Capt. George Tunison

With reports of fish already rolling in both Boca Grande and Captiva passes, it’s time to get your tarpon gear ready for the main body of migrating fish now making their way up from the Keys past the 10,000 Islands, past Fort Myers beach, eventually intercepted by our local tarpon fleet fishing off Sanibel Island. Most of these fish are on their way to the annual tarpon party in Boca Grande and can be caught along the coastline while others split off and filter up into Pine Island Sound and also into the Caloosahatchee.

There’s a good chance that the fish that have been seen in the passes recently aren’t early arriving migrating fish but resident fish out of the Peace, Myakka and Caloosahatchee rivers looking to fatten up early, but no one knows for sure and the fish aren’t talking.

If waiting for tarpon action to heat up here in Southwest Florida is just too much to bear, you’re having trouble sleeping and irritable, then pack up your gear, hook up the boat and get down to the epicenter of early spring tarpon fishing in the Florida Keys. March gets the bite going in the Keys and its only slowed by still passing cold fronts and often windy conditions. By April it’s usually on fire from Key Largo to Key West.

Bahia Honda, Islamorada, the 7 Mile Bridge, Big Pine Key, Marathon and, of course, Key West, are some of the better known areas each year drawing anglers from around the world to this amazing fishery. My favorite spot to pursue big fish in skinny waters is located 220 miles south of Cape Coral in beautiful Islamorada, where well known marinas like Bud and Mary’s host some of the best flats and offshore guides in the country. This is also home to some of the biggest bonefish on the planet. Make sure to buy a bucket of fish at the marina to hand feed the huge tarpon pets always hanging out at the dock waiting for tourists to feed them.

Thirty-five miles south of Islamorada is another favorite, Marathon, along with the 6.75-mile long Knights Key-Pigeon Key-Moser Channel-Packet Channel Bridge or simply the 7 Mile Bridge, where huge numbers of tarpon and sharks gather every spring and bite day and night.

The early spring Keys tarpon fishing is so good that many charter operators offer guaranteed trips. If you don’t hook a tarpon, you get a free return trip, which you can even transfer to a third party. With many charter operations right at the fishing spots or close by, it’s easier to just leave the boat at home and drive down, park, get on board and you’re fishing within minutes of leaving the dock. There are several good Keys charter and guide operations found on the internet. One that I can recommend is Tarpon Trips – fish@tarpontrips.com – 800-241-1975. This service fishes the Bahia Honda Bridge day and night and located over the deepest channel in the Keys, which is a springtime tarpon super-highway. (266 miles south of Cape Coral)

Live mullet, crabs and pinfish are the top live baits fished in channels and around bridges while lure anglers depend on jigs and long eel-like lures like Hogys. Push poled skiffs prowl close by flats with anxious fly and spin anglers and their guides both scanning the waters for pods of big tarpon.

For the more adventurous, lure anglers should bring along a selection of large sized Bomber Long A lures and Rapala’s with upgraded single hooks and beefed up split rings to fish around the many bridges at night. With heavy currents ripping through bridge pilings and an army of tarpon eating big sharks living there, make sure you go with an experienced captain and whatever you do don’t fall out of the boat.

With access to bridges, channels, flats, the Gulf and Atlantic, the Keys are a true fishing paradise.

Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. You can contact him at 239-282-9434 or via email at captgeorget3@aol.com.