# Species ID? Late night fishing



## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

Polo worms that Tarpon eat. I may have the wrong name...sorry [smiley=1-biggrin.gif]


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## CurtisWright (May 9, 2012)

Did the hatch seriously go off this early?


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## [email protected] (Aug 15, 2010)

Palolo worm


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## CedarCreek (Nov 23, 2012)

I think the Palolo worm hatch is more of an ocean hatch. There are several varieties of polychaete worms that hatch up and down the east coast that look like what you saw. In the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic we have the clam, cinder, or May worm hatch around this time of year. They look very similar.


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

Here's a better view of some palolos, does that match what ya' saw?

Might be bristle worms, St. Augustine had a hatch this week.
Made the local news.


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## GTSRGTSR (Nov 10, 2009)

Brett, they were more rounded, looked more like earthworms...
They sure were fish food though....


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

GTSR, it was a full moon and that was what you saw.  Normally 1st full moon in May they hatch.  All these guys had it correct.  The Palolo worm.  It's the same thing as what Brett had in the bucket, maybe just a different variety.  Never heard of them being so far up north tho.

Most great tarpon fly fisherman dream about being on those worms when they hatch.  They (tarpon), as well as any other fish feed on them, not so much for the food quality as they are an aphrodisiac and almost a drug.  Gets them ready (all jacked up) for the spawn.  The tarpon will almost get a euphoric behaviour when munching on them.

I've chased those stupid hatches for quite a number of years with many disappointments and lots of coin spent doing so.

So count it an honor and a privilege witnessing it, especially up there (never heard of that).


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## GTSRGTSR (Nov 10, 2009)

Yes, it was a full moon, interesting that the hatch is tied to the moon.

I didnt see or hear anything that I could say was a tarpon but we are not known for numbers of tarpon. The snook bite was off with the moon and the hatch, and for the first time ever, I caught 2 jacks in the lights. So the bite was certainly mixed up....Need to learn to fly fish I guess to macth the bait....


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## TampaFlyGirl (Feb 15, 2012)

Fun fact, it's not actually a worm "hatch"...


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## Lowtidelowlife (Aug 19, 2014)

Bucket list right there. YouTube Spanish fly Palo lo hatch


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Yes Tampaflygirl!  Your right!  But nobody here wants to call it what it really is!    :-X     We have women and children reading some of these threads!


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