Best places to catch baby tarpon?

[stonefish]

Hello,
A friend and I want to catch some baby Tarpon. Neither of us have every caught a Tarpon before. Tarpon have been on my wish "to catch list" for a few years now. We'd really like to target fish in the 5 to 40 Lb range max. I've done some research on the web and found info on Tarpon Cay, Tarpon Coast and Isla Holbox, all of which are in the Yucatan.

What is the best time of year to catch baby Tarpon in these Yucatan areas?

Are there any other locations that you might suggest that offer good baby Tarpon fishing?

Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Brian

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Fly fishing for Baby Tarpon is my specialty.

Tarpon Cay Lodge -northwest of Cancun

http://www.anglingonthefly.com/travel/tarponcaylodge/index.shtm

Campeche Tarpon Club - way west of Cancun.

http://www.anglingonthefly.com/travel/campeche/index.shtm

April through August is the prime time and these are the two best places in the world right now.

Keith Kaneko of "Angling on the Fly" travel service is the booking agent for these top destinations.

http://www.anglingonthefly.com/gallery/Albums/Album4/Large/CTC2006Aug25_086.jpg

Me, Marco & Baby

[Rick J]

Hi Brian,
A group of 4 of us are going to TCL the week of June 28 through July 4. They can take two more - you might want to check with Keith. This is a good week for tides but may a bit early for the bigger fish- Marco was at Bill's shop last week and I got to meet him and talk to him about opportunities. The local fish are 3 to 30 # but expect most are going to be on the smaller side - but even the small ones are a kick on the right tackle.

I have been to Isla Blanca through Bill's shop twice (just north of Cancun) This is a great place for multiple speicies - one of the best places for multiple shots at permit and a good chance at a grand slam. TCL on the other hand does not have lots of the other species - there are snook but Marco indicated you get more of them in the winter months. Also the occasional permit but it is baby tarpon heaven!

Hope you get your wish

Best regards,
Rick

[Terry Thomas]

Holbox was hit hard by the last hurricane. I'm not sure that they will be up and running for the season. In addition, Holbox is (was) a place to chase the "big boys." Their babies are really babies. The fish that we caught back in the mangroves were in the 4-8 lb. range. The fish at Campeche and Tarpon Cay run from 8-25 lb. range with some shots at a 40 lb. fish. Holbox was a very nice small village with dirt roads. The food and lodging was adequate. Campeche is a wonderful small city with excellent food and lodging. IMHO, for an extra few dollars you can have many more shots at the "silver king."

[Tony Buzolich]

Terry,

I was in Isla Holbox this past August and have to disagree with you about the babies being "real" babies.

We did go there with the intention of taking giant tarpon of which we saw schools of hundreds daily, but after lunch we'd head in to the mangroves and go after these babies which were very numerous. I would say that most were in similar size range from 5#-25# and we frequently saw much larger fish as well.

While there we did have a full moon which was detrimental to the larger offshore fish as they fed all night long but the babies inshore ate all day.

Hope Isla Holbox makes a comeback after the hurricane damage.
TONY

[Terry Thomas]

Tony,
Great! You did much better than our group. We had 8 anglers and none of them did as well as you did. For the week, we did have two landed that were in the 80 lb. range.
T.

[stonefish]

Fellas,
Thanks for the info. It is much appreciated. Between work, other fishing vacations already planned and family commitments, it may be tough to pull this trip off this year.
Thanks again,
Brian

[jbird]

Just came across this interesting comment on Larry Dahlbergs board, written by Larry himself. It seems baby tarpon are a passion for some saltwater enthusiasts. Any of you baby poon fishers relate to what he's talking about?


RE: Isla Holbox, Campeche
IP: Logged

Message:
Hi Bill,
I've researched most of the Tarpon zones the world offers and as I recall, the region you are referring to is well known for lots of baby tarpon. Since I'm usually looking for a shot a something big, I've not visited.
I've encountered baby tarpon in many places and one observation I'll share with you is that no matter how carefully you handle them there's quite a bit of mortality due to gill damage.
I think the problem lies in the fact that the fish are young and the cartilage in the gill attachments are still very fragile. The process of leaping and doing a violent head shake often is enough to "disconnect" one or more gills, which can't be a good thing for the poons.(Especially in reference to fish in the teens and smaller) S,o when I encounter them I usually leave them alone.
I'd be interested if anyone else has made the same observation.
Best,
L

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I have been catching baby tarpon for 20 years and I have not seen any evidence of this happening.

We have fished them for a week in big shallow lagoons and I have never seen one on the bottom?

That is also the first I have ever heard of this situation.

I have seen sharks chase down and eat big tarpon after they have been released.