Fishing with Capt. George Tunison | There’s a wide variety of fish now lurking offshore and nearshore
Off- and nearshore Spanish mackerel, grouper, big snapper, permit, sharks, cobia, jumbo snook, even tripletail are all waiting to play from nearshore numbers to out past the 100-foot zone.
If you’re new to the offshore game, first know that state waters end out at the 9-mile mark. Once you cross that line you’re in federal waters. “Anyone on a commercial, for-hire, or private vessel, is required to have a venting tool or descending device rigged and ready to use when fishing for reef fish in Gulf of Mexico federal waters” Don’t forget to obtain your State Reef Certification before dropping a line. Consult the FWC website for all up to date information and closures.
It’s time to hit the snook surf zone by boat or simply stalk them on foot for a chance at a jumbo. Sight fishing becomes easier as the morning sun gets higher in the sky and also when east winds calm the waters.
For beach lures it’s hard to beat a plain white bucktail jig or white soft plastic paddle tail grubs on 1/4 to 3/8-ounce jig heads. Try white Seaducer’s or bottom bumping Clousers for fly rod battles. Sink tip lines allow probing pass drop-offs or channel edges.
May means tarpon time to Cape anglers and the hunt is on especially now along the coast where staked out or run-and-gun anglers are throwing small crabs, a variety of live fin fish baits, fly rod offerings and soft plastics at moving pods of tarpon. If you like bottom fishing, shad, mullet, mackerel and catfish tails are all top choices and don’t be surprised if a big snook or shark is your bycatch while bottom fishing.
Shad may be the best tarpon bottom bait of all if you can get it. If Kitty starts to become a problem, then switch over to catfish tails. I like a 6 to 8-inch chunk with a 10/0, non-offset circle hook lightly hooked through the skin (or bridled) on one end. Hooking into the meat too deeply can impede a good hookset. Chumming can definitely get the tarpons’ interest.
There’s lots of big tarpon available in the passes, around the causeway and moving along the coast, but also in very shallow areas throughout Pine Island Sound where quiet boat handling may put you into fly rod range or allow you to present a floating soft plastic eel or worm to get their interest. For years the plain 9-inch pink Slug-Go worm on a jig head for deeper water and unweighted and nose hooked for skinny water was always a hot Keys tarpon bait and works locally. Why pink? Ask a tarpon. This bait and other eel-like creatures by Hogy are also good choices to throw at moving coastal tarpon. Another option for shallow fish is to present a MirrOlure with trebles replaced by single hooks. (51 MR or MirrOdine XXL 37 M)
Night fishing local bridges will keep improving as it gets warmer so be sure to stock up on Hogy eels and paddle tails either unrigged or with their sure hooking Barbarian jig heads already molded in. Don’t be surprised when you hook the snook of a lifetime on your nighttime bridge tarpon trip as they love Hogy eels as well.
If you’re not a caster but still want some after dark live bait tarpon fun, then collect a dozen ladyfish or mullet. Anchor up tide of the bridge then float a lively specimen back to the bridge shadow lines and hold on. I always recommend bridling large baits which allows the bait to swim and react naturally when trouble comes knocking and keeps the bait alive. The real bonus is with the hook outside of the bait and fully exposed, this allows solid hook-up rates to skyrocket. Plenty of bridling instructions on YouTube. Easy to do and definitely recommended.
Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. You can contact him at captgeorget4@yahoo.com or (239) 440-1621.