Updated: Thursday, June 4, 2026 · Next update: Thursday, June 11, 2026
This Jacksonville fishing report covers early June, when the North Florida summer pattern takes hold from the St. Johns to the nearshore wrecks. King mackerel are the lead target, moving in on the nearshore reefs, ledges and bait pods just off the beaches. Redfish work the marsh creeks and oyster bars, and the first tarpon start to show along the beaches and at the river mouth. Plan around the tide inshore and the calm mornings before the sea breeze and afternoon storms offshore.
What’s Hitting
Kingfish are the story offshore and nearshore. The early-summer run stacks fish on the reefs, ledges and bait pods off the beaches, generally in 40 to 90 feet. Inshore, redfish are reliable in the marsh creeks and around the oyster bars, and mangrove snapper and flounder fill out the catch around structure and the jetties.
Tarpon begin to appear along the beaches and at the mouth of the St. Johns, and Spanish mackerel blitz bait along the beachfront.
Where to Find Them
Run to the nearshore reefs and ledges, or simply find the bait pods off the beach, for kingfish. The jetties at the St. Johns mouth hold flounder, snapper and redfish.
Work the marsh creeks, feeder creeks and oyster bars of the Intracoastal for reds on the moving tide. In June the reds sit on the creek mouths as the tide falls, waiting for bait to wash out of the grass. The beachfront and the river mouth are the places to look for early tarpon and cruising mackerel.
Tides & Conditions
The inshore action keys on tidal movement. The marsh fishes best on the last of the falling tide and the early incoming, when bait gets pinned to the bars, and the last two hours of the outgoing are prime time at the creek mouths.
Nearshore, calm mornings before the sea breeze and the afternoon storms are the window for slow-trolling and chunking the reefs.
Tackle & Tactics
- Kingfish: slow-troll live menhaden (pogies) or cigar minnows on stinger rigs along the edge of the bait pods, keeping one bait deep on a planer, or anchor up and chunk over the reefs.
- Redfish: a gold spoon, a soft plastic on a jighead or a live mud minnow worked along the bars. At a creek mouth, anchor up-current and cast a cut mullet chunk or a live shrimp on a jighead into the drain.
- Jetty snapper and flounder: light fluorocarbon and small hooks.
- Mackerel and tarpon: keep a spinning rod rigged with a spoon ready for anything that shows.
Local Intel This Week
The Mayport boat ramp is the closest launch to the jetties and the nearshore kingfish grounds. The Sisters Creek ramp on Heckscher Drive covers the north side of the river and the marsh creeks, and the Palm Valley ramp is the best access to the south Intracoastal creeks.
Without a boat, fish the rocks at Huguenot Memorial Park for reds and flounder, and work the Jacksonville Beach Pier for kings and Spanish. Redfish in Northeast Florida carry their own regional rules, and kingfish have federal limits that apply nearshore. Check current FWC and federal regulations and seasons before keeping fish.
This Week’s Tip
Watch the bait for the early tarpon at the river mouth. When the menhaden pods get nervous and start showering, there are predators underneath. Drift a live pogy on a circle hook nearby and be ready; the June tarpon action at the St. Johns mouth only builds from here.
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