The next 3 weeks tarpon fishing will greatly improve. Tarpon are now in their pre-spawn phase and will have huge appetites. During this time they won’t be very picky eaters.  Ideally you want to fish around the new and full moon on the strong outgoing tides.

 Spending a little time dipping up pass crabs as they float by can yield huge dividends. Tarpon will congregate in large numbers near the sunshine skyway and Egmont key. If you choose to fish artificial you can’t go wrong with imitation crabs like those from Culprit and Riptide, DOA, and Berkley Gulp. Just get out and have fun and remember to try and use stout tackle and leave the fish in the water for better survival. Until next time tight lines!

Well, I went out to the skyway pier around 5:30pm on Saturday. I went prepared to catch blacktips. I stopped at the beggining of the south pier to catch mackerel and ladyfish. I started off with a gotcha lure and caught a few mackerel. Then I decided to swap out lures to a yellow 1/4 jig. I hooked up with a 50lb tarpon, I was only using my Shimano Sedona, but suprising enough I sundudd the fish and took him to the rocks where I removed my lure and properly revived him. I the went to my spot that I like to setup for shark. I floated out a nice lady fish but the wind picked up an it started blowing our baits back to the bridge so we called it a night. Overall it was a great fishing night!