July is a great month to target swordfish, for two reasons: the ocean is flat so you have a lot of favorable fishing conditions and there’s a lot of dolphin around for the fish to feed on.

I don’t do a lot of nighttime swordfishing these days. It seems like the bite ratio has really dropped off at night for some reason, so I target them mainly during the daytime.

Summertime grouper fishing isn’t as good as it is in the winter when the fish come in close to shore to spawn, but it can still be very good. As the water warms up during the summer months the main body of fish will move out to deeper water, which is the Gulf of Mexico is like 85 to 120 or 130 feet.

Most adults who are passionate about fishing were first exposed to the sport as kids. Whether it was a parent, a relative or friend, it’s usually someone else who fishes that takes you for the very first time, and that experience is key to whether someone develops a passion for the sport.

We have a variety of sharks in my region that you can catch year-round, but if I was going to pick my favorite month to target them, it would be July. That’s when the pogie (Atlantic Menhaden) schools are thick along the beaches and the shrimp boats are dumping their bycatch daily within a few miles of shore. At the same time, the ocean is flat calm, so you can fish just about every day.

June is just a fantastic month to target mangrove snapper in my region because the Gulf of Mexico is flat calm so you can run fast to the wrecks and reefs, and the fish are schooled up and feeding. What’s nice about mangrove snapper is that you can find them inshore and offshore, so the nearshore wrecks, ledges will hold fish, as will any structure inshore like downed trees or logs, or rocks and seawalls.

The end of May and early June are prime time for dolphin fishing in the East Region. There’s still some big fish coming over from the eastern side of the Gulf Stream, and at the same time, the weedlines are starting to stack up while the seas are calming, so there’s a lot more days you can get out on the water.

For the anglers that do a lot of fishing with live or dead bait, this is the time of year when it really starts to show up in good numbers, particularly the herring species. You’ll find threadfins, pilchards and sardines on the beach, on the Skyway Bridge, Potter’s Pier, Bailey Bridge, Howard Franklin and most of the other well-lighted bridges. They can be on either side of the bridge, but you’ll see them moving and flashing and flicking under the lights.

In May, the tarpon are migrating north up the Gulf Coast along the beaches from south to north and will be in anywhere from eight feet of water to 15 feet. These fish are pouring out of the keys and traveling, so they’re schooled up and competitive and very hungry because they’re burning a lot of energy.