A whale of a tale on Sea Love June , 4 2015

**A whale of a tale on Sea Love**

JiM SUTToN FISHING REPORT

**Things are all good in area freshwater.**

The full moon seems to have fired off the pan-fish, with lots of reports of 50-fish limits coming in, especially from the creeks off the St. Johns River — and mainly Six-Mile and Trout creeks.

It’s mostly bluegills with some warmouth, shellcrackers and redbellies thrown in.

But the number of anglers targeting them, according to guides, is not what it ought to be, simply because there’s so much more to fish for right now.

The redfish bite remains very strong, and the freshwater guys are making hay while the sun shines. The reds really aren’t supposed to be so far from saltwater. But they are, and in big numbers — clear down to Lake George.

Striper fishing has been better than normal. And the catfish bite is as good as it gets any time of year. A couple of 12-and 16-pounders were weighed this week.

The bass bedding is over for sure now, but the post-spawn fishing remains good. Shiners off the grass edges, and weedless plastics in the grass are still paying off. Some dedicated bass anglers remain miffed that redfish are messing up their fishing. But how bad can that really be?

**The intracoastal Waterway**

The numbers of flounder are the story this week. But their size is small on average. One fish of more than 5 pounds was reported locally.

The good news for the week is that the mangrove snapper are beginning to move into the inlets and spread out. These are big fish for this early in the year — some 15-inchers.

Find rocks, riprap, docks or other structure and you’ll likely find them. But the closer to the inlets you search right now, the better luck you’re likely to have.

Redfish are scattered and are running in class sizes. If you catch a slot-sized fish, stay there. If you catch a half-dozen rat reds, leave.

Trout fishing reports were hot the past few weeks, but we did not hear much about them this week.

A few black drums were caught along oyster bars with good drops attached. Jacks and lady-fish are all over.

**The Atlantic**

It may be as much about the incessant winds as the cooperation of striking fish, but there were very few offshore reports. The Jodie Lynn charter went out Sunday and iced four dolphin, a wahoo and a couple of small blackfin tuna. It spent the afternoon bottom fishing.

The grouper bite has been much better than the beginning of the season the past few years. Of course, red snapper are as stacked up as they are illegal.

Triggers and beeliners are biting hard. Mangrove snapper are making their summer debut. Black sea bass are still around, but many will be heading north to cooler waters if they have not done it already.

The cobia bite has been bad off the beaches, but wind has something to do with that, too.

The best cobia report, and the neatest story in quite a while, came from the Sea Love head boat that came up on a pod of an estimated 20 cobia — mostly on the small side. But the fish were under a whale shark that the boat happened upon around 20 miles east of the inlet.

They’re rare and solitary fish — but really rare in our waters. Captain Guy Spear said he’s seen one here in his time on the water. Captain Robert Johnson, who’s spent about as much time in the deep water over the past 35 years as on land, said he’s seen four.

The crew says the fish was 50 feet long. But data suggests the largest confirmed fish ever seen was 41.5 feet, and 21 tons. This is the largest fish species on the planet — by far.

They are filter-feeders and plankton is their main diet. But Johnson said he thought one of the whales he saw was feeding on a school of glass minnows. And reports say that that has been seen observed other places as well.

I got to swim with one a few years back, off Mexico’s Holbox Island. It was something special. It must have been a thrill for those on the boat that day. surf fishing

The surf fishing is strange, but come to think of it, that’s not strange. There was a good report of a pompano bite on North Beach over the weekend, and they were nice fish. What they’re doing in 80-degree surf, I can’t imagine. The whiting fishing has been good in spots but generally miserable. It may be that the catfish, baby bonnethead sharks and other trash fish are just beating them to the punch. nonsense

**Here’s a little trivia.** The June full moon goes by several names, including the strawberry moon, because that’s supposed to be when the berries are ready to pick.

But back in the olden times — and I mean even older than Randy at Avid Angler — the folks getting married celebrated June weddings with mead, a beer made from honey. The mead moon later translated into the honey moon which is the basis for the modern “honeymoon.” It also translates in several ancient dialects throughout recorded history as “the beginning of the end” — predominately for male Homo Sapiens and their quest for peace and comfort.

**The weather**

Looks like a nice weekend to get offshore and see what kind of grass lines the wind has pushed up over the past week. Saturday southwest winds will blow at 5-10 knots, with seas at 2-4 feet, turning more from the east Sunday, with seas diminishing to 2-3 feet.

**Jim Sutton provides a weekly fishing report for The Record. Reach him at jim.** [email protected]?