As we move out of May and into June it’s been a a fantastic start to the summer fishing season. The Mahi run is tapering off but the bottom fishing is wide open and the Kingfish are thick from the beach out to the wrecks. Inshore the Redfish are fired up, the Flounder are moving in, and there are plenty of Spanish and Jacks to bend a rod.
Inshore the last of the outgoing into low tide and first of the incoming has been a great window for Redfish. If you’re looking for them in the creeks and want to sight fish that’s the window to go. You can be just as productive on the higher water you just won’t see as much of the action. It’s hard to beat watching a backing fish working a flat that’s barely deep enough for it to swim on. Once the water fills in focus on fishing the grass lines where the predators are waiting to ambush bait. For bait mud minnows have been working great, there are plenty of mullet around if you prefer to net your own instead of buying it. At low tide I’ve been fishing live baits on an 1/8oz jig head, once the water fills in higher I’ll switch people over to a popping cork set up.
For offshore anglers it’s looking to be a bit breezy over the weekend with a weak front passing the First Coast and bringing some onshore flow with it. The ocean looks to be pretty rough over Saturday and Sunday with NOAA predicting 3-4 foot seas with the occasional 5. Fishable in a big enough boat but not very comfortable especially in a smaller center console.
The nearshore bites been really good the last week, baits been hit or miss, North or South day to day but once you’ve got something live to troll the Kingfish bites have been easy to find. I’ve been mostly fishing the party grounds in that 65-85 foot depth and had no problem picking off Kingfish on both the troll and the flatline. There’s been some Blackfins mixed in with the Bonita schools that make for a nice bonus when they pick up your pogy, you can drop the wire and fish straight mono for them but we’ve been getting bites on the 7strand Kingfish rigs.
The sharks have been all over the wrecks and a few of the Bull sharks are holding Cobia. If the tax man comes for your Kingfish this time of year take a close look around and see if there’s any of his friends swimming around the boat. This was the exact scenario we found ourselves in Saturday as a shark ate one of our fish under the boat a few nice Cobia came up to the surface with it. A pitch rod with a live pogy was the trick for hooking up quickly and trading a half eaten Kingfish for a Cobia dinner is a deal I’ll take any day.
As always wishing y’all tight lines, fair winds, and following seas going into the weekend! If you’re looking to book a charter, submit a photo, or have a report to share reach out to me directly at chris@fishjax.org or visit www.fishjaxcharters.com.
Capt. Matt Chipperfield with a new personal best Cobia he caught while I distracted the shark it was swimming around with.
I didn't come up empty handed on the day either and put another nice nearshore Blackfin Tuna in the boat this one weighing 28 pounds on the Mayport scale.
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