Garret Armstrong from Duel Game Calls travels north to bowhunt spring gobblers in Canada.
Arm yourself with big baits—and knowledge of fall travel patterns—to get the drop on The Silver King.
Long after the traditional spring tarpon madness has melted away into August’s scorching mornings and soggy afternoons, a lesser-known, but highly anticipated event unfolds beginning in mid to late September. The fall tarpon migration can be less predictable than the spring’s northward spawning movement, but is generally only disrupted by a heavy tropical weather system.
This southward, fall migration is precisely timed with movement of mature baitfish that form massive schools following the shallow contours of coastal beaches. Here along Western Florida, the baitfish migration is comprised of threadfin herring; scaled sardines, menhaden and anchovies all can be found within a few hundred yards of the surf. This biomass not only attracts gorging tarpon, but also a gang of false albacore, both Spanish and king mackerel, and schools of blacktip and spinner sharks.
This massive movement of forage produces some of the most-exciting angling action of the year— although the event can end just as quickly as it began. Unlike the spring migration and spawning courtship behavior, these fish are purely interested in packing on the calories and covering ground. Unlike the famed and heavily pressured East Coast fall mullet run, there is relatively light angling pressure following these western fish.
WHERE TO LOOK AND WHY
One of the most-challenging aspects to tarpon fishing is finding the fish. Rarely will an angler be lucky enough to stumble into a school of tarpon without some understanding of their behavior and seasonal preferences. Using these tips as a guide will help you quickly identify key areas where tarpon will concentrate during the fall run.
COASTAL PATTERNS
There are a few quick ways to dramatically narrow down your hunt for coastal tarpon. Taking a look at a detailed nautical chart will get you started in the right direction. I begin by searching for fish and bait schools near inlets and passes.
On the flood tides, tarpon will often roam within a few hundred yards to a mile within the inlet along the beach. The heavy ocean current will concentrate coastal baitfish into dense schools, which the tarpon will feed on aggressively.
These natural highways create a variety of geographic and biologic attractions that will collect and hold passing tarpon. Inlets experience dramatic movements of nutrients and bait throughout the tide cycle. On ebb tides, large flushes of crustaceans are feasted upon by a variety of species in and around the inlet, and attract predators including sharks and tarpon. During this tide phase, tarpon will commonly hold inside of the inlet while feeding.
Oversized Hogy Jigging Soft Baits are perfect for targeting tarpon at night along coastal bridges.
On the flood tides, tarpon will often roam within a few hundred yards to a mile within the inlet along the beach. The heavy ocean current will concentrate coastal baitfish into dense schools, which the tarpon will feed on aggressively. It’s easiest to locate these schools by eyesight; obvious signs are dark blotches of baitfish schools, diving birds or surface feeding activity.
RIVER PATTERNS
Coastal rivers are an extension of inlets and passes, but can require an entirely different approach to fish effectively. There are many river systems in Central and South Florida that harbor large residential populations of tarpon. The most productive rivers will offer deep-water refuge that adolescent and adult tarpon will use as holdover areas during the cooler winter months. Starting in September over the course of several weeks, fish begin migrating back up the river systems from nearby bays, inlets and beaches. During this movement they will often stop for several days to feed and wait out the first cold fronts of late fall.
I begin searching for these fish near the deepest spots in the lower portion of the river. These can be natural holes in the 15- to 30-foot range. Tarpon prefer to stage around deep water sanctuaries and venture into the shallows for short periods to feed. Deep water bridges along the main river also serve as feeding and resting stations during the fall. Begin your search near bridges closest to the coast, working your way up river as the fall progresses and water temps begin to drop.
PROVEN ANGLING METHODS
Tarpon will readily take a variety of well-presented live, dead and artificial baits. Commonly, anglers will cast-net live mullet, ladyfish or threadfin herring for live bait presentations. During the fall season, most baitfish have reached fully mature size and tarpon will key in on these larger profiles.
Presenting Live Baits
Artificial lures that are able to imitate this large forage can produce excellent results. I prefer to throw oversized Hogy Lures Soft Baits in the 7- to 10-inch range. These lures can be rigged as a topwater presentation when fish are visibly feeding on the surface, or rigged weighted with jig heads when fish are holding in the mid and lower water column.
Strong, sharp hooks such as the Hogy Barbarian Jig Head are necessary for landing large tarpon.
