by Capt. Brent Bensmiller
It’s a nice time of year to fish and be out enjoying the nice weather and beautiful water. Lately the water clarity has been the best I’ve seen in quite some time. There’s been loads of tarpon cruising just off the beach, scavenging for prey. Bait is stacked up along the beaches and inlets bringing in a variety of different gamefish to target.
Watching the Silver Kings push right up near shore throughout the morning over the past few weeks has been a treat. These tarpon are in schools of up to 30+ working their way north on their annual migration. They are usually thick in our area throughout the spring and summer. Pass crabs and blue crabs freelined from your kayak will be your best baits of choice. If you can net or sabiki larger threadfin herring, they will work nicely too. Tie on a 5/0 circle hook with a few feet of 65# fluorocarbon leader directly to your mainline (using a uni to uni knot) and free line the baits 100ft back from your kayak. It may take a few hours to get a bite or to weed out all the unwanted fish, but once you hook up it will all be worth it! Tarpon fishing from a kayak is some of the most exciting fishing you may ever do. Be prepared to go for the tarpon sleigh ride as they will pull you up and down the beach and out into the gulf. Keep in mind there are also bigger predators in the area looking for these tarpon this time of year, so make sure to revive and release the fish healthy. Huge hammerheads and bull sharks will be lurking around looking for a tired tarpon to ambush. We recently saw the natural predation of a hammerhead hunting down a tarpon. It was one of the coolest things I’ve seen on the water and will make you respect these monster fish a bit more after seeing their true strength and stamina.
Get out there and enjoy this beautiful time of year while it lasts! Good luck out there guys and we’ll see you on the water!
Brent Bensmiller, the owner of Paddle Naples, is an expert at kayak fishing the local waters. He is available for kayak fishing charters and lessons, as well as guided kayak and paddleboard tours. You can reach Brent by email at brent@paddlenaples.com or by phone at 239-301-8888. Check out www.PaddleNaples. com and our FB page: https://www.facebook.com/paddlenaples/ for more information.
