Notes

Best Time

Tarpon fishing in January, February and March can be the best of the year, but weather dependent and is not a "sure thing" like April, May, June and July. Cold fronts in the late Fall and early Spring can compromise the great early tarpon fishing with high winds and cool water temperatures so a backup plan like snook fishing is a very good idea until the water warms up and the wind subsides. By late March through July the tarpon are on their migratory tracks and sight fishing opportunities are a given regardless of the weather. You can't count them out literally any month of the year Oct, Nov, and December can be very good months with the right weather conditions.

• 10 weight with floating, clear floating and additional "clear sink tip" line, for tarpon.
• 11 weight with floating, clear floating and additional clear sink tip, best all around tool for big tarpon.
• 12 weight is optional but great to have on that windy day, for a little more punch with a floating line, sink tip and especially with an intermediate line to cut through the wind.

• Leaders I use a variation of the standard IGFA big game leader with 16 or 20 pound class tippet. Including the butt section, I generally tie these leaders from 9 to as long as 14 feet. If you are not interested in world records, in my opinion you can increase hookups by lengthening your shock tippet from the standard IGFA 12 inches to as long as 30 inches. The advantage here is less visibility between knots and also gives you ability to clip off a damaged fly or a couple inches of scuffed leader and re- tie without having to trash the entire leader.

• I generally use hard Mason or hard Rio for the 5 to 7 foot butt section, I use the same for the class tippet. I then use Seaguar fluorocarbon for the shock tippet.

• My tarpon flies are generally tied in the non-fouling splayed tail, married tail and toad style with lots of color variations. If you choose to tie your own, you should tie both light and dark patterns with hook sizes ranging from 1/0 for ultra clear water conditions to 3/0 for silty water conditions.

Tarpon Flies...

Coming Soon...