Fishing Forecast - June Full Moon

June is often a month of two distinct halves. The first half being an extension of spring, while the second half is the beginning of summer. The calendar says so, and our local fisheries tend to agree. Water temperatures rise and fish move to their summer locations. For striped bass, that means moving out to the oceanfront to deeper, cooler water. For many other species like scup, black sea bass, fluke, etc., that means taking hold in their usual spots in and around the bay. This year is shaping up to be similar, although there are some differences that make this June stand out. First and foremost, the squid fishing is still of the charts. I don't know of another year with the squid bite this good, this accessible, and this prolonged. At least not recently. The abundance of sandeels is another piece to the puzzle. Both the squid and sandeels are fueling amazing fishing for striped bass, bluefish, fluke, black sea bass, and more. 

Striped Bass

The bass fishing continues to impress out front. They're on shallow structure, they're on deep structure, and they're roaming everywhere in between looking for schools of sandeels and squid to pursue. The usual summer tactics are beginning to take over. Live eels are probably catching the most big bass right now, and I wouldn't expect that to change over the next few weeks. Trolling the Butchie Built Tube is another classic, tipped with either worm, Gulp!, or FishBites. The tube and worm combo is especially effective for kayak fisherman, but the boat guys have plenty of luck with it as well. Big spooks like The Doc, Yo-Zuri Mag Pencil, 247 Mully, and Lemire's Plugworks Wave Jammer are all raising big fish. Don't be afraid to throw a spook over deep water, especially during low-light conditions at daybreak or around sunset. The year of the glide bait is still going strong, too. The Berkley Chop Block, Shimano Gravitator are the two we have in stock at the moment. The Chop Block has become a fan favorite for us here at the shop. We recommend taking the back hook off and beefing up the front treble. You will want to add a bit of extra weight to the tail to compensate for the second hook being removed. For surf guys, Needlefish  and Darters have been doing most of the damage with all of the sandeels and squid around. Throwing a Striper Fly or Red Gill teaser above your plug isn't a bad idea, either. For ideal squid presentations, Bucktails and Soft Plastics are pretty tough to beat. Both paddletails and straight tails should get the job done depending on your conditions.

Durbin with very nice fly rod bass

Offshore

The fishing out at the canyons has been off to an electric start this season. As we wait for fish to push into more accessible range, the canyon runners are giving some very promising reports of what's (hopefully) to come. From what I've heard, it sounds like yellowfin are making up the majority of the catch with a sprinkle of bigeye, bluefin, marlin, etc. It seems to be mostly a troll bite at the moment. Check out our selection of trolling gear from Chatter, Hogy, and MagicTail. There have been a handful of guys checking the midshore grounds, reporting good-looking water and plenty of life in certain areas. Not much going on yet as far as bluefin, though. I'd expect that to change in the next couple of weeks before the next fishing forecast - or even in the next few days as we approach a weather window that will see lots of boats getting out there to look. It's a good time to load up on the basic essentials - whether you need RonZ Tails or RonZ heads, UVT Jigs, Point Jude Jigs, etc. We also have plenty of terminal tackle to get you rigged up and ready. Check out our Offshore Lures and Bars selection for everything you need to gear up before the offshore season really takes off in the next couple of weeks. 

Everything Else

The abundance of bait inshore has produced excellent bottom fishing. Fluke, black sea bass and scup are all very willing to eat right now. Don't be afraid to try up shallow for the fluke right now. Try some Gulp! on a light jighead and you're sure to find some. Look for a sandy bottom, ideally near some structure but not right on top of it. Other small soft plastics in the 4-6" range should get bit no problem. You should have no problem finding scup now that water temperatures are up. Harbors, bays, and really any piece of shoreline with moderate structure (not bare, but not full of structure) will hold scup. I like to use a small Metal/Epoxy Jig tipped with FishBites. It works like a charm, and it's much easier, cleaner, and more efficient than using bait. That said, if you've been loading up on squid, it's not a bad time to use them with a simple Porgy Rig. As far as black sea bass, you'll want to fish on structure like rockpiles and humps in relatively deep water. You can catch them shallow too, especially right now as they're chasing sandeels around, so don't feel like you have to stick to deep structure. Sea bass are willing eaters and have no problem hitting Metal/Epoxy Jigs or Soft Plastics of various sizes and colors. Paddletails, straight tails, etc. on jigheads will all get it done. If you want to bang up the numbers, a 3-5" bait will catch them of all sizes. To cull out some bigger ones, I'd recommend trying 6" or even bigger. As we approach July, the bottom fishing should stay strong and only improve from here, as there's no signs of the bait machine slowing down. There are a handful of bonito being caught, so we hope that continues to take off like it did the last two summers. July brings warm water and a plethora of species to our coast, so it's a great time to get out there and see what you can find.

One of many short fluke I've come across the past couple of weeks.