Along the central east coast of Florida March Madness has as much to do with challenging fishing conditions as college basketball. Winter chose to linger longer than normal this year creating calendaring chaos. The winds of this March have been maddening!

The subjects of this particular fishing report were some of the all star clients of the Mad Hatter, Capt. Rocky Van Hoose, over the past several weeks. (We will update the reports of Capt. Peter and Capt. Roland in our next report.)

The Readers of Burlington, Vermont chartered me for two days of fishing during their recent pilgrimage to the Sunshine State. During the first trip, Todd and Cheryl Reader, along with Todd’s brother Chris, visited a twenty mile stretch of the Banana River near Cocoa Beach. After frustratingly chasing a large school of monster reds long flat for a portion of the morning, we headed for one of my favorites shorelines. These friendly redfish and gator trout entertained us with a number hooked, landed, photographed and released. The following pictures are of Chris and Cheryl holding several of the large trout caught on the day.

The second charter with the Readers was in the Indian River near Titusville. This time we added Nick, Todd’s son to the crew. The weather was much different on this trip with stiff southerly winds. After being blown out of the first two locations, we made adjustments and found redfish and trout in a protected cove. However, it was the final locations where the fireworks occurred on this windy day. More trout and another redfish were caught along with several huge redfish which teased us.

Several days later, fishing the same venues as the Readers, Dale Looney from Auburn, Alabama found the fish even more aggressive. On the Banana River charter Dale caught seven redfish with five over slot and four large trout. The fish were outside of a rock wall in the calmer morning hours before shifting to a trough inside the rocks as the winds freshened in the afternoon.

The Titusville charter for Dale on the next day yielded similar action. We found large gator trout everywhere catching fifteen along with several redfish for a total of 17 fish. One fish we did not count in the total was a big blowfish which Dale somehow lassoed and hooked in the tail. We found the bulk of our fish holding in the sandy potholes and shallow troughs in the late morning and early afternoon hours.

Jack and Eileen Kling, with friend Ed from Delaware compressed another March crew for me. These three had fished with us last year and enjoyed another banner day this time around. Fishing the Banana River near Merritt Island, we once again caught redfish and trout. Pictured below is Ed holding one of his trophy trout.

Finally, fishing one of the windiest days of the year, the hale and hearty crew of Rick and Sammy, originally from Munsey Indiana. Despite the snarling seas we caught five redfish (four over slot-sized) and two big trout from the Banana River. By the way, we experienced 30 + mph winds and four foot waves on our final race toward the boat ramp. After docking, we watched five more boats (two large pontoon boats, two bay boats and one 24 foot speed boat) return to safe harbor with everyone aboard drenching wet. Meanwhile, we made the same voyage with hardly a drop hitting us.

The fishing for February fluxed from flabbergasting to frustrating depending upon the weather. When the cold fronts pushed through, the fishing was tougher than a two dollar steak at IHOP and when the warm, sunny days returned, the fishing was fantastic.

The following five fishing reports feature some of the many February clients of Capt. Brad Roland Jones. We’ll update trips guided by Capt. Peter and me in the next installment to our fishing chronicles.

Roland’s first report involves Vince and Aubrey Bloomberg from their annual migration from Michigan. Escaping the 8 degree weather from the frozen north to sunny Florida, the father and daughter duo enjoyed the fishing with Roland for the second straight year. Early morning air temps were in the upper 50s but warmed as the sun moved overhead and the fishing temps followed the same pattern. Multiple fish were caught including redfish, trout, sheepshead, and snapper from the Indian River lagoon in the Grant/Sebastian area.

Steve and Ben Wilson chartered Capt. Roland for a Ft. Pierce fishing adventure. The day was cool and windy but the father and son duo caught 10 gator trout from 23- 27 inches. This was a time for the two because they will be separated for the next year as Steve (pictured below) travels to the Far East for work.

Shifting to the Indian River lagoon near Titusville on a drop-dead beautiful day, Capt. Roland had the pleasure of guiding another father and son duo, Bob from California and Mike from Texas. Visiting several hot locations recently frequented by Peter and me, Roland’s crew caught several redfish and trout which eventually were a part of family wedding a day later in Orlando.

Eugene Kaleniak, a student at Florida Air Academy in Melbourne, spent a great day of fishing on the Indian River with Capt. Roland. (Professor Roland recently taught a semester-long course at the Academy on marine life on the river.) Eugene caught redfish, trout, sheephead, snapper and black drum during his final ‘classroom’ session for the course. By the way, Eugene passed the Roland’s class with flying colors.

Roland’s final report features his daughter Jessica. The two participated in the February Florida Flats Fishing Association Tournament held in Sebastian. Jessica won the woman’s trout category with a 7lb. 12 oz monster while Roland finished second for trout in the overall division.