Doctrine · not a honey-hole list

Seasonal fundamentals

When a coast, a type of water, and a fish actually line up. If you elected Texas on the list, this page opens on Texas — Seychelles stays off the board until you ask for it. Filter by region, method or habitat, and species. The year bar is peak versus present. Limits cite TPWD and FWC — verify before you keep one.

Florida

Florida — two coasts, do not mix them

Keys oceanside is bones and permit. Backcountry is reds and snook. Boca is the pass. Jupiter is the inlet.

Biscayne is the north end of the grand-slam stage. Key Largo is the first Key — Card Sound, Garden Cove, Pennekamp as the launch, not a secret flat. Adjacent SPAs are no-take. Islamorada is the mecca — Channel 5, oceanside banks, wrecks for permit that have seen every crab. Flamingo is a different country: reds and snook, not oceanside bones. Marathon and Key West stretch it south. Then the mainland: Boca Grande Pass is the spring tarpon stack, Charlotte Harbor the snook and reds — Gulf rules, not Atlantic. Jupiter is inlet snook and a beach tarpon, clocked to Lake Worth Pier. Snook closures differ by FWC region. FKNMS polygons are Keys-only. Do not headline Jupiter with a bonefish.

June. Snook closed on both coasts. Boca still a tarpon argument. Jupiter is catch-and-release. Do not harvest a snook because the brief scored an 8.

Type

Skinny water

Inches. Baffin, Lower Laguna, Keys oceanside banks, Andros west-side sand, Ascension Bay, St François, Vieques banks. Tide character is sight-skinny: a huge range can empty the flat; a dead-small range can leave fish in a bathtub with no refresh. Push too far and you are walking the boat home. Trophy trout on serpulid rock is not the same as a school of 3-pound bones — same depth, different fish, different mistake.

Biscayne Key Largo Islamorada Key West

June · peak

What is actually on

Tarpon

Bonefish

Permit

Hogfish

Yellowtail snapper

Mangrove / gray snapper

Mutton snapper

Red snapper

Lane snapper

Red grouper

Black grouper

Tripletail

King mackerel

Spanish mackerel

Peak Present Off

Closures

SE Florida snook (Jupiter, Keys, Biscayne). Typically closed Dec 15–Jan 31 and June 1–Aug 31. Catch-and-release is still fishing. Do not harvest a snook because a desk scored an 8.
Charlotte Harbor / Boca Grande snook. Typically closed Dec 1–end of Feb and May 1–Sep 30. Gulf region, not Atlantic. Verify FWC.

Redfish

Sciaenops ocellatus

Present JuneFlorida

Thermal window

—

52–88°F · best 62–82°F

Texas and Louisiana main event. Tails in flooded grass, wakes on shell, winter schools on mud, bulls in the passes. Keys: backcountry only, not oceanside. Boca Harbor yes. Jupiter is a snook desk.

Fly. 8-weight. Crab or shrimp on bead-chain for tailers. Gold spoon when the wind wrecks the fly. 20 lb near oyster.

Spin. Weedless gold spoon, paddle, or soft plastic. Heavy spoon or big paddle for the fall jetty bulls.

Leads the brief on Flamingo, Boca Grande.

Florida. Florida SE: typically 18–27 in, 1/person, 2/vessel. Harvest banned in federal waters. Keys backcountry, not oceanside. Boca Harbor yes.

Official source

Bonefish

Albula vulpes

Peak JuneFlorida

Thermal window

—

68–88°F · best 72–84°F

Absent in Texas. Keys: big, few, educated. Bahamas: the capital — winter singles, summer schools of 3–5 lb fish. Puerto Rico: east islands more than San Juan. Seychelles: Alphonse and Farquhar sand, not Mahé town water.

Fly. 8 wt. Gotcha, Crazy Charlie, shrimp. Long fluoro, soft landing. Bahamas will forgive more than Biscayne.

Spin. Possible with a tiny jig. The honest tool here is the fly.

Leads the brief on Biscayne, Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon, Key West.

Florida. Florida: catch-and-release only, hook-and-line only.

Official source

Permit

Trachinotus falcatus

Peak JuneFlorida

Thermal window

—

70–88°F · best 74–84°F

None in Texas. Keys mecca — flats, banks, wrecks. Bahamas west sides May–Oct. Puerto Rico: east-island banks, not Condado. Seychelles 'permit' is often the Indo-Pacific fish (Trachinotus blochii) — same job, different ocean.

Fly. 9 wt, 10 in wind. Merkin / Del Brown / Raghead. Lead the tailer, let the crab sink, one slow twitch.

Spin. Often deadlier. Live crab, DOA crab, 20–30 fluoro. No apology.

Leads the brief on Biscayne, Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon, Key West.

Florida. Florida: hook-and-line. Special Permit Zone (Keys) is tighter than the rest of the state — typically C&R. Verify FWC.

Official source

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