Nice size grouper!
June, what a great time of year to fish in the Keys. Whether you want to go offshore and target dolphin, tuna, sailfish, or go deep for snowy grouper, tile fish, and barrel fish, you can. Or fish the reef for snapper species and grouper. Even the Gulf offers great fishing this time of year. So no matter what your taste is, it can be done in June.
Offshore:
With the weather allowing us to venture out in the deep, the fishing has been pretty good! Dolphin have been hanging around the typical weed lines and under birds. When you don’t see any weed lines but you see a bird working right on the surface, put your lines in and keep up with him. It pays off. Tuna has been a little slower lately so I haven’t spent a lot of time chasing them. This is a great time to drop down deep for one of my favorite bottom fish – snowy grouper. Fishing with electric reels in around 650-1000 ft of water, these guys are always hungry.
Now that’s a pretty grouper.
Deep Wrecks:
What a great time to bend a rod right over almost to its breaking point! With real nice muttons hanging around in the 170-250ft mark, it can really test your skills and strength to hoist up some of these fish to the surface. Also thrown in the mix have been jack crevalles in the 20lb range. They can cause anyone groin pain and bruising.
Yellowtail for dinner tonight.
Reef:
The reef bite has been right on track for this time of year. The yellowtails have been biting really good in around 50′ of water. With little to no problem getting the limit of nice size tails. The mangrove snapper are starting to make their way out to the reef for their spawn. What an AWESOME experience that is to fish at that time.
Bridges:
Tarpon are still eating well. With great landing ratio. Bahia Honda bridge has been the best for me this year. It’s always fun to maneuver around the pilings in the high current. Makes for a heart pounding experience.
Gulf:
The gulf wrecks have been really good. Really nice mangrove snapper are still hanging around and providing us with plenty of food for many meals. Cobia has been real good. A lot of just under sized 32 1/2″ fish were caught but man they are fun to hook up to. There are still some grouper to be had on some of the wrecks out there. Mostly gag and red grouper will take the bait.
