By: Paul MacInnis
T here is a lot of evidence that Brevard County is a major nursery area for juvenile tarpon. Sebastian Inlet appears to be a key artery in the tarpon development cycle due to the high numbers of tarpon larvae caught in plankton nets by FWC biologists. Further evidence comes from the thousands of juvenile tarpon DNA samples that have been collected by anglers in Brevard County waters for the Tarpon Genetic Recapture Study (TGRS). In the eight years of the TGRS program, Brevard ranks as one of the top counties in Florida for tarpon DNA samples.
Juvenile tarpon are a blast to catch. Pound for pound they fight just as hard as their older relative plus they tend to jump more. If you want to find juvenile tarpon you need to be aware of their unique adaptation that is key to their survival for the first year or so. Tarpon can live where most other fish cannot because their swim bladder doubles as a primitive lung allowing them to extract oxygen from air they gulp from the surface when they roll. Baby tarpon use this to their benefit by seeking out creeks, ditches, and other oxygen-poor waters as a sanctuary from fishy predators that require higher levels of dissolved oxygen to survive.
Jon Mallory, a fly fisherman from Merritt Island, has caught and collected DNA samples from over 1,500 juvenile tarpon, most from within an hour’s drive from his home. To find your own tarpon fishing spots Mallory advises, “Locate rural canals that connect to the lagoon system and spend time driving the back roads observing the water for rolling and feeding tarpon. One way to reduce your search time is to talk to people you find fishing the area.” Web sites that provide aerial images are also an excellent way to find rural canals and creeks that might hold tarpon. Captain Mike Badarack, another central Florida tarpon enthusiast suggests you remember where you find baby tarpon because they tend to frequent the same areas year after year.
Brevard’s backwater tarpon range from tiny four inch long babies up to 40 plus pound sub-adults. Most fish will be in the 15 to 30 inch range, which makes them a perfect target for a 7-wt fly rod or eight to ten pound test spinning tackle. No mater what tackle you use a 20 pound test shock leader will work for most juveniles but 30 or 40 pound leader could be needed if you run into bigger fish.
Baby tarpon thrive in oxygen- poor waters, feasting on mosquitofish, killifish and other small prey. Match the hatch definitely applies and most anglers make the mistake of throwing lures that are far too big. Mallory’s number one piece of advice is to think small. “Ditch tarpon like small flies,” suggests Mallory. “Most of my flies are less than 1-1⁄2 inches… even the larger fish prefer small flies.”
For conventional tackle, just about any lure that provides a small minnow profile will catch the interest of small tarpon. Tarpon are notoriously difficult to hook and lures with a single larger hook do a better job than lures with small treble hooks.
Great lures for juvenile tarpon are soft plastic jerk baits less than four inches long like the Bass Assassin 3-inch Shads and the D.O.A. C.A.L. series. I like to thread these types of lures on a straight shank J-hook with the point exposed much the same way you would rig it on a jig head. This is one fishery where it pays to use premium hooks and I am a big fan of the Trokar TK180-2/0 and –3/0 hooks due to their incredibly sharp points and a great bait keeper feature that keeps the lure from sliding down the shank. Small jigs are also good for tarpon. The D.O.A. Tiny TerrorEyz is popular among backwater tarpon anglers but there are plenty of jigs that are commonly used for freshwater crappie fishing that work well on juvenile tarpon.
Backwater tarpon enthusiasts have wildly varying opinions when it comes to lure colors. The old adage applies most of the time; dark lures in dark waters and dark days and light lures in clear water and bright days. One trick taught to me by Mallory is to keep a change-up color handy. When the bite shuts down in a particular spot, you can often eke out a few more hits by throwing out a lure with a very bright, flashy color like chartreuse.
Juvenile tarpon may bite any time of day, but they definitely feed better during the low light periods of morning and evening. Perhaps the best time to catch tarpon is immediately after a strong storm. Overcast, drizzly weather after a heavy rain can often lead to a hot bite that lasts for hours.
Plenty of juvenile tarpon are caught blind casting but the most successful anglers are the ones who can fire off quick, accurate casts to fish they see rolling or busting bait. How the tarpon rolls can tip you off on how to fish you lure. A slow gentle roll means the fish are staying high in the water column and your lures should be retrieved just under the surface. An arching, splashy roll means the tarpon are running deep and you should be fishing jigs or lures with a little weight down near the bottom. One final tip, tarpon tend to release bubbles after they roll so watching for bubbles can tip you off on which way the fish are heading.
If you want a change of pace from the typical seatrout and redfish, I suggest you give juvenile tarpon a try. It is a relatively simple fishery, yet satisfyingly challenging at the same time.
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