SWFL Fishing Forecast for June, 2018

It looks like the rainy season has made its way to South West Florida. Maybe that’s what we needed was a good cleansing. For our estuary to thrive a certain level of freshwater, in the form of natural rain run off is needed. It will be normal for the water to become darker around the rivers and creek mouths. This natural tanning is do to the dead vegetation. The problem is that it’s a natural balance, and made watersheds can dump to much at one time. On a positive note, this should give our fishery a needed spark. The stained water will make the fish not as spooky. Fishing in clear waters can be tough at times.

The past 4yrs I haven’t done any serious tournament fishing. Normally the series start in the spring, and I am just to busy. However I do make a couple exceptions, my better half likes to fish a couple local fun tournaments. One of which is the Sweetheart Tourney. We missed a couple due to illness, but we try our luck every year. The objective is to bring in a Live Redfish and a Live Trout for a combined weight. Over the years we have been real close to winning. The first year we fished we got second place. The second year we finished 3rd. Then we had one year that was just horrible and we didn’t even weigh in. I have wanted to win this one so bad for Rach. The past few years she has been through so much. She battled with breast cancer that resulted in several surgery’s. Had two different rounds of chemotherapy and weeks of radiation. Not to mention I can be pretty tough to fish with in a tournament setting. So the day before I had went and caught our bait for the next day. At 7:30 on May !9th we left from lavishly. The tides that morning where not ideal for fishing, the water wasn’t going to start moving till around 10:30. The problem was we had to be back in at 2:30. The first area we fished for probably 2-3 hours and caught one Snook. In a normal situation I would never stay in a area with out any bites for that long. How ever Rach was in my ear to be patient the tide wasn’t moving, and we had beverages. So around 11am we decided to go to our Trout spot. We got set up made a cast, fish on, it was only 14″. Then probably the worse thing that could happen did, here comes Mister Dolphin. After hanging around for what seemed forever and making me infuriated he went on his way. Well we got lucky and caught a barely legal trout. By this time the water was moving so we decided to go try for a red. We pulled up on a shoreline, and on Rach’s first cast she hooks up. We land the fish and measured it. Her red was just under the top of the slot, and it was a fat one also. So finally with things going our way we decided to get a better trout. We were limited on time so we decided to try a dock that we have done well on before. The third or forth cast Rach hooks up on a better trout. So we had a really good red and ok trout we decided to roll the dice and go weigh in. Our trout hit the scales at 1.99 I was a little disappointed. The red hit the scales at 7.31 that was a better feeling. Now the waiting game, till all the boats have weighed. When it was all said and done our combined weight of 9.30 held on for the win. I was so happy for her. After all she’s been through she deserved this. Hopefully next year has the same results.

If you would like to experience some of Charlotte Harbor’s finest fishing give me a call or send me an email. All of our charters are private to fit you and your party's needs.

You can also follow me on Twitter @ backbayxtremes for daily and weekly updates.

Captain Dave Stephens * (941) 916-5769 * Back Bay Xtremes * PO Box 510746, Punta Gorda FL 33951

Flats Fishing Charters for Charlotte Harbour, Punta Gorda, Florida