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Venice Inlet and the Gulf of Mexico
Capt. Dave Pinkham
June 1, 2003
Venice - Saltwater Fishing Report
June is a great month for fishing the gulf
June is a great month to get offshore on the Gulf and do some fishing. As a matter of fact I would have to say June is probably one of the best months of the year. The fishing and catching is great, and the air temperatures are still cool enough to put in a full day out on the water.
Over the past couple weeks we've been fishing some of the artificial reefs west of Venice Inlet. These man-made fishing holes can be fairly productive if you're there at the right time with the right baits. Be sure to keep your eyes open for obvious fish or bird activity in the general area. Sometimes the fish will move several hundred yards or more off the reefs when the fishing pressure is heavy.
With that said, following is an offshore fishing forecast of what you can expect to catch in the month of June.
- Spanish Mackerel should continue to be plentiful just off the area beaches and in and outside of the passes. Live bait enthusiasts should have no problem catching some of these toothy speedsters using live shiners as bait. Trolling or casting silver spoons through feeding or jumping fish will all but guarantee some hook ups.
- Tarpon fishing will about as good as it gets over the next few weeks. Once the afternoon thunderstorms start to crank up the fish seem to show less. Sight fishing is one of the predominant methods used for targeting tarpon up and down the coastline. Once a pod of tarpon is sighted, casting live baits such as crabs, pinfish, or grunts will often provoke one into hitting.
- Barracuda have once again returned to their summer haunts such as the artificial reefs and local shipwrecks. As the water temperatures continue to rise the cuda will become very active and can actually become a nuisance hitting anything that moves.
- Shark fishing can become additive and during the summer months is when it happens. Big hammerheads will be cruising up and down the coastline as they feed on tarpon. Smaller sharks such as blacktips and lemon sharks in the three to five foot range will be found scattered over local reefs from one to twenty miles out on the Gulf. During the day these sharks feed best on small fish.
- Permit fishing should peak in June. Once again the wrecks and reefs are the best places to locate them. Crabs and large shrimp both make excellent baits. These beautiful fish release well so handle them carefully when photographing.
- Grouper fishing seems to be improving. This time of year look for keeper red groupers out in at lest 60' of water and deeper. Actually the hot zone seems to be out past 100' of water so plan on putting in a full day of fishing if you want to get out where the big ones live. The gag groupers are apt to show up anywhere. We've been catching a few keeper gags on some of the short bottom ledges although the best bet will be to look for them deeper as with the red groupers. Live and dead baits will both produce fish.
- Snapper fishing should payoff with some excellent table fare. There are many different species on the Gulf such as mangrove, lane, yellow tail, mutton, and vermilion snappers. Cut bait and shrimp are hard to beat for good action. The same hard bottom that holds grouper will also attract snappers.
- Blackfin tuna hopefully will still be around for a while. There smaller cousin the little tunny is usually plentiful on the Gulf all summer long. Keeping live baits free lined out behind the boat while your busy bottom fishing is a good way to luck into one.
- Sailfish, Wahoo, and dolphin fishing should be warming up farther out on the Gulf. You may need to run for while so keep an eye out for weed lines once you hit blue water.
Be aware, as the weather warms the probability of thunderstorms increases. If possibly stay away from dark clouds that often contain electricity and high winds.
If you're not out fishing you're wishing you were. Get out and go fishin cuz' it's good fer ya!
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