Tarpon at Night

I normally report on Southern California saltwater angling, but the recent Miami International Boat Show provided me a once-a-year opportunity to spend the night chasing “baby” tarpon in Biscayne Bay. Baby tarpon generally run from 20 to 40 pounds; these aren’t the behemoths you see on flyfishing TV shows. However, baiting these “babies” on eight or 10 pound spinning gear or even lightweight fly tackle provides a serious angling challenge.

I work the boat show every year, and for the past five have used the “business trip” as an excuse to fish with Capt. Bob LeMay (954-435-5666), either down in the Everglades or at night under the bright lights of downtown Miami. The fact that I was there with a client, Allen Schneider of SI-TEX Marine Electronics — an avid Northeast angler who had never fished tarpon — sealed the deal.

It actually began with a call to LeMay weeks before the show, to check on the tides. His style of stalking baby tarpon around bridges and dock pilings hinges on taking advantage of water movement from rising or falling tides. On this night, the peak outgoing tidal movement would come between 8:30 p.m. and 1:00 a.m., making it ideal for an after work treat. Water flushing out of Biscayne Bay would create several knots of current, carrying with it shrimp, small crabs, and other tasty morsels. Tarpon patrol around these structures looking to take advantage of their abilities to funnel food their way.

On this particular trip, we began the night by fishing around a backyard dock only minutes from the ramp, looking for the shadows of tarpon cutting in and out of the circle of light. LeMay had staked the boat about 100 feet upcurrent of the dock, and it took only a few minutes before we saw our first small tarpon. It took only two casts to get the tarpon to eat his shrimp. It jumped so many times and so close to the boat, the fish actually smacked into the side of my leg as I stood on the wide gunwales of the skiff—if I hadn’t been there, the fish would have likely ended up in the cockpit. After a spirited fight, LeMay was able to get a lockjaw grip on the fish with a Boga Grip and pose for a few quick photos.

The second strategy we employed was to position the boat at a bridge, literally holding it in position against an abutment. You hide in the shadows, waiting for a prowling tarpon to venture out into the lights. When you see one, you have to be ready to cast an offering (usually a live shrimp, Gulp or DOA artificial shrimp, or fly) upcurrent of the tarpon so it drifts into his feeding zone. When you feel the take, you quickly wind up the slack and hit the tarpon with a couple of quick jabs to set the hook.

It’s possible to have nights where you may “jump” a dozen tarpon (the term for briefly hooking a fish and having the hook fly out after several acrobatic leaps), and land five or six. This action is close to the boat ramp, easily accessible, and ideal for a two to four hour trip. And baby, it’s a lot of fun.

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