1. Don’t just book your Florida Keys tarpon fishing trip with the first guide you find. As with everything in life, some are more successful than others. Make a list of what you feel like are the top guides that fit your budget and needs. Research them out. Do some homework. If you’re looking to have a memorable fishing trip that you will be talking about for years to come, plan for it. Find the right one. Look online, if your here you can do this. Call the local chamber of commerce to get some information:
Key Largo Chamber of Commerce at (800) 822-1088
Islamorada Chamber of Commerce at (305) 664-4503 or toll free at (800) FAB-KEYS
Greater Marathon Chamber of Commerce at (800) 262-7284
Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce at (305) 872-2411
Key West Chamber of Commerce at (305) 294-2587

2. While looking for a South Florida tarpon fishing guide, be conscious of what your after. Talk with the guide on specifics so nobody gets their wires crossed. Tell them exactly what you are looking for. If it’s a “special” outing as a present. If you want to do some flats or backcountry fishing. What’s been running and what could possibly be running the day of your booking. What’s the best outlook. Will one of your passengers be a young one. Tell them if you’ve ever fished before or not and be honest. Listen to what they have to say.

3. Ask them about their Florida Keys tarpon fishing experience. If you were honest in number 2 above and told them your fishing experience above it’s certainly not inappropriate to ask for their qualifications. Heck, it’s not inappropriate to ask for their qualifications even if you didn’t tell them yours. You want to choose someone you’re comfortable with as you will be spending some solid time together on the water.

4. Talk with your guide on how many people will be in your party during your south Florida tarpon fishing excursion. Some boats can handle more while the smaller skiffs for certain types of fishing are simply not designed for more than two people.

5. Florida Keys tarpon fishing trips vary in prices depending on the method of choice. You can expect to pay somewhere along the lines of $350 to $550 for an all day eight hour trip. Remember though, sometimes that 99 cent value meal is not always as good as the 3.99 combo so cheaper is not always better. That’s not to say that you can’t find value in a fishing trip. And just like any restaruant or service industry, tipping is always customary. If you think the guide did everything possible and you had a wonderful time, a typical tip of 10%-15% is advisable.

6. When booking your Florida Keys tarpon fishing trip, deposits are typically required for advanced bookings. Some are more and some are a bit less but a typical figure for you to work from ranges around $100. But don’t think that anything is wrong if some guides ask for half of the charter up front.

7. If something unfortunate should happen that would cause you to cancel your south Florida tarpon fishing trip, most all reputable guides have a cancellation policy. Have them explain this to you prior to your booking so you know what you are getting into. The policy is there to protect the guide not you as this is the way they make their living and have to plan effectively. Most cancellation policies though are fair in that respect in that it would allow you ample time to cancel and the guides time to re-book the day. A typical cancellation policy would go something like this: 14 days prior - full refund of deposit, 7 to 14 days prior 50% refund on deposit, within a week, deposit forfeited.

8. There’s only one person that I know of that can control the weather, moon, sun and tides. If you have your heart set on Florida Keys tarpon fishing a certain way, just remember that it’s not the guides fault if something goes haywire in the weather/fishing conditions. Be flexible and roll with it. Maybe it just wasn’t in the cards to fish that certain way and still catch fish due to the outside forces. Most knowledgable guides know the conditions and will put you on the fish to the best of their ability barring these types of conditions. Believe me, they’d rather have you catch some fish and be a return customer in the future than to take you out a certain way and not have you catch anything.

9. Go “offseason” South Florida tarpon fishing. Truly the only thing that can be considered offseason fishing in the Florida Keys is that there simply aren’t as many people fishing during that time. The fishing is excellent year round, just the fishing pressure is not as extreme. The offseason is considered the winter months of September, October, November and December. For the most part though, winter is still tropical in the Keys.

10. Speaking of offseason, what about off days. Plan your Florida Keys tarpon fishing journey around weekdays instead of weekends. There’s typically a lot less boat traffic which means less fishing pressure from other anglers.

