Tarpon Fishing in Key Largo, FL
The Silver King. Hundred-pound leaps, hundred-yard runs, and heartbreak hookup ratios make tarpon the ultimate inshore trophy.
Typical season in Florida
- January: off peak
- February: off peak
- March: off peak
- April: peak
- May: peak
- June: peak
- July: peak
- August: peak
- September: also fished
- October: off peak
- November: off peak
- December: off peak
Peak months: April to August. Also fished: September.
Tarpon are catch and release only. Fish over 40 inches must stay in the water unless you hold a tarpon tag.
Peak months are general guidance for the region, not regulations. Always check your state's current rules and ask us before you book.
Miami, December through June: the season starts at Haulover Inlet in December and the tarpon move south over the next 6 weeks to Government Cut. They school up waiting for the shrimp runs, usually around the full moon, and run from 30 to 150 lbs. In April they switch to blue crabs, a very active time to feed. March through July, tarpon migrate south along the edge of the Biscayne Bay flats toward the Keys.
Species guide
Tarpon (Megalops atlanticus)
- How to identify
- Huge mirror-silver scales, an upturned mouth and a long thread trailing from the last dorsal ray.
- Size
- Adults commonly 60 to 150 pounds; the largest pass 200 pounds and 7 feet
- Lifespan
- Can live more than 50 years
- Habitat
- Coastal passes, bays, beaches and rivers; they tolerate brackish and fresh water.
- Range
- Western Atlantic from Virginia to Brazil, strongest in Florida and the Gulf of America.
- Diet
- Mullet, crabs, shrimp and other baitfish
Did you know? Tarpon can gulp air at the surface with a lung-like swim bladder, which is why you see them roll.
