Has anyone been tarpon fishing in Florida? I will be in St. Petersburg the last week of May and it looks like a good time to try it. Thoughts?

I only tarpon fish in East Texas. Buying a bay boat tomorrow. Will be on them by Sunday

the aluminum slap will scare them off

Lol

Snook, smacks (Spanish mackerel), trout, and reds.

Tarpon won�t be a good bet in Tampa Bay.

There will be tarpon around Tampa Bay, hiring a guide is going to be the best way to get on them. The fish should be out along the beached and around Egmont Key. They may be around the Skyway bridge also.

Early tarpon season is April-May. You are just north of the best tarpon fishing in the world ... Boca Grande. I would get on the phone now and try to get a guide booked.

A quality Tarpon trip is my only true bucket list trip. I'm going to try to get it done before I die.

Elizabeth took this photo of a tarpon I caught near Cape Canaveral. It's probably my favorite tarpon shot (from our own collection).

I did in Puerto Rico and wish I could do it every day for the rest of my life. ABSOLUTE BLAST!

a couple guides described it as "bait and wait" (i'm paraphrasing) and i'm not sure that sounds like a $600 4 hour adventure. I talked with one guide who's specialty is snook and reds in the mangroves and he made that sound like a lot of fun. I've hooked 4 tarpon on the Texas coast (Mitchell's Cut) close to Port O'Conner and Pass Cavallo and had no chance of landing them. They all did the same thing - straight to the surface and tail walked down the cut! It was beautiful, but no chance of stopping them with 10lb test and redfish gear. Just tighten the drag and save the line!

Really just not sure that floating in a pass soaking bait in deep water with a bunch of boats hovering around will be the same experience.

if your just baiting them it will be boring, go snook fishing.

There will be lots of opportunities in that area in May. Port Charlotte/Punta Gorda to the south of St Pete is where I'm more familiar with but you might not want to drive that far. If you decide to use a guide, ask about the opportunities for snook, redfish, and trout as it can save the day if the tarpon aren't cooperating. Chokolosskee/Everglades City, way to the south on the northern edge of Everglades National Park was my one of my favorites on the west coast of Florida. The same migration of fish that begins heading north along the west coast is also taking place along Florida's east coast and why my favorite place to fish for them was in the very southern part of the Everglades in Flamingo, the least civilized part of the state.

https://goo.gl/maps/BaXZgJa9Yrn

If it were me, I would focus on snook. Texas has a killer redfish and trout fishery. Our snook population is growing, but it's nothing like Florida. Plus, snook are a blast to chase with artificials.

Went many years ago in Tarpon Springs. Lots boats out there and it was quite fun watching them all catch. Sad thing was, you couldn't get your fish to the surface. Apparently the hammerhead sharks were so thick, by the time you got your fish to the surface, all that was left was part of a head. It was a blood bath and feeding frenzy which was kind of cool to watch, but if you got 1/2 a fish to the surface you were lucky. The girl friend spent probably 10 minutes fighting this fish, then the fish started surging and getting real erratic. Then a big bump and the fight got a lot slower and "lighter" from then on. Ended up with just a head after all was done. Multiple people out there had the same thing.