Tarpon up to 100 pounds or so are turning up with more frequency at the south jetty (boca chica) on the south side of South Padre island. Fly fishing is my deal, but i know some people have had luck free floating live mullet on circle hooks also. My best days have been on a strong falling tide, early in the morning. Watch for tell tale color flashing fairly close in on the rocks on both the inlet and gulf sides of the jetty. Some have been caught at the more popular north side of the same inlet, but theres substantially more fishing pressure and the currents are not as favorable. The south side does however require a 4wheel drive to get there as once you turn off of f.m. 48, you have to drive north on the beach for some distance before getting to the jetty itself. Also I have caught a few right at the mouth of the Rio Grande river again on strong falling tides but these are mostly babies. To get to the mouth Just turn right instead of left once you hit the gulf. Some people are put off by fishing literally right on the border, i admit i was when i first got here, but many people do and there is generally a border patrol agent present to make you feel a bit safer. As a bonus good trout are also caught at the mouth of the Rio Grande and can keep you busy while you wait for a silver king to roll.

they are in west galveston bay also. Tim got this one to the boat on a trout rod before he pulled out.

Can you catch them at San Luis Pass?

Sure can catch em at the SLP. This time till about the end of Sept. is the by far the best months to fish the pass for Tarpon. But its is best if you have a boat. We would usually start drifting live mullet in about 40 fow. Also want to concentrate on drifting the color changes. We have hooked many tarpon over the years but have yet to actually get one near the boat. also a lot of sharks and bull reds in that area

Since i dont have a boat are there any other places close by?

Get a 15ft surf rod and launch it or yak out the bait. I know a few ppl who hooked some never got them in either threw the hook, cut the line or just spooled em.

I have heard also around port Aransas you can catch tarpon, any advice?

in PA i'd do same as we do here. cruise the color line off the beach till you see something.

Just a mullet no weight? what rig and bait?

Mostly i fish tarpon on the fly, but for gear fishing i spool 40lb main line or preferably 65lb braid, then a 40-60lb leader about 12ft. long.I go with a 1/0-3/0 circle hook and lip hook live mullet about 4-6 inches long. I free float them, no weight, no float nothing. I have had success dropping them under balloons but i prefer to free float them. For catching them on flies, go with purple, chartreuse, red/white bunnies and large lefties decievers in similar colors. For you guys having trouble bringing poons in all the way to the boat, try when they leap and jump to bow to the fish, its what we call bowing to the king in tarpon circles, keep the line tight and reel up slack but drop the rod tip and bow at the waist. This helps to keep the hook from pulling. Ive caught over a dozen poons in the 200+ lbs range in Florida and throughout the Caribbean. In the next month or so our area here around the southern end of the island should see a big increase in size of fish and larger numbers of triple digit fish should be moving in.

I don't know if they do it here, but in Florida we would see juvies run up the Peace River to feed on the Nile Perch (tilapia) in the freshwater lakes. They were fun to catch on lighter gear, 15 to 20 lb test line.

I have caught and broke off a few over in Bocca, learning to Bow quickly. Quit fishing for them after seeing how the sharks have been "trained" to go after a freshly released fish for an easy meal.

You get babies here up in some of the canals all the way up into fresh water hitting tilapia, had good luck on them there with frog imitation flies. I havent had any issues with sharks on them here like i had when i lived in the keys, but then again they arent as heavily fished here as there.

Every major jetty on the Texas coast has the ability to produce tarpon when the conditions are right, but for fly slingers it's a tough business. I would be willing to bet a lot of money that your best chance for Texan 'poon is way down south, Port Isabel area, as has been mentioned. The tarpon are just a lot more consistent there than most other places.