As temperatures start to increase and the winds turn south, expect another great June off the Treasure Coast. Although numbers are definitely down, the kickoff to the mahi season did not disappoint. Big fish started showing up right on time in May and should continue through June. We had exceptional sailfishing, blackfin tuna, and king mackerel action leading up to this month as well. As long as the water temperature doesn’t heat up too fast, they should stick around through the summer.
While I would still recommend trolling for big dolphin, now is a great time to fire up the kites with a good spread of live baits again. Contact Captain Brian at Stuart Live Bait to reserve your goggle eyes, thread fins, and pilchards. I’ve switched over to using Tigress kites recently and I’m extremely pleased with the spread I can achieve along with how steady they fly and how little wind it takes to keep them up.
For the summer months as the water cleans up and slicks out, I recommend downsizing in line and leader size—15-to-20 line with a 50-pound leader and a 6/0 circle hook should do the job.
This is a good time to fish a down bait, not only for kingfish, wahoo and cobia but also big dolphin and sails along the thermocline. I recommend the Cannon 10 TS. It’s fully automated, has bottom tracking mode, and a cycling mode which triggers lazy fish into eating. It can also be linked to your Humminbird Sonar or even through your phone via Bluetooth which I use a lot when I’m pulling teasers from them and I’m in the tower.
June is also a great month to search the beach. Snook, jacks, tarpon, permit, cobia and even sailfish. When the bait is on the beach, all these predators will make their way within feet of the sandy Treasure Coast shores. Blackfin Rods makes an excellent Carbon-E spinning rod for flipping live baits to these fish. I use the 7-footer. It casts far, is extremely sensitive and has a ton of backbone. I even use them a little bit while I’m bottom fishing.
Grouper season is open and the bottom is pretty good this time of year. Check out Capt. Rocky’s report for the digs on that stuff.
Whatever style of fishing you decide to do this June, I hope your next trip is Off The Chain. Please give me a call to book your next fishing adventure. Capt. Scott (772) 285-1055.
FORECAST BY: Capt. Scott Fawcett
Off the Chain Fishing Charters
Phone: (772) 285-1055
Email: fishscottyf@bellsouth.net
www.offthechainfishing.com
