Fly Fishing Insider Podcast
Tarpon season in the Florida Keys runs in three phases: laid-up fish on warming back-country flats early, large migrating schools on the ocean side through May and June, then smaller resident fish and topwater feeding late in summer. Fly selection, the shots a guide calls and the size of fish all change with the phase.
Captain Joel Dickey is a Florida Keys guide who spends his season on tarpon, from the early laid-up fish in the back country through the migrating schools of May and June.
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When does tarpon season start in the Florida Keys?
Early tarpon season in the Keys is governed by cold fronts. A north wind drops water temperature and pushes tarpon off the flats into deeper water for a couple of days, and when the wind swings back easterly the flats warm again surprisingly fast. As the flats warm, tarpon that wintered in deeper water in South Florida pour back up and lie high in the water column, which makes early season the laid-up fishing period.
How far do you actually need to cast for tarpon?
Dickey caps useful tarpon casting distance at about 60 feet and says accuracy inside that range matters far more than distance. His practice drill is to cut artificial turf into squares, spray-paint a circle on each, and set them at roughly 40, 55 and 60 feet, then deliver the fly to a target in two or three back casts from the ready position. The single most common fault he sees is anglers watching their own back cast, because turning the head means losing track of a moving fish and blowing the shot.
Which tarpon flies should you pack, by month?
In the Keys, early tarpon season in March and April favors shrimp patterns, baitfish patterns and toads. By May many captains switch to worm flies and smaller shrimp and crab patterns, because tarpon key hard on the palolo worm hatch. Later in the season, from late June into July, shrimp, crab and baitfish patterns come back into rotation.
How do tarpon migrate through the Keys?
Tarpon start the season laid up in the back country, singly or in groups of ten or fifteen so high in the water column their fins break the surface. Toward the end of March and into April the fish shift to the ocean side and begin grouping, gathering more fish channel by channel until schools daisy-chain in tight balls that can hold 200 fish. Around the end of May and start of June those schools move offshore to the reef to spawn, and afterward the migrating schools thin from 50 to 150 fish down to twenties, then singles and pairs as fish move to Florida's east coast and up the west coast.
What is late-season tarpon fishing like?
Late-season tarpon in the Keys are mostly residents in the 20- to 60-pound range, with the occasional fish over 100 pounds still around. Those smaller tarpon fight harder for their size and do not punish the angler the way a giant does. Late-season mornings also produce topwater feeding, which Dickey attributes not to a shrimp hatch but to a shrimp die-off: hot water holds less oxygen, the shrimp come to the surface, and tarpon feed on them there.
How do you work with a guide from the bow?
Tarpon guiding runs on clock directions and distances called from the poling platform, and the guide's 50 feet may not match the angler's 50 feet. Dickey has anglers confirm where his ten o'clock is and what he calls 50 feet before the first shot, then, when a fish is called, point the rod and swing it slowly left to right until he says stop. Moving the rod two feet quickly at 60 feet sweeps across 100 feet of water, which is why panicked anglers never see the fish.
What should you ask before booking a tarpon trip?
Dickey's advice is to spend fifteen or twenty minutes on the phone with the guide before a tarpon trip and ask what percentage of shots will be at what distances and what kind of presentations to expect, because each phase of the season demands something different. The same call settles what lines to bring, which is the difference between fishing and watching: conditions may force a trip out of protected water to river mouths where a sinking line is mandatory. Anglers who make that call also tend to get more out of the day, because the guide knows they are serious.
Key takeaways
- Practice tarpon casts at 40, 55 and 60 feet on painted targets, delivering in two or three back casts from the ready position, and never watch your back cast.
- Carry shrimp, toad and baitfish patterns for March and April, worm flies and smaller shrimp or crab patterns for the May palolo worm period, and shrimp and crab again from late June.
- Migrating tarpon schools in May and June can hold 200 fish daisy-chained together, which means 200 pairs of eyes looking up at a bad cast.
- After the offshore spawn around late May and early June, Keys schools thin from 50 to 150 fish down to singles and pairs.
- Late-season tarpon are mostly 20- to 60-pound residents and feed on top in the mornings when hot, low-oxygen water pushes shrimp to the surface.
- Confirm the guide's clock positions and his idea of 50 feet before the first shot, then point the rod and swing it slowly rather than searching.
