Red snappers – BIG RED SNAPPERS – are here big time. All sizes, and plenty of large ones, are on almost every reef and wreck structure. There are way too many red snapper as well as trigger fish on most every reef out of Mexico Beach. They are eating too many of the smaller fish that are just trying to grow up and come to the dinner table. This is not a good sign for government control even though the government says that’s exactly what they were trying to do and restore the amount of fish that used to be in the gulf.
Gag grouper are really showing up in good numbers both in shore and off shore. Some of them are quite large in that we have already brought to the dock some gags over 40 pounds. And there seems to be plenty of the medium and smaller legal size fish. So take you some good live bait and the larger the live bait most likely the larger your grouper is going to be. Red grouper seem to be pretty short this month even though back in May they appeared to be coming on pretty strong. Maybe the commercial longline boys put a hurt on them. The scamp are in their usual numbers, you go to the right spot and you can get some really nice scamp. Most of them are in water over 180 feet. Black snapper and other good deep water smaller fish are showing up in good numbers. The main problem with off shore fishing now is we still have a mixed up summer weather pattern so be sure and check what the wind and storms are going to be before you head of shore.
In shore fishing along the beaches and in the bays are coming on as normal for June. The king mackeral and Spanish are real good one day and the next day they’re kind of short so you have to look for them in their usual places before trolling but some of the kings are still a nice size. The red fish are still coming on in the bays real good even though they’re partially in the deeper water and along the flats, as well as the speckled trout. The specks are a little bit larger than normal and are showing up in the head of St Joe Bay and in Crooked Island Sound. I am really surprised that the cobia have been as hard to find as they have in the last couple of weeks - maybe most of them just moved on to the west because I don’t think all of us caught too many this year.
Don’t forget to file a float plan, and let somebody know when you are going to return.
Be safe. Good fishing and good luck. Charisma Charters