Tarpon fishing
in Boca Grande.
Boca Grande Pass doesn't need an introduction. It's where the Silver King was made famous, where world records get set, and where the spring migration stages before it pushes north. The pass plunges past 70 feet and funnels the entire Gulf Coast migration through a mile-wide inlet every May and June. Every tarpon angler should fish it at least once.
Tarpon fishing in Boca Grande, Florida is the most concentrated tarpon fishery on Earth — a mile-wide pass with depths past 70 feet that funnels the Gulf Coast migration through a single inlet every May and June. Fly anglers work the edges of the pass and Johnson Shoals on the flats; conventional anglers drift pass crabs through the deep. Tarpon routinely run 100–180 pounds. RescueFly Charters runs fly and light-tackle trips to Boca Grande from our Pine Island home port.
Updated April 2026 · Captain Stuart Behrens
Tarpon on the fly.
Boca Grande has two fisheries. In the deep pass, conventional anglers drift live pass crabs through 40-to-70 feet of water on the outgoing "Hill Tides" — that's the historical approach and it still produces. For fly anglers, the edges matter more: Johnson Shoals on the north end, the white-sand shallows along Gasparilla Island, and the nearshore beaches where rolling pods work in 8-to-15 feet of gin-clear water. A 10- or 11-weight, a Toad or Black Death, and the right lead.
Why Boca Grande for tarpon?
There is nowhere else in the world where this many tarpon transit this narrow a piece of water this predictably. The bathymetry of Boca Grande Pass — the depth, the current, the structure of the hole — concentrates the migration in a way that simply doesn't happen anywhere else on the Gulf Coast. May and June in the Pass is the single most reliable shot at a 150-pound tarpon you'll ever find.
Tarpon are a catch-and-release fishery in Florida. A $50 tarpon tag is required only if you intend to take a fish from the water, which we never do.
Current rules: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission →
About tarpon fishing in Boca Grande.
- When is the best time to tarpon fish in Boca Grande?
- May and June. Period. The first few days of May see the push, and it peaks mid-May through early June. Late April has early arrivals if you want less boat traffic. July still has fish, scattered and less predictable but far quieter.
- Can you fly fish for tarpon in Boca Grande Pass?
- Yes — but not typically by drifting through the middle of the fleet. We fly-fish the edges: Johnson Shoals, the nearshore beaches, and the white-sand shallows along Gasparilla's Gulf side. Those are world-class fly shots, and they're away from the pass-fleet chaos.
- What's a "Hill Tide" at Boca Grande?
- An extra-strong outgoing tide — the kind driven by a new or full moon combined with seasonal ranges. The Hill Tides of May and June flush the pass hard, concentrate pass crabs in the outflow, and stack tarpon in the deep hole to eat them. Historically the most productive drift window in the pass.
Other species we chase in Boca Grande.
Chase tarpon at these locations too.
Ready to chase tarpon in Boca Grande?
Limited dates each season. Reach out to lock in your charter.