Newbie Help on Lake Tarpon

Hi all! First post on a new forum for me... so be gentle. :)

In honesty I just bought a bass boat a couple weeks ago and is parked on Lake Tarpon. I love crappie fishing and have been fishing most of my life...and my question now does apply to crappie... but is also about Lake Tarpon in general. And it's basically this:

In the last couple weeks I've been out with my son fishing on Lake Tarpon maybe 10 seperate days. I've targeted bass and crappie in so many ways... and the only fish caught was one bluegill from the doc on a live red wiggler under a bobber.

Now... I don't yet have a fish finder nor a trolling motor. We've been anchoring near vegetation asking the sides, in the bays, one day in the rain close to others in deep water quite obviously targeting crappie.

Here is my plea. What can I do this this time of year to catch something... anything... without a fish finder or a trolling motor? I've never, ever in my 44 years and most of them fishing...been in a body of water that a red wiggler under a bobber nor on the bottom in so many different spots caught not even a nibble. Or, for crappie in particular... jigging various colors of crappie magnets.

Meanwhile I'm catching tons of bass any evening I go across the street in local lakes in Ridgemore...throwing a simple watermelon texas rigged plastic worm.

I'm begging for some tips on Lake Tarpon. I can't wait to catch crappie... but right now I'd take advice on any reliable technique for any species so I don't lose my son's interest out on this lake. What am I missing here? Are there any fish in this lake?

Fish finder on the way... but until then
thanks so much in advance for any advice. We just want to go out and prove to ourselves some can be caught from the boat! Help! :)

Bill .... what I would do is post this on the Florida state forum. There you would have more eyes on your question, and from more people that are familiar with those waters.

Here you are going to get mentoring help with tactics, setups, equipment, fishing methods, and other basic training tips ... from a wide variety of opinions of members who may not necessarily live in your state or fish waters similar to yours.

You might take note of the very end of this "forecast" : Lake Tarpon .... but, it's not dated, so I don't have any way to determine exactly how "current" this report really is :dono

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NOTE: I can move this whole thread to the FLA forum, or put a copy of it on there (so there'd be two places for you to get replies) ... or you could copy/paste your text from this forum, over to the FLA forum. (which would be easier/faster than you rewriting the whole thing on the FLA forum)

... cp :kewl

I agree with what CrappiePappy said. Go to the Florida forum, "fishin813" knows a lot about Lake Tarpon and many other Florida lakes and he will help you as much as he can.

Good luck
pescador

Thanks guys! Really appreciated!

I'll copy it over to the FLA forum. Thanks again.