Boca Grande Tarpon Fishing

A How to Mini Series

February 2^nd 2014

I get a lot of questions emailed to me from people who do not necessarily want to book a charter but you would like to catch a tarpon or at the very least have a fighting chance at catching a tarpon in Boca Grande on their own. I can absolutely appreciate the fact that a angler from another part of the state or country would like to accomplish this goal on their own. Starting with this blog today I will share some of the techniques and areas that I target tarpon in Boca Grande. Today I will touch on tarpon fishing in Boca Grande in April.

April tarpon fishing in Boca Grande

Tarpon fishing in the Boca Grande area historically begins in April. In order to understand or learn about tarpon fishing in Boca Grande you first need to understand the geography of Boca Grande and how the island fits into the Charlotte Harbor Estuary.

Tarpon come to Boca Grande Pass for one main reason, to spawn. This spawning ritual has been burned into the tiny fish brain of the tarpon and it is believed that Boca Grande is the only place in our part of the world where tarpon spawn in such large numbers. So as a angler you can be assured that the tarpon will migrate to Boca Grande in the spring to spawn, normally the end of April and by the middle of May the migration is in full swing. So, back to tarpon fishing in April.

Boca Grande is a barrier island that separates the Gulf of Mexico and Charlotte Harbor. Boca Grande Pass is the main inlet or pass that provides tidal flow into and out of Charlotte Harbor. When most anglers think of Boca Grande they envision Boca Grande Pass loaded with tens of thousands of tarpon, they do not think about the 2^nd largest estuary in the state that feeds directly into the Pass, Charlotte Harbor. Early in April as cold fronts get further and further apart the water temp begins to rise inside if Charlotte Harbor. When the water temp gets near or above 75 degrees the tarpon begin to swim out of the two main rivers that dump into Charlotte Harbor. These tarpon, in my opinion are resident tarpon that live in Charlotte Harbor year round, or at least live in the rivers. These tarpon are large breeders that will also eventually return to Boca Grande Pass to spawn but until they do these tarpon will feed inside of Charlotte Harbor early in April.

On my next blog entry I will touch on the techniques as well as the areas inside Charlotte Harbor to find and catch tarpon in April. I hope to have this next blog entry done sometime tomorrow and the entire mini- series complete before the 2014 Boca Grande Tarpon Season starts.