The Palolo Worm & The Tarpon

The Palolo Worm & The Tarpon

Take a full or new moon, a falling tide in the evening and the finish of a slick calm day at sunset and you have the recipe for what has to be one of the finest moments in saltwater fishing, the Palolo Worm Hatch.

It happens mainly on the ocean side coral rock flats of the Florida Keys, but according to many long time Keys guides, there are several ‘honey holes’ in the backcountry that host these worms and their loyal followers, the tarpon.These worms hatch out of hard coral rock each year and head to the reef, about 7 miles offshore, to spawn. This phenomenon happens often during the full or new moon of May and June, and often when there is a falling tide towards the evening. Conditions need to be pretty calm for the hatch to come off as expected.A few days before a worm hatch is about to happen the tarpon will seem to be non-existant on the flats. They know what's about to go on and they don't want to miss it. The Palolo worm is a tasty treat for a tarpon and serves as an aphrodisiac. It makes the tarpon appear to be almost 'drunk' as they lazily feed on the surface of the water chomping on every worm they can gulp into their bucket mouths.It's not uncommon to see a thousand tarpon rolling, almost as far as the eye can see.Fishing during the worm hatch certainly can increase your chances of hooking up but it's not as easy as you may think to stick one of these fish. Palolo Worms travel quickly, on the surface, and in a straight line.

One technique that does work well with a fly rod is to use the "striper strip" method. This entails casting as far as you can and then putting the reel under your arm and strip with both hands, pulling the fly line in one consistent flow of motion. Another method may be to use long strips with not much pause in between and as the fly nears the boat, sweep the fly as far as you can keeping it in the water.The Palolo Worm can be identified by it's similarities to an earth worm. It has a white tip and a red body. A fly that replicates this worm should have a greenish head tied from olive green dubbing with a thin rabbit strip of red. Other conventional light tackle artificial lures work too if the retrieve has a similar motion to the worm itself.

So if you are in the Keys this week, check your tides and lunar tables. You may just a see something you’ll never forget.