While many young silver kings prefer small, secluded waters, some are found on the flats, usually along mangrove island troughs and nearby channels. (Photo by Alex Suescun)
June 09, 2025
By David A. Brown
After idling through one of Jacksonville’s residential canals, Capt. Chris Holleman finally had us fishing in one of Northeast Florida’s many hidden lagoons. It was surrounded by waterfront homes, lots of big oaks and boat docks that harbored both bass and snook. Then, about an hour into the outing, I was thrilled to see a band of high-strung hellions make the scene: Juvenile tarpon suddenly appeared.
Zipping in and out of shadow lines, buzzing beneath overhanging oak limbs and rolling occasionally in open water, the silver princes exemplified the potential for backwater fireworks. Their size was modest—not a single one even flirted with the 20-pound mark—but the little acrobats sure did put on a show every time we hooked one.
“That’s my favorite size,” says Capt. William Burbach of Port Richey, Fla., of the 5- to 15-pound juvies. “Little tarpon just seem to want to stay out of the water most of the time.”
The hard, bony mouth of a tarpon can make it difficult to get a solid hook set. Sharp hooks are a must, even when targeting the youngsters. (Photo by Alex Suescun) No question, these shiny rockets require less effort to propel their bodies beyond the surface than their stronger but significantly heavier elders. The frequent aerial displays tend to result in more thrown hooks, but the fish that remain buttoned up typically gas out in less than 5 minutes, so you get all of the fun and none of the sweat work.
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Compared to the lengthy battles commonly waged with the adults of the species, you’ll find fighting baby tarpon is pure joy. Streaky runs combined with abrupt jumps and mid-air shakes and gyrations define their often reckless fighting style. It’s a superb mix of challenge and angler-friendliness ideally suited to the less experienced and those with limited strength or endurance. “Baby tarpon tend to be isolated, so they’re more willing to play,” says Burbach. “They’re a lot more aggressive [than fully-grown tarpon] and also jump more.”
Moreover, traveling in packs makes the young’uns highly competitive. A missed strike or a dropped fish is usually of little consequence, as another is sure to grab the bait as soon as it’s back in play.
Juvenile tarpon are more acrobatic than the adults and will typically take to the air numerous times during a fight. (Photo courtesy of Capt. Chris Holleman) FIT FOR SURVIVAL
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Say the word “tarpon,” and most folks picture those shimmering, arm-stretching beasts of 100-plus pounds. At that size, only big sharks pose a serious threat. But the specimens small enough to fit in a bay boat’s live well (a reference for context only) rely on their speed and their ability to breathe air to survive. A modified swim bladder containing a spongy alveolar tissue and a duct leading to the esophagus enable tarpon to draw oxygen by gulping air. This rare trait lets the juveniles thrive in waters with low oxygen content where the risk of predators is negligible.
Easily adhering to a diet of bugs and small minnows and crustaceans, baby tarpon are able to subsist in some of the darkest, muddiest, least accessible and remote backwater creeks, ponds and ditches somehow linked to saltwater bays. Those juvies are also found often in boat basins and residential canals, and they’re even known to find their way into golf course lakes through culverts and drains.
“Some guys with tiny skiffs and Gheenoes will go way back into small creeks and ditches where the water looks stagnant and devoid of life in search of baby tarpon. Sometimes, these spots are cut off by low tides and you can only go in and out on high water,” says Capt. Rick Stanczyck, who regularly finds these fish in the Everglades.
Southwest Florida is renowned for offering small-boat anglers and paddlers countless opportunities to find juvenile tarpon throughout the labyrinth of mangrove creeks stretching from Flamingo up to Naples. Numerous roadside access points also offer impromptu shots at these bold babes right along U.S. 41 (aka Tamiami Trail).
Many young tarpon find residential canals and boat basins with some depth to their liking. (Photo by Alex Suescun) EXPANDED RANGE As the micro ’poons gain weight and inches, the ones sequestered in the narrower water ribbons start to venture outward into broader sections of their backwater realm, steadily progressing toward bigger waterbodies. Like their backcountry counterparts, the juveniles inhabiting larger mangrove creeks, coastal rivers, canals, marinas and turning basins will gradually move away from the protection of mangrove roots, docks and piers to chase more substantial forage and transition to open waters. Many will eventually adopt a migratory lifestyle, staging only temporarily in certain locations while embarking on lengthy seasonal journeys as adults.
Bridges, most of which offer a blend of sheltering structure and current that regularly funnels food, are ideal hangouts for the juvies. Those situated across a fairly deep channel tend to host greater numbers of young silver kings. It also helps if the locations constantly serve up pilchards, threadfin herring, finger mullet, shrimp and small crabs, or killifish, shiners and other faves in brackish or freshwater areas.
In northeast Florida waters, Holleman looks for the larger class of juvenile tarpon—the 20- to 30-pounders—at certain St. Johns River bridges where they usually congregate during shrimp runs.
