tarpon and jacks

[Steve Pitts]

Steve P

177lb tarpon from Trinidad - what have we been playing at all this time! Kevin was telling me about the competition before we left - sounds like they had a ball.
Steve H

Sounds like they were the belles of the ball!

I've seen some tarpon around Plymouth that would have gone 120 -130lb, but you're right - 177lb is in a league of its own.

All credit to Kevin and Kester for winning it for 'Bago. Top men.

Cheers
Steve

[Collins K]

Just got back from Tobago last week so here is a quick report. Inshore fishing this time of year seems to be a little slow compared to May-June. Got two snook @ Sandy Point in the early morning period last Saturday, both weighed close to 12lbs. Also got one Jack about 15lbs another morning of Sandy Point, looks like he was a loner cause there was no bird activity at all in Sandy Point for the duration of my stay. Baitfish are few in Sandy Point as well right now and tries during the day and evening were futile. The snook are almost always present though. Got no takes from tarpon but saw lots of them in the dense schools of baitfish in Plymouth and it looks as if when there is so much bait in the water the tarpon are not reacting to the artificials as greedily as they normally do. Saw something in Plymouth though that surprised me somewhat, the locals there were fishing for Pelicans.... Its a good point to note that Pelicans are protected in Trinidad and also Tobago but they were catching them none the less. There were four dead birds on the jetty at Plymouth when I arrived and the means of catching them was to throw a stone with fishing line atached in the hopes of entangling the bird, go figure......
Got two mangrove snapper at Buccoo in the late evening one day as well.

[Tony Gibson]

Can anyone advise what range of hooks would be best, though I am a fly fisherman your pictures are realy exiting.
7 months to go an its killing me.!

[Matt Jenkins]

Hi tony,

I'm sure that one of the steves will reply soon but i would recommend mustad big guns...and the classic tarpon hook are owner circle hooks. The big guns are fairly easy to get hold of but i am not aware of any UK sources for circle hooks. Again one of the steve's may be able to help. As for fly hooks...hmm well i don't know. The owner hooks have a fairly short shank, as do the big guns. I do know that a lot of tarpon flies are still tied on them so i would imagine they are fine, unless you wanted to tie a pattern that needs a long shank. Both circle hooks and big guns are heavy duty (guess the name gives it away) and come in a large variety of sizes.

Matt

[Stephen Hull]

Hi Collins K

By my reckoning you did pretty well on Tobago. I tried for a couple of months to catch a tarpon at Plymouth. While I had a few takes on live bait, I didn't manage any hook ups. The fish there generally seem a lot more wary than at Sandy Point. In terms of lures, I never found tarpon to show much interest and at best they might half-heartedly follow a lure, but if the bait fish were thick, they wouldnt give them a second look, although they would show more interest in a fly.

The snook and jack from Sandy Point must have been fun and more than I ever managed in about 6 months of trying. Any hints on lures (type and colour) and how you fish them - I must have been doing something wrong.

From a sunny England

Steve H.

[Steve Pitts]

Hi Tony

Hooks - it depends what you are after (species wise).

For tarpon (assuming you are using live bait), the mustad hooks that Matt recommends are good.

I also like Owner SSW circle hooks - model no. 5178-141.
They are finer in the wire, but very strong and have a needle point which as sharp as anything. 4/0 is a good all-round size and I've had snook, bonefish etc. on these too.

Veals Mail Order carry quite a wide selection of circle hooks and will sort you out http://www.veals.co.uk

Cheers
Steve

[Collins K]

Hi Stephen,

The tarpon at Plymouth are really something else when it comes to taking bait, artificial or not. It is good to note that every year the same thing happens at Plymouth jetty with the dense schools of baitfish and the numerous large tarpon moving underneath them.

Next time I go I will fish with a deeper diving bait to see if they will take it since they are usually feeding from under the bait schools.I have managed to hook tarpon from the jetty on many occasions however but thats over the space of a few years and none were landed.
This year the tarpon turned up their noses at all my offerings at Plymouth.

