Everyone who fishes for cobia knows how
strange they can be. In recent years along the Northeast
Florida coast, fishing for these strange brown fish seems to
get stranger every season. While April and May are
traditionally peak months for the cobia runs, some of the
largest of these finned freight trains head down the tracks
in June.
Late last May, for example, Navy Lt. Pat McCormick caught a
125 1/2-pound fish believed to be the largest cobia ever
taken off this coast. It hit a live menhaden that McCormick
was trolling for king mackerel near the PV reef. Fishing pal
Clyde Garrison gaffed the fish for McCormick after a
90-minute fight on 20-pound-class tackle. Interestingly,
when they worked the heavyweight fish alongside, a number of
other large cobia were swimming with the giant. They opted
not to try for any of the other fish, for fear of losing the
big one.
Anglers seeking cobia are wise to work reefs and ledges 8 to
20 miles out, especially those not heavily fished. Cobia shy
off when fishing pressure mounts. Live menhaden work well,
as they do for most area offshore species, but having a live
eel or two onboard, or big eel imitations (footlong black
plastic worms will do) is a good idea if cobia push your hot
button.
Virtually everything from cobia, tarpon, king mackerel,
sailfish, tuna, Spanish mackerel, little tunny, amberjacks,
jack crevalle, big sharks, and even African pompano can be
caught this month from the mouths of sounds and inlets, to
area beaches, reefs, ledges and wrecks far from land. The
fishing can be so good in so many places at once that you'll
have a tough time deciding where to go on a given day.
Indeed, second guessing yourself is a common malady in June.
Bluewater action can be red-hot this month, too, with wahoo,
dolphin, tuna and marlin sure to bend plenty of rods,
especially for anglers working out of St. Augustine and
Daytona Beach. During last May's Northeast Florida Marlin
Association's Bluewater Invitational, there were six blue
marlin, one white and five sailfish landed. Don Bistlinghoff
caught a blue and a white on the boat Pipeline, captained by
Calvin Henry, to win the three-day event.
Although much of June's glamour-species fishing is done
offshore, excellent inshore fishing is available at all area
inlets, rivers and throughout the Intracoastal Waterway.
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At the inlets, plenty of sheepshead,
small black drum, redfish, spots and croakers will take
baits bumped on bottom. Flounder to three pounds will be in
good supply, too, and at times big schools of jacks,
ladyfish and Spanish mackerel should show around inlet
jetties, especially at dawn and dusk when the water is clear
and calm. Jigs and flashy spoons work on these light-tackle
targets, but chugger plugs, flies and poppers produce, too.
Night fishing for seatrout will be good
this month for anglers casting plugs, jigs, streamer flies
and live shrimp and mullet around lighted docks, bridges and
bulkheads. The harbor lights in downtown Fernandina are a
good bet and many of the lighted docks and bulkheads of the
lower St. Johns River are loaded with big seatrout. Be
stealthy, however, when fishing the lights. A quiet approach
and careful casting is a must. Although fish hovering at the
surface are ripe for surface lures, don't overlook fishing
deep with jigs and live baits. Redfish pile up around night
lights, too, and a finger mullet weighted with a slip sinker
may score when other baits and lures fail.
Bluegills, shellcrackers and redbreast sunfish will be in
good supply this month in lakes and rivers. The lower St.
Johns River will be a hotbed of activity for bedding
bluegills and shellcrackers. Earthworms, crickets, crab
meat, marine shrimp and freshwater clams are preferred
baits. Chumming with either soybean or cottonseed cake, or
dog food draws bream and makes them feed. Fish your baits on
the bottom, with a splitshot, and odds are good you'll catch
channel catfish, too.
Redbreast sunfish action should be excellent this month for
anglers drifting and casting ultralight spinners and jigs to
shoreline brush in the Suwannee and Santa Fe rivers. Cool,
early morning fishing is preferred, and at times a drifted
nymph or small streamer scores best of all for the feisty,
good-eating, colorful panfish. The upper St. Marys River is
a good place for redbreasts, too, and receives little
fishing pressure. Some of the feeder creeks of the Nassau
River--like Lofton, Thomas and Plummer--can be choice for
bream and bass, too. Live shiners worked around creek ledges
near backwater sloughs at daybreak can be great for large,
typically hard-fighting creek bass.
Largemouth bass fishing will be good this month at many
locations, though the best action is had early. Clear-water
lakes like Orange and Lochloosa, and waters of the Keystone
Heights area are choice for night fishing. Plastic worms,
crankbaits, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits all take bass, but if
a big one is your target, a live shiner is hard to beat. In
the St. Johns River, live shrimp will produce most bass for
dock and weed-bed anglers. Slow-trolling or drifting live
shrimp in open water on a Carolina rig is deadly when fished
on ledges, underwater humps and similar structures.
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