by Cap't. Ralph F. Mariano
rmariano@streport.com

Info on Florida Saltwater Fish -Rules and Fishing Tips


Black Drum

Black Grouper
Black Grouper

Bluefish
Bluefish

Blue Marlin
Blue Marlin

Bonefish
Bonefish

cobia
Cobia

Dolphin
Dolphin

Flounder
Flounder

Gag Grouper
Gag Grouper


Gray Snapper

Kingfish
King Mackerel


Mutton Snapper

Permit
Permit

Pompano
Pompano

Redfish
Redfish

Red Snapper
Red Snapper

Sailfish
Sailfish

Snook
Snook

Spanish Mackeral
Spanish Mackerel

Tarpon
Tarpon

Trout
Trout

Wahoo
Wahoo


White Marlin

Yellowtail Snapper
Yellowtail Snapper

Yelllowfin tuna
Yellowfin Tuna

american_shad_sm.gif (2852 bytes)
American Shad

Swordfish
Swordfish 

Greater Amberjack
Greater Amberjack 

 

June 1999

Offshore Is AT ITS BEST!

 

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.


   

 

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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