Presenting Soft Baits
Live baits are the most common way to target tarpon, but they’re not your only option! Large Hogy Soft Baits are a dependable artificial option. Large soft baits can easily be rigged to suit a variety of scenarios. While extremely effective along flats and shallow beaches, these large soft baits work great near deep-water channels, bridges and passes. I prefer to use an unweighted circle hook when targeting fish feeding near the surface. When weight is needed to reach suspended fish or those holding bottom in deep water, I like Barbarian Jig Heads paired with oversized UV Eel and Paddle Tail Swim Baits. Both are effective jig options for tarpon.
GEAR LIST
8-foot heavy-action Sewell Swim Bait Rod
50- to 80-pound Seaguar Fluorocarbon Leader
HuntStand’s Josh Dahlke travels to the Nebraska Sandhills in search of his first mule deer.
[The Chronicles – Season 1, Episode 1]
Brian Stephens has been longing to kill a big black bear with his bow. Finally, his chance arrives when he visits Northern Alberta Outfitters and doubles down on Alberta bruins.
ScoutLook has partnered with Nikon to offer a riflescope giveaway on the ScoutLook Facebook page. All you need to do is click here, view a Facebook post and watch a video to learn more about the prize package. After you watch the video, “Like” the post for your chance to win. One random winner will be selected and notified via Facebook message on Sunday, November 1, 2015!
“Nikon Prostaff 5 Riflescope Giveaway” Sweepstakes Official Rules
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GRAND PRIZE (1): Nikon Prostaff 5 4.5-18X40mm riflescope with custom XR turret
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Looking for double-digit redfish day? Whether you use flies, lures or bait, October is the month to score big.
As the trees begin to turn colors up north, a cherished color change erupts throughout the southern Atlantic and Gulf States. We’ve had several months of high water temps, daily rains and high humidity, making daytime fishing less than comfortable for anglers and fish alike. As September begins to wind down and temps slowly drop, we enter one of the most productive fishing periods of the year. Between September and November, small pods of redfish begin to congregate into large schools with an even bigger appetite. This can be one of the most productive times to catch double-digit numbers of reds on flies, lures, and bait. Let’s cover some techniques for all three approaches.
TOP LURE CHOICES
My favorite two ways to target these schooling fish are with spook-style topwater plugs and fluke-style soft baits. Between the two lures, you can cover the water top to bottom.
Topwaters
Early in the morning, I’ll start out walking the dog with a spook over shallow grass flats, paying attention for any fish pushing wakes along the grass. Classics like the Heddon Spook Jr. offer a reliable, subtle side-to-side darting action that is plain fun to fish. Watching a large redfish target, track, and attack a topwater plug may be one of the most-exciting ways to catch the species.
Softbaits
It’s hard to find a lure more versatile than soft baits for targeting redfish. They can be rigged in countless ways and specialized for just about any situation. I’ll normally use two simple rigging methods for fishing soft baits. My favorite soft bait for redfish is the Hogy 6-inch Skinny Series. This slim-profiled soft bait offers a great balance of erratic tail action with a large enough profile to get noticed in a variety of conditions. It can easily be rigged on jig heads and swim bait hooks as well.
Jigheads are ideal for many situations. They work best in open water, near rocks, oysters, and mangrove shorelines. A forward-weighted soft bait can offer increased casting distance and allows for a faster sink rate when targeting fish in deeper water. The exposed hook rarely misses a hook set, but they do not do very well in thick grass or weeds and will become fouled quickly.
Father-and-son anglers enjoy a daybreak redfish double-header in Matlacha, Florida.
Weedless-rigged swim bait hooks are best suited for when redfish are cruising or tailing along shallow grass flats. Weedless rigging will allow you to reliably present your soft bait in heavy cover without fouling the hook. These hooks allow a similar “walk the dog” action that kicks and darts just a few inches below the surface.
RUNNING THE TIDES
Most experienced redfish anglers prefer to scout and fish on a low tide. On calm days, fish will often be visible “tailing” in very shallow water. These fish are rooting along in the grass searching for shrimp, crabs, and small bait fish. They can be quite spooky, so a stealthy approach may be necessary to get into casting distance. My recommendation is to throw on a good pair of wading shoes, anchor the boat and jump onto the flat to stalk. These rooting fish generally respond best to small soft baits or flies laid close to their head. Often, these fish may be oblivious to your offering until they move along feeding. Use a light shaking of the rod tip to quiver your bait without moving it very far. This should get their attention and draw a strike. If they ignore a subtle presentation, try working the spook over their head and draw a reaction strike.
