Tarpon Fishing with Live Mullet Tips and Techniques
Tarpon fishing with live mullet is one of the best ways to catch a trophy sized tarpon. You can free line the mullet and let it swim on top of the water column; You can add a bobber 36 inches above the mullet to better control your bait; or you can add a sinker and pin it to the bottom to catch tarpon.
Mullet is my go to live bait for most of the year. There are always a few around and during the Spring and Fall mullet run there are hundreds of thousands of them around.
They are a staple food for tarpon, snook, redfish, speckled trout and flounders all over the state of Florida. Coincidentally those are my favorite 5 fish that I like to catch. If you are an inshore fisherman then at least one of those fish is probably one of your favorites too.
Tarpon are a warm water fish and don't really like being in water temperatures in the low 70s and high 60s. They will leave to find their optimal temperatures of 75 plus degrees.
South Florida is lucky enough to have big tarpon around all year but the rest of the state only gets to see them for part of the year based upon water temperatures.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the grass flats and mangroves all over Florida for more than 40 years. The big tarpon are in my area in good numbers from about May 1st through about November 1st depending upon when the first cold fronts come through the area and push them South.
Tarpon are my favorite fish to catch and in the article below, I will teach you everything that I know about tarpon fishing with live mullet.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below and catch more tarpon with live mullet.
Tarpon fishing with live mullet is one of the best ways to catch a trophy sized tarpon. You can free line the mullet and let it swim on top of the water column; You can add a bobber 36 inches above the mullet to better control your bait; or you can add a sinker and pin it to the bottom to catch tarpon.
Mullet is my go to live bait for most of the year. There are always a few around and during the Spring and Fall mullet run there are hundreds of thousands of them around.
They are a staple food for tarpon, snook, redfish, speckled trout and flounders all over the state of Florida. Coincidentally those are my favorite 5 fish that I like to catch. If you are an inshore fisherman then at least one of those fish is probably one of your favorites too.
Tarpon are a warm water fish and don't really like being in water temperatures in the low 70s and high 60s. They will leave to find their optimal temperatures of 75 plus degrees.
South Florida is lucky enough to have big tarpon around all year but the rest of the state only gets to see them for part of the year based upon water temperatures.
I am a FISHING CHARTER CAPTAIN on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I have been fishing the grass flats and mangroves all over Florida for more than 40 years. The big tarpon are in my area in good numbers from about May 1st through about November 1st depending upon when the first cold fronts come through the area and push them South.
Tarpon are my favorite fish to catch and in the article below, I will teach you everything that I know about tarpon fishing with live mullet.
Let's get started.
Watch the video below and catch more tarpon with live mullet.
Tarpon Fishing with Live Mullet in the Inlets
Do you want to catch some really BIG tarpon? If you answered yes to this question then the mouths of the inlets around Florida are the place to do it.
The inlets attract the big, huge, enormous tarpon that will be one hundred pounds plus. Those tarpon want to eat a BIG live mullet. BIG TARPON LIKE BIG BAITS.
Mullet are one of my favorite bait to use in open water areas because you know exactly how they will act. If you hook them in the nose region you can just anchor up and let them swim facing into the tide behind your boat.
If you want to drift out of the inlet with the tide, then you can nose hook them for a perfect presentation for any hungry tarpon in the vicinity.
Eventually they will attract the attention of a tarpon or some other predator. You can just leave your rod in the rod holder and reel in the fish once it hooks itself. (I forgot to mention that you should always use a circle hook when fishing for tarpon with live mullet.)
Match your hook size to the size of the mullet that you are using. For instance, if the mullet was 8 inches or less, I would use a 5/0 inline circle hook. For every couple of inches of increased size I would go up by 1/0.
Example: A 10 inch mullet would get a 6/0 circle hook. A 12 inch mullet would get a 7/0 circle hook...…
The outgoing tide brings with it dirty and murky water as a generalization. Tarpon have excellent vision and can see your leaders in clear water. Some will still eat but the hook ups will definitely decline in crystal clear water.
The dirty outgoing tidal waters will allow you to beef up your leader sizes to 80 or even 100 pounds to handle some of those big bruisers that are out there. You will need the extra leader strength if you want to get those big tarpon to the boat.
I wrote another article that covers the best tackle to use for various sized tarpon and various fishing scenarios. You can read it by clicking here.
When you are out of the current around the corners of the inlets the tide is not so strong. You can anchor in one of those places and send a tail hooked mullet out.
The tail hooked mullet that is not in the current will swim away from your boat and fight your line. In other words they will swim until the line is taut and stretched out as far as it will go.
They will be sending out those low frequency vibrations throughout the water column that predators will sense and come to investigate. Those are the vibrations that mean there is a wounded fish in distress to a predator. They think that they can find an easy meal and will come from long distances to eat your mullet.
