Then, at night, use heavy rigs baited with these catches and fish off the side of a houseboat while carrying on with your regular activities. This is the most leisurely method for tarpon fishing, but you will often be surprised and pull in some good tarpon catches the easy way.

Another option when fishing for tarpon is to target small tarpon weighing in at about twenty to fifty pounds. These fish are very exciting to catch, and they tend to be active, aggressive fighters. If you decide to fish for small tarpon, look around mangrove keys,particularly near the overhanging back branches.

Consider fishing for small tarpon late in the spring and early in the fall. Pay especially close attention to areas like those just mentioned where there is a hole or deep cut in the bottom, and you are likely to find a whole group huddled up there together.

Look for what appears to be barracuda or where you see lots of tiny bubbles continually breaking the surface to give away their presence.

Consider fly fishing for these small tarpon. Use an eight or a nine, with flies tied to a 1/0 hook. Just drop this right in front of them even if you have to cast underneath an overhanging limb or two to do it, and HANG ON, because the strike will happen FAST. Small darters or plugs that don't make much noise when they are introduced into the water are also good choices for catching this quarry.

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