Help me hook Tarpon please.

[isurus]

Hi everyone.
I live on a caribbean island and just came across a bridge with a large population of monster tarpon living and feeding under its lights each night. Tonight was the first time I tried fishing for them. I fishd using baits caught at the bridge using a sabuki rig and initially tried drifting them into the tarpon on a float rig - they weren't remotely interested in this. When I got rid of the float and freelined the baits I got results but I couldn't stay connected to a fish - I lost one smaller fish (4 foot) and one absolute monster with them spitting the hook after having thought I was pretty well connected.

I'm currently using a J hook onto a wire leader (barracuda are an issue). I've heard maybe circle hooks are the way to go but would welcome suggestions on rigs, bite indication and striking. I think there are some monsters down there for the taking but I suspect I may be going about this all wrong so all suggestions gratefully received
.

[pschwart00]

circle hooks, circle hooks, circle hooks.
Remember circle hooks do NOT work if you "set the hook." when the fish eats just crank on the handle and it should set itself. If you have a 50-60% hook-up ratio you are doing decent. It depends on whether the fish jumps right away or not. The longer it runs before jumping the better the shot of a solid hook up. Also, don't skimp on hooks. Buy good hooks size probably 7/0 - 9/0

[G-20]

Shrimp,Shrimp,Shrimp
Live line a nice big shrimp, wait for the line to go, hit strike and set the hook, do not set the hook high set it low. cd

[Tarpon41]

Hi everyone.
I live on a caribbean island and just came across a bridge with a large population of monster tarpon living and feeding under its lights each night. Tonight was the first time I tried fishing for them. I fishd using baits caught at the bridge using a sabuki rig and initially tried drifting them into the tarpon on a float rig - they weren't remotely interested in this. When I got rid of the float and freelined the baits I got results but I couldn't stay connected to a fish - I lost one smaller fish (4 foot) and one absolute monster with them spitting the hook after having thought I was pretty well connected.

I'm currently using a J hook onto a wire leader (barracuda are an issue). I've heard maybe circle hooks are the way to go but would welcome suggestions on rigs, bite indication and striking. I think there are some monsters down there for the taking but I suspect I may be going about this all wrong so all suggestions gratefully received
.

Catch and kill it...J hook let them take it deep...circle do nothing until hooked...but...your bridge nite fishing islands hope you are going to eat it cause you are going to kill it with light tackle if monster is 80 lbs and up and at nite if you mean a big tidal creek close to the sea...such as fresh creek or cargil creek andros...watch the action with a hooked tarpon at nite and it won't be a barra...it will be a Bull or Hammer if you tarry with light tackle you will get the head

[sweet+salt]

Dito Tarpon41. An underlying Reel-Time theme is protecting our game fish. Your discovery is notable but a boat and appropriate tackle might be required to fish, fight and safely release your tarpon.

[isurus]

Dito Tarpon41. An underlying Reel-Time theme is protecting our game fish. Your discovery is notable but a boat and appropriate tackle might be required to fish, fight and safely release your tarpon.

Well I'm definately not interested in killing game fish deliberately or accidentally so I really appreciate the advice thus far on how to do this. I definately want to use appropriate tackle to get the fish in quickly. I've got some circle hooks and am fishing 30 lb line - are people suggesting this isn't heavy enough?

The inlet isn't that big - its basically an inlet between two islands and I can easily get down from the bridge to land fish on the river side - I've been fishing from the bridge itself to get a better line of sight on the fish. I'd welcome any further suggestions/correction and will let you know how things develop.

[backwater]

The above advice is very good. A few additional thoughts. Live lining is a good way to go, you might also try going a little deeper with an egg sinker rigged above a swivel, with a foot and a half of wire or heavy mono below the swivel. Often times when you see tarpon rolling at the surface, they are actually feeding close to or on the bottom. As far as bait goes, tarpon can be picky but they seem to like a lot of different things. Tarpon love mullet, even a dead mullet, even a mullet head has been known to work. Tarpon also love crabs, 3 to 5 inches would be about right. You could also try a heavy lead head jig bounced along the bottom, they like that too. I think the circle hook is the way to go. It gives the best chance for a release. I would go with heavy tackle 30# test at least, it takes a lot to move a tarpon in open water, in your case, you'll have to contend with the barnacle covered bridge pilings. After the tarpon bites, and the hook sets, I would make a strong pull to "pursuade" it away from the pilings. That's my best advice. BTW, I'd like to hear where you're found these tarpon, please PM me with the details. Thanks.

[isurus]

Tried again tonight with similar results - a couple of takes but no real hook-ups. I'm now wondering if the circle hooks I picked up are too small (the gap in the circle isn't as big as I'd like but they are the biggest on island and they seem to be at the small end of the sizes recommended online).

The tarpon also seem to have developed an irritating habit of eating the large sinkers I use on my bait catching rig - twice I've "hooked" tarpon on the lighter sabuki rig only to discover they're grabbing the sinker and snapping it off.

I'll keep trying - I think I'm doing things right from what I've read and hopefully its just a matter of time before I get a good hook-up. Today a school of perhaps 50 large tarpon swam underneath the bridge in a procession so I'm definately in a target rich environment (I was desperately trying to catch bait at the time).

[isurus]

So I finally got a hook up tonight and landed a fish - perfectly lip hooked using the circle hook and livebait and after about an hour (with moral support from 2 intrigued passing policemen for half an hour) I managed to land and then release this beauty.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2127/2139757344_2cacc5811f.jpg

Anybody got any guesses as to a weight? Thanks for everyone's invaluable advice!

[Tarpon41]

So I finally got a hook up tonight and landed a fish - perfectly lip hooked using the circle hook and livebait and after about an hour (with moral support from 2 intrigued passing policemen for half an hour) I managed to land and then release this beauty.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2127/2139757344_2cacc5811f.jpg

Anybody got any guesses as to a weight? Thanks for everyone's invaluable advice!

now that you have nite caught...start looking just before sun up until an hour or two after for rolling fish...then start looking for fish near your bridge on flats deep 5-8....then 2-5...the tarpon on the west side of Andros move to and from the deepers creeks to flats...get a fly rod start...just spend time searching a complete tide change ...are you in clear water? can you site them in day lite?... it's a learning curve that's well worth it if you can site them in 2-8 feet of water...

[isurus]

I haven't sighted this school in daylight. I suspect they are spread out working in a mangrove bay/flat to the north but it is big and not wadeable (and I don't have boat access right now. There are plenty of tarpon around here but this nightly congregation seems to be the only regularly accessible group (although we are looking for day time groups).

I'd love to get them on lures/flies; its definately the next step in my progression.

[captbadfish]

Nice first Tarpon Isurus!

I'm guessing about 40 lbs! As you now know Tarpon mouths are like concrete, use a little bigger circle hook that is extremely sharp! Try the Owner SSW circles in 6/0 or bigger or the Owner Aki J hooks in 4/0 and larger, Tarpon arent really hook or leader shy, so you could use a heavy leader (5 plus feet of 30 lb +) attached to a super braid main line. During the day most of the tarpon will be deep hiding from the light, they mostly feed in the twilight, dark, and dawn hours.

Sometimes Tarpon will eat anything in their path and other times they are very picky as to size and colors. For lures try mullet, crab, and large shrimp imitations.

keep the pictures coming!