What is the best tide for tarpon fishing? (The Complete Guide)


The best tide for tarpon fishing is the first two hours of the outgoing high tide. The outgoing tide washes shrimp, crabs and small fish out of the estuaries, mangroves and grass flats through the passes, inlets and channels straight to the hungry tarpon.

The outgoing high tide is the best for many inshore fish species like snook, redfish, speckled trout and of course tarpon.

It is also the best tide for fishermen trying to target these species. This is true because the outgoing tides carry fresh water after rains, sediment, dead grass and many other items that tend to make the water less clear.

Stained or dirty water makes it much easier to fool sharp eyed predators like tarpon and snook. This makes it easier to get them to eat your artificial lures and live or dead bait offerings.

It will be much harder for them to see your leaders, hooks, swivels or anything else that is unnatural to them. Both tarpon and snook have excellent eyesight.

The author of this article is an INSHORE FISHING GUIDE on the Treasure Coast of Florida. He has been fishing the grass flats, oyster bars and mangroves all over Florida for more than 40 years.

In the article below, we will talk about the the best tides for tarpon fishing and the best baits, lures and techniques.
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Let's get started.


​Watch the video below to learn more about catching tarpon during high tide with dead baits.

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​What tide is best for tarpon fishing the inlets?


The first couple hours of the outgoing high tide is the best tide for tarpon fishing around inlets and passes. The current will wash those unwary shrimp, crabs and fish from their inshore hiding spots right to the waiting tarpon.

The tarpon will gather around those pinch points that funnel the prey items right to them. The best case scenario for fishermen is when the first two hours of the outgoing tide coincides with sunrise or sunset. 

It is during these low light scenarios when predators like to feed the most. They have a distinct advantage over their prey because they have better eyesight than most of the prey items that they love to eat.

These same low light scenarios make it easier to fool the unsuspecting tarpon to eat your artificial lure or a live bait offering.

The best lures for catching tarpon in the inlets and just about anywhere else is a paddle tail soft plastic lure of some sort. You can use a lure from 3 inches up to 10 inches to catch those tarpon in the inlets during the outgoing tide.

Tarpon like a slow and steady retrieve. You can just cast out your paddle tail and slowly swim it back to you making sure to cast up current or perpendicular to the current for best results.

I wrote another article on this website all about the best baits and lures for tarpon fishing. You can read that article by clicking right here.

This is also a great place to toss out a free lined mullet or crab. Tarpon love to eat mullet and crabs that are being washed out to sea with the current around inlets.

Be ready to hook up with some real bruisers. You will want at least a 5500 series reel filled with 40 to 80 pound braided line or you won't have a chance with these 100 pound plus silver kings.

​WANT TO CATCH A TARPON?  BOOK YOUR FISHING CHARTER TODAY!



What tide is best for tarpon fishing off of the beach?

The best tide for tarpon fishing off of the beach is the last two hours of the incoming high tide and the first two hours of the outgoing high tide.

ex. High tide is at noon. You would want to fish from 10 am to noon and noon to 2 pm. Once again, your best bet is when high tide coincides with sunset or sunrise.

High tide on the beaches is the best time because the water volume is high enough to allow bigger predators to approach the shoreline.

Those big predators just can't get close to the beach comfortably during the lower parts of the tide. During the lower parts of the tide those predators like tarpon have to stay on the outside of the sandbars.

Once the water depths increase with the incoming tide, they can come closer to the beach and get access to the smaller prey items that they could not reach during low tide.

I have personally seen 100 pound tarpon nearly beach themselves as they feed upon anchovies and finger mullet during the various bait runs that occur around Florida. You can literally underhand cast to a 100 pound tarpon when the tide and the bait are just right.

The best artificial lures for these beach tarpon is probably your paddle tailed swim baits again. Something white and something dark are your best bests for targeting beach tarpon.

You will want to cast your lure out and slowly retrieve it just fast enough to keep the paddle tail moving and not letting it sink to the bottom.

If you have some live finger mullet, then use those for those big tarpon. You really can't beat a live bait in most circumstances. 

Tarpon will also hit a big silver spoon, top water lures and suspending baits that mimic a mullet.


Watch the video below to learn the best tarpon lures to use off of the beach.

What is the best tide for tarpon fishing tidal creeks?

The best tide for fishing for tarpon in tidal creeks is the last two hours of the incoming tide. Tarpon like to stay in tidal creeks all day long if there is a deep enough channel for them to retreat to if it gets too hot or too cold.

Tarpon will just sit back and let the tide bring them something to eat. The outgoing high tide is good too but my best luck has been with the incoming high tide when it comes to tidal creeks.

A tidal creek is a great place to target tarpon with paddle tails that mimic the bait fish in the vicinity. If you can't find any bait fish then just go big and downsize until you start getting hits.

