Its that time of year again. The Tarpon have shown up in good numbers in Tampa Bay.

It was this week I made my first trip of the year out to check it out for my self. My good friend Loren came along and we started our day early.

Our first stop was a small bridge to catch the beginning of the afternoon outgoing tide. I like to fish on the new and full moon tides as that is when the pass crabs begin flushing off the nearby flats and the Tarpon begin to get actively feeding.

We spent some time getting a few pin fish and fished some nearby structure catching a few grouper. Yes there is bi-catch when Tarpon fishing and it is not uncommon to hook a grouper or three.

The tide really started moving so we spent some more time gathering up pass crabs as these are the bait of choice. We then headed to the Sunshine Skyway bridge to begin making our drifts.

We ended our day hooking up on three Tarpon in the 100lb class but all three were lost to thrown hooks . That’s part of Tarpon fishing.

I was not disappointed at the results as all trips out are a learning experience.

I will be out again so keep checking the reports.

If you would like to book a Tarpon trip give me a call and we will set it up for some of the good tides.

Thanks for reading

Capt. Steve