tight lines: lowcountry fishing
Tangling with tarpon? Better hold on tight...
Matt Winter
Pete Rouse
Angler Steve Michaels (left) and Capt. Darryl Geriner with a huge tarpon caught and released July 12 off Cape Romain. Geriner credited Capt. J.R. Waits of Fish Call Charters for helping plan the successful strategy to land the 7-foot-long fish.
When it comes to “silver kings,” Florida may have the numbers, but South Carolina’s got the size.
Every summer, untold numbers of monster tarpon follow mullet and menhaden north into the Lowcountry’s coastal waters. The ones that make it this far north tend to be bruisers, true trophy-caliber fish that can tip the scales at 150 pounds or more.
Most experienced anglers who target these world-class gamefish know it’s a challenge to locate, hook and land a tarpon in Lowcountry waters. But every year, plenty do just that, and earn serious bragging rights in the process.
And if you do manage to hook up? Get ready. These silver freight trains can peel off a few hundred yards of line in less than a minute and take you on a wild chase over miles of water.
Capt. John Ward of Affinity Charters is one of many Lowcountry anglers who love to tangle with tarpon in the heat of summer. Ward has led clients to dozens of tarpon hook-ups and brought five to the boat each season for the past seven years.
Ward shared some professional tarpon tips at a recent seminar at Haddrell’s Point Tackle and Supply in West Ashley:
Where to look
By and large, Lowcountry tarpon fishing is an inlet game. And not surprisingly, most of Ward’s “tarpon” trips involve catching mostly redfish and sharks, with the occasional silver king mixed in.
“When the tide’s moving, all those inlets turn into a seafood buffet line,” Ward said.
Tarpon, Ward points out, are like giant vacuum cleaners, inhaling almost anything the tides flush out of inshore waterways: mullet, menhaden, crabs, whiting, croaker and even ladyfish. They take advantage of this summertime smorgasbord by hanging around almost every inlet along our coast, including well known spots such as Deveaux Bank south of Charleston and Bull’s Bay to the north.
Ward often concentrates his efforts at inlets closer to Charleston, namely Stono, Capers and Dewees. And, of course, there’s also Charleston Harbor. Ward has landed many of his tarpon at spots near the jetties, including Dynamite Hole, The Grillage and the rocks off Morris Island.
Once he’s settled on a general area, Ward searches for gullies, sandbars, tidal rips, tidelines — anything that can hold plenty of bait. For example, he’s often hooked tarpon at spots in Stono Inlet where the depth plunges from 8 feet to more than 20. Inlet channels at Dewees and Capers island also produce tarpon, along with the usual assortment of sharks and spot-tailed bass.
“Weeding through big redfish is always a good problem to have,” Ward said.
During an incoming tide at any of these inlets, Ward likes to fish directly behind sandbars nearest the ocean, often casting his baits just behind the breaking waves.
On an outgoing tide, Ward concentrates on areas where the tide — and baitfish — are funneled between sandbars.
Dead low tide is a good time to fish deeper spots such as Dynamite Hole at the jetties. Ward thinks that once the current shuts down, tarpon often go on the move, actively hunting for food settling in deeper holes.
“Typically, slack tide means slack fishing, but that’s not necessarily the case with tarpon,” Ward said.
Ward also looks for opportunities to fish the tideline. On more than one occasion, he’s endured long spats of slow fishing that ended abruptly when the tideline reached his boat.
“It was like someone flipped on a switch,” he said.
When to go
Though tarpon can be caught earlier, the peak Lowcountry season runs from mid-July well into October, Ward said.
Last year, Ward and other charter captains took advantage of a strong tarpon bite in October, when the annual southward migration of mullet swept by Charleston. It was, Ward said, “the most tarpon I’ve ever seen, and most of those were in Stono Inlet.”
Tarpon tactics
When fishing inlets for tarpon, bull redfish and sharks, Ward typically uses five rods: two with bottom rigs, two with heavy-duty float rigs at staggered distances behind the boat, and one with a free-lined bait near the boat.