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Tarpon Fishing with Live Mullet off the Beach
Right next to just about every inlet is a beach. Tarpon like to cruise the beaches chasing the schools of baitfish that will be migrating North or South along them. It is one of those wonders of nature to see a 150 pound tarpon 5 feet from shore slamming into a school of anchovies, mullet, sardines, menhaden......
They will hug the shore during the higher parts of the tide because the baitfish will often use the shallows as a respite from hungry predators. BUT that only works in the lower parts of the tide. During the higher parts of the tide the biggest tarpon can get at the bait.
The best way to figure out where the bait is along the beach is to look for diving birds. You will see pelicans, terns, sea gulls..... in the area of the bait schools. Once you find the bait then you will find the predators who want to eat that bait.
You will find tarpon, snook, mackerel, bluefish, jack crevalle, sharks....... and many other predatory fish once you find the bait schools. It is hard to fish off of the beach with live mullet unless you are already at the spot where the bait schools are.
If you are not near the bait schools, then it can be a pain in the butt to haul your live bait and all of your gear to where the action is. BUT if you can manage there is a good chance that you will hook up with some big tarpon off of the beach.
I usually fish for tarpon off of the beach with lures. A few lures in my backpack is a whole lot easier to manage than a bait bucket, rods and everything else.
I wrote another article that is all about the best baits and lures for tarpon fishing. You can read that article by clicking right here.
Watch the video below to see the best lures for tarpon fishing.
Right next to just about every inlet is a beach. Tarpon like to cruise the beaches chasing the schools of baitfish that will be migrating North or South along them. It is one of those wonders of nature to see a 150 pound tarpon 5 feet from shore slamming into a school of anchovies, mullet, sardines, menhaden......
They will hug the shore during the higher parts of the tide because the baitfish will often use the shallows as a respite from hungry predators. BUT that only works in the lower parts of the tide. During the higher parts of the tide the biggest tarpon can get at the bait.
The best way to figure out where the bait is along the beach is to look for diving birds. You will see pelicans, terns, sea gulls..... in the area of the bait schools. Once you find the bait then you will find the predators who want to eat that bait.
You will find tarpon, snook, mackerel, bluefish, jack crevalle, sharks....... and many other predatory fish once you find the bait schools. It is hard to fish off of the beach with live mullet unless you are already at the spot where the bait schools are.
If you are not near the bait schools, then it can be a pain in the butt to haul your live bait and all of your gear to where the action is. BUT if you can manage there is a good chance that you will hook up with some big tarpon off of the beach.
I usually fish for tarpon off of the beach with lures. A few lures in my backpack is a whole lot easier to manage than a bait bucket, rods and everything else.
I wrote another article that is all about the best baits and lures for tarpon fishing. You can read that article by clicking right here.
Watch the video below to see the best lures for tarpon fishing.
Tarpon Fishing with Live Mullet around the Mangroves
I do most of my tarpon fishing around mangroves and tidal creeks. This is usually done from my 12 foot kayak or my 14 foot jon boat. These tarpon are usually smaller than the ones around the inlets and off of the beaches.
BUT those are the ones that I like to catch. They are usually 4 feet or less and only take about 5 or 10 minutes to land versus 30 to 40 minutes for the monsters around the beaches and inlets. The smaller ones tend to jump more and that is my favorite thing about tarpon fishing anyways.
The tarpon around the mangroves will readily eat a finger mullet. Those are the ones that are 6 or 7 inches or less. They are easier to keep alive than the big beach and inlet mullets too. It is no problem to keep a dozen finger mullet alive in a 5 gallon bucket with a bubbler as long as you change out the water every hour or so.
The waste products of the fish increase the ammonia levels of the water to where it is toxic for the fish. That is why you have to change out the water. It is not because there is a lack of dissolved oxygen.
Fun Fact: Tarpon have a swim bladder lined with a lung like substance that allows them to take in oxygen from the air and incorporate that into their bloodstream. They use the oxygen in the air to supplement the oxygen in the water when they are in low oxygen environments.
The best time to fish for tarpon around the mangroves is usually the morning because they will need to gulp more air in the mornings and you will see where they are. There is less dissolved oxygen in the water in the mornings because the oxygen producing algae and diatoms need sunlight for photosynthesis to occur.
If it was a mathematical formula it would look something like this:
(No sunlight = No photosynthesis = Less dissolved oxygen in the morning).
I like to stealth up to a fishy looking spot where I have seen tarpon gulping air in my kayak with a bait bucket full of finger mullet at first light. My favorite way to rig the mullet is under a bobber of some sort.
You should use a bobber for a few different reasons:
- The bobber lets you know where your bait is.
- The bobber slows the bait down which makes it easier for the tarpon to eat it.
- The bobber will attract the attention of the nearby tarpon.
The next time that you go out tarpon fishing with live mullet try out a bobber. Your hook up ratio will probably go up. Just make sure to keep at least 3 or 4 feet of leader between the bobber and the bait. Sometimes the bobber will spook them if it is too close to the bait.
I wrote an article that covers how to catch a tarpon in extensive detail with live baits and lures. You can read that article by clicking here.
When I am fishing for tarpon around the mangroves, I am looking for an area with a deep drop off. Tarpon like to have a deep spot near them most of the time. They will run up to slam a prey item in a foot or two of water and then retreat back to the deeper spots.
Watch the video below to learn more about tarpon fishing around the mangroves with mullet.
Tarpon Fishing with Live Mullet on the Grass Flats
Tarpon like to cruise the grass flats following bait schools. Again the mornings are the best time to find them because they will be gulping more atmospheric air in the mornings.
If you can find grass flats adjacent to a deeper cut or channel, then you have found a great area to look for tarpon. They will run up onto the flats and then go back to the deeper channel until they get hungry again.
When the tarpon are not showing themselves you can just drift the grass flats with your live mullet free lined behind you. You will want to nose hook the mullet when you are just drifting slowly with the tide searching for fish to catch.
Often times if the tide or wind is not sufficient enough to get me moving at the right speed I will slow troll a mullet. This can be a great search bait for fish. I will paddle my kayak about the same speed as a slow walk zig zagging the flats until I figure out where the tarpon are.
I always use circle hooks to catch tarpon. They have a very hard and bony mouth and the circle hook will get them right in the corner for a great hook set almost every time. You don't set the hook with a circle hook. Once the bobber goes under reel the slack and tarpon will hook itself as it swims away.
PRO TIP: You have to take the time to revive a tarpon after you catch one. They are such good fighters because they will literally fight to the death. If you don't revive them after the fight they will just sink to the bottom and die. The lactic acid builds up in their muscles and their oxygen levels are depleted.
You can face them into the current to let the water flow over their gills if there is a decent tide. You can also kick the boat in gear and pull them through the water head first so the water will move over their gills to fill up their depleted oxygen supplies.
Please take the time to revive the tarpon that you catch until they can swim off on their own power. There is no sense killing such an amazing fish like the tarpon.
Tarpon Fishing with Dead Mullet
Tarpon fishing is best in the early mornings, late in the day and at night. What do you do if you want to catch a tarpon in the middle of the day? The answer is use fresh dead bait.
My favorite dead baits for tarpon fishing are mullet and ladyfish. Tarpon just love to eat dead mullet and ladyfish. You want to use the mullet head first. They will eat the mullet head more readily than the rest of the body for some reason.
The ladyfish is the opposite. They will eat the rest of the body more readily than the ladyfish head. I have no idea why they do this but after countless tarpon adventures this has proven itself out to me.
You will want to use as little weight as necessary to keep the dead bait in one place on the bottom. I like to fish the mouths of tidal creeks with this technique because there is usually not a lot of current there. That means the bait will stay put on the bottom.
The tarpon will pick up the dead bait and swim off with it and hook themselves with your circle hook. This is a patient man's game but the rewards are great when you catch a nice tarpon in the middle of the day.
Watch the video below and catch more tarpon with dead mullet.
Tarpon fishing is best in the early mornings, late in the day and at night. What do you do if you want to catch a tarpon in the middle of the day? The answer is use fresh dead bait.
My favorite dead baits for tarpon fishing are mullet and ladyfish. Tarpon just love to eat dead mullet and ladyfish. You want to use the mullet head first. They will eat the mullet head more readily than the rest of the body for some reason.
The ladyfish is the opposite. They will eat the rest of the body more readily than the ladyfish head. I have no idea why they do this but after countless tarpon adventures this has proven itself out to me.
You will want to use as little weight as necessary to keep the dead bait in one place on the bottom. I like to fish the mouths of tidal creeks with this technique because there is usually not a lot of current there. That means the bait will stay put on the bottom.
The tarpon will pick up the dead bait and swim off with it and hook themselves with your circle hook. This is a patient man's game but the rewards are great when you catch a nice tarpon in the middle of the day.
Watch the video below and catch more tarpon with dead mullet.
Conclusion:
People come from all over the world to catch a tarpon. They are a bucket list species for many fishermen around the globe. Down here in Florida we are lucky enough to have a lot of them to catch for most of the year.
One of the best baits for this endeavor is a live mullet. Live mullet fishing for tarpon is a blast. Tarpon will go out of their way to slurp down a delicious looking mullet on the end of one of your hooks. There is no other inshore species of fish that puts up a better fight than a tarpon. They are also known as "The Silver Kings" for a reason.
Tarpon are my favorite fish to catch and will probably be yours too if you decide to catch one. Hopefully this article will help you catch a nice tarpon and create a memory to last a lifetime.
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