Best Techniques


Sight Fishing


Tarpon come to the surface to get oxygen, so you can often find tarpon by driving your boat around and just looking with your eyes.  Once you see them rolling at the surface, you have a good idea of where you need to be.  Now, the tricky part is getting your boat in a position to catch these fish without spooking them.  Some anglers do sight fish for them off of piers, bridges and other areas where they have a view from above and some clear water so they can see them.


Fly Fishing


Fly fishing is a great way to present your bait to tarpon.  It can be very challenging to get one to bite, but you can definitely present your bait to a lot of shallow water fish that the baitcasters and spinning gear would spook.


Still Fishing


This is one of the more boring ways to fish for tarpon, but it’s still exciting once you get the bite.  Set out your favorite tarpon bait in a good area to fish and wait for the bite.  You can fish your baits on the bottom or higher up in the water column too.  Both ways can be effective.


Drifting


Drifting with the current is one of the more popular ways to target tarpon.  Set out your baits and drift over deeper water to find some active tarpon.  This is one of the best ways to cover water and find fish.


Jigging


When the tarpon are deep, anglers have a lot of success jigging for tarpon.  It’s an easy way to keep your bait in the zone longer and the jigging motion is a good way to get your bait to stand out and to trigger bites from a hungry tarpon.


Trolling


Some anglers troll for tarpon.  You use lures or slow troll with live baits.  It’s another effective way to cover some water and find active tarpon.