Though tarpon will pick up dead or cut bait, Ward prefers big, live mullet or menhaden. Fresh-caught fish such as whiting, ladyfish and bluefish also will entice a bite. Live croaker seem to do especially well, perhaps because their grunts attract attention, Ward said.
No matter the species, live baits offer a much more natural presentation. Cut baits also attract more sharks, which can wreak havoc on expensive hooks and leaders.
For this reason, Ward also avoids chumming when targeting tarpon.
“We’ve got enough sharks here,” he said.
Gearing up
Ward typically uses medium-action livebait rods with limber tips that help dampen the effects of current and wave action on delicate live baits.
He recommends using either heavier spinning reels or conventional setups such as Shimano TLD 15s, with drags set at 4 to 6 pounds. He spools his reels with 20-pound monofilament line. Using stretchier mono instead of braided line helps withstand the blistering runs and acrobatics of a 150-pound class fish, he said.
Terminal tackle typically includes 60-poundtest flourocarbon leader. Any leader more than 80-pound-test is overkill, Ward said, and can weigh down live baits that would otherwise swim naturally. Leader length can run up to about 6 feet, depending on whether it’s used in a bottom rig or attached to a float.
Ward uses circle hooks exclusively, and he recommends investing in the higher-quality, more expensive varieties. “You don’t want to lose that once-in-a-lifetime trophy fish by straightening out a hook,” Ward warned.
Hook sizes depend somewhat on the size of baits used, but 10-oughts are preferred.
When fishing bottom rigs, Ward takes care that any weights attached to the line or leader won’t give a tarpon leverage it can use to throw a hook during spectacular jumps. He recommends using a break-away setup (such as rubber-banding a sinker to the line) or simply adding the weight below the mainline swivel on fish-finder bottom rigs. This ensures that if you hook a tarpon, the weight will slide close to the fish’s mouth during the fight, where it won’t swing wildly when the fish jumps.
The fight of your life
When a 150-pound tarpon picks up a bait, the first reaction may be to jump for the rod. But many accomplished charter captains, including Ward, preach patience in this moment of truth. As hard as it may be, you should leave the rod in the rod holder until you’re sure there’s a solid hook-set.
“We do so much better with rod-holder fishing,” Ward said. “I usually don’t like to pick up a rod until I see him jump at least once.
“Let the circle hooks do their job. Tarpon have extrememly tough mouths, almost armor-plated.”
Once you’re sure the fish is hooked well, be ready to move.
“They can dump a reel,” Ward said. “A big fish will pull 400 yards off a reel in a minute or two.”
For this reason, many boat captains keep a fender or buoy lashed to their anchor line. If a big fish starts peeling off line, simply uncleat the anchor line, toss it and the buoy overboard for retrieval after the fish is landed.
It’s a technique that has served Ward well. Last year, while fishing near the rock jetty on Morris Island, he and a client hooked into a massive, 150- to 170-pound tarpon. The fish immediately peeled off 300 yards of line, forcing Ward and his lady angler to chase the fish down. The 7-foot-long tarpon took them on a three-hour ride out into the shipping channel, then back inshore near Dynamite Hole.
When they finally got the fish to the boat, Ward and his understandably exhausted client removed the hook and spent the next 30 minutes reviving the fish for release.
Handle with care
Though some anglers lip-gaff tarpon, this process does wound the fish. You can usually control a tired tarpon by simply gripping its bottom lip with a gloved hand.
Anglers can keep one tarpon per day in South Carolina, but most simply release these impressive fish after a quick photograph. And though in-the-boat photos are common, this procedure can harm the fish, not to mention people on board. The best bet may be to simply take photos of the fish once it’s brought under control at boatside.
Tideline Editor Matt Winter can be reached at 843-937-5568 or matt@tidelinemagazine.com. To book a charter with Capt. Ward, call 843-693-2460 or e-mail funfishing@knology.net.
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