The Saturday Letter · Vol. 1 · No. 27
June 29 – July 5, 2026 · June fundamentals · All coasts · 7 of 7 desks · frozen Saturday issue
Permalink: /newsletter/2026-07-04
This week on your coast
Galveston
8.3
Redfish are the hunt — push West and East Bay grass as the wind lets water back in. Heat is the clock — first light or last light.
Venice
8.3
Redfish should be the day — flood the west-bank ponds, then the south passes if the bulls are in.
Islamorada
4.4
Permit are the hunt — oceanside permit and bones, or Channel 5 current — not a Texas marsh sentence. Heat is the clock — first light or last light.
Andros
8.1
Permit should be the day — west-side white sand — schools, then the double-digit singles.
Ascension
6.3
Permit are the hunt — wait for the next inch — this bay empties.
San Juan
8.4
Tarpon should be the day — the same harbor throats as they dump.
Alphonse
5.4
Giant trevally are the hunt — wait for the next inch — this atoll empties. Work the leeward shore — fly gets harder.
June is when the coast tells the truth about heat. Texas trout leave the flat at midday. SE Florida snook typically close for the spawn — catch-and-release is still fishing. Bahamas goes to summer schools of 3-pound bones. Early is not a vibe. It is the method.
Drawn from Galveston, Venice, Islamorada, Andros, Ascension, San Juan, and Alphonse — one desk per theater, not every micro-area. Scores are 1–10. They are not bite guarantees. Read this month’s seasonal fundamentals.
Seven desks
Texas desk
Wind is the tide
Today
high
Redfish are the hunt — push West and East Bay grass as the wind lets water back in. Heat is the clock — first light or last light.
Heat is the clock. Trout leave the flat at midday. Reds work drains at dawn. Corpus beach tarpon is a different boat.
— Tide is incoming from NOAA.
— Observed water is close to the astronomical prediction — the table is telling the truth today.
Open the Galveston briefLouisiana desk
River is the tide
Today
medium
Redfish should be the day — flood the west-bank ponds, then the south passes if the bulls are in.
Heat and river. Venice tarpon on the south passes. Trout at first light. Reds in the drains.
— Tide is incoming from NOAA.
— On this coast the wind often outruns the printed tide. Observed water is -0.45 ft versus the prediction.
Open the Venice briefFlorida desk
Educated fish, short windows
Today
high
Permit are the hunt — oceanside permit and bones, or Channel 5 current — not a Texas marsh sentence. Heat is the clock — first light or last light.
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.
— Tide is incoming from NOAA.
— Observed water is close to the astronomical prediction — the table is telling the truth today.
Open the Islamorada briefBahamas desk
Bonefish country
Today
medium
Permit should be the day — west-side white sand — schools, then the double-digit singles.
Summer schools of 3–5 lb bones. Permit on the west sides. Bring the buff and the 8-weight and go early.
— Tide is incoming (modeled — no NOAA gauge on this water).
— Clear · 0%. Sky is workable.
Open the Andros briefMexico desk
Two oceans
Today
medium
Permit are the hunt — wait for the next inch — this bay empties.
Heat. Ascension early. Mujeres mahi. East Cape is a dawn rooster and a midday bank.
— Tide is low slack (modeled — no NOAA gauge on this water).
— Mostly clear. Clouds steal the window on bones and permit.
Open the Ascension briefPuerto Rico desk
Urban tarpon, then the drop
Today
high
Tarpon should be the day — the same harbor throats as they dump.
Heat is the clock. Condado at dawn. The drop is a boat-and-ice problem.
— Tide is outgoing from NOAA.
— The gauge is +0.49 ft off the predicted table — read the water, not just the printout.
Open the San Juan briefSeychelles desk
GT country
Today
medium
Giant trevally are the hunt — wait for the next inch — this atoll empties. Work the leeward shore — fly gets harder.
Wind. This is not the photograph month on St François. Inner islands still fish.
— Tide is low slack (modeled — no NOAA gauge on this water).
— Overcast. Clouds steal the window on bones and permit.
Open the Alphonse briefBox score · June
Tarpon
Texas · Louisiana · Florida · Bahamas · Mexico · Puerto Rico
Keys migratory peak Apr–May. Boca Grande Pass is the spring stack. Jupiter inlet and beach. Texas beach/passes mid-summer. Venice south passes in the heat. Bahamas: resident fish in bights Apr–Oct.
Bonefish
Florida · Bahamas · Mexico · Puerto Rico · Seychelles
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.
Permit
Florida · Bahamas · Mexico · Puerto Rico · Seychelles
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.
Hogfish
Florida · Bahamas · Mexico · Puerto Rico
Keys and Caribbean patch reefs. Not a Texas bay fish. Not a bonefish headline. He lives on the hard bottom, not the grass.
Yellowtail snapper
Florida · Bahamas · Mexico · Puerto Rico
Islamorada to Key West, then the Bahamas and the Spanish Virgins. Patch reefs and the first drop. Absent from Texas bays.
Mangrove / gray snapper
Texas · Louisiana · Florida · Bahamas · Mexico · Puerto Rico
The snapper that will live in a Texas jetty and a Keys creek. Schoolies on structure. Bigger fish on the wrecks. Not a yellowtail.
Mutton snapper
Florida · Bahamas · Mexico · Puerto Rico
Keys wrecks and Caribbean hard bottom. Not a Texas red. Not a yellowtail in a chum slick.
Red snapper
Texas · Louisiana · Florida
Gulf wrecks and snapper banks. Texas and Louisiana live on this fish in a short federal window. Not a Galveston grass headline. Not a Keys yellowtail.
Lane snapper
Texas · Florida · Mexico · Puerto Rico
Nearshore Gulf and Caribbean hard bottom. Texas jetties and the first reefs. Not the federal red-snapper story.
Red grouper
Florida
Florida Gulf bottom. Absent from Texas grass and from a Biscayne bonefish morning.
Black grouper
Florida · Bahamas · Mexico · Puerto Rico
Keys, Bahamas, Yucatan, Puerto Rico wrecks. The heavy grouper. Do not print him on Galveston.
Tripletail
Texas · Louisiana · Florida
Summer Gulf. Traps, weed, and channel markers. Texas and Louisiana live on this fish. Not a wreck grouper.
King mackerel
Texas · Louisiana · Florida · Mexico
Texas and Florida summer kings. The beach and the first wrecks. Not a trout. Not a wahoo.
Spanish mackerel
Texas · Louisiana · Florida
Nearshore Gulf and the Florida east coast. Birds and bait. Not a king. Not a spec.
Striped marlin
Mexico
Eastern Pacific. East Cape and the mouth of the Cortez. Absent from Texas, Louisiana, the Keys, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Seychelles. Same rule as the rooster: this ocean only.
Roosterfish
Mexico
Eastern Pacific — Baja East Cape and La Paz, Costa Rica, Panama. Absent from Texas, Louisiana, the Keys, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Seychelles. Lives on this atlas only on the Mexico Pacific desks.
Noise, not the headline: Jack crevalle, Great barracuda.
Rules
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.
Regs citedTPWD Outdoor Annual · Sep 1, 2025–Aug 31, 2026 · rolls in 8 days. Texas bag and season roll every September 1. The stamp is the book we cited, not a license.