Ah, summertime fishing along the Space and Treasure Coasts is so much fun! Quality, quantity and variety … everywhere … a true fisherman’s paradise.

Our first individual report features Capt. Peter along with his good friends Bob and Robert Rohmann of Satellite Beach. Taking advantage of the slick calm offshore seas, the trio slipped out Sebastian Inlet earlier this week to do a little tarpon and shark fishing. They did catch several of the large poons and black tip sharks roaming just offshore which would have made for a fine trip on any other day … however ‘fine’ went to ‘fantastic’ when a rare beachside SAILFISH was spotted, stalked, stuck, landed and released. Pictured below are Bob and Capt. Peter with this beautiful billfish.

Capt. Roland, with dreams of leaping billfish dancing through his head, took fellow captain Chuck Lloyd and son Charlie out the inlet on the next day. Pulling along side of the first massive bait pod Oceanside, they found three rolling tarpon feeding just in front of their boat. Still without live bait, they tried tossing plugs to the huge silver kings before parting company. Returning to catching bait, the trio next discovered other competition within the pods, toothy competition from sharks and Bonita. Pictured below is Capt. Chuck with one of the two sharks caught by his young son Charlie.

Our next report moves from offshore/nearshore action to the Indian River in Titusville. This is a favorite stretch of water for Native Sons guides and clients during the summer months. After months of murky water and few fish we can finally report big numbers of reds, trout and drum residing in the now clear, shallow, grassy flats. Capt. Rocky was up there three times this week with each of his charters scoring well into double digits. The smallest red of the week was 24 inches while the largest measured a hefty 42. The fish are aggressively eating anything thrown to them, except, of course, for foul tasting sprigs of broccoli. We’ll have more reports from Titusville in a special follow-up segment.

Traveling south down the Indian River Lagoon system from Titusville to Merritt Island, our next report comes from this past Monday. Capt. Rocky guided good friend Joe Schneider, his nephew Tom and his son Joseph Schmitz from Denver, Colorado. Launching from Kiwanis Park in Merritt Island, the foursome fished the Sykes Creek stretch of the Banana River in order to stay close to home because of a lousy weather forecast. The rain held off long enough for the crew to catch nine redfish and a rare Merritt Island snook. Most of the fish measured well over the 27 inch slot limited. Since finger mullet have been almost impossible to find, poggies were used as the bait for the charter. Pictured below are Tom and ‘Little’ Joe with one of their bigger reds followed by a photo of Joe holding his snook.

We stay in the Banana River of Merritt Island for our next report. Mike Foytek from Orlando teamed with Capt. Rocky to form Team Got Milk for the recent Riverside Café Inshore Fishing Classic held in Vero Beach. Making the long run back to the Banana River in Merritt Island, Team Got Milk weighed a solid redfish (5.99 lbs) and trout (4.89 lbs) to finish fourth and fifth respectively. Ironically, their two fish ‘slam’ wound up being bumped out of first place by Native Sons’ Capt. Peter and Capt. Robert Rohmann who regularly fish the Florida Flatsfishing Association circuit. Team Got Milk also caught several redfish just over-sized on the day. Pictured below is Mike holding twin 31 inch redfish which were released back into the wild.

Heading south again, we travel to the Melbourne Beach stretch of the Indian River for our next stop. This time the guide is Capt. Roland and his client is Prof. Ralph Cummings who returned to the area for a visit and some fishing. Launching from Front Street Ramp in Melbourne, the charter started with an intent to sight-fish snook on the flats. And although the big linesiders were there every time a bait was cast near them a more aggressive gator trout bolted in and ate it. After several trout over 25 inches were landed and released the duo decided to switch to targets to schooling black drum. Several drums were beaten before the charter concluded by chasing tarpon in one of the creek tributaries to the IR. The picture below is Prof. Ralph holding a nice 40 inch fish caught using 10lb test spinning tackle. It was a great end to a fun trip.

