Tarpon are caught usually using heavy spinning gear on live or dead bait. Some purists target them on the fly but most people don’t. Favorite baits for tarpon are mullet, crabs, pinfish and squid. Although in Key West shrimp boat trash is often used. Shrimp boat trash is the bi-catch that shrimpers end up with when dragging for shrimp. It consists of all kinds of small dead sea creatures. This is tossed behind the boat for awhile and once the tarpon get used to eating it, you send out a peice with a hook in it.

Tarpon can be caught all day but the most productive times are early morning, evening and night.

The waters surrounding the keys in many places do not get deep for quite awhile, creating acres and acres of shallow saltwater flats. These flats can be hard bottom, mud or grass. Many of these flats around Key West have channels running through them for example Calda channel.

Anglers can target fish by sight in these shallow waters , kind of more like hunting then fishing. A flats boat is used with a poling platform in the back. The guide will stand on this poling platform and push the boat along silently with a pole.  The noise of an electric engine will spook fish like bonefish and permit in these shallow waters.

Light tack or fly gear is then used primarily for bonefish, permit, and barracuda. All these fish put up a tremendous fight on light tackle. Bonefish and permit are considered the most elusive and prestigious. If its a bad day, bad conditions, fish not biting etc usually barracudas and sharks will bite when nothing else will.

Here is a video by Lenny Leonard catching barracuda on the flats