Fishing For Juvenile Tarpon

The summer months is when you go fishing for juvenile Tarpon in our area, and this afternoon I decided to do just that.

I left the house with three spinning rods, two bottles of water, and high hopes.

The air temperature was in the low 90s and there was a slight wind blowing over the water.

I decided to scout out Shiloh Road first, then drive through Bio Lab into the Canaveral National Seashore to fish the Vistas along the road to the beach.

The culverts at Shiloh Road were open and the water in the creek was high, but the fish had lockjaw.

I spotted a couple of sea trout, two ladyfish, and one juvenile tarpon along both sides of the road but nothing was taking any of my offerings. 

I was tossing a topwater Mirrorlure, a small Chug Bug, and a Creme Spoiler Shad bait but after an hour or so of casting with only one follow up, I decided to move on to Bio Lab and the beach.

Although the fishing was less than stellar along Shiloh Road,  the scenery along the road was great.  I was the only person in the area and I spotted an otter, two raccoons, and four whitetail deer as I was leaving the area.

As I was driving towards Haulover Canal and Bio Lab Road, I also passed a flock of about a dozen wild turkey along the side of the road.

 The ride along Bio Lab Road was uneventful.  I stopped at a couple of places to toss a topwater bait but again, I couldn't raise a fish.

When I got to Playalinda Beach road, I headed toward the beach and stopped at a couple of Vistas where I missed some tarpon a few weeks back.

Today, I didn't spot any fish but undaunted, I started tossing a Chug Bug into several areas.

The water was dirty but the fish were hitting my lures.

I nailed a small ladyfish that I immediately released and in the same spot picked up a juvenile tarpon that was about two feet long.

I took a quick pic of the fish (below) and continued tossing the lure around likely looking spots.

I missed two more fish before hooking and releasing another juvenile tarpon that was slightly larger than the previous fish.

I took a "selfie" of the fish before releasing it.

I missed another fish and landed one more tarpon that was a clone of the first fish.

As I was fighting the fish, two guys  pulled up and asked if I wanted them to take a pic of the fish.

I passed and offered them the spot.  They were both fishing with fly rods and said they had caught a few fish earlier.

It was getting late and I was getting hungry, and since it was almost 8:00 pm I decided to call it quits for the day.

Might get out tomorrow to give it another try.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.