On June 1, Paradise Outfitters put a 180-pound yellowfin on the dock out of Venice, plus roughly a dozen tuna across three boats and a 55-pound wahoo. Capt. Hunter Caballero added eight mahi on the morning troll and his read on the rest of the season: "It has been the best I've seen the Mahi fishing in the last few years so it should be an awesome June and July." Then the east wind built in and pinned the fleet to the dock through Friday. This week is the payback. The front cleared, seas laid down to three feet, the boats got back out over Free Fishing Weekend, and the moon is building hard toward the New Moon on the 15th. Spring tides, the strongest current of the month, landing on the calmest water in three weeks.

Redfish. Conditions flipped back in the sight-fisherman's favor. Two things flipped at once. The river is easing back down, 1.50 feet and falling after a week of climbing muddy water, cleaning the delta and reopening the clean-water pockets last week's rise had closed. And the spring tides building toward the New Moon are moving more water, so the marsh drains harder and the falling-tide bite turns on at the points, drains, and shoreline edges. Capt. Johnathan D at Fish Louisiana posted June 4 they're "catching limits daily" of reds with the bull reds still around. Fish the falling tide on the clean edges, throw bait under a cork in the dirtier interior. Slot 18 to 27, four per person, bulls over 27 catch-and-release.

Speckled trout. Same spring-tide story drives the trout. Neap-to-spring is the whole thing, stronger water turning on the passes, points, and deeper structure. With the river cleaning up, the marsh ponds come back into play too. Trout were in the Fish Louisiana daily limits this week alongside the reds. Popping cork with live shrimp or croaker on the falling tide, tight-line the harder-current passes when the tide's really ripping. Limit 15, slot 13 to 20, max 2 over 20.

Mangrove snapper. With the water in the low-to-mid 80s, the nearshore mangrove bite at the rocks and the close rigs is the known June producer. Year-round, 10 per day (within the 10-fish snapper aggregate), 12-inch minimum.

Tripletail. Now that the seas have laid down, the passes are sight-fishable again. Run the crab-trap floats, buoys, and debris lines in the calm and look for them laid up on the surface. Worth a look this week that it wasn't last week.

Yellowfin. Paradise Outfitters' June 1 day is the headline: 180-pound dock fish plus two at the hundred-pound mark from Capt. Scott Leger, six more 30-pound-class fish from Capt. Renee Luminais, and a 90-pound from Capt. Hunter Caballero who finished on mahi and snapper. That was the last fishable offshore window before the east-wind blowout shut everything down Thursday and Friday. This week the door's open again, seas down to three to four feet, and the boats got back out over the weekend. Mexican Gulf Fishing Company ran yellowfin, swordfish, and blackfin hard through late May right before the front, so the Paradise day and the MGFC late-May run say the same thing: the fish are still on the program, the front just took the access. Three per person, 27-inch fork length minimum.

Wahoo. Capt. Renee boated a 55-pound wahoo on the same Paradise June 1 trip. First named-boat wahoo number we've had in weeks.

Mahi. Eight mahi on Capt. Hunter's June 1 morning troll, and his read on the rest of the season is the strongest looking-ahead signal we've had on the offshore side in weeks: best mahi fishing he's seen in years, an awesome June and July expected.

Red snapper. Still the headline reef trip, weather finally cooperating. Last week it was the only thing producing but you couldn't reach the reefs until Saturday. This week the run's a comfortable three to four feet. Capt. Johnathan D had snapper in the Fish Louisiana daily limits June 4. Pelas and Demoll's late-May reports we covered last week still describe the same bite. Season's open across the board, state and private at four fish and a 16-inch minimum, federal for-hire through October 26. Carry a descending device, it's required on any reef trip and you'll use it.

Swordfish. First real shot since the blow. The daytime sword drift off the shelf edge needs calm water, and the calm is back. Carryover on the bite, fresh on the access.

Blackfin. No specific report this week beyond the MGFC late-May continuity.

Billfish. Nothing new since the Cajun Canyons wrapped, a release year with no blue marlin to the scales. The next Cypress Cove event is the Faux Pas Lodge Invitational in July. Billfish season is building toward its June-through-September peak.

Amberjack. Still closed in federal waters through August 31. Reopens September 1.

The east wind that defined last week is gone and the offshore door it slammed shut is back open. The front cleared, the forecast laid down to south at ten to fifteen knots and two to four feet offshore, and the June 6-8 weekend was the first comfortable offshore stretch since the blow. It landed on Free Fishing Weekend, so there were plenty of boats out, license or no license.

