A more docile adversary on the wrecks in June is the cobia. A cobia will not jump through the side of the boat or bite you in the neck, but it is still quite a gamefish. Cobia rely on brute, stubborn strength rather than agility and acrobatic prowess. Taking a 40-pound cobia on 15-pound-test line is no easy task. Often the angler wears out before the fish, sometimes before the often duncelike cobia even realizes it is hooked. Besides being excellent fighters, cobia are excellent table fare. Maybe to a fault. Keep the smaller fish—provided, of course, that they’re over the legal minimum length. They are far better than the larger ones. A 50-plus-pound cobia is far better suited for producing more cobia than dining with you.

Best Bet: 10,000 Islands

You need not run very far to find action this month. Go to a nearby pass and enjoy some classic snook fishing. All of the passes will house some very large snook in June, but the pass that is most talked about in this area is Gordon Pass.

It may be the busiest pass in the area as far as boat traffic is concerned, but it still attracts more snook than any other area. Some say that this is because it is the northernmost entry of the Ten Thousand Islands. Others say that it is because of the massive schools of baitfish that flow through this pass each spring. Perhaps it is simply that snook have been breeding there for an eon and they insist on coming back, boats or no boats. Whatever the reason, Gordon Pass is a very snooky place.

The rock wall on the south side of the pass is the most fished area. It consistently produces fish, but anglers should not limit themselves to this wakey, sometimes crowded area. All of the banks and points just inside the pass produce good fish, as do the adjacent beaches. Naples Bay offers excellent fishing, and the Naples/Marco Channel is home to tarpon, redfish, pompano and trout, as well as snook.

Artificials work well for snook, but in hard-fished areas, live baits are often a necessity. Live shiners are numerous and can be cast netted right along the beach and thread herring can be caught on gold-hook rigs just outside the pass at the tideline or around nearby buoys. Once you have your live baits, freeline them in fishy-looking areas, or weigh them down on the bottom along the jetty. It won’t be long before the action begins. There are also some very big redfish in Gordon Pass, as well as tarpon, shark, mackerel and trout.