Tampa Bay Tarpon Report
Tarpon season is officially here. This is my favorite time of year the time the southern migration rolls into the Tampa Bay area. Tarpon fishing is good in March and April in these parts for resident Tarpon and a few early migrating fish, but nothing is like the Tarpon fishing now until the end of July. May 1st for me marks the traditional start of my Tarpon fishing. From the first of the month thru July, 99 percent of my time on the water will be spent chasing Tarpon. Average days are 6 to 10 hookups on full mature size Tarpon averaging 70 to 130 pounds. Real Trophy Tarpon will run from 150 to 200 pounds plus, although to most people any fish as large as an average Tarpon is a life time trophy. Some of our best day's Tarpon fishing over the next few months will result in 20 plus fish hooked. Last Tarpon season we approached 30 in one day a couple of times.
There is nothing like sight fishing for Tarpon which is my primary tactic. My trolling motor system has been refined more than ever and I already have hundreds of live crabs ready to go, it's going to be a great season. We just started getting things going this past week and Tarpon fishing has been real solid, and it's going to get a lot stronger this week. We have a lot of fish coming in from down south right now as I write this report.
What else is biting? Well although most of my time has been and will be spent battling Tarpon we did get a little time in flats fishing.
The Snook bite has been good. I actually had an 11 year old take a Snook on a fly rod which is a pretty big feat for a youngster. He and his family caught several others on bait.
The Trout fishing is still strong and there are plenty of Mackerel mixed in with them.
There are lots of nice Grouper in the bay and offshore. We actually caught two Grouper yesterday while Tarpon fishing, one was 29 inches the other 24, nice little bonuses.
Cobia fishing is also pretty solid right now we had a couple keepers this past week while Tarpon fishing also. The largest was 35 pounds.
The bay has massive school of Mackerel roaming around the ships channel right now; they make an easy target for any fisherman, not to mention there are still a lot of big Kingfish mixed in with those Mackerel right now.
Well that pretty much sums up my report. I have heard from other fisherman that the Snapper and Amberjack are biting offshore, but that's just hearsay. Let face it, my next couple of month's worth of reports will mainly be about Tarpon fishing because it's mainly all I will be fishing for.
Well I hope ever one has enjoyed my report. I have a few Tarpon charters available if anyone is interested in what I consider the best fishing the world has to offer.
Captain Matt
www.captainmatt.com
www.tarponfish.com
Cell – 941-447-9888
