Sebastian River Silver

by John Kumiski

You've heard the stories about the tarpon in the Sebastian River. They're there all year, and get to be fifty pounds. You can catch them with light tackle. They're easy.

The truth is, tarpon do live in Sebastian River all year long. While they do not grow to impressive sizes there, on light tackle the five to thirty pound silver kings provide tremendous sport to those willing to take the time and trouble to chase them. The rare fish does get to fifty pounds. Most of the time any of these fish are anything but easy, though.

Here I tell you when they're easiest, and how to catch them.

The Sebastian River also harbors snook. I don't have the whole poop on the linesiders worked out, this article also contains most of what I know about them.

If you follow the recommendations enumerated here, you cannot help but achieve success with the silver kings of the Sebastian River!

Tackle and Equipment
Light spinning or plug tackle will give the highest success with the Sebastian River fish. Why? Because the best (but by no means only) way to catch these tarpon is by either live lining a finger mullet, or chunking a cut dead mullet on the bottom. A six or seven foot spin rod with 15 or 20 pound braid casts these baits better than anything else. A light plugging rod will give you better control once you hook up, however.

If the fish feel like being cooperative you can take them with various lures or with fly tackle. First let's discuss effective lures. The single most effective lure is the Bagley's Finger Mullet. Although I've had success with the floating version and the shallow runner, it's the deep sinker which works best. The brown natural mullet color is a favorite.

Two other lures which are almost as effective (and have the advantage of only
having a single hook) are the DOA Bait Buster and the DOA TerrorEyz. Both the deep and shallow runners Bait Busters can be useful. The natural mullet color Bait Busters (silver, black back and gold, black back) have work best. The TerrorEyz root beer color works well.

Fly fishers need both a sinking and a floating line. Smaller (#4), darker flies tend to work better. Small Clouser minnows, mini-Keys style flies, Polar Fiber minnows and other synthetic minnow imitations, divers, and hair bugs should all be carried and tried.

Regardless of whether you use live bait, plugs or flies, make sure that you sharpen the hooks to needle sharpness. Tarpon are hard enough to stick without using dull hooks.
Also, regardless of what type of bait or tackle you use, prepare for other species of fish to taste your offerings. Snook, big jack crevalle, spinner sharks, even gar, all take baits intended for tarpon from time to time.

Techniques
As mentioned above, light tackle will maximize the angler's sport. On the business end of the line, double the line with a Bimini twist and attach a fifty pound test mono shock leader with either an Albright special or by using a loop-to-loop system.

Once the line is ready, a decision must be made- live bait or artificials? The tarpon will eat shrimp of course, but there are so many catfish that to me, shrimp are simply not worth the trouble. I prefer live finger mullet if I'm going to use bait. The optimum length is four or five inches.

Finding and netting the bait can sometimes be more of a challenge than catching the tarpon. I look in the following places in the Indian River when I need bait:
-on the west side of the river, just north or south of the Sebastian River mouth.
-at the first spoil island to the north of the Sebastian River mouth. They could be at either end of this island.
-at the first island to the south of the Sebastian River mouth. On the south side of this island a sand bar extends toward the west shoreline of the Indian River. This is a good place to look.
-if you haven't found any mullet at any of these places you can try in the vicinity of the inlet itself. You probably won't have any luck there, either.

After the mullet are captured, just tie on a 5/0 circle hook (the Daiichi circle wide works well), hook the mullet through the upper lip, and float it out while drifting or anchored up. The mullet works for you continuously whether you use another rod to cast or just sit around and snack.

The mullet should swim right up on top. When the tarpon comes up to eat it, believe me, you'll know. There will be a big explosion, and hopefully your line will get tight.

If you'd rather use artificials one or the other of these techniques can be used. If the boat is equipped with an electric motor, slowly cruise along parallel to the shoreline about forty or fifty feet out. Cast to or parallel to the shore. In addition to tarpon, snook, redfish, jack crevalle, and even largemouth bass will be taken this way.

Without the electric, simply drift with wind or current. Cast blindly or wait for fish to roll and throw to them. Although I use both methods and have success both ways, I'd rather have my bait working for me. So I usually blind cast and hope for the best.

Of course if you start having success, anchor or stake out and work that area until it cools off. Or you could drift through the hot spot, and then motor up-wind or up-current and drift through it again.

Remember that the fish will move in and out with the tides. If you are having success and it goes cold, move up or down stream a little distance and see if it will pick up again.

While it always helps psychologically to actually see the fish, in the summer at least they are there whether you can see them or not. So keep trying. Positive attitude is very important, especially for those all too frequent times when fish are rolling all around, you've made six hundred casts, and still haven't jumped a fish. If you keep at it you'll be successful. If you give up you lose.

Sooner or later you will hook up. If using a circle hook just come tight. If using a J-hook set the hook several times to try to make it stick in the tarpon's bony mouth. Remember to bow to the king when he jumps! Use your best fish-fighting techniques and whip the fish quickly.

Using a glove you can lip-lock the fish just like a largemouth bass. Leave it in the water if possible when unhooking it. Tarpon are every bit as delicate as freshwater trout and rough handling will quickly kill them. If the fish is hooked deeply, cut the line and release the fish with the hook. It has a better chance at survival this way than if the hook is ripped out.

