. Money much better spent at this time of year.

In Tampa Bay we chase them in the deep water with live white bait but my favorite is in the shallows when you sight cast to them with flies. The most productive is in 7-9' at first light with the bombers.

Best wishes for for your disease as modern medicine has not found a pill to cure it.
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