If you were looking to check Tarpon off your bucket list, August was definitely the month to do so. Their willingness to chow down on almost any bait presented was unreal. As I look back over past years I can count, on one hand, the amount of times Tarpon were so willing to take a swipe at just about anything presented to them. There were even days in which they were more willing to eat an imitation over the real thing.
The week just prior to and the week after the full moon were most active. On any given day, during that period, you could find numerous rollers and cruising schools about five hundred yards off of the beaches. But you had to hit that prime window of opportunity, which presented itself early in the mornings and later in the evenings. As I stated before they would eat just about anything, from live crabs to Mirrodines and everything in between. Truly a Tarpon angler’s dream…
As if the outstanding Tarpon fishing weren’t enough, we also had a fair number of very large and very hungry Snook cruising in and around the passes. Fishing the early morning and/or evening low tides with top-waters were producing some ginormous strikes from fish that were pushing 40 plus inches. As an added benefit the occasional Redfish have been coming in and crushing those top-waters as well.
Speaking of which, we are approaching what are historically 2 of the best months to target my favorite backwater species. Redfish should begin showing up in ever increasing numbers throughout the month of September. Keep an eye out on the beaches these next few weeks, as it is not uncommon to run into schools of a hundred or more. These fish will stage on the beaches and in the passes, which will make for some excellent opportunities for anglers whether fishing from shore or a boat.
If all goes well we should be in for some excellent Autumn fishing!