The offshore lead is Paradise's June 1 day, and the read worth pulling forward is Capt. Hunter's: best mahi fishing he's seen in years, an awesome June and July expected. That's the rare working-captain forecast that points the next two months instead of just yesterday. Treat the June 1 catch as the proof of what the offshore side does when the weather lets it.

Inshore is where the week genuinely got better. The river dropping and cleaning, plus the spring tides building toward the New Moon on the 15th, add up to the best inshore setup in three weeks. More current, cleaner water, harder marsh drainage. If you've got a choice this weekend, the marsh is the safer bet on conditions and the offshore is the bigger payoff if the forecast holds.

Paradise Outfitters, Capts. Scott Leger, Renee Luminais, and Hunter Caballero. Three-captain offshore operation out of Venice with a reports page that publishes regularly. The June 1 day above is theirs. Capt. Hunter's mahi-season read says June and July are set up well. If the calm holds and you want to fish the offshore lead, they're the call. Booking and reports at venicefishing.com.

A descending device. Snapper-season must-have, and this is the weekend you'll actually need it. Snapper's the bookable producer, both seasons open, and the seas finally let boats reach the reefs in comfort. More reef trips means more short fish and barotrauma releases, and a descending device or venting tool is federally required on any Gulf reef-fish trip. The SeaQualizer is the spring-loaded auto-release most boats run, around $40 for the model that covers Venice depths. The Shelton Fish Descender is the budget pinch-release, and the Blacktip is cheapest of all. Stocked at Bass Pro, Tackle Warehouse, and West Marine.

The Thursday-morning marine forecast has the offshore zones south-southeast at five to ten knots through Friday with seas two to three feet, building to two to four feet (occasionally five) Saturday in the deeper zone, slight afternoon thunderstorm chance through the weekend. Inshore follows the coast: light southeast early, building south by Saturday night. Best offshore day looks like Friday or Saturday morning. Sunday and Monday remain fishable but bumpier.

Moon's a waxing crescent building toward the New Moon on June 15. Spring tides stacking up all week, the strongest current of the cycle landing on the weekend. At Pilottown, Saturday's high is 1.58 ft at 08:23, low at 20:04, range about 1.7 ft. Sunday's high is 1.66 ft at 09:12, low at 21:08, range about 1.8 ft. Monday peaks at 1.68 ft. Practical read: harder marsh drainage, stronger falling-tide bite, bigger move both days runs late morning through evening. Looking further out, the next weekend (June 19-21) the range collapses to under a foot, so this is the better current window of the two.

Southwest Pass buoy reads 83 degrees, 24-hour range 81.7 to 84.9. Last week's post-front cool-down has reversed, water's back on summer plateau. The river at Venice is down about a foot off last week's early-June peak, and that's what's been cleaning the delta back up. (The 01480 gage is tidal, so intraday absolutes swing several tenths, sometimes a foot. Lead on the multi-day trend, not the snapshot number.)

Tropics: a tropical wave off the Bay of Campeche tied to a Pacific remnant. NHC has it at ten percent formation odds at 48 hours and ten percent at seven days, expected to move inland over eastern Mexico late weekend. No direct threat to the northern Gulf or Louisiana. The 2026 Atlantic season is forecast below normal.

The snapper tracker's gone quiet. LDWF's last estimate is still 97,049 pounds, about 11 percent of the recreational allocation through May 17. The May 24 and May 31 updates haven't posted. Given the pace was accelerating, the real season-to-date is well past 11 percent by now. Watch for the next drop, that's what tells you how much runway the state season has left.

Gag grouper season set for September. Louisiana Sportsman posted June 9 that the 2026 state-water season runs September 1 through 30 and the federal season runs September 1 through October 1, after LDWF issued a Declaration of Emergency to align with the modified federal season. If you're planning a fall reef trip, mark it.

Free Fishing Weekend landed on the calm. Last week's issue teed it up and it played out: June 6-7, no license required statewide, landing on the first comfortable offshore weekend since the blow. Good weekend to have brought somebody who doesn't fish enough to keep a license.

Quiet June on the tournament calendar. No Venice tournament this month. The next event out of Cypress Cove is the Faux Pas Lodge Invitational in July, then the Empire South Pass Tarpon Rodeo at the end of July and the NOLA Invitational Billfish Tournament in August. If you're planning a trip around an event, that's the runway.

Next week, an updated read on the river, the new-moon spring-tide weekend results, and whatever the boats turn up once the offshore window holds. If you fished the calm this weekend, hit reply with intel, attribution on request or off the record. And if you know somebody planning a Venice trip this summer, forward this along.

Until next Thursday.

Joey