Elsewhere, points and troughs of mangrove islands in large coastal bays attract their share of fish that will either cruise tight against the shorelines stealthily or meander across adjacent grass flats and channels, sometimes rolling lazily on the surface.
“They’ll always give themselves away, so pay attention and look for rolling fish and little swirls,” Holleman says. “Once you pattern them, you can usually go back in the same conditions on a particular tide stage and find them again.”
TIPS FOR TIGHT-QUARTERS In open-water habitats, even those with prominent structures such as bridges, casting is pretty much wide-open. But when pushing into canals, small creeks and ditches, you’ll often need to adjust your presentations.
Using shorter rods is the first step, as accuracy trumps distance when space constraints hinder casting and shoreline vegetation, mangrove roots and overhanging tree limbs—sometimes covered in vines and forming overhead canopies—set the ground rules.
Unless you’re fishing private property, for which you should gain permission ahead of time, it’s smart to carry a pair of gardening shears for trimming vegetation to create a casting lane in otherwise extremely tight quarters.
Weedy stuff and tall grasses are usually fair game for trimming and removal, but cutting mangroves is a big no-no with potentially costly consequences. Fines range from $100 to $250 for first-time offenders.
Whether the water is salty, fresh or brackish, small, backwater creeks connected to coastal bays often hold pods of juvenile tarpon. (Photo by Alex Suescun) MAKE YOUR POINT When the fish aren’t showing, fan-cast the area until you find them. Also, let water dynamics help you dial in the cast.
“Juvenile tarpon like to hang anywhere there’s a big eddy. They lay on the edge of that current, moving in and out [of the swifter water] to feed,” Burbach says. “When you see them rolling in that heavier current, you know you’re gonna crush ’em. But keep in mind that they can be very boat-shy. They tend to stay two casts away from the boat, so I like to let the current quietly push me to them.”
Whatever bait or lure you end up throwing, let the fish do the work for you. When you feel the take, smoothly raise the rod and maintain steady pressure. You’ll still lose some because that’s par for the course with tarpon, but you’ll lose ’em all if you use the eye-crossing hook set popular with bass anglers.
Tarpon have a bony mouth, so sharp hooks are always a must no matter the fish’s size. On the bite, always wait to come tight, then palm your reel’s spool and give the fish a couple of sharp tugs to sink the hook. Loop knots help by increasing the bait’s mobility and decreasing the tarpon’s hook-slinging potential.
Keep a hook sharpener handy and check points often, especially after a couple of hookups and around structure where occasional bumps can dull or roll a hook’s point.
KIDS’ MENU The right treats to tempt silver princes. One of the most appealing traits of baby tarpon is their willingness to bite a variety of baits and lures. When it comes to live bait, Capt. Rick Stanczyck says juvenile ’poons often grab live pilchards and shrimp intended for snook and redfish. He recommends fishing a live baitfish on a 2/0 circle hook like Owner’s Mutu (6-pack from $5.49; ownerhooks.com ) in warmer weather, and a shrimp tail-hooked on a lightweight jig head during the winter months.
Soft-plastic jerkbaits rigged on a lightly-weighted 3/0 or 4/0 wide-gap hook, like those in Owner’s Twistlock series (3-pack from $5.29), are also very effective. And pre-rigged swimbaits like the D.O.A. TerrorEyz ($4.89/3-pack; doalures.com ) and Z-Man Graph ShadZ ($6.99 for one rigged lure and a spare body; zmanfishing.com ) present profiles that perfectly fit a juvenile tarpon’s diet.
Holleman loves shallow-running lipped plugs like the 4 1/2-inch Bomber Wind Cheater ($10.49; lurenet.com ) for a variety of inshore fish, including baby tarpon. But he stresses the need to be patient and let the fish really “get” the bait because sticking a dangling treble takes a little more fortuitous alignment than a single, fixed hook.
Other productive artificials include shrimp imitations like a 3-inch LiveTarget Rigged Shrimp ($12.99/4-pack; livetargetlures.com ), paddle and curly tails like a 3- or 4-inch Berkley Gulp! Saltwater Swimming Mullet (from $6.99 per 10- or 11-pack; berkley-fishing.com ) fished on a 3/16- to 1/4-ounce jig head, as well as bucktails of similar weight.
Light- to medium-power spinning and baitcasting gear is ideal for baby tarpon, but Capt. Rick Grassett often targets them on the fly in Sarasota Bay and Charlotte Harbor with an 8- or 9-weight rod and a reel with an adequate drag for fish in the 10- to 20-pound class.
“I tend to fish deeper water for that size of fish, using a clear, intermediate sink-tip line and scaled-down versions of Tarpon Bunny flies or Deceivers, usually tied on a 1/0 hook. I prefer flies with rabbit fur or marabou because I can strip them slowly into deeper strike zones and they still maintain their attractive action,” says Grasset, adding that white is his top choice in off-color water, although sometimes dark flies will work in that situation, too.
This article was featured in the May 2025 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe
