The inshore fishing continues on a torrid pace along the Space and Treasure Coasts of central Florida as a late spring explosion of finger mullet have ignited a feeding frenzy in our salt-water rivers and back-water estuaries. This has resulted in a series of great guide trips for the guides of Native Sons Fishing Charters as giant snook, tarpon, bull sharks, and jack Crevalle have joined our more familiar predatory species of redfish and gator trout. Read on for details of happy anglers, fantastic fishing, and great times on the water.

Our first report features the Rimkus family and their friends from Colorado Springs, Colorado. This crew fished with Capt. Roland and Capt. Peter for three great days in three great venues. The following are accounts of those trips as recorded by Peter.

Day 1 – We fished the islands and flats in the Grant area of the Indian River for trout and snook. We caught 9 trout from 20 – 28inches with the 3 biggest being 26, 27, and 28 inches. Three of the four anglers I had on my boat caught their first seatrout, with two of them being big gators. Pictured below are Alex, Michael, Alex and Michael, and Bird Hunting Guide, respectively, holding their trophies from day one.

Day 2 – We fished the mangrove islands and crystal clear flats of the Indian River lagoon in the Vero Beach/Ft. Pierce area. The fishing was fun which included us managing 4 trout from 18 – 28 inches and a beautiful gag grouper. Pictured here are Alex with a healthy “gator” trout and Mariah with her gag grouper gang.

Day 3 –Our mission was to target hard fighting fish only on our final day. We started the morning off in the Melbourne Beach area fishing the mangrove lined creeks for tarpon. Then finished the trip off chasing giant schools of feeding jack Crevalle and waking fish. We landed a 50 inch tarpon, jack Crevalle, and gafftopsails. It was a very eventful and fun day of fishing even with the lower number of fish landed, as we hooked 5 tarpon up to 50lbs and countless jacks up to 35lbs. Pictured below is lady angler Mariah and myself holding her first tarpon.

Ralph Cummings, a professor at John Hopkins University, was in town visiting his in-laws and decided to get out of the house for a half day with Capt. Roland. It turned out to be a great decision as Ralph nailed an inshore slam of redfish, snook, and trout in the Melbourne area of the Indian River lagoon using light tackle. Pictured below is the “Prof” with his John Hopkins slam.

Young Micah Snyder from Merritt Island had my undivided attention recently for a few hours of fishing and boating in the Sykes Creek segment of the Banana River near Cocoa Beach, Florida. We had a blast catching fish and trading barbs. Here is Micah and his “four-foot” trout.

John Terrell of Orlando and Gary, his long-time fishing buddy from Rockledge, Florida, spent a lazy day with me yesterday fishing the Indian River in Titusville. The reason “lazy” is used to describe the day is because that is how I would characterize our normally hyper-aggressive redfish and trout. Whether it was the unusually high and tannic water from of our recent monsoons or the unseasonably low barometric pressure, the fish just seemed uncharacteristically lethargic on the half-day charter. We did catch a couple of redfish despite the day’s struggle. (Photo below was taken by Gary Yocum – Redfish being released below was also taken by Gary Yocum)

Dan and his wife Mary from “up-state” New York were chartered by Capt. Roland on Memorial Day. Despite the madness of the boat traffic of a major holiday weekend, the couple had a grand time fishing in the Grant segment of the Indian River. Among the many fish that were battled during the charter, two conquests are pictured below: the 24 pound snook and the five pound gator trout.

Occasionally we have one of those golden days of guiding which will eventually pass into charter captain lore. This past week Capt. Peter had such a day, and I thought the description and pictures from the trip merit an exclusive report. The following was written and directed by Capt. Peter. Read, imagine and enjoy.

A highlight of Capt. Peter’s week was a trip with a great fishing couple, Kurt and Lorie. Their mission is to fish in all 50 states and enjoy all of the many species of fish America has to offer. While in Florida, they fished with Capt. Peter for two days. The objectives of the first day were to fish in the ocean along the beaches for kingfish and cobia and then return to the River for trout and redfish. However, due to windy conditions, we decided to stay inshore and take advantage of the great river fishing. Kurt and Lorie got the best of four redfish and two nice trout – including both Lorie and Kurt’s best to date. They fished the clear waters near the islands and on the flats with live mullet in the Banana River.

The second day was one of those very special fishing experiences that will be unforgettable for Kurt and Lorie. Capt. Peter took the duo on a late spring, creek fishing adventure – a very special type of fishing which is unique to our area. The goal for this half-day of fishing was to land a shark, a giant jack Crevalle, and a tarpon. By sight-fishing in the narrow, picturesque mangrove-lined creeks that feed freshwater into to the Indian River Lagoon system, both Kurt and Lorie tamed many different types of gamesters that inhabit this diverse area. The two highlights for Capt. Peter was watching Kurt’s 33 inch snook inhale a live pogie off of the surface only feet from the boat and assisting Lorie muscle in a 50 inch tarpon which inhaled her baitfish before its dozen other tarpon friends could. Lorie’s tarpon battle was especially interesting in that it took place within creeks only as wide as the boat, jumping up into the trees, and dragging the anglers up and over sandbars, stumps, and trees. Lorie deserves credit for the skill she showed in landing her tarpon. The fishin’ couple’s final tally for the day included bull sharks, tarpon, snook, giant jack Crevalle, massive gar, and, of course, the usual “less desirables”.

(Editor’s addendum: I cannot imagine a finer representation of authentic backwater fishing for the State of Florida for Kurt and Lorie’s quest to fish all fifty states in the USA. Perhaps Alaska could top this day but it would be hard. Great job of guiding Captain Peter!)

