Fishing Tips: The New Moon Presents Good Opportunities for Tarpon & Snook - 7/25/2009

Captain's Corner: New moon presents good opportunities for tarpon, snook

What's hot: The new moon that falls on May 24 will be the start of four days of extremely strong out-going tides. The tides fall during the afternoon and flush bait through the passes. Tarpon and snook will feed on the baitfish and crabs that hang in the weed lines. The tarpon will feed closest to the weeds while the snook like to stay closer to shore. The action normally starts a few hours past the high tide.

Baits: The tarpon will feed mostly on pass crabs and blue crabs. It's best to start upcurrent of the area that has tarpon rolling on the surface. Drift your baits free-lined through the fish. Once you have drifted past the tarpon, move to the outside of the fish, return to the upcurrent area and drift again. The snook will feed on crabs, threadfins, scaled sardines and pinfish. My choice is a large pinfish free-lined in the swash closest to shore. The problem with sardines and threads is they like to swim on the surface when they get close to the snook. The birds will dive on your bait before the snook can get it.

Doug Hemmer charters out of St. Petersburg and can be reached at (727) 347-1389.