Gerry Zagorski
03-14-2015, 08:34 AM
Won't be long until spring and the thought of fishing in flip flops and tee shirts brought this article to mind. Hope it helps warms you up as it did me this morning when I wrote it.
We’ve been fishing the Boca Grande Pass for Tarpon for several year now during the end of spring. The weeks leading up to and after the Memorial Day Weekend is the best time to go. The Tarpon arrive like clockwork during their northern migration along Florida’s west coast like they have been doing for hundreds of years. They stop and set up camp in the pass to hang out, fatten up and feed before the spawn.
Unlike most fish, Tarpon have air bladders and need to surface to get oxygen. During this time of year you can literally see thousands of 80 to 125 pound fish boiling up on the surface to catch their breath. It’s a sight to be seen and for good reason this area is known as “The Tarpon Capital of The World”.
The Boca Grande pass is located 20 miles or so North West of Fort Myers Beach as the crow flies and is one of SW Florida’s largest passes. It connects Charlotte Harbor to the Gulf or Mexico and is about ½ mile long and a ½ mile wide. “The Hole” as the locals call it has depths ranging from 40 to 70 feet. The volume of water moving in and out of the pass during the tides moves a ton of bait through it and the Tarpon just lay in wait.
Tarpon fishing takes place during the day and night and the best fishing centers around what are called Hill Tides. These are the tides that are the most extreme and are caused by the new and full moon cycles that take place during May and June and therefore move the most water in and out of the pass along with the Tarpons favorite bait, the Blue Claw Crab. They are called Hill Tides since if you look at graphical tide chart, rather then look like a slight mound, they look like steeper hills.
There are 2 types of fisherman that frequent the pass. “Jiggers” and the traditional Bait/Crab fisherman. These 2 groups might as well be fire and ice because each has a deep distain for the other. You are either a “Jigger” or a “Bait” guy so you’d better pick a side. They both talk about each other like Democrats and Republicans.
We were on one of the traditional Bait Tarpon charters and the Captain and mate were telling stories on the subject. The mate says to the Captain in a southern accent…. “Hey Bobby, I was in the bait store the other day and this guy pulls up with a brand new truck towing a flats boat with all kinds of decals on the boat, $300 spinning reels and a brandy new button down fishing shirt…. I knew he was a “Jigger” the first time I laid eyes on him… You can tell them from a mile away”
So, here is how the “Jiggers” do it. Tarpon jigs are 6 to 7 ounce jig heads with rubber curly tails threaded on the jig head and hook mostly fished with heavy spinning outfits from center consoles and flats boats. The jig is casted out and retrieved into a school of boiling Tarpon. Run and gun and cast and snag. This method is frowned upon by the bait fisherman since they feel it’s disruptive, unskilled and un-sportsmen like. In fact, a few years ago the bait fisherman rallied and got this method banned from the pass all together.
In contrast to the “Jiggers” bait guys fish during the day and night and most run old wooden express inboard boats that look like they have seen better days but get the job done. These guys fish with conventional rods and reels and some are so skilled and the Tarpon so thick, many will give you a Tarpon Guarantee. You don’t catch a Tarpon you don’t pay… You don’t tell these guys when you want to fish, they tell you and it could be any time of day or night. We’ve had several charters where we met the boats at 10PM fished the hill tide and did not get back till 2 AM, but we have always caught fish.
Their Bait rigs are a heavy egg sinker above a barrel swivel with a 10 foot mono or steel leader leading to a circle hook with a 3 or 4 inch crab hooked in the point of the crab. You basically drop them straight down and drift through “The Hole”. The Hole is where the tarpon usually congregate and varies greatly in terms of depths from 40 to 70 feet and the traditional guys have their line marked with different colored ribbons at the most common depths. As you drift through the pass the Captain keeps a close eye on the depth finder and you hear him call out the instructions to keep your crab right off the bottom. “Green on the reel, Green on the tip, Red on the reel or red at the tip”. You don’t jig, you sit in a fighting chair with the pole across your chest and over the gunnel keeping your rod perpendicular to the water and perfectly still.
