Cocoa Beach Tarpon Fishing

The tarpon is a giant among saltwater game fish. Although it is not the largest game fish an angler can catch and release, it’s known as “the silver king” throughout the warm lagoons, estuaries, and saltwater flats of the Space Coast. The "Megalops Atlanticus" is astonishingly powerful and is famous among anglers as the mythological silver beast that can walk on water. Tarpon, once hooked, are known for jumping and thrashing about, their tails skitting across the flat.

Simply hooking a tarpon can be an experience in itself. The tarpon’s mouth is extremely hard and has been likened to tough construction-grade concrete. Subsequently, successful hook sets are almost more challenging than actually getting an aggressive tarpon to take a well-presented bait. . When a tarpon finally chomps on your bait, and the hook is set, the fish will put on an impressive aerial acrobatics show. Seasoned tarpon anglers, when trading notes on a day’s work, will often proudly include the number of “fish jumped” as well as the number of fish landed.