Just be aware that when talking to some people about backcountry fishing that they will literally take on it’s own connotation. Yes, some describe backcountry Florida Keys tarpon fishing to mean the channels and flats right near the Keys. Some will also say that its also the flats along the ocean front side of the Keys. Both are very productive fishing grounds so don’t be surprised if your guide happens to take you along those routes. However, backcountry fishing also takes on other meanings as well.

What most people think of when describing backcountry Florida Keys tarpon fishing is almost jungle like and totally uninhabited. A place where you can go and never see another boat in the same fishing vicinity almost the entire day. A place teeming with wildlife and where fishing species and dominance abound. South Florida tarpon fishing in the Florida Keys certainly has that as well. Go North my friend, go North. Just north of the Keys lies mangrove laden swamp-like waters and shallow water areas that suit the bill. Teeming with wildlife and spectacular fishing grounds. Refuge areas like Key West National Wildlife Refuge, National Key Deer Refuge, or Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge. You might even find yourself in some Naitonal Parks like Biscayne National Park while Florida Keys tarpon fishing.

Whatever you and your guide deem backcountry fishing, then that’s what it is. As long as you’re not in the middle of a populated area or out in the Gulf, that’s what backcountry Florida Keys tarpon fishing is to me. But really, who cares what you call as long as you’re catching those spectacular south Florida tarpon.

As you’re hired guide starts to pole you along these shallow waters on your Florida Keys tarpon fishing quest you begin to notice the once seemingly lifeless water ahead of you spring to life. Schools of tiny baitfish swimming frantically around trying to avoid being some fishes next meal. Birds wading along the shoreline. Little sharks swimming by wondering whats for breakfast. Just then it hits you, you can see everything in this crystal clear south Florida tarpon fishing estuary.

You find yourself drifting in all it’s glory. You have to make yourself focus on the task at hand, Florida Keys tarpon fishing and catching the elusive giants. You feel your blood pumping, heart beating. You feel alive and in sheer excitement anticipating when you will roll up on your first school of Florida Keys tarpon.

Mounted atop his specailly designed poling platform, your guide coordinates boat movements with effortless precision. Ever present. Ever aware. Searching the surroundings perched from his nest. You know you’ve made a good choice as you can see the wrinkled tan lines around his eyes knowing that he’s been doing this for a while. Your Florida Keys tarpon fishing captain, silently poling you along in your south Florida tarpon fishing journey.

Then it happens. Whispering quiet he tells you, “Get ready, some action at two o’clock”. You look but can’t really see what he’s saying and peer back over your shoulder looking at him for advice. “Look, nervous water”. “Say what”? Nervous water is simply when the small wakes or waves travel a little differently than all the other wakes around it. A typical tell-tale sign that somethings there. You finally spot it as he gives one more push to the pole to get you a little closer. With a big gulp, you really see what he was looking at, as shiny five feet long Florida keys tarpon roll on the surface playfully about fifty yards ahead of you. The picture perfect sight you and your guide have been waiting to see while south Florida tarpon fishing on your Florida Keys tarpon fishing trip.

Locating tarpon seems to be effortless in these waters but the next challenge you will face could make or break your entire South Florida tarpon fishing trip. You’ve got to get close enough to present a bait to one of these Florida Keys tarpon. Tarpon are weary when it comes to these shallow waters. Almost feeling vulnerable and will run and hide if given the chance. The guide continues to push you along almost floating on a cloud over the surface of the water. The tarpon is in the cross-hairs. Now the guide calls on you to make the cast just ahead of the schooling tarpon. Not to close as it will scare them. Not to far as they won’t see it. You throw and it’s a beauty. Tarpon on. Reminiscent of an old school fighter, the tarpon blasts in and out of the water for what seems to be a hundred yards stipping line from your reel. Only difference is, the oceans their ring. They are tough. They don’t go down by jab to the temple. You have to throw haymakers. You gain about half your line back on the spool, just then he realizes the boat and makes another mad dash for open water. What seems like an eternity passes while south Florida tarpon fishing before you get another glimpse at your quary. Once your Florida Keys tarpon fishing battle ends and the tarpon surrenders so to speak, exhausted from the fight, you get a quick picture and slowly release him back to his home to fight another day.