When you hook up, you don’t set the hook. Instead you yell to the Captain “ Fish On !!” and he guns the boat forward to set the hook. Tarpon have very tough mouths and jaws and it’s difficult to get a hook set by trying to set it yourself with the rod. The boat sets it.
Now is when the fun starts!!
Once the Tarpon feels the hook, what he wants to do more than anything is get your hook out of his mouth. Most will shoot up off the bottom, fly several feet into the air and do several aerial cart wheels…. Some, but not many will try and sound and take you to the bottom to try and cut you off on rocks and corral. Either way you have a drag wrenching fight on your hands and the Captain is constantly maneuvering the boat to try and keep the Tarpon off the stern. For this reason boats in the pass are always kept running. Once you hook up all other boats in the vicinity will move and give you a wide birth to fight your fish. You try and gain line and use the poll and the reel drag to fight the fish. The Tarpon will tire and run out of air and you’ll start gaining some line thinking you’ve got him. Instead, he will then come up top, take a gulp of air and its game on all over again.
You don’t rest… You need to keep constant pressure on the fish or you’ll end up in a stale mate. If that happens there is a good chance the Tarpon can become shark bait. There are huge Bull and Hammer Head sharks that frequent the pass. They are very opportunistic and are in constant patrol, just waiting for a Tarpon to be spent from the fight. For this reason you need to land the Tarpon as quickly as possible.. Many Captains will only let you fight the fish for so long and once they feel it’s too long, they will cut the line so the Tarpon will not tire too much and fall prey to the sharks. Check out this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e6ugDnYqG8
All Tarpon are released since it is illegal to keep them. It’s also recently become illegal to pick them up out of the water so you bring them alongside the boat, snap a few pictures, get your hook back and send them back into the deep to fight another day.
This is by far one of my favorite fisheries…. The thrill of catching a 100 pound fish so close to land in the narrow pass is a real thrill… The jumps they make will make your heart race and will be burned into your mind’s eye forever.
We’ve been fishing the Boca Grande Pass for Tarpon for several year now during the end of spring. The weeks leading up to and after the Memorial Day Weekend is the best time to go. The Tarpon arrive like clockwork during their northern migration along Florida’s west coast like they have been doing for hundreds of years. They stop and set up camp in the pass to hang out, fatten up and feed before the spawn.
Unlike most fish, Tarpon have air bladders and need to surface to get oxygen. During this time of year you can literally see thousands of 80 to 125 pound fish boiling up on the surface to catch their breath. It’s a sight to be seen and for good reason this area is known as “The Tarpon Capital of The World”.
The Boca Grande pass is located 20 miles or so North West of Fort Myers Beach as the crow flies and is one of SW Florida’s largest passes. It connects Charlotte Harbor to the Gulf or Mexico and is about ½ mile long and a ½ mile wide. “The Hole” as the locals call it has depths ranging from 40 to 70 feet. The volume of water moving in and out of the pass during the tides moves a ton of bait through it and the Tarpon just lay in wait.
Tarpon fishing takes place during the day and night and the best fishing centers around what are called Hill Tides. These are the tides that are the most extreme and are caused by the new and full moon cycles that take place during May and June and therefore move the most water in and out of the pass along with the Tarpons favorite bait, the Blue Claw Crab. They are called Hill Tides since if you look at graphical tide chart, rather then look like a slight mound, they look like steeper hills.
There are 2 types of fisherman that frequent the pass. “Jiggers” and the traditional Bait/Crab fisherman. These 2 groups might as well be fire and ice because each has a deep distain for the other. You are either a “Jigger” or a “Bait” guy so you’d better pick a side. They both talk about each other like Democrats and Republicans.
