Fishing with Captain Greg Hildreth on the Georgia
Coast
 The
Tarpon Are Coming
Editor’s Note: Captain Greg Hildreth of Brunswick,
Georgia, fishes Georgia’s Atlantic Coast for speckled
trout, redfish, flounder and tarpon. That’s right,
tarpon. Most people don’t realize that Georgia
has a saltwater coast. Few people even know that this
is a tarpon hotspot during the heat of the summer. It
also has some tremendous marsh and beach fishing and
one of the most-unusual tripletail fisheries in the
nation. Boaters and sailors up the East Coast sail down
to Sea Island and Jekyll Island for tennis, golf and
high-dollar resort living. Most people never consider
the outstanding saltwater fishing available just off
the fairways. This week, we’ll look at some of
the finest saltwater fishing in the nation that receives
little fishing pressure.
Question: What are you using to catch tarpon?
Hildreth: As the weather gets hotter, the tarpon fishing
gets better. I use the 4- and 6-inch Spike-It Shad to
catch tarpon. That saltwater Spike-It Shad is deadly
on tarpon.
Question: How are you using shad to catch tarpon?
Hildreth: Tarpon will congregate offshore during low
tide. They’ll be holding in 20 to 30 feet of water.
They’ll be in big pods, and you’ll see 100
to 300 of them in one school. The tarpon will be rolling
good at this time of year. I cast out in front of them,
let my bait fall to the bottom, and then I work it back
slowly toward the boat. I’m working the bait faster
than I generally do. I’m using a Pflueger Trion
66 Baitcasting Reel with 50-pound braided line on an
All-Star medium-heavy rod. I’ll fish with 80-pound-test
monofilament leader.
Question: How many tarpon will you jump in one day?
Hildreth: Last year, using strictly artificial lures,
we boated two out of nine fish that we jumped that day.
You have to remember that when we talk about a day,
we’re only talking two to three hours of fishing
because that’s when the tide starts moving, and
the tarpon become active. I had one cast last year where
three different tarpon took my Spike-It bait. I jumped
the fish, it came off, and another tarpon took my bait.
I jumped that fish, and it threw the lure. I finally
hooked and brought the third fish to the boat. When
you can jump three fish on one cast, you’ve had
an outstanding day of tarpon fishing.
Question: What colors of saltwater Spike-It Shad do
you prefer?
Hildreth: I like the black back with the clear belly
saltwater Spike-It Shad. I also like the blue- and clear-colored
shad as well. Clear is also very deadly on the tarpon.
I’m also using the chartreuse saltwater Spike-It
Shad. I’m fishing these baits on jigheads. I cast
the lure out in front of the fish and let it fall to
the bottom, and then I’ll reel the bait back slowly,
close to the bottom.
Question: How big are the tarpon in these ponds you’re
fishing?
Hildreth: If you’re lucky, you’ll hook up
to a 40 or a 50 pounder. 
Question: You said that last year on one of your best
trips you hooked nine tarpon and got two in the boat.
How big were the two that you hooked?
Hildreth: One weighed about 40 pounds, and the other
weighed about 170 pounds.
Question: What’s the trick to hooking those fish?
Hildreth: A tarpon bite is a very different one. If
you’re fishing for tarpon with live baits, the
tarpon will smash the baits and pretty much hook themselves.
When you’re fishing with saltwater Spike-It Shads,
you get a bite that’s similar to one on a soft-plastic
worm in freshwater. When the tarpon takes a saltwater
Spike-It Shad, you have to point the rod at the fish
like you do when you’re fishing with a plastic
worm. This gives the tarpon a chance to suck the bait
down. After the tarpon gulps it down, you set the hook.
This way, the tarpon gets the bait inside its mouth
where there’s some flesh for the hook to set.
You have to remember that the mouth of the tarpon is
very hard, and you can’t get the hook set on that
hard mouth. You have to let the fish take the bait inside
of its mouth to get some flesh to hook. Another trick
to landing these fish is to set a light drag. When these
tarpon hit the bait, they usually jump. When a tarpon
jumps, you have to point your rod to keep it from shaking
the bait. If you don’t, you’ll pull the
lure out of its mouth.
Question: How long did the fight last on that 275-pound
tarpon you boated last year?
Hildreth: It took about 2-1/2-hours to get the fish
up to the boat.
Question: What do you tell your clients when you get
a tarpon hooked?
Hildreth: Hold on, and remember to bow to the fish when
it jumps.
Question: When do the numbers of available tarpon grow
in your area?
Hildreth: Tarpon fishing starts heating up in mid-June,
with July, August and September being the prime months.
Question: Is a tarpon bite a morning one or an afternoon
one?
Hildreth: It’s really an all-day bite. A tarpon
bite is tide dependent. The trick to finding them is
to be out on the water every day and look where they’re
running. If you’re fishing artificial lures, your
chances of catching fish are better on an outgoing tide.
On the outgoing tide, tarpon are chasing bait out of
estuaries. They usually hold on the backsides of bars.
I’m finding most of my fish six to seven miles
offshore as that tide is going out. Most anglers over
here on the Georgia Coast use live bait when fishing
for tarpon. As far as I know, I’m the only one
fishing with artificial lures.
Question: Why are you using artificial lures?
Hildreth: Last year is a classic example. Ten boats
moved in on a school of tarpon. Everyone on that boat
was casting live pogeys, and then I pulled in there
with my Spike-It lures. That’s where I jumped
three fish on one cast. The Spike-It 6-inch Shad looks
different from the bait the tarpon are accustomed to
seeing. I think that’s the reason they strike
it. All I do is cast the bait out and reel it in close
to the bottom.
Question: How much time does getting a tarpon require?
Hildreth: The size of the tarpon determines the length
of the fight. A 45- to 50-pound fish usually takes about
20 minutes. A tarpon weighing over 150 pounds may require
two hours.
Question: What’s the biggest fish you’ve
ever caught?
Hildreth: The biggest fish I’ve caught was 220
pounds. She was 86-inches long and 46 inches in girth.
Question: With that outstanding tarpon fishing, why
aren’t more people fishing for tarpon on the Georgia
Coast?
Hildreth: Few people seem to realize that Georgia has
saltwater. Even fewer people know that there are tarpon
here. When the tarpon are here, I may see 10 boats fishing
for tarpon that day, and that’s when I call it
crowded, although the boats may be 1- to 5-miles apart.
Most days I see only one or two boats, even where there
are thousands of tarpon rolling.
You can contact Captain Greg Hildreth at 912-261-1763,
or visit www.georgiacharterfishing.com.
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