Fishing with Capt. George Tunison | Around dawn might now be best time to try to catch a tarpon
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If your schedule only permits tarpon hunting during the oven-hot daylight hours or you don't like the shear excitement of challenging a silver king at night, then pull out your trusty binoculars and scan the Gulf for rolling fish starting a mile or so off the coast right after dawn. You shouldn't be arriving to your chosen hunting grounds around dawn, rather you should already be on station organized, quiet and ready to scan for fish for best results.
I've had multiple reports of these fish rolling off the coast but I'm also been informed it's a small bite window shutting down rather quickly after the sun gets up.
An alternative is to stay inshore and work the deep holes in Charlotte Harbor with a combo approach floating a pair of ladies off the stern while casting ahead with a variety of soft plastics. Mix it up using smaller lures like DOA Baitbusters; modified nose-rigged, single circle hook MirrOlures; and smaller Hogy or NLBN paddle tails. Other rods should be rigged with large Hogy eels and large Hogy paddle tails. These larger baits represent full size ladyfish prevalent in the harbor each summer. Just for fun, toss out a DOA Baitbuster a couple feet under a float. Just leave it alone in a rod holder and let the waves and current impart subtle action to the lure while you fish other methods. Another overlooked lure is DOA's swimming mullet reeled straight in with no action given to the lure.
While moving slowly along with the electric set on low, keep the live bait rods in the back of the boat in rod holders and resist the temptation to fool with them or add extra action. Let the bait do its thing naturally and don't touch the rod, even if you see line jumping, rod tips jerking or even your ladyfish being chased into the air. Only pick up the rod after it's bent over and the drag is screaming otherwise you probably will not get a good hook-up which equals wasted time and money.
Large dead baits can also be fished on bottom for these deep-hole tarpon, but be prepared to spend your time fighting harbor sharks instead.
The Burnt Store Bar from the marina down to Two Pines is always worth an early morning look.
If you're like me, you'll be on the night shift with cooler nights and few other boats to bother you. I'm definitely a bridge jockey this time of year. Use a two-pronged attack which means pick an outgoing tide and anchor up on the east side of the Cape or Midpoint bridges and drift live ladyfish back to the shadow line and another as far in and around the pilings as you dare. I'm already set up and fishing as the tide starts to go out.
When fishing two rods out the back of the boat invariably the two floats come together and often tangle as the water funnels through the pilings. A few years back I started experimenting with homemade PVC outriggers sticking out 8 feet on either side of the hull with offshore grade line releases on the ends which helps keep the floats apart and doesn't seem to bother the hook-up ratio at all. You can even add a third line in the middle over the motor.
When the tide really starts to move, so do I. Now I relocate to the down current or west side of the bridges just like the fish have. Instead of fighting the strong current flow they will often position in the semi-slack water behind the pilings to save energy then jump out to nail passing opportunities.
Now you should be throwing your soft plastic swimbaits up tide, past the outer pilings into the darkness under the bridge and swimming them back at different depths and speeds very close to the pilings.
Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. You can contact him at 239-579-0461 or via email at captgeorget3@aol.com.