The great thing about tarpon is that they must breathe atmospheric oxygen to supplement the dissolved oxygen in the water. That is why tarpon can be seen gulping during the day.

They tend to gulp more during the early morning hours because there is no photosynthesis at night. This means that there is less dissolved oxygen in the water before the sun comes up and oxygenates the water with its solar rays.

Once again, you will most likely catch more tarpon when the high tide coincides with sunrise or sunset but you can catch tarpon all day when they are feeding.

I wrote another article on this website all about how to catch a tarpon in Florida. You can read that article by clicking right here.

Another great bait choice for tarpon is dead bait. Tarpon and most other predators would much rather eat a fresh dead fish than go through the trouble of catching a fast swimming fish to eat.

It takes a lot of calories to swim down a prey item. So if they find a suitable dead prey item, then they would much rather eat that one.

My biggest tarpon, snook, redfish and speckled trout have all been caught with dead baits on the bottom. The larger specimens of these species got to be old by not wasting energy chasing food around. Give them what they want and make it easy for them to get it.


What is the best tide for tarpon fishing mangroves?

Tarpon love to hunt around mangroves during high tide. They especially like mangroves that are adjacent to deeper channels. When you find yourself a line of mangroves with a channel next to them that is at least 6 or 7 feet deep, then you have a good shot at finding tarpon.

Tarpon like to lurk down deep and come from underneath their prey with their huge bucket mouths open. That is why you see so many tarpon strikes where they come partially out of the water.

The small ones tend to jump out of the water more than the big ones while feeding and once they are hooked. BUT the big ones will definitely jump when they figure out there is a hook in their mouth.

The best baits for pitching under the mangroves is a live fish or shrimp under a popping cork. You will need a leader at least 3 feet long because tarpon can be bobber shy at times.

Any live bait will do. A live finger mullet, pin fish, threadfin herring, shrimp, crab..... Whatever you got that swims around and makes splashes when they do it will work.

A great lure is a paddle tail rigged weed less or a walk the dog type of top water lure that mimics a mullet. Those will work just fine too for those high tide tarpon around the mangroves.

Watch the video below to see kayak tarpon fishing with live bait around the mangroves.
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What is the best tide for tarpon fishing around docks?

The best tide for tarpon fishing around docks is high tide. It really doesn't seem to matter too much if the tide is coming in our going out when you are fishing the docks. You just need the moving water.

Tarpon love to hang out around structure when there is a deeper channel nearby. Those docks that are close to inlets with a lot of water flow will often have tarpon around them.

Those docks on either side of a bridge that funnels a large volume of water under it is another good spot to fish the nearby docks.

There are lots of bait fish that try to find sanctuary around those dock pilings and predators like tarpon already know this trick. So they will cruise under those docks looking for something good to eat.

This is another great place to pitch a paddle tail or a live bait under a popping cork. You might just catch yourself a big snook or a redfish when you use this type of fishing technique. They all love to hang around docks.

I created a FREE Online Tarpon Fishing Course. It covers in great detail how to catch a tarpon including the best baits, tackle, lures..... You can access that fishing course by clicking right here.
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What is the best tide for tarpon on the grass flats?

Tarpon love to cruise the grass flats during the higher parts of the tide. They will often be in water that barely covers their backs as they search for shrimp, crabs and fish to eat.

I probably sound like a broken record at this point but I will say it again. You want to target grass flats with a deeper channel on one side of it. Those tarpon that are hunting the grass flats will run up onto them to grab a bite to eat and then retreat to the channel for safety or to regulate their body temperatures.

The parts of the grass flats that are closest to the deeper channels will be your best bet but during the peak of the high tide the tarpon will roam the entire grass flat looking for prey.

Get your paddle tails out or whatever search bait that you like the best and start casting in a fan pattern like the hands on a clock to find the tarpon. Cast 3 o clock, 2 o clock, 1 o clock all the way around to 9 o clock, then move and repeat to cover as much water as you can.

If you have live bait then you can just drift with the tide and keep moving deeper or more shallow until you figure out where the feeding fish are.


Conclusion:

The best tide for catching tarpon is both sides of the high tide. You can catch them at dead low tide but it is much harder than when the high tide is moving large amounts of prey items to them.

Moving water is when most inshore predatory fish will feed the best. It doesn't matter where you are fishing for tarpon. It can be on the beaches; in the inlets; on the grass flats or wherever.

Tarpon are one of my favorite fish to target when I fish for fun. They are by far the best fighting inshore fish species that there is. If catching a tarpon is not on your bucket list, then it should be. They are amazing.

I hope that this article helps you catch more tarpon or at least have more fun trying.


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