Tarpon via Striper Plugs

[scottw]

depending on where you plan to fish......I think you are referring to Pete Utschig goes down during the winter months and gives a great presentation on nighttime "surf" tarpon,redfish, snook and shark fishing if you have the opportunity to see him, he fishes the inlets and beaches Ft Lauderdale and north...I've fished the Keys the last several years on Feb-Mar-April...great thing about the tarpon is it's usually pretty good night time fishing if the day shore fishing is lousy due to wind.......over time I've stopped using lures with trebles and pinch all of my barbs....tarpon jump and shake so violently and it's so difficult to get a hook set in that mouth that your plug will(frequently enough) come flying back at you.....also, landing them on a rocky shore is rough on the fish...particularly if you are solo...they don't give up shaking and jumping and the angle or their mouth make them hard to hold onto so getting a lure full or trebles out of that is a challenge....bucktails, swim shads, my biggest came on the smallest RonZ other weighted soft plastics are great...really depends on what they are feeding on...usually mullet....I've caught them skipping jumping minnows across the shadow line.....albie snax work great for that......further north they look for mullet schools on the beaches and then fish those areas at night...and hook some really big fish

it's pretty easy diy fishing if you are down there....8/9'rod..40lb braid...80lb leader.....those fishing further north use heavier surf gear and they throw darters and other big swimming lures by night...