We were on one of the traditional Bait Tarpon charters and the Captain and mate were telling stories on the subject. The mate says to the Captain in a southern accent…. “Hey Bobby, I was in the bait store the other day and this guy pulls up with a brand new truck towing a flats boat with all kinds of decals on the boat, $300 spinning reels and a brandy new button down fishing shirt…. I knew he was a “Jigger” the first time I laid eyes on him… You can tell them from a mile away”
So, here is how the “Jiggers” do it. Tarpon jigs are 6 to 7 ounce jig heads with rubber curly tails threaded on the jig head and hook mostly fished with heavy spinning outfits from center consoles and flats boats. The jig is casted out and retrieved into a school of boiling Tarpon. Run and gun and cast and snag. This method is frowned upon by the bait fisherman since they feel it’s disruptive, unskilled and un-sportsmen like. In fact, a few years ago the bait fisherman rallied and got this method banned from the pass all together.
In contrast to the “Jiggers” bait guys fish during the day and night and most run old wooden express inboard boats that look like they have seen better days but get the job done. These guys fish with conventional rods and reels and some are so skilled and the Tarpon so thick, many will give you a Tarpon Guarantee. You don’t catch a Tarpon you don’t pay… You don’t tell these guys when you want to fish, they tell you and it could be any time of day or night. We’ve had several charters where we met the boats at 10PM fished the hill tide and did not get back till 2 AM, but we have always caught fish.
Their Bait rigs are a heavy egg sinker above a barrel swivel with a 10 foot mono or steel leader leading to a circle hook with a 3 or 4 inch crab hooked in the point of the crab. You basically drop them straight down and drift through “The Hole”. The Hole is where the tarpon usually congregate and varies greatly in terms of depths from 40 to 70 feet and the traditional guys have their line marked with different colored ribbons at the most common depths. As you drift through the pass the Captain keeps a close eye on the depth finder and you hear him call out the instructions to keep your crab right off the bottom. “Green on the reel, Green on the tip, Red on the reel or red at the tip”. You don’t jig, you sit in a fighting chair with the pole across your chest and over the gunnel keeping your rod perpendicular to the water and perfectly still.
When you hook up, you don’t set the hook. Instead you yell to the Captain “ Fish On !!” and he guns the boat forward to set the hook. Tarpon have very tough mouths and jaws and it’s difficult to get a hook set by trying to set it yourself with the rod. The boat sets it.
Now is when the fun starts!!
Once the Tarpon feels the hook, what he wants to do more than anything is get your hook out of his mouth. Most will shoot up off the bottom, fly several feet into the air and do several aerial cart wheels…. Some, but not many will try and sound and take you to the bottom to try and cut you off on rocks and corral. Either way you have a drag wrenching fight on your hands and the Captain is constantly maneuvering the boat to try and keep the Tarpon off the stern. For this reason boats in the pass are always kept running. Once you hook up all other boats in the vicinity will move and give you a wide birth to fight your fish. You try and gain line and use the poll and the reel drag to fight the fish. The Tarpon will tire and run out of air and you’ll start gaining some line thinking you’ve got him. Instead, he will then come up top, take a gulp of air and its game on all over again.
You don’t rest… You need to keep constant pressure on the fish or you’ll end up in a stale mate. If that happens there is a good chance the Tarpon can become shark bait. There are huge Bull and Hammer Head sharks that frequent the pass. They are very opportunistic and are in constant patrol, just waiting for a Tarpon to be spent from the fight. For this reason you need to land the Tarpon as quickly as possible.. Many Captains will only let you fight the fish for so long and once they feel it’s too long, they will cut the line so the Tarpon will not tire too much and fall prey to the sharks. Check out this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e6ugDnYqG8
All Tarpon are released since it is illegal to keep them. It’s also recently become illegal to pick them up out of the water so you bring them alongside the boat, snap a few pictures, get your hook back and send them back into the deep to fight another day.
This is by far one of my favorite fisheries…. The thrill of catching a 100 pound fish so close to land in the narrow pass is a real thrill… The jumps they make will make your heart race and will be burned into your mind’s eye forever.