Flats and skinny water

Tarpon

Megalops atlanticus

The silver king. Six feet of chrome that leaves the water when hooked.

What they like

  • 1.5–6 musual depth (they tolerate 0.6–20 m)
  • 24–30 °Cwater temperature they feed in
  • clear or coloured waterwater clarity
  • channels, sloping edges, drop-offsbottom they hunt, in order
  • a moving tide (rising or falling)tide
  • dawn and dusklight

Rolling at first light in channels and basins; bridges and passes on the moving tide; night tides around lights.

Season by region

Peak months, shaded. Outside them the species may still be around, just less reliably.

Florida and the Gulf
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Caribbean and Bahamas
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Georgia to the Chesapeake
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Bait and technique

Methods: fly, spinning / casting, bait.

Bait and lures: Live mullet, pinfish, crabs; black-and-purple flies at dawn, swimbaits.

Technique: Stake out on the up-tide side of a channel or pass and let the fish come to you; strip-strike, bow to the jump.

Rules

Florida: Catch and release only in Florida (a $50 tag is needed to possess one trophy fish).

Seasons, sizes and bag limits change every year and differ by zone. Check the current regulations before you keep anything.

Depth maps where tarpon live

Depth map preview of Bimini, Bahamas±0.67 m

Bahamas

Bimini, Bahamas

  • ±0.67 mtypical error
  • 1,990laser soundings checked
  • 74 km²of shallows

Updated 5 h ago

Preferences are expert estimates from the fisheries literature and angling practice, not measurements at your spot. The likelihoods on the maps are a planning aid, not a catch prediction.