Late Spring and early Summer bring rising temperatures and weather patterns that put fishing into full swing. Our inshore species, like redfish, trout and snook, are maintaining their usual Summer trends. Redfish will still be working the outside islands and around the rocky points. You can throw live pinfish, shrimp (with or without a popping cork), or even cut bait. Cut mullet is one of my favorite cut baits in the warmer months, as the oil slick and strong scent travel farther in the warmer water. Large chunks of bait and size 3 hooks work great.
Trout are plentiful due to it being their spawning season. Larger female fish are swimming in-shore to lay their eggs against oyster bars and rock piles. Nearly every large trout we have caught recently had roe (fish eggs) inside. You can find these fish in the grass flats with spotty bottom, and the bigger trout tend to lay right against the rocks. We frequently catch big trout by accident, while targeting redfish on rock piles.
The snook bite is really on fire! The snook had a slower start this season due to the later-than-normal cold fronts this year, but they are fired up now. My absolute favorite technique to target snook is free-lining live green backs that are hooked right under the bottom fin. I prefer to get up early and catch my own green backs with a cast net. To entice the fish, I also like taking 10 to 15 greenbacks, putting them in a chum bat, shaking them up (disorienting the bait) and throwing them in the area I’m fishing. Then, I wait to see if the snook start to hit the top of the water. It’s pretty awesome seeing the instant response to that live chumming when the snook start popping over and over. I can tell you with near certainty that if you throw a green back in a snook’s detection zone, it will strike! They just cannot resist green backs.
Now, moving on to the main event of the season: The silver king, aka, the tarpon. This month, large pods of tarpon start rolling through the flats in about 4 to 6 feet of water. You have to get on the water early to have an advantage on these fish. The bite seems to be stronger in the earlier hours of the day. These fish are also pressured by and fearful of boat activity, which increases as the day goes on. Beat the boat traffic, and increase your odds of getting a strike. Tarpon will eat pinfish, greenbacks and shrimp. Around this time, I’ve also found that smaller blue crabs work well. Tarpon feed heavily on pass crabs this time of year, so a crab easily triggers their feed response. Finding the tarpon ain’t the hard part. Getting them to eat and landing them is what takes skill and patience. These fish put up a great fight while jumping out of water and thrashing about. Every fisherman should land at least one of these fish for the experience alone. Please remember, do not remove tarpon from the water that are 40 inches and over.
There is only one way to get it done ladies and gentlemen; get out there and go fishing! As always – good luck, be safe and tight lines everyone.