Avoiding shark attacks on your tarpon means shortening the fight with good technique and heavy tackle, breaking fish off at the leader, and moving spots when the sharks zero in, because in the Florida Keys big hammerheads and bull sharks key on hooked tarpon. In this How 2 Tuesday I break down five things you can do to keep sharks off your tarpon during the Keys migration. This has been one of the worst years for shark attacks I have seen. Attacks can happen anywhere at any depth, but they cluster in high-traffic spots like Key West Harbor and the bridges, so the goal is to land fish fast and not feed the sharks.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
You shorten the fight and limit the window a shark has to find your fish. Use good technique and heavy enough tackle to put real pressure on the tarpon, brief your anglers that a caught fish is one whose leader reaches the rod tip and then break it off there, keep the boat between the tarpon and any shark you see coming, have a camera ready for the jump shot, and move spots when the sharks dial in. The goal is to land fish fast and not turn a hooked tarpon into an easy meal for a hammerhead or bull shark.
Attacks can happen anywhere, at any time, in any depth of water, but they cluster in high-traffic areas where tarpon stack up like a magnet. In the Florida Keys that means Key West Harbor and the bridges, Long Key, Seven Mile, Channel Five, Channel Two, and similar spots. You can get a fish eaten in a backcountry channel or a basin too, it just does not happen as often. Because I fish the Keys, that is where my advice applies, but the principle of avoiding the busiest shark zones travels.
Because the dangerous part of the fight is often the last stretch. The leader can reach the rod tip in three minutes, but getting an inexperienced angler to bring the fish boatside for a photo can take another hour, and that extra hour is when sharks move in. If you brief anglers that a caught fish is one whose leader touches the rod tip and you break it off there, you skip the long, vulnerable endgame, avoid a ton of shark attacks, and the fish is officially caught.
Heavier tackle lets you put more real pressure on the fish and end the fight sooner, which is the whole game. Many beginners feel like they are pulling hard when a deeply bent rod is actually leverage working against them, applying very little poundage to the fish. Learning the angle of pull, including practicing off the water against a scale, lets you straighten the rod and apply serious pressure. The faster you land or break off the tarpon, the less time a shark has to find it.
Move to another spot. If you have had close encounters or a fish eaten, and boats around you are getting fish eaten every time someone hooks up, that is your signal. It is a hard call because the sharks are usually thickest when the tarpon are biting best, but if every hookup draws a shark, you are just feeding them. Having the discipline to leave is the right move for the fish. The tarpon is a valuable animal, and the point is not to turn it into shark food.
Get the jump shot instead of the boatside shot. A picture of a tarpon in the air is a better trophy than an awkward boatside photo that rarely turns out anyway. If you are busy on the throttle and wheel at a bridge, brief your other anglers to grab a phone and shoot when someone hooks up. Better yet, run a GoPro forward and back all day like the offshore guys do, then pull the clips of caught fish afterward. Your clients will be grateful, and the fish never has to wait boatside.
One of the biggest things I push, especially for newer anglers, is the angle of pull. When you have a huge bend in the rod and feel like you are killing yourself, that leverage is on you, not the fish, and you are applying almost no poundage to the other end of the line. Straighten the rod, learn to pull correctly, and you put real pressure on the tarpon and shorten the fight. You can even practice it off the water with a scale. I show how I think about it in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The single tip that prevents the most shark attacks is redefining when a fish is caught. The leader can hit the rod tip in three minutes, but dragging an exhausted fish to the boat for a photo can take an hour, and that hour is when the sharks show up. So I brief anglers up front: leader to the rod tip is a caught fish, and we break it off there. They are fine with it, and we avoid a tremendous number of attacks. I walk through how I set that expectation in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Here are the five things I do to keep sharks off my tarpon during the Florida Keys migration.
I unpack each of these with the details and stories in the episode. Press play in the player above.
The morning after recording this, what sits with me is the respect these fish deserve. Watching a thirteen-foot hammerhead eat a 120-pound tarpon is an experience of a lifetime, but it is not what we are out there to do.
The tarpon is a valuable animal, and we do not want to keep feeding sharks. Work on your technique, use heavier tackle, keep a camera ready, break fish off at the leader, and when the sharks get bad, go somewhere else. Do those five things and you will land more fish, lose fewer to sharks, and treat the migration with the care it deserves.
How 2 Tuesday is my weekly series where I break down one fishing skill at a time, from knots and casting to gear, tactics, and the habits that make you a better angler. Watch and listen to every How 2 Tuesday episode from Tom Rowland.
tarpon · hammerhead shark · bull shark · Key West Harbor · Long Key Bridge · Seven Mile Bridge · Channel Five · Channel Two · Black Rifle Coffee · Florida Keys · fly fishing · How 2 Tuesday · Saltwater Experience
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's How 2 Tuesday series I break down one practical skill or lesson at a time, from fishing technique and gear to the habits that make you a better angler, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
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