Tarpon have arrived in South Carolina - June 2013

Tarpon have finally begun to show up along the beaches and estuaries in South Carolina, and more and more reports of tarpon sightings are circulating daily as we near the end of June. I was fortunate enough to take advantage of perfect tides and weather this past weekend to run the beaches south of Myrtle Beach in search of our old friends. Locating large masses of bait is the key to finding tarpon early in the season and once we did, my crew was rewarded with not one, but two tarpon that we successfully released. Both tarpon were in the 80 lb class, and after a series of incredible jumps and brief 15 min fight, we were able to bring each tarpon boatside for a couple of pictures and quickly released. We experienced one more tarpon bite not long after releasing the 2nd fish, however the 100lb + tarpon threw the hook(and our last bait) on the first jump.  With satisfied egos and a successful first trip of the season under our belts, we headed back to the hill just in time for lunch.

Congrats to Barry Bynum of Myrtle Beach SC, who caught his first South Carolina tarpon this past weekend:

Tarpon typically begin to arrive in South Carolina in June as they migrate up the Eastern Seaboard to feed on the mass amounts of bait fish including mullet and menhaden. Many of the migrating tarpon will continue up the coast to North Carolina and Virgina, but many will take up temporary residence in South Carolina until mullet begin migrating back south to warmer waters in early October. So far, it's been a great start to tarpon season here in South Carolina and I am anticipating the next few months to be one of the best we've had in years. 

Anglers should take notice of a new law that recently went in place which prohibits the possession on tarpon less than 77in. The new law is intended to prevent the unnecessary killing of tarpon in South Carolina, unless the fish is a potential state record which currently 156lbs. This is a huge victory for tarpon conservation, not only in the state of South Carolina but will also begin to put pressure on other states to reevaluate their laws concerning tarpon.

Feel free to contact me with any questions about tarpon fishing in the Myrtle Beach area.

Capt. Jordan Pate