On a better note i cannot complain about Sandy Point which is a little more reliable in terms of catch rate and hookups with snook, jacks and tarpon.

Last year was a better year for me @ Sandy Point.
One morning at the end of May I managed to hook and land three tarpon two Jacks and two snook!! Returned the next day and caught as well. I have hooked and landed some huge tarpon at Sandy Point, last one being in April this year.

I use strictly lures by the way even back home in Trinidad. The most productive bait for me in Tobago are the Yo-Zuri Crystal minnows. The tarpon tend to favour the purple back and silver body and I was spooled twice while using that bait. Another productive lure is the silver and black Maria First XJ but its proving harder and harder to get those since I think they just went out of production.

I buy the Marias out of Hawaii via the Internet. The smaller crystal minnows by Yo-Zuri are deadly on Sandy Point for anything that swims apparently. The hooks may need to be changed however. Had a tarpon rip out a hook by the split ring once dunno how that happened.

The WS and GHIW are the ones I use and can be seen on the Yo-Zuri website if u like. The 5 1/4" and 3 1/8" are the 2 sizes I use as well. The Maria baits are very effective also but I normally use these in Trinidad since they can be cast a vary long distance from the rocks unlike the Yo-Zuri's.

I use a wire leader rated for 80Lbs with a 20Lb Ande mono on a Penn 6500 SS on a Fenwick Spinning rod. Its a general rod for the bigger fish. I use a smaller Penn combo for the smaller fish.

[Tony Gibson]

Can you hire rods or do you have to bring your own, also, what kind of fight do you get, I generaly go Salmon fishing on the Tyne or other rivers in Northumberland so the fish dont run far and a genral spining reel does?

[Steve Pitts]

Hi Tony

You'll have to bring your own gear.
Have a look at a few hints and tips here http://www.mytobago.info/fishing.php

The FAQ section at the end will cover rods and reels etc.

Cheers
Steve

[Stephen Hull]

Hi Collins K

Thanks for all the information on lures. Sounds like darker back colours work better. I variously used poppers (which work for jacks and barracuda), Yo Zuri Tobimaru (blue/silver - maybe a bit too flashy) and a darkish Maria (courtesy of Steve Pitts). When I'm next out I'll try some crystal minnows.

Any tips on retrieval speeds/tactics? I have generally wound them back fairly fast and continuously, mostly fishing straight out, rather than at an angle or parallel to the shore. However, from what flyfishermen have told me, the tarpon sometimes seem more willing to chase a fly rather than a lure, possibly because it is retrieved more slowly and erratically. This particularly seems to be the case when the tarpon are feeding amongst dense shoals of friars.

In terms of time of day, I have normally fished first light (5:30am) to around 7:30am which seems to be the prevailing wisdom on when to fish, but then this tends to be somewhat self-fulfilling.

Steve H

[Collins K]

Hi Stephen

Tarpon I have realised generally like a slower retrieve as compared with the Jacks and barracudas. The snook also like a fairly slower retrieve. The snook are usually found along the shallow edges of the flats so I tend to fish along the beach rather than straight out especially at Sandy Point. I would search the fish as well with a few 180 degree casts if there are no signs of fish.

[Evert Dirks]

Yes we are back from tobago and i catch my first ever tarpon.
Only 51 cm but still its my first.
Furder there was little snook and an some snapper like fish green with stripes on the body.
Al this fish where swimming in a mangrove pool on the golf course of tobago hilton.
At the end of the stay whe found a wooden path true the mangrove and i think that there are great possibilitys on the platforms to caths some big fish.

Evert

[Phil Dean]

This has made for some interesting reading.

I was convinced that I was going out with float gear, bottom gear and not many lures........now I'm moving back towards lures....

matt, sorry to hear about your lack of tarpon, but there's always next year!

[Stephen Hull]

As luck would have it I needed to go to Trinidad on business for a week, and took the opportunity to spend the weekends either side on Tobago. Fished Sandy Point a couple of early mornings. One or two tarpon cruising around, fair amount of bait and a few birds. Tried a variety of lures - Maria Chase, Angel Kiss, poppers but nothing much happening apart from one or two half-hearted chases.

