1 - Campeche, Yucatan, Mexico
The fish are close. The city is safe, friendly, and everything Cancun isn’t. But the biggest reason Campeche rules is that the stretch of mangrove creeks running north to Isla Arena might be the finest stretch of baby tarpon water on earth. It’s hard to believe it was only five years ago that the first outfitters began running trips here. The mix of Mayan ruins, affordable restaurants and hotels, Cathedral Plaza, snook, and endless shots at tarpon—both in the mangroves and out on the flats—makes Campeche tough to beat.

2 - Key West, Florida
If you can only pick one place…  There’s the history, the nightlife on Duval Street, the mix of large bones and permit, the Hemingway factor. Sure, a day on the flats here can cost more than a two-bedroom in Tulsa, but nowhere is there a better mix of big tarpon and the guiding talent to find them.

3 - Bonthe, Sierra Leone, Africa
Other than the occasional mention in conflict films like Blood Diamond and Lord of War, few people have ever heard of Sierra Leone. But Victor Sebag landed a 283-pound tarpon here in 1991, and 12 IGFA world record tarpon have come from the nearby Sherbo and Kittan estuaries. With the war officially over since 2001, lodge-rebuilding rumors have many a monster-hunter checking flights to Freetown.

4 - Islamorada/Marathon, Florida
Maybe, if it weren’t for the weather, the sea-food, the people, the lore, and the endless access to frontcountry and backcountry waters, maybe if it weren’t for that, then there might be two more perfect Florida fishing towns. Until then, there’s Islamorada and Marathon. Like Key West, without the tourist and jackass factor.

5 - Boca Grande, Florida
Nobody knows for sure why tarpon are so in love with the waters of Boca Grande Pass. But one thing is certain: When temperatures start to rise every spring around the mouth of Charlotte Harbor, there is no finer place to be on the front of a flats boat.

6 - Homosassa, Florida
In Florida fishing circles, it’s commonly believed that Boca Grande has the most tarpon and that the Keys have the most fishable flats. But if it’s May or June, and you and your twelve-weight are on a mission for the biggest tarpon that swim, you head to Homosassa. The numbers back this up—at least five world records have come from here, including both the 16- and 20-pound class—and every year threatens to add names to the 200-pound club.

7 - Isla Holbox, Yucatan, Mexico
We got on a bus in Cancun. Rode the bus north to a ferry. Took the ferry to an island. And on the island found a town with no ATMs, no pavement, and nary a whitey in sight. What it did have were boats that took us to baby tarpon, lots of baby tarpon, swimming in circles 40 feet in front of us.

8 - Manzanillo, Costa Rica
The southern Caribbean is sometimes seen as a place where only babies roam.  But many of the tarpon swimming between the coastal village of Manzanillo and the Panama border are
of the triple-digit variety. To seal the deal, add in extraordinary bird life, good numbers of jacks and snappers, and sight-
casting at Monkey Island or the Gondoca Lagoon.

9 - San Pedro, Belize
San Pedro may be an overdeveloped tourist trap, filled with cheezy, Croc-wearin’ cruise-ship types. But it still has the largest classic-style tarpon flats in the world outside of the Keys, with one flat alone running 35 miles. And every year, fish in the 200-pound range are caught here.

10 - Port of Spain, Trinidad
It was just a casual sea-kayaking trip around Trinidad’s
Chaguaramas Bay. But we couldn’t take our eyes off the
massive tarpon rolling all around us—and not a fishing boat in sight. A 177-pounder won the Trinidad Tarpon Bash  here in 2006, and for a great double-dipper, combine your trip
here with a visit to Venezuela, just seven miles away.