If you live along the central east coast of Florida, are an avid fisherman and have a pulse, you’ve got to love this time of year. There are fish, fish everywhere from Ft. Pierce to Grant/Sebastian to Cocoa Beach to Titusville. As a result, we have many recent tales to tell in this report with limited space, so let’s get on with the telling.

There were two terrific reports from the Ft. Pierce area over the weekend. The first featured Vickie Raleigh and Wayne Rowell, a pair of Maverick Boat dealers from Brunswick, Georgia, guided by Capt. Roland. These two caught several gator trout, among other species, before hooking, and landing an awesome 34 inch snook. The fight alone on this fish will not soon be forgotten by anyone who witnessed it.

The other Ft. Pierce tale from the weekend came from Capt. Peter, Kenny Vitek of Orlando and me as we entered and won the slam category of the Riverside Café Inshore Tournament. Fishing against an estimated 125 anglers, we caught four snook from 28 to 34 inches, a number of trout over 27 inches and a single 26 inch redfish to complete the slam, hooked just minutes before the end of the tournament. What an adrenalin rush!

The fish have been congregating in the Grant/Sebastian/Melbourne Beach segment of the Indian River too. Capt. Roland guided two successful charters in the area last week. The first trip to relate featured a grandfather, father and son trio of Jerry Jones, and Eric and Garrett Reese. These anglers from Tennessee also caught an inshore slam of redfish, trout and sheephead. The following pictures are of Garrett, the youngest member of the crew.

The other Grant/Sebastian Inlet charter concerned Deltona residents Mitch and David Gordon and again it was Capt. Roland guiding the charter. These eager and enthusiastic anglers faced a difficult barometric condition but still fought and landed several trout, ladyfish and jacks.

The Banana River, Cocoa Beach charters have been fantastic over the last two days. Migrating finger mullet have begun their spring flood of the flats and the predatory fish are in a feeding frenzy. Yesterday I had the pleasure of guiding Jerry and Brenda Bulington of Gary, Indiana on their first backwater fishing adventure. On the half-day charter we caught eight redfish and one huge trout with a number of other fish fought and lost, including two monster redfish. Several of the ones which did not get away are pictured below.

The second Banana River charter was on Monday and featured Gene Garner from the Cornhusker State vacationing in Orlando. Capt. Roland assisted me on this charter as we caught five redfish and eight huge spotted trout. It was just one of those magical days where the fish were aggressive and hungry all day. What an absolute blast!

Finally, old friends from the Crimson Tide State, Howell and Jean Riggs, hooked up with young Peter Deeks, Jr and Capt. Robert Rohmann the previous weekend for two days of fishing. On the first day, the guides chose the Indian River near Titusville as their venue and caught approximately 15 redfish. On the second day, having only four hours before having to rush to Orlando International Airport, they opted to stay closer to home and fish the thousand island area of the Banana River near Cocoa Beach. Another six redfish were caught, along with several large trout.

What an awesome week of fishing!

The monthly calendar has flipped and so has the fishing. We’ve gone from the madness of March winds to the wetness of April showers. Enough of the Tom Foolery, the logbook is bursting with reports and pictures, let’s get down to it.

After a few days off in the Florida Keys, Capt. Rocky returned the middle of last week to guide Scott and Jesse from Orlando for a much anticipated fishing charter. Originally receiving their half day trip as a Christmas gift from a very dear friend, these two waited until spring break to assault the Titusville flats in search of monster redfish. Six brutes were fought and caught with an equal number battled and lost. Check out the spots on these fish and smiles on these faces.

Kirk and Ron, another pair of eager anglers, chartered Capt. Roland last Saturday after an all-night alligator hunt. They had a decent day of fishing the Melbourne Beach area of the Indian River catching redfish, trout and snook. Even though it appears in the following picture that Kirk is about to keel over from exhaustion while posing with one of his reds, we are happy to report he hung tough through the entire trip and has some great tales (and tails) as a result. After all, it was a most unusual Orlando vacation for these two extreme outdoorsmen.

A pair of Yankees from Connecticut, Ron and Tim, are the next fishermen found in the logbook. Capt. Roland was their guide and the Banana River near Cocoa Beach was their adventure. And it turned out to be one of the better recent charters as the two caught 12 reds and 2 large trout. (Ron and one of his reds are pictured first while Tim and one of his trophies follow).

Another pair from the Yankee State, Ernie and Bill, were our next visiting anglers. These two had both Capt. Rocky and Capt. Roland as their guides on their Titusville fishing charter. It was one of those post-cold front, high pressure system kind of locked-jaw days that needed the collective fishing wisdom of two guides to produce fish. Covering nearly twenty miles of shallow water, we had a grand time with alligators, manatees, and dolphins while managing to find a few fish willing to cooperate. Pictured below is Bill with one of the three large trout caught on the day.

Our final report features the ‘Geerlings Gang’ from Michigan – family patriarch Mike, along with four sons, Doug, Dan, Brian, and Phil and son-in-law Mike. Even though the Geerlings Gang sounds like a group of gangsters, these were actually great guys and good anglers. Fishing the Banana River near Cocoa Beach again, this double boat/captain, half day charter caught six reds, four trout and an early-season snook. Pictured below are Doug, Dan, Brian and Phil respectively – incidentally, the first redfish photographed had 59 spots.