One of the most prized inshore species is the snook. Well known for their spectacular fights, sneaky tactics and finicky appetites, the snook is the hardest member of our inshore slam to catch. This past week our central Florida exploded when the wiley snook went on a tear. And five fortunate charter party were treated to the angling thrill of a life-time. Their snooky accounts are as follows.

Ken Handle and crew thought they were in for a relaxing, pedestrian-paced day on the water as a break from the hyper-grind of a Disney World vacation. Little did they realize their last minute decision to go fishing would thrust them into the snook ‘twilight zone’. Out of all their recent Orlando memories, I’ll wager the one most deeply imbedded will be of the charter with Captain Roland. Pictured below are two of Ken’s giant snook caught on light tackle near Sebastian Inlet:

Dr. Greene along with his son Brian of Melbourne Beach had been hoping to hop aboard Capt. Roland’s boat for quite some time. These old friends of the Grizz had been subjected to so many stories of amazing angling success on his charters over the years; they could not stand it any longer. Their guide trip started slow but when the ‘bite’ finally came, they were up to the challenge. Pictured below is Dr. Greene proudly examining a snook and Brian holding a monster trout.

It may not be in good form to extol one’s own exploits in a public forum but the following triumph has to be broadcasted. Pictured below is Capt. ‘Grizz’ with a Goliath-sized snook caught yesterday. The monster was 44 inches long and weighed in excess of 30 pounds (the state certified Boca grip scale used the weight the fish ends at 30 pounds). It was bested on mere 10 pound mono line in about two feet of water. This is a personal record for Capt. Roland … both Capt. Peter and I am green with envy. Great going Grizz!

Speaking of Capt. Peter, he also found the giant snook this past week and his clients had a blast catching, photographing and releasing. One set of clients, Kurt and Lorie, not only caught snook with Peter but tarpon, bull shark, redfish, trout, gar, and jack cavelle as well. Their fishing trip was so special we decided to submit an exclusive, in-depth follow-up report to it. Pictured below is Kurt with one of the giant snook caught of his charter with Capt. Peter.

Now snook feed during both daylight and night-time hours. And evening snook hunts are often preferred among the local old-times. Pictured below is young-timer Capt. Peter with an 18 pounder caught during a recent night-time adventure. By the way, we offer late afternoon snook charters from May to November. The river and inshore waters morph into a different realm after sunset.

The snook action will continue to sizzle throughout the summer. Call us to reserve a date to stalk these savage beasts … you just may be treated to a thrill of a lifetime.

The last week ahs been a busy one for the fishing guides of Native Sons. We continue to have family charters along with our normal charters of intense, high-performance anglers. The first three fishing summaries in the report this week were guided and written by Capt. Peter Deeks, Jr. while the last week belong to Capt. Roland “the Grizz’ Jones.

Matt and his son Caleb were down visiting their good friend Jake, and decided to take advantage of our great fishing. This trip was a “Fun” trip in that our objective was to just go pull on a bunch of fish! We started the morning off tarpon fishing the creeks, and were unable to get a hook to stay in their bony mouths. But we were able to keep the hook in 20 jack crevalle up to 15lbs, 5 foot gar, and a nice gator trout. We fished the Melbourne area with live finger mullet.

On this trip, I had a great family that loved to fish. The special occasion that brought this family over from Orlando was for Mason’s Birthday. I have to say that Mason is one of the best anglers (especially for his age) I have ever had the opportunity to have on my boat! We fished in the Indian River near Titusville on this trip. The key to getting bites was to fish the large schools of mullet that were in sand spots near floating grass. We had some exciting bites on the live mullet – which was key to capturing the redfish’s interest. Pictured is Mason helping his sister out with her 1st redfish.

The thought of fishing for sharks and tarpon within the calm waters of the Indian River brought Chuck and his son Mason back on my boat a couple of days later. We fished in the Melbourne/Sebastian area with live mullet and 8 inch pogies. This was a typical day of creek fishing in that we had a blast catching many different species of hard pulling fish…and primarily sight fishing! By the end of the morning, Mason’s arms were just about worn out from the 20lb jacks, 6 foot gar, and 5 foot bull sharks. Giant schools of 10 – 20lb jacks were daisy chaining on the surface of the water, dozens of sharks were finning up in down the creeks, countless tarpon were rolling, and groups of “big-boy” gar were sunning on the surface…and all were hungry and slamming our baits off of the surface. There’s not much more exciting than 20lb jacks fighting over your bait 10 feet from the boat and throwing water all over the place…except for maybe a 5 foot bull shark jumping out of the water equally as close to the boat trying to throw your hook!

Capt. Roland guided Bryant Johnson of Melbourne and Ted Lang and T.J. Broom of Sarasota on a half-day charter in the Melbourne Beach segment of the Indian River last week. The trio did very well with a total of 13 fish consisting of trout and bluefish. The fish ranged in size from 18 to 30 inches with the two biggest trout tipping the scales at 7.5 lbs and 8.5 lbs. Pictured below are Ted with his monster and Bryant holding another trout.

Our final installment in this fishing report features Bob Sharp from Mobile, Alabama and his two friends, John and Leif, from Orlando, Florida. Fishing under bright blue skies and strong SW winds, this crew caught redfish and trout. The crystal clear water amazed the three as they were able see and catch fish casually cruising by Capt. Roland’s boat. Pictured .are Leif with an 8 lb. trout and John with a hefty speckled trout.