If you have ever had the priviledge of hooking up on a big
tarpon then you know the exhilaration and thrill of testing
yourself in battle against one of the most sought after
gamefish in the world. This distinction is easy to see at first
glance as the tarpon starts a series of spectacular acrobatic
leaps in the air that will have your heart pounding, your rod
bending and your drag screaming. You better hold on!

Since the tarpon's habitat is so close to the shoreline,
fishermen of all types and skill levels can catch them. They
can be caught from jetties, passes, docks, bridges,
beaches, piers and rivers. Tarpon can be caught while
using many types of tackle, rods, baits, lures and rigs either
while fishing from a boat, canoe, kayak or walking and
wading from the shoreline as the tarpon work up and down
the beaches.

Live bait fishermen's bait of choice is the 'dollar crab'. A
small live blue crab about two inches across its carapace,
hooked through one end of it's shell or underneath through
a swimmer leg. Other extremely effective live baits include
pinfish, threadfin herrings and pilchards. On days when the
tarpon is being finicky in it's tablefare selection, try these for
the best results, and oh, by the way, don't forget about a live
mullet. If you can get them, use them. Flyfishermen are not
left out either. The stealth of casting the right fly can
sometimes be the trick to hooking up.

But Just What is a Tarpon?

Scientific classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Actinopterygii

Order: Elopiformes

Family: Megalopidae

Genus: Megalops

This exceptionally fine creature is a prehistoric animal and
the only fish with an air bladder. This allows it to absorb
oxygen and live in waters with very low oxygen content. You
can see them gulp air at the water surface. Tarpon are also
called poons, tarpum, sabalo real, cuffum, silverfish or silver
king and belong to the bony fish family Elopidae. The Latin
designation is Megalops atlanticus.

While only microscopic at birth, tarpon have been
documented at lengths of more than eight feet and weighing
280 pounds. Catches weighing more than 200 pounds,
while uncommon, do occur. Many fish caught are well over
100 pounds. Their growth rate is slow, taking 8 to 10 years
to reach maturity, and generally those over 100 pounds are
female. Tarpon can live 55 to 60 years. They are greenish or
bluish on top, and silver on the sides. The large mouth is
turned upwards and the lower jaw contains an elongated
bony plate. The last ray of the dorsal fin is much longer than
the others, reaching nearly to the tail.

They are found primarily in shallow coastal waters and
estuaries, but they are also found in open marine waters,
around coral reefs, and in some freshwater lakes and
rivers. Their normal migratory pattern ranges from Virginia to
central Brazil in the western Atlantic, along the coast of Africa
in the eastern Atlantic, and all through the Gulf of Mexico and
Caribbean Sea. Florida is widely regarded as having many
of the best tarpon fishing locations in the world, especially
the world-renowned Boca Grande Pass in Southwest
Florida.

Fishing for the tarpon can at times be an exercise of
patience and discipline. You may be surrounded by large
schools of rolling tarpon containing hundreds of fish and
they will not hit anything you throw at them. Other times, it is
a feeding frenzy. So, go fishing for tarpon every chance you
get, that next world record catch may be waiting just for you

Article Source: Greg Smith