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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.

All coastsTexasLouisianaFloridaBahamasMexicoPuerto RicoSeychelles
Any typeFlySpinSightWadeSkiffRocksMarshSkinnyOffshore
Any fishRedfishSpeckled troutSouthern flounderBlack drumSheepsheadSnookTarponBonefishPermitJack crevalleMahi-mahiSailfishTuna (blackfin / yellowfin)HogfishYellowtail snapperMangrove / gray snapperMutton snapperRed snapperLane snapperGag grouperRed grouperBlack grouperCobiaFlorida pompanoTripletailKing mackerelSpanish mackerelGreater amberjackWahooBlue marlinWhite marlinStriped marlinSwordfishGreat barracudaRoosterfishGiant trevally
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico — urban tarpon, east-island flats

DNER water. Real NOAA gauges. Not a Keys copy and not FWC.

San Juan is Condado Lagoon and the bay — tarpon under the bridges, snook in the edges, a north-coast drop that is an offshore method. Vieques and Culebra are the Spanish Virgins: more sand, bones and permit, Mosquito Bay a reserve. La Parguera is the southwest mangrove desk, clocked to Magueyes 9759110. Blue marlin live in the story of this island; this brief will not invent a billfish on a lagoon. License is DNER. Do not paste a Jupiter snook closure onto Condado.

September. The island exhales. Tarpon still eat. East banks start to look like themselves.

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.

Vieques

September · peak

What is actually on

    SnookHogfishYellowtail snapperMangrove / gray snapperLane snapper
Peak Present Off

Closures

No coast-wide harvest closure on the board. Still verify before you keep a fish.

Permit

Trachinotus falcatus

Present SeptemberPuerto Rico

J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

Thermal window

—

66°92°

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 Vieques.

Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico: treat as catch-and-release. Verify DNER.

Official source

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