In the Tampa / St. Petersburg area, pass and beach fishing are in full swing in June, and the great thing is, you can fish it from a boat, but you do not need one to catch great fish. The passes and the beaches leading to the passes are like fish magnets, along with the bridges in our area. If you do not have a boat, these areas allow the land lubber access to high-caliber fish.
Many of the passes, like John’s Pass and Bunces Pass, are fishable from land or a boat. Areas like these can give you a shot at larger fish like Tarpon, huge snook and redfish, but also trout, mackerel, pompano, mangrove snapper, and more. Think of these areas as a funnel where all the baitfish / crabs get pulled in and out with the tides, creating a concentrated area of food for the fish. The great thing is you can catch these fish from land, too. The beaches leading into all the passes will hold fish. When fishing the beaches with live or artificial baits, cast diagonally out and fish the swash channels. Also keep an eye open for spotting snook in this area, especially early morning before the beach goers get out there in full force. At the same time, keep a lookout for rolling tarpon and have a setup that holds 300-plus yards of 30- to 50-pound braided line to handle long runs, which you might have to make up and down the beach, lol. Sometimes, at the edge of the water, you will see bait fish that you can catch and use right there for snook, redfish, and other fish. You can also use a white sea shad on a ¼ oz jig head or a white bucktail jig. At the beach, baitfish are very light-colored, so white works very well.
This time of year, in the passes, there will be large snook, some over the 40-inch mark, so now is your time for a shot at the 40-inch club. Besides that, bull redfish will move into the area and be in deeper pockets in the passes. They will also be on some of the bridge pilings and docks that are near these passes. Besides scaled sardines, many of the fish in the passes will feed on threadfin herring and crabs, since there is an abundance of them there. So, get out there and good luck!