If you must remove the fish from the water, use the glove and grab the lower jaw with a death grip. Hold your breath while you work with it. When you need a breath, so does the fish.

After unhooking it, revive it by pulling it back and forth in the water until it can swim away. This fish may grow to weigh one hundred pounds and give you a much bigger thrill someday. Treat it like the treasure it is.

When to Go
When should you go? I only fish the river in the summertime, from about late April until October.

Some people prefer an outgoing tide. Others think the moon phase is most important. Still others opine that the time of day is the secret. Probably there is some truth to all of this.

Tides in the river run slowly most of the time. I ignore them completely. For all of my fishing I prefer a new moon, but I go fishing whenever I can regardless of the moon phase. I have caught fish in Sebastian River at all hours of the day.

My best success in the Sebastian River happens when these circumstances are met:  1) a new moon, or at least anything but a full moon. 2) late in the day, after 4:00 PM and even better after 6:00 PM. 3) a thunderstorm has passed through. 4) the summer has been fairly dry, so there is some salinity to the water.

However, the best time to go is whenever you can get away. Like the bumper sticker says, a bad day fishing beats a good day at work.

Where to Go
Sebastian River lies west of the more famous inlet, across the Indian River and slightly to the north. The river consists of two branches, the channelized north branch and the south branch, which has not been altered and maintains its natural bed. Tarpon, snook, and other fishes use both branches. The two branches join just west of a railroad trestle which itself lies about one mile to the west of the confluence with the Indian River Lagoon and the U.S. 1 bridge.  

A boat is necessary to fish the river. Small boats, even canoes, work well. There are two free public boat ramps on the south branch, one at Dale Wimbro Park and the other at McDonald Park, both of which lie on County Road 505 in Sebastian. There is another ramp ($ fee) on the south side of the main stem just west of U.S. 1 at the Micco Marina. The marina also sells gas, bait, tackle, ice, and liquid refreshments to those who need them.

I seldom find tarpon east of the railroad trestle. I have, and always look for them as I idle up the river, but I usually don't put lines out until after I pass under the bridge.
Once under the bridge, the radar goes on. You'll see a power line extending across the river, and the north and south forks coming together. Fish could be anywhere in through here. If present they may, but won't necessarily, be rolling. Look for them!

Put a line or two out with live finger mullet as you slowly move through here. This is the best place in the river to hook up. The river is shallow right here, and the hooked fish jump like dervishes.

If nothing appears here, slowly move up the north fork. Keep those lines out, prospecting with the live finger mullet. Keep your eyes open, looking for fish. If/when you start seeing fish, use any of the techniques described above to try to catch them.

The south fork is about 12 feet deep in the middle. When you hook up here you'll get fewer jumps out of your fish because of the depth. If you use fly tackle here, use a sinking fly on a sinking line to get the fly down. Use the deep-running Bait Buster, TerrorEyz, or Bagley's Finger Mullet here if you're a lure flinger.

You can go quite a distance up the north fork, until you see a sign that prohibits further entry. If you haven't seen or gotten strikes from tarpon by now, you should probably consider going swimming as an alternate activity. Or you may choose to search up the much more scenic south fork.

I haven't ever fished much in the south fork, a situation I soon intend to remedy. Since the river is relatively unaltered by man's activities it has shallow bars and deep holes along the bends, and some time will need to be invested to learn them. Since the river has been posted as a slow speed manatee zone fishing pressure is quite light. It really is much more attractive than the north fork.

Other Considerations
There are a few items to consider before heading off to Sebastian River. East of the railroad trestle a salt water fishing license is needed. West of the railroad trestle (where most of the fishing is) a fresh water fishing license is needed. Bring both to stay out of trouble.

No one in the U.S. eats tarpon. You might like to keep one to have it mounted. Before you can kill a tarpon of any size, you must first purchase a $50.00 tarpon tag. Take the length and girth of the fish and get a fiberglass mount, and release the little tiger to fight another day.

The entire Sebastian River is a designated slow speed zone to protect manatees. As the Marine Patrol officer explained to me while writing up a written warning, slow speed means that when you throttle down to idle speed the bow of the boat does not settle down into the water. In other words, idle speed and slow speed are practically the same thing.

The fine for speeding in a manatee zone is up to almost three hundred dollars. The Marine Patrol will be on the river. Be smart and take your time.

There is a positive side to going slow- it keeps all the maniacs off the river. No water skiers, no jet skiers, no Cigarette boats. I like the quiet! If you see someone running the river at speed (and you probably will), they are breaking the law. Do not follow their example.

Conclusion|
This page has detailed all of the how-to and where-to information you need to successfully catch Sebastian River tarpon. Follow the advice given here and you can't help but be successful. Good luck, and let me know how you do!

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This article was written by John Kumiski of John Kumiski Outdoors and Travel. Contact him at his website www.johnkumiski.com or via email at john@spottedtail.com. Copyright John Kumiski.

John Kumiski 's most recent fishing guidebooks are How and Where to Catch Redfish in the Indian River Lagoon System (Argonaut Publishing Company), and Fishing Florida's Space Coast (Argonaut Publishing Company).

John Kumiski's newest book is Redfish on the Fly- A Comprehensive Guide .

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Copyright © John Kumiski, 2007