First things first the secret to any great fishing trip is preparation.
First is the laws, rules, and Tarpon fishing regulations. To get the easiest access to fishing maps, fishing reports and all the state fishing regulations for the 50 united states and the lower canadian providences go to huntnfishregs.com. It is a one stop shop for the stuff that normally takes tons of time to find. For a full state tarpon fishing regulaions guidebook from any state only took minutes instead of hours.
tarpon fishing basics
We specialize in live bait tarpon fishing and use crabs, shrimp, pinfish and mullet. The basic live bait technique is to anchor our boat and free line a lively bait down current to areas we know hold tarpon. Sometimes the bait is weighted to get it near the bottom. Weights very with the speed of the tidal current. Heavy weights can cause hooks to pull out. To correct this we use light copper wire to attach the weights to our line so they will easily drop off and not be a hazard when we fight the tarpon. Sometimes a small piece of Styrofoam is rigged as a breakaway float to suspend the bait. Tarpon are powerful and have hard rough mouths, sharp gill plates, and abrasive scales. For tarpon fishing leaders we use about 6 to 12 feet of heavy mono filiment or fluorocarbon line from 60 to 125 LB test. Tarpon fishing hooks will vary with the size of the bait and hook brand. A 6/0 live bait hook to an 11/0 circle hook is what we like best. It's important to rig the live baits in the most natural way possible. For tarpon fishing with live bait you should hook a crab in the corner of the shell, pinfish and mullet are hooked through the mouth either vertically or horizontally. When you are fishing with shrimp a good trick is to head or tail hook the shrimp on a hook up jig so it won't spin in the current. In the old days and even today some guides only take a dozen mullet for bait on a tarpon fishing charter. We catch lots of tarpon on crabs and pinfish. We like to have plenty of choices because tarpon are difficult fish to catch. Some days tarpon will only eat small pinfish and other days tarpon eat only crabs. The speed of the tidal current plays a big part in tarpon fishing success. When the current is running fast a mullet will be the best choice for a bait because it won't spin as much in the current. An experienced tarpon guide will use various sizes and types of bait for the conditions. As you can see there are lots of variables to consider for as well as other fish to catch while you're fishing for tarpon. When we are tarpon fishing we like to keep a bait on the bottom and one or two baits free lined at different depths. For the best results we will use 3 or 4 different baits at the same time until we find what the tarpon prefer. If the tarpon don't bite change your bait, change your rigging, change your leader or change the depth you are fishing. If that doesn't work move to a new location.
Tarpon fishing with artificial baits
Although we specialize in live bait tarpon fishing we have had good luck with big top water baits and minnow imitations as well as soft plastic baits. For top water tarpon fishing casting big chuggers and sliders like the Zara Spook can be productive.  You should fish big minnow baits with a fast retrieve and add a pause or stall to make the retrieve more erratic. Some of the best artificial baits for tarpon fishing are big soft plastics that imitate bait fish, eels and sea worms. These can be weighted to fish deep and are versatile substitutes for live bait. We fish these baits slow and like to free line, dead drift them deep or rig them on jigs just like live bait.
Tarpon fishing rods and line

We like light tackle for tarpon fishing. For fishing bridges 20 LB spinning gear or 30 LB conventional gear is required. For open water tarpon fishing and smaller tarpon you could drop down to 12 or 15 LB tackle depending on the size of the tarpon. We have found Ande or Trileen Big Game line to be good choices for cost and performance. Penn, Shimano and Diawa all make good 20 LB spinning reels for tarpon fishing.
Good luck enjoy tarpon fishing and get your fishing rules and regulations at huntnfishregs.com
Happy tarpon fishing