Teamwork is the best approach for successfully releasing a Boca Grande silver king.

Circle or modified circle hooks are popular for this duty; most use short shank livebait hooks, 5/0 or thereabouts, in 2X or 3X strong. The main leader is four to five feet of 60-pound clear mono, the shock leader 12 inches of 100-pound-test fluorocarbon, chosen mostly because it’s a lot harder than most monos and therefore more resistant to wear on the rough jaws of the fish. Microfiber lines are the hands-down favorite for those using spinning tackle these days; 50- to 80-pound micro spools flat and casts a mile. Even more importantly, when you start pulling on a fish that’s 100 yards out, the micro acts almost like a steel cable; there’s no stretch, and all your effort goes directly into whipping the fish. This is not only good for the angler, who does not want to sweat for hours in the humid, calm air, but also for the tarpon; the quicker a tarpon is whipped, the more likely it is to avoid sharks while on the hook, and the more energetic it will be after release. I personally like PowerPro and Fireline, but there are many other good brands of fiber lines.

Most anglers prefer an 8-foot spinning rod with a heavy butt and whippy tip. Reels capable of holding 250 yards of 50- to 80-pound microfiber are the ticket. Revolving spool reels also do the job, but casting is so much more challenging with these that all but the old pros are switching to spinning gear—particularly since the fiber lines have made it possible to spool heavy tests. Spinners make it possible to cast small crabs without added weight, a big advantage. And they also do a pretty good job of tossing artificials. It’s not easy to get beach tarpon to take any sort of lure in clear water, but early in the day they will occasionally inhale a plastic shrimp or mullet. They can also be caught on the usual streamer flies, for those who can make the necessary long casts. (Later in the summer, when they move into black water, they readily whack all sorts of artificials, and will even hit topwaters with a spectacular ferocity.)

Top baits are small brown crabs known generally as pass crabs, which can be netted in the weedlines that form on current rips around many of the larger passes. Threadfins, which can be sabikied around the major bridges and markers, are also a top bait, as are large scaled sardines. Finger mullet, enormously popular as tarpon bait on the east coast, have never caught on here, though odds are good that tarpon would like them fine. Pinfish and sand trout definitely do work, very well, when you can get them, as do jumbo shrimp—but if I have shrimp that big, I’m going to eat them myself instead of sharing them with a tarpon.

FS