I have seen multiple videos on the internet on people catching freshwater tarpon and would love to land one but haven’t had any luck. Does anyone have any good spots in south florida area that would be willing to help out? Thanks in advance. 

Every year I go to PuntaGorda pass(although not fresh water) on the new moon in June to catch the flush of small blue crap and the Tarpon fishing is off the chain and world class.

Catching Tarpon in salt water is not difficult.   In the keys you can catch them on almost anything a fish thinks is edible.  Local guides use stinky shrimp boat bycatch as bait.  I have even seen them caught on fish parts when cleaning dolphin.  The best Tarpon bait is live mullet, large shrimp  and crabs.  This varies with the location.  They will hit artificial lures, but landing them is a challenge as they can throw any lure.  If you land one out of ten, you are doing well.  We catch them on jigs with big white plastic worms on the back jigging on the bottom around the keys bridges.  In Everglades City, the best bait is half a fresh lady fish. You will also catch some big snook and a lot of sharks that way.  Miami harbor has some of the biggest tarpon I have ever seen.  An old friend, Captain Bouncer Smith, made a good living off those fish.

 

Fresh water tarpon are a different animal.  They are an occasional catch at best. I have caught them on 52M Mirrorlures, crankbaits and top water plugs. I once caught a 17 pound tarpon on a fly rod popping bug.  The best natural bait for fresh water tarpon are live shiners.  South Florida canals are full of tarpon, especially in the summer months.  Hooking a 100 pound fish in a canal is exciting.  Landing one is a challenge.

 

 

 

 

On 4/13/2021 at 6:09 AM, Captain Phil said:

In the keys you can catch them on almost anything a fish thinks is edible.

When I went on a 3 day saltwater guided fishing trip in April 2018, we used pinfish to target them. My Father and I each caught two but evidently Florida law does not permit people to even lift them out of the water. Fighting those things were an incredible experience.

I live near the Tarpon Capital of the World”...Boca Grande Florida. 
Right now the emphasis has been in Charlotte Harbor as the water temp continues to rise.
Tarpon have started their migration from the Peace and Myakka River into Charlotte Harbor. 
You may find some way up the rivers in mostly brackish water. 

The Caloosahatchee River in Fort Myers which leads into Okeechobee, has been known to have more than a few this time of the year but it won’t last long. 

As the water temp in Charlotte Harbor continue to go up, Tarpon begin feeding on schools of thread fin herring.

 

That’s where the “fresh water”action will be until they head through the pass into open water. 

 

Mike

I live on the east coast of central florida and we have tarpon in our backwaters and many ponds. Most of these are brackish water but some are fresh. I’ve caught a lot of them with small poppers and little crappie jigs. The biggest one I’ve caught was over three feet long and caught it on a watermelon red zoom speed worm. It seems that the smaller the lure the more bites you get, but tarpon are always a challenge to land