About as tropical as one can get while not needing a passport, Florida Keys tarpon fishing is simply divine. Like clockwork, year after year, these great tarpon move through the Florida Keys on their annual migratory breeding route. Now that’s not to say that they aren’t here all the time, because they are. Just greater number of tarpon move through during certain times of the year forming huge schools that are the envy of every angler. The biggest schools will tend to congregate beginning in March and remain all the way through July. Most of these fish have traveled long and far to reach these prestine mating grounds and they are ravenous. You can have the time of your life battling one of these beasts that have the ability to top out well over a hundrend pounds. Florida Keys tarpon fishing can be the time of your life fishing for these monsters on some light tackle fishing gear.

This version of South Florida tarpon fishing varies down in the Florida Keys stemming from locations to baits. The morning fishing spot might be Bridge fishing with live bait while the afternoon bite is carrying on best Harbor fishing with artificials. Good guides will put you on the fish where they are located and with what they are biting. Some of the more popular terms of endearment while accomplishing this version of South Florida tarpon fishing is thru the flats and backcountry, where you can really creep up on these awesome tarpon, almost like hunting them. Florida Keys tarpon fishing guides know this and offer trips to accomodate the occasion, from day time to night time tarpon fishing. Yes they do bite at night and more often than not, the bite is stronger and more stable. The catching, on the other hand can vary based on the anglers skill level.

Guides that book Florida keys tarpon fishing trips tend to be extremely busy during these migratory times. If you want to do some south Florida tarpon fishing, do your homework when it comes to the Florida Keys. This long stretch of islands offers some of the best south Florida tarpon fishing around and has the ability to suit all anglers at all skill levels.

A South Florida tarpon fishing trip is not for the weak at heart. These fish fight when they feel that hook. Some people get the misconception though that these fish are easy to catch because of there sheer numbers during specific times of the year. I’m here to tell you they are not. You might feel them and hold them for a while but they certainly are not an easy catch. You might hook a South Florida tarpon fishing, but whether or not they stay on that hook is completely up to the tarpon for the most part. That’s where the challenge comes in.

These acrobats of the ocean will come unglued when they feel that hook. Jumping sometimes four feet into the air, violently thrashing their head back and forth in an attempt to throw the hook. Prepare for some of the best aerial shows you could possibly imagine as they don’t always occur only once. You can pretty much count on a few of these everytime you have one on the line while South Florida tarpon fishing. That’s what makes it the challenge, getting them to the boat and what draws anglers to this magnificent coastline, year after year.

The best time to catch these South Florida tarpon is during their breeding season. This annual migration these South Florida tarpon take mounts for some extreme numbers of tarpon in Florida waters. The breeding season of these tarpon in Florida waters is typically May, June and July for the heavy months. So if your planning a trip to do some South Florida tarpon fishing, that would be the prime time to go. They will however typically show up before and hang around well after that time and can be caught year round on the Florida coast, but the astronomical number of fish show up during that time.

Record tarpon catches occur along the Florida coastline yearly during these South Florida tarpon fishing trips. At some point these fish can be caught from the Northern tip of Florida on the Atlantic side all the way to the Northern tip of Florida on the Gulf side. But during mating season, the majority hold strong at the Southern points.

If you’re an avid angler and have never been or have never caught a tarpon, do yourself a favor. Put it on your list of fish you want to catch and at sometime plan your South Florida tarpon fishing adventure. But don’t just plan it, do it. You won’t regret it. If you’ve never been South Florida tarpon fishing you owe it to yourself to go.

If any of you would like more information on tarpon fishing in Florida that you don’t see here, please feel free to let us know. Thanks again for the visit and make sure to check back often to receive updated and additional information on South Florida Tarpon Fishing.