Tarpon Season in Florida: When and Where, Coast by Coast

Florida tarpon season peaks from April through July. The run starts in the Keys and Miami in March, fills Boca Grande Pass and Tampa Bay in May and June, and reaches the Panhandle beaches in late June and July. In September and October a second, smaller season follows the fall mullet run down the Atlantic beaches, and South Florida keeps resident tarpon all winter.

Tarpon follow water temperature more than the calendar. Satellite tags on adult fish showed them moving up and down the coast with water of about 79°F (26°C). Read a Florida tarpon calendar as the date that water reaches your stretch of coast. A cold spring can push every date below back a week or two, and a warm one can move them earlier.

Florida tarpon season by month and coast

The table comes from Fish Scouter's season calendar, the same one the app uses to rank tarpon for your spot each day.

The Keys and Miami: where the run starts

The Keys and Biscayne Bay see migrants first. Miami also has a real winter fishery. Resident tarpon roll under the bridge lights and at Government Cut on the night outgoing in January. By February the first migrants arrive. March is the classic shrimp-run month in Biscayne Bay, with fish feeding on the night outgoing at the causeway bridges and at Haulover.

In the Keys, April starts tarpon month. Fish move through Bahia Honda, Seven Mile Bridge and Channels 2 and 5 on the outgoing at night, and daisy chains turn up on the oceanside flats at dawn. May is the peak. Bonefish & Tarpon Trust's acoustic tagging found that fish from both coasts gather in the Keys at spawning time, spawn offshore around the full and new moons, and then split up the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. In June, palolo worm hatches on the bayside give some of the most selective fly fishing in the sport. See the full month list on the Florida Keys tarpon guide.

Boca Grande and Charlotte Harbor: the spawn month

Boca Grande Pass is the most famous tarpon water in Florida. The first fish roll in Charlotte Harbor in March, once the water passes about 74°F. In April they fill the harbor flats and the beaches from Gasparilla to Sanibel. By May the Pass holds thousands of fish in 40 to 80 feet of water.

June is the spawn month. The days around the full and new moons bring the strongest outgoing tides, which locals call "hill tides." They flush small "Pass crabs" out of the harbor, and the tarpon gorge on them. Drift a live crab or pinfish deep through the Pass, or work the beaches from Gasparilla to Captiva on calm mornings. The Pass has its own gear rules, so check MyFWC before you go. Fish stay through mid-July and then thin out. Residents keep feeding on threadfins and mullet in the harbor and at the river mouths into November. Charlotte Harbor tarpon, month by month.

Tampa Bay and Sarasota

The first fish reach the Skyway and Egmont Key at the end of April, as the bay passes 76°F. In May, pods move north along the beaches past Anna Maria, Longboat Key, Egmont and Pass-a-Grille. Throw a live threadfin or crab ahead of rolling fish at dawn. June is the peak, with fish on the beaches, in Egmont Channel, along the Skyway and on the Fort De Soto bars. Fish at the passes feed on the outgoing during the hill tides. By late July the fish spread into the bay and up the Manatee and Little Manatee rivers. A fall push on the threadfin schools lasts into October. Tampa Bay tarpon guide.

Homosassa and the Big Bend

Homosassa is the giant-fish fly water. In May and early June, strings of 100-pound-plus fish cruise the outside flats from Chassahowitzka to Crystal River. Calm wind and high sun let you see them, and a long leader keeps them from spooking. By the end of June the fish move up the coast toward Steinhatchee, and by September they head south. Big Bend tarpon guide.

The Panhandle beach run

The Gulf-side migrants turn west along the Panhandle. The first pods appear off Perdido Key and Pensacola Beach in late May, once the Gulf tops about 80°F. Late June into July is the best of it, with pods cruising 10 to 20 feet of clear green water from Pensacola to Mexico Beach. Run the beach on a calm dawn and get ahead of the pod instead of on top of it. Lead rolling fish well with a live menhaden or a big swimbait. Apalachicola and St. Joe bays hold fish into August. Panhandle tarpon guide.

The Atlantic side: Indian River, Jacksonville and the mullet run

On the Atlantic side, tarpon fishing takes off in summer. In June, fish roll in the Banana River, the Indian River Lagoon and off the Canaveral beaches on the pogy (menhaden) pods. The Mayport jetties and the beach up to Nassau Sound hold fish from June through August. A live pogy on a circle hook is the standard bait (Space Coast, First Coast).

Then the fall mullet run starts. From September through October, tarpon follow the mullet schools south down the beach. They crash mullet at Sebastian, Fort Pierce, St. Lucie and Jupiter inlets, then off Palm Beach and on into Broward and Dade. The first good front in November ends it (Treasure Coast tarpon).

Tides, moon and time of day

• Passes and inlets: fish the outgoing, above all the hard outgoing on the days around the full and new moons. It flushes crabs, shrimp and baitfish to waiting fish.
• Bridges: fish the night outgoing and the shadow line under the lights. This is the Keys and Miami pattern.
• Beaches: fish dawn and the first hours of calm water, before the sea breeze puts a chop on the surface and you can no longer see rolling fish.
• Flats: you need high sun and light wind to see laid-up and cruising fish.

Fish Scouter shows the NOAA tide curve for the nearest station, the next turn and how hard the water is moving. The moon phase sits on the same screen, so you can see when the next hill tide falls.

Baits and tackle that work

• Live crabs (pass crabs, small blue crabs): Boca Grande, the Tampa Bay passes, the Keys bridges.
• Threadfin herring and pinfish: the Gulf beaches and Tampa Bay.
• Menhaden (pogies): the Panhandle, Canaveral and Mayport.
• Mullet: the fall run on the Atlantic beaches and inlets.
• Shrimp and small swimbaits: the Miami and Keys bridges at night.
• Flies: worm flies during the Keys palolo hatch, and toads and baitfish patterns on the Homosassa and Everglades flats.

Use a big inline circle hook so the fish is hooked in the corner of the mouth. Carry heavy enough tackle to finish the fight quickly. A tarpon fought to exhaustion in hot water is an easy target for a shark. Great hammerheads and bull sharks follow the spawning tarpon into Boca Grande Pass in June and through the Keys bridges in May. Our calendar marks them at the same spots in the same months. If sharks start eating hooked fish, move.

Handling: tarpon stay in the water

Tarpon fishing in Florida is catch-and-release. Keeping one needs a special tag, and FWC's rules require big fish to stay in the water. Read the current wording on FWC's tarpon page, because rules change. FWC's handling advice is simple: keep the fish, and especially the gills, in as much water as you safely can. Keep handling short. Never drag a tarpon over a gunwale, rocks or a pier railing. Revive a tired fish by holding it upright in the water so water flows over its gills until it kicks away on its own. If you want a photo, take it with the fish alongside the boat.

Plan a tarpon trip around the right week

The calendar tells you the month. The water, the tide and the wind tell you the day. We think Fish Scouter is the best way to know what's biting, because it does what a printed calendar can't: it combines this season calendar with the live water temperature from the nearest reporting sensor, the NOAA tide and the wind, ranks every species for the water you're on each hour, and explains each ranking in plain words. Its seven-day outlook shows which morning the hill tide and a calm beach line up. Start with your water's tarpon page, or try Fish Scouter free and let it watch the forecast for you.