Why catching big tarpon late in the season is a ‘favorite’ for Tampa Bay angler

Most anglers associate tarpon fishing on Florida’s west coast as something done in May and June.

But Nick Winger loves fishing for tarpon in September. He knows that the fish need to eat heavily before they make yearly their trip south for the winter.

Even better, there is little pressure when he heads out to try and put a few of the silver kings in the air.

“The late season is always our favorite for tarpon. There are lots of hungry fish fattening up for the migration with hardly any pressure on them,” Winger explained.

On a mid-September early morning, he headed out with Caroline Futch to fish Tampa Bay. His intuition was soon proved correct as the couple found themselves tight to not one, but two tarpon.

As Caroline fought the first, the second fish remained down, not jumping. Winger put the rod in the rod holder to focus on the fish that was putting on an aerial display.

When the fish she was fighting spit the hook during a jump, the unfazed Hutch grabbed the rod from the holder and was tight once again.

“Once she started putting pressure on it, it ran a ton of line off,” recalled Winger. “We knew it was a big fish, but surprisingly it came to the boat and bellied up quicker than most. We don’t like totally exhausting our fish so Caroline leaned over the side for a quick picture and we sent the tarpon on her way.”

Instead of relishing in the beast they caught, the pair kept fishing.

“We hurried to get our lines back in the water before the bite started to slow down. Directly after she hooked up again on a fish that exploded out of the water eating her bait and then stayed in the air the entire fight!” Winger said.

“It was one of those days where all of the stars aligned. The best part is that we were off the water by 9:30 a.m. with four fish to the leader, fun morning.”

While not entirely sure, the experienced Winger estimated the big one to be at or near 200 pounds, with another coming in around 150 pounds! But as most responsible captains should tell you, getting the fish back in the water quickly is the best way to ensure its survival.

“The worst thing you can do to a mature tarpon is to exhaust it to the point of laying still enough for a measurement. It never works in favor of the fish so we don’t do it.

“The biggest one was definitely long and fat, thinking in the low-to-mid eighty inch range. All I can say is she was a toad, and Caroline’s biggest to date.”