Tarpon season is hitting its full stride. Big schools have been reported off beaches from Tarpon Springs to Sarasota. Last week shorebound anglers at Redington Pier landed more than a dozen in a day. Boaters are catching tarpon near St. Petersburg Beach and Fort DeSoto during the early morning and around the Skyway during the stronger tides. Fly fishermen off Homosassa have caught several giant tarpon, including a pending world record in the 16-pound tippet class that weighed just over 190 pounds.
Along this part of the coast nearly all tarpon schools will be moving south in their annual migration and spawning aggregation. Your best bet is to choose the slowest school. The slower they are the more likely they are to feed.
On a disturbing note, a huge tarpon kill has been confirmed off Sanibel Island. Guides out of Naples and Fort Myers reported that very few tarpon showed up in early May, normally peak season. Next came reports from shrimp boat captains that there were as many as 7,000 dead tarpon floating 20 miles offshore. One sport fisherman who visited the area reported seeing at least 1,000 decayed tarpon, and some have begun to wash upon beaches from Boca Grande south. Though the cause of death has not been established, the area had been hit hard by red tide and numerous other fish also have been found dead.