Wade-fishing on low tide allows anglers to sneak up on tailing redfish.
Pot holes and prop scars will serve as highways and holding areas along shallow flats during low tide. Early in the morning, fish may be lying motionless in the holes. I try to fire out a quick cast or two into every hole and scar with a small swim bait, quickly covering ground as I go. Turn and burn until you locate a concentration of fish.
LIVE BAIT
It’s hard to beat the real thing when fishing gets tough. Live and fresh cut bait can produce impressive numbers of fish, even in less-than-ideal conditions. Fresh bait can be a great way to introduce inexperienced anglers to the sport. Fishing with bait can be as simple or as complicated as you choose to make it. Here are a few of my favorite ways to fish live bait for fall reds.
Pilchards (Scaled Sardines)
I try to find pilchards in the three- to four-inch range for live chumming and pitching to schooling reds. I prefer to use them on high tide phases when fish will push deep into mangrove shorelines and may need a little encouragement to pop out and grab a bite.
Pinfish And Croaker
My favorite way to use these larger baits is chunking them into cut bait. Time and time again, I’ve seen very finicky fish have a hard time refusing a well-placed chunk of pinfish soaking along a large grass flat or mangrove shoreline. These baits will need to be fished with patience. Simply lob your bait into an area where reds have been schooling and let it soak. While not glamorous or really that difficult, this method can produce when all others won’t. Many anglers will deploy the maximum legal number of rods per angler and offer 360-degree coverage with chunk baits. I’ll rig these baits with small ¼-oz jig heads or circle hooks, and monitor the lines and rod tips for any activity. Once a bite is detected, feather out a short distance of line while the bait is eaten before setting the hook.
J. Alain Smith from Rugged Expeditions hunts for a musk ox in the wilderness of Greenland.
HuntStand is a proud sponsor of The Harvest—a compelling series of short films from a talented group of hardcore hunters. The Harvest team uses HuntStand as an integral part of their bowhunting strategy. In this new video, join Andy Yost as he travels to North Dakota in search of a velvet buck. It’s a stunning hunt with a surprising ending.
Fellow hunters, we just released another update of the ScoutLook Hunting app for both Android and iOS users. Click here to get it now. We’ve listened carefully to all your feedback during the past month; the result is a proactive response and a “get ‘er done” attitude—because that’s how we roll at ScoutLook. Every single comment, negative or positive, is listened to and considered. We work tirelessly to ensure we’re pleasing the hundreds of thousands of hunters who rely on our service. That means you.
FEATURES IN THE NEW UPDATE
1. New ScoutMap: The resolution (zoom level) is more detailed and the imagery is more recently updated on our ScoutMap.
2. Enhanced Map Interactivity: You can now interact with the map (zoom in and out, move around) when the weather details card or ScentCone card is displayed. It was static when we first launched the new ScoutLook system, and that was a stupid mistake.
3. Better Map Card Designs: The design of the weather details card and ScentCone card have both been updated to make them easier to use. The ScentCone card now allows you to toggle hour by hour or use a dropdown menu to select a future day and time to view the wind forecast.
4. Squashed Bugs: On our end, in our dungeon of development, digital technology can be more overwhelming than a zombie bug apocalypse. We’re constantly working to kill zombie bugs. We identified some of these nasties from the previous release and dropped them dead in their tracks. No blood trails, just clean kills. As we find more, they will also be killed quickly.
Remember to check Google Play or iTunes regularly to make sure you have the latest app updates from ScoutLook. And please, keep the feedback coming. If you’re happy with what you see, we’d greatly appreciate if you’d post a positive review of the app in Google Play or iTunes. Happy hunting, and remember: Don’t forget to check your ScentCone before you head to your stand!
[THE HUNGER – Season 1, Episode 1]
Josh Dahlke drew an early season rifle tag to hunt whitetails at Winnebago Indian Reservation. Join him on this DIY adventure as he overcomes obstacles and attempts to fill three tags in 5 days. You won’t believe how it ends on the last night of the hunt, when Dahlke finally encounters a buck. Plus, this first episode introduces Mitch Kezar and his wild kitchen with a smokin’ venison recipe.
#theHUNGER