Tarpon Fishing Special: Spotlight on Boca Grande Pass

As boats, tackle and fishing priorities have evolved over the years, “tarpon fishing” has come to mean many things—and that’s certainly true in Southwest Florida. Anglers might be out in a center console off Sanibel Island, watching for rolling fish in the green waters of the Gulf, ready to cast a live herring or crab, or set up chunk baits. Others may be well up the Caloosahatchee or Peace rivers, trolling plugs or bait-fishing with saltwater catfish, a local tarpon specialty. Young anglers on foot or bikes might be fly fishing a local canal or pond, trying to hook “baby tarpon.”

Boca Grande Pass Means Tarpon Fishing

Still, beginning in early April, “tarpon fishing” for many means one thing: Boca Grande Pass. “The Pass,” as it’s often called, is the fabled Gulf outlet for the massive Charlotte Harbor estuary.

Love it or loathe it, the Boca Grande fishery—some days clogged with boats nearly bumping rubrails—is one of Florida’s most enduring angling traditions. It evolved out of drift-fishing through the deepwater passage between Gasparilla and Cayo Costa Islands—closest to the Gasparilla (north) side, where the water is deepest. Boats would deploy baits uptide from observed schools of fish, with lead sinkers to get down near bottom, then drift through the fish. After a successful catch or a dry run, the pass boat motors out from the pack and around the others back upcurrent to the head of the line, to begin another orderly drift. Modern boat conveniences like high-resolution sonar and electric trolling motors suggest holding tight right over the fish—but where the prevailing method and mindset is the drift order, bucking the current—so to speak—creates mayhem. Anchoring in the 50-foot-deep, rock-bottom pass is totally out of the question—insanely dangerous. It’s a drift fishery, and predominantly a bait fishery.

Unique for a local fishery, the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has seasonal rules for Boca Grande Pass. Between April and June, anglers may fish no more than 3 rods per vessel. Additionally, the use of breakaway sinkers is prohibited in the pass area—and that includes the modified, hook-bend weighted jigs that are popular in Louisiana.

Generations of anglers have grown up pursuing the tarpon that annually swarm the Boca Grande Pass. It’s an amazing fishery, simple yet complex, bewitching and bewildering. Not a place for a greenhorn to take a rental boat—but certainly a place all Florida anglers, at some point, ought to experience.

For some perspective on this classic fishery, Florida Sportsman caught up with the new President of the Boca Grande Guides Association, Capt. Chris Taylor.

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Taylor fishes out of a 21 Clearwater center console, an outboard boat, and has all the chops one would expect out of a contemporary Florida tarpon guide. He can put anglers on Gulf-side tarpon using long-cast spinning tackle, but when he’s in the Pass, he fishes in the traditional drift manner: 8-foot fiberglass rod, PENN International 12 spooled with 100-pound PowerPro, live bait rigged behind a sliding 3- to 8-ounce sinker. Taylor grew up in Brandon, FL, and today lives in Riverview. He’s the same age as the famous Guides Association he now leads, founded in 1988.

• FS: How did you get into the traditional Boca Grande Pass fishing?
• CT: Captain Jon Zorian, a family friend, taught me the fishery—I went out with him the first time at age 5—and every spring and summer I looked forward to going to the Pass for the livebait fishing. It’s a great method, been working for 100 years and still works! I basically grew up there with Jon, my dad and my brother—and I’ve been picking brains ever since. I also fish a lot of Tampa Bay, and out on the beaches, too. Through the end of spring and through the summer, those fish move!
• FS: Tell us about the hurricanes. What changed?
• CT: Hurricane Ian didn’t have a large impact on the fishing—but it had an impact on the tourism. As soon as hotels reopened—Gasparilla Inn, the Innlet, the Boca Grande Hotel—here come the fishermen! Gasparilla Island has been very resilient. It seems no matter how big storm, they come back fast and better than before. As far the Pass, the contours of Boca Grande Pass are always changing. With each storm, we’ve had a lot of sand movement onto land—we’ll have to find out this season how much that’s affected the structure of the pass.
• FS: Talk to us about tournaments. Is that still a priority?
• CT: Two main ones we did last year were the Ladies Day Tournament and the World’s Richest Tarpon Tournament. In the past there were more, but it’s slimmed down. The World’s Richest, one of our local captains, Wayne Joiner, won that last year—and he won the Jay Joiner Memorial Belt Buckle, as he caught the most tarpon out of both tournaments. He fishes out of Hey Moma!, a 24 Morgan. He’s one of the founding members of the Guides Association.
• FS: How about the Boca Grande marina scene?
• CT: Whiddens is a go-to for lot of guides. Lot times I’ll keep my boat at the Innlet, the hotel. Eldred’s is another place. But a lot of places are for sale—things could get pretty tight.
• FS: What are some new initiatives for the guides association?
• CT: We’re modernizing membership, with a website now where associate members can sign up. Also, one thing we’re encouraging is, with all the new people moving to the area, trying to educate anglers on proper handling of fish upon point of release. A technique I use is I pop the line at the hook. Let the fish go while it’s still swimming—it has a better chance of surviving, a better chance of escaping sharks. We’ll get a tarpon to the boat and have the angler lean for a quick picture, then pop the leader. The FWC has been recommending touch-free tarpon release for years.

New website for the Boca Grande Guides Association: bocagrandeguidesassociation.org

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• This article was featured in the April 2025 issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Click to subscribe

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