Capt. George Tunison

Lately, Boca Grande has definitely been tarpon central, although the pass population has now thinned quite a bit with many more schools or pods moving along the coast both north and south of the inlet. Tarpon are also working the inside along the ICW throughout Pine Island Sound from Boca down to the Sanibel Causeway.

Local night fishing around area bridges will keep improving as the weeks go by depending on the amount of toxic water releases from Lake Okeechobee this summer. Although Charlotte Harbor’s deep holes and huge baitfish schools draw lots of tarpon to the area each year, typically hosting them there all the way into late fall, it’s not happening quite yet. Pass and coastal hunts are still more productive.

If you still plan on fishing Boca Grande, make sure you are there very early in the morning as it’s been shutting off quickly as the sun gets up. Fishing the 4-8 a.m. shift has been by far the most productive catch window times.

No experience hunting tarpon along the coast?

I highly recommend you seek help from an experienced fellow angler or hire a guide that specializes in this type of tarpon fishing. Either one will save precious time and money and jump start your tarpon game. Joining the No. 1 tarpon club in the USA, the Cape Coral Tarpon Hunters Club, is another great way to get up to speed and become a successful silver king angler.

Beach or coastal fishing from a boat involves first spotting moving schools of tarpon along the coast then motoring out and ahead of their intended, or what you think is their intended travel path without spooking them, setting up and then waiting for them to come into casting or baiting range.

Coastal presentations range from dead baiting on the bottom using a variety of fish, including cut mullet, catfish, Spanish mackerel or possibly the best of all, shad, to presenting small live baits like small pass and blue crabs, pinfish or threadfins under a small float.

Then we have the casters, tossing their favorite hard, soft and fly offerings. I’m a fan of large three-hook Bomber stickbaits (with replaced treble hooks to singles) for tarpon fishing local bridges at night but clear water coastal fish typically shy away from such large plugs in the daytime. A standard size MirrOlure with trebles removed and a single 5/0-6/0 circle hook rigged to the nose can be deadly on an early morning beach hunt.

Other anglers will take the soft plastics route either casting swimbait baitfish imitations like DOA Bait Busters, Storms or my favorite, the Zman Herculez. This realistically swimming paddle tail swimbait comes with a molded-in weight and upright hook with another empty attachment point located on the belly to add another split ring and hook if you desire. At times, nothing beats the Hogy family of lures with molded in weighted jig heads using their Barbarian hooks or purchase the jigheads and bodies separately.

The Barbarian hook design seems to lock onto tough tarpon jaws more efficiently than standard design jigheads, and highly recommended. Most of these jig head and hooks come pre-loaded with a spring in the hook eye to thread into the nose of the soft plastic eel holding it tightly after rigging.

Tarpon will often take a slowly fished topwater presentation like a Hogy eel fished with Hogy’s Keeper Soft Circle Hook. This is a plain circle hook with a spring attached at the bottom of the hook to screw into the nose of the soft plastic allowing the bait to be presented floating on the surface with a fully exposed circle hook for a solid hook-up. Fish this lure straight at a moderate speed along the surface for explosive strikes especially at night or very early mornings.

Cold neck towels from the cooler really help in this heat.

Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. You can contact him at 239-282-9434 or via email at captgeorget3@aol.com.