The Tarpon

Tarpon, affectionately known as Silver Kings, are one of the most popular inshore and nearshore fish in Florida to target during the spring and summer months. They are famous for acrobatic leaps and can jump up to ten feet out of the water while rattling their silver gills. It’s an unbelievable sight to see! Their scales are like silver dollars, and if you’re lucky, sometimes one will end up in the boat as a prized souvenir. They can grow up to 8 feet long and weigh over 280 pounds with a life expectancy of 50 plus years. Tarpon is a catch-and-release only fishery, and by law, fish over 40 inches must remain in the water. The best practice is never to bring one in the boat so both fish and angler are not in harm’s way. Pictures should be taken when the fish is jumping or alongside the boat. Experienced anglers sometimes stand in shallower waters and gently cradle the fish for that picture of a lifetime. While technically edible, their flesh is packed with tiny bones and would not make a very appetizing meal.

How to Catch Tarpon

Tarpon are one of the most prized catches in the world and require a very experienced Captain.

With over 25 years’ experience catching Tarpon, your YACHTFISH Captain will locate these beauties around beaches, shipping channels, bridges, passes and artificial reefs. Tarpon are a schooling fish often found rolling in large numbers while they migrate north along the beaches in the summer months. Some of the baits these monsters will hit are pinfish, scaled sardines, threadfin herring and crabs. They also like dead mullet, shad and ladyfish sitting on the bottom. The best way to catch Tarpon will be sight fishing in the early morning and late afternoon when the sun is setting. Because Tarpon are a catch and release fish, it is imperative the Captain knows not only how to catch them, but how to properly release them unharmed.

You’ll have a day unlike any other! Hard runs, jaw-dropping leaps and heart-pounding excitement is a certainty. The Tarpon will strike your bait hard and you’ll really feel it as the Tarpon takes a run and rips hundreds of feet of line off your reel. The fight can take you to your knees and sometimes will last up to 25 minutes, even for the most skilled angler. The reward is seeing a 20-200 pound Tarpon alongside the boat that you can boast about for years to come.

The YACHTFISH Fleet

With YACHTFISH, you’ll enjoy your Florida Tarpon Fishing Charter in style! At YACHTFISH we only use new model vessels equipped with state-of-the-art safety equipment, electronics and premium fishing gear. The fleet is updated every two years, and we maintain our equipment to be in “like new” condition.

Inshore / Nearshore Equipment:

The two Avenger custom 25 bay boats with 300 horsepower will skip across the flats effortlessly and handle choppy deeper water with ease. Our recently refurbished Aquasport Classic 22 bay boat is a must for flats fishing and shallower waters around the mangroves. You’ll be fishing in style!