What a month it has been!

It would be difficult to find a better all-around fishing month in South Florida than June.   Throughout this month, I've had reports of:  huge tarpon on the flats; huge dolphin offshore; huge muttons on the reef; huge snook in Jupiter Inlet;  and steady swordfish in the deep water.  Some hardy explorers even managed to catch bluefin tuna along the Bahama bank.

So far, I have been unsuccessful in my personal quest --a permit on the flats on my fly rod.  But this past month has almost made up for it.  A couple weeks ago on the bonefish-rich flats of the east end of Grand Bahama Island, I released 3 out of 4 bonefish I hooked on fly rod in a single day.  Then two days later, I caught the biggest yellowfin tuna of my life -- a 60-pounder on 30-pound test near Long Island in the southern Bahamas.  I got it on a trolled skirted bally hoo -- nothing tricky.

A couple days after returning home, I went fishing in Islamorada with the crew of the Catch-22 out of Bud n' Mary's Marina.  Our crew was a bit conflicted between catching  a whole bunch of big dolphin for Andy Newman of the Florida Keys Tourist Development Council or furthering Vic Gaspeny's quest for a record number of swordfish caught in a lifetime. We managed to achieve both those goals.  We caught about 30 dolphin, a couple over 30 pounds, and Vic got his swordfish -- a 60-pounder of which I am still partaking.

Just when I thought things would slow down to the doldrums, I went up to Jupiter to fish with captain Cliff Budd.  After catching more bonitos than I ever wanted to see on fly rod, I released a huge snook -- easily over 20 pounds -- in the inlet on conventional gear using a sardine for bait.  Because of its swift currents and bottom structure, Jupiter Inlet is perhaps our region's  most reliable catch-and-release fishery for big snook in the summertime.  Hint: incoming tide.  It should only get better as the summer wears on.

If you're not catching fish now, you're not trying.