Steve H

[Collins K]

Right about now should be the period when things start to pick up fishing wise in Tobago I think. Will go across next month and do some fishing. Will post updates as I go
Fishing is slow in Trinidad right now as well. No baitfish to be found, no birds to be seen....
May is usually the start of the season here, better luck next time I guess.

[Nigel A]

Can anyone give some more up to date gen on the tarpon/jack fishing?

[Steve Pitts]

Hi Nigel

After 5 pages, I would imagine that not much has changed

The places mentioned, tactics, baits etc. should still work and there are several other threads on fishing which should give you a few pointers.

I've had some of the best jack and tarpon fishing during September trips, so if you are going soon, you stand a very good chance.

Cheers
Steve

[Collins K]

Hi all, just got back from a weekend in Tobago, told myself to limit my fishing time, which I did up to a point..... I happened to fish at Sandy Point on Tursday evening and Saturday morning. On Thursday evening I had a snook about 8lbs landed, did not put up much of a fight since I had too heavy tackle as I was after the tarpon. There are lots of small baitfish and huge tarpon feeding all the way up to the shore. I have a feeling I may be back there this weekend to try my luck and fish some more, will keep you guys updated if I do. It seems to me that the baitfish are coming in rather late this year since at this time of year they are supposed to be much bigger than they are now. I saw Grand Slam take an ok sized tarpon at Sandy Point on Saturday morning, he had a guy and a woman on board using spinning tackle. Met another guy at Sandy Point by the name of Graham from England, nice guy. He was trying his hand at spinning for the tarpon as well. Judging from last weekend I can only say that the fishing will be better in this September than last few Septembers since I have seen some huge schools of giant tarpon roaming the flats here and nice sized jacks as well. I was limited in fishing as well because of the Tropical Storm that passed by (now hurricane Felix) and this caused huge waves at Sandy Point and drove the bait a little out of reach of casting range.

[Graham W]

Hi,
I've just returned from 2 weeks holiday in sunny Tobago our 4th consecutive visit to this fantastic island.This was my 2nd time armed with fishing gear and i had about 8 or so 1-2 hour sessions.I fished with various lures on 20 or 30lb fireline, lures were Maria Kiss and Chase,Yo-Zuri Mag Poppers and Crystal Minnows in different colours and sizes.
Sandy Point was nearby and i fished there in the evenings until just after dark ,i met friendly and helpful Collins K and he took me to the hot spot by the airport fuel pipes he had a nice Snook.There were always Tarpon at Sandy Point, but to me impossible to catch, however a guy had 1 on the fly and 1 was caught by a local spear fishing (he also had 6 Barracuda).The local spear fisherman said there were Jacks about as well.
Allthough i failed to land any decent fish at Sandy Point or anywhere else I did have some great takes on sub surface and surface lures both there and at Pigeon Point and Englishmans Bay, but the fish managed to shake free, also had quite a few follow close in before turning away.I tied a fly behind a lure and caught small silver fish easily.Tropical storm Felix did'nt help coming through in the middle weekend of the holiday.However i really enjoyed the fishing it gets addictive and the sea is teeming with fish but they are not easily caught however the nature and scenery compensates for the slight dissapointment of blanking The articles on this website are very helpful remember Steve Pitts & co have put a lot of time in to take their great catches.By the way you should even take notes with you because the Carib/Rum punches and Sun all take their toll on the Brain.
I will definately be taking fly gear next time as another option there are fish to be caught on this method especially on the flats at canoe Bay/Pigeon Point.
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[Stephen Hull]

Graham

I think your experiences are shared by many and certainly by me. I had a lot more blanks than successes from the shore but then I did get rather fixated on the tarpon. Even Steve P blanks occasionally! I think tarpon are particularly difficult to catch on lures, but some people seem to manage it. Livebait seems to get more takes when they are in the mood, but hooking up from the shore is still difficult. For some reason flies seem to induce takes more than lures - maybe it's the smaller size or slower retrieve or something.

Steve H