Tarpon show up off Galveston when the water warms, and they are the hardest-pulling fish anyone on this boat is likely to hook. Nearshore trips run 5 to 15 miles out, from High Island down to San Luis Pass, chasing bait and looking for rolling fish.
Replies within the hour. The captain answers his own phone.
Tarpon are a temperature fish. They push into the Galveston beach front once the Gulf climbs past about 68 degrees and they leave when it drops back.
That makes tarpon the least schedulable fish on this calendar and the most rewarding one to be there for. The captain works a stretch of beach front from High Island down to San Luis Pass, reading bait pods, current lines, and the birds working over them. When fish are rolling, the boat sets up on them.
This is heavy-tackle fishing. Big baits, strong drags, and a fight that runs long and ends with a fish that jumps. Anyone who has hooked one understands why people book the trip again the same week.
Tarpon here are handled as a catch-and-release fishery. Fish are kept in the water where possible, photographed quickly, and revived alongside the boat before release. Texas rules on tarpon are specific and the captain confirms the current regulations at booking.
The nearshore season runs May 1 through October 31 and the beach front fishes best once the Gulf is at 68 degrees or warmer. Early May and late October sit on the edge of that.
Nearshore trips run morning or 1 PM. As the water warms through the day the beach front can turn on, which is why the afternoon departure is often the right call for tarpon specifically.
Some days the fish are on the beach in numbers and some days they are not there at all. The same trip puts you on sharks, kingfish, ling, and bull redfish, so the day is not wasted when the tarpon do not show.
Tarpon are targeted on the standard nearshore runs. Tell the captain when you book that tarpon is the priority and he will plan the run line around it.
Sharks, tarpon, ling, kingfish, and big bull redfish along the beach front. The captain calls the run line on the wind and the bait.
Same beach-front fishery on the later departure. Often the stronger window for tarpon as the water warms through the day.
Two months of fall beach-front fishing with longer hours. Built around the fall bite when bull reds school and kingfish push through the bait.
The nearshore season runs May 1 through October 31, and tarpon fishing is best in the warmer middle of that window once the Gulf holds at 68 degrees or above.
Tarpon are handled as a catch-and-release fishery on this boat. Texas regulations on tarpon are specific and the captain confirms the current rules when you book.
Between 5 and 15 miles, along the beach front from High Island down to San Luis Pass. It is a short run compared with the federal offshore trips.
The same water holds sharks, kingfish, ling, and bull redfish through the same months. The captain fishes what is there rather than burning the day on an empty beach.
Heavy rods and Shimano reels with big baits, all provided. Tarpon put more strain on gear than anything else caught this close in.
Same boat, same captain, different water. Every trip below runs off the same dock at Slip C7.
Nearshore trips are $1,200 all-in for up to six anglers. Tell the captain tarpon is the priority and he will plan the run around it.