[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s I write this article, we’ve just finished fishing at the barrier islands while some of the best water of the year is finally blowing in. Simply gorgeous, and it was full of huge rips of Sargassum grass. That means fishing will greatly improve both offshore and inshore. Thus, June should be one of the best fishing months to date.
The clear water has finally brought in the highly touted Florida pompano, and this is truly a prized fish to eat and enjoy catching on light tackle. These silverhued beauties love to prowl the barrier island’s surf, and scaled down bottom rigs with small hooks will catch these speedsters. Plus, look for the delicious gulf kingfish aka “whiting” to move in with the pom- pano too.
Now, if you enjoy anchoring and then chumming up fish behind the boat in that clear water, well, June will be a wonderful time to do so. Action will be plentiful, and by chumming you never know what might bite next including cobia, jack crevalles, king mackerel, bull redfish, and all sorts of sharks. Generally, all you need to do is get set up in 30-feet of water for a taste of the chumming action. Also, the speckled trout fishing at the isles will be on fire too.
And with a full moon and clear water conditions, the wade fishermen will be in heaven. Of course, those that like to soak live croakers will catch some monster specks too, and these will be some magnificent specimens that can’t resist inhaling lively bait.
Spanish mackerel will be showing up with all of the beautiful gulf water blowing in, and small Clark Spoons are always deadly on these speedy fish. Of course, they will eagerly attack your live shrimp, bull min- now, or menhaden. However, a small piece of steel leader just above the hook will greatly reduce cutoffs. Now, with all of the Sargassum grass and clear water finally pushing in a run of tripletail (aka “blackfish” ), you should finally get off to a good start.
When the tripletails show up in the Mis- sissippi Sound, they can be caught under and around all sorts of structure. You name it: buoys, crab trap corks, old duck blinds, pilings, as well as anything float- ing on the surface like buckets, logs, fish carcasses, boards, and salt bags can de- liver a tasty tripletail. These fish can be quite spooky at times, so be sure to cast your offering up current, letting it drift back naturally in front of the fish. A live shrimp is deadly on tripletails; however other live baits like menhaden, small croakers, finger mullet, and bull minnows will work. Of course these structure dwellers will eat dead shrimp, squid, and cut bait too, especially if it’s fresh.
Back inshore, look for the white trout and ground mullet action to settle in and remain steady. So far this season, an intrusion of fresh water combined with high winds, made fishing really tough on the trout; but with warmer, clearer, and saltier water pushing back in white trout should settle in over all of the popular fish havens, wrecks, reefs, oyster bars, and holes. Bottom rigs, baited with cut croaker, squid, or mullet, will catch these small, yet tasty and aggressive bottom dwellers. Redfish and black drum will continue to deliver steady action in the lower bays and front beach haunts.
Died-in-the-wool speckled trout an- glers will be tickled to death with these changes in conditions, and good catches of these speckled beauties will increase as June’s warm weather settles in. Live shrimp suspended under a popping cork will catch many fish, but many will fall for soft-plastic jigs and top-water baits like a bone or red/white colored Heddon Spook Jr. Huge black drum will be lurking around the bridges, and a chunk of crab soaked on the bottom is like candy to these 30 to 60-pound brutes.
Wow…getting really excited just thinking about the fishing June will deliver, and you can bet TEAM BRODIE CHARTERS will be out there taking advantage of all the fish just waiting on a baited hook.