Our final report concerns a charter which covered over 200 miles on the day – a Native Sons record incidentally. The trip involved Capt. Rocky and his good friend Tom Seaman of Melbourne. Fishing the Strike Zone Inshore Tournament last Saturday, the duo decided to target the giant trout of Ft. Pierce to start the day. After spending and hour and half unsuccessfully stalking the big trout at dawn, the team opted to radically alter strategies and locations by making a long run to Merritt Island. The strategy worked as Tom pulled four redfish, one with four spots, and a big black drum off a dock on the Indian River (Tom and the drum are pictured below). Rushing back to Grant to weigh the fish added another 40 miles to the odometer. The day ended with Tom and Rocky chasing tarpon up Crane Creek … from predawn in Ballard Park of Eua Galle to Ft. Pierce to Merritt Island to Grant to Crane Creek in Melbourne/Palm Bay, that’s a long day of fishing … that’s a fantastic day of fishing!

Summer has finally arrived along the Space Coast and the fishing has gotten downright ridiculously hot as a result. Giant snook, tarpon, redfish, black drum, jacks and other inshore species have settled into their summer patterns and we’re seeing some super catches over the past few weeks … read on for the details.

Capt. Peter recently guided Justin Stumpfhauser to a huge 45 inch snook. Justin treated himself to a day of fishing for his birthday, and was rewarded with a fish of a lifetime. Fishing back into mangrove creeks, Justin jumped several tarpon up to 30 pounds in the first hour of the trip but the silver kings shook the hooks before any pics could be taken. Switching to a different strategy, trying to get a better hook-set on the ‘poons, the 45 inch monster snook pounded the tarpon bait (an 8” mullet live mullet). With some serious effort and skill, Justin brought the fish boatside for a couple quick photos before releasing her back into the cool, clear water under the mangrove roots. After fishing the creeks, Capt. Peter moved out onto the grass flats, where Justin sight-fished the rest of the day catching redfish, crevalle, and ladyfish.

During another birthday celebration, Capt. Peter guided Paul, Kelly, and Trent Hunter to a day of backcreek fishing for Trent’s birthday in Melbourne. The goal of the trip was tarpon, but due to a lack of water flow the tarpon were pretty lethargic. Fishing a school of 30 or so rolling tarpon first thing in the morning, Paul was able to capitalize on one of the few tarpon bites and pulled a beautiful fish boatside for a quick photo before releasing. The tarpon bit 6” live mullet early, and later in the day they preferred pogies. The rest of the trip was spent sightfishing tarpon and black drum. Some of the schools of black drum they fished are in excess of 50 fish, and are just a blast to sight-fish.

Florida in late spring can bring some surprises, weather-wise and angling-wise. The weather for Greg Stever from Missouri, his two sons Tanner and Trenton, and Captain Rocky could not have been more surprising. Firstly, an unseasonal tropical system developed over the Atlantic during the night before their charter and threw early morning squalls and unseasonably low pressure upon central Florida delaying the start of their charter, Then the fish decided to play with baits rather than aggressively attack them as had been their pattern in the preceding weeks. Despite continuous hits, we were only able to set hooks in a couple of reds and trout before a late morning rain drenched us and chased us off the river. After the rain stopped we tried fishing again but were only able to stick one more redfish, although it was a dandy. Pictured below is Trent with his 32 inch Banana River Red.

Brian Baney and oldest son Nick fished a half day with Capt Roland in the Melbourne area. They started off trout fishing and landed some really nice ones. The fish ranged from 20 – 23 inches. When the river grew too rough they slipped back into Crane Creek for a shot at some tarpon. Although They didn’t land any one was jumped and a really nice jack was landed.

Visiting from Atlanta for some fun in the sun, Kim and John (the husband and wife fishing machine) joined Capt. Peter for a morning of flats fishing in the Banana River. Being friends of Capt. Peter and his family, Kim invited Christa to come along and boy is Christa happy she did. Fishing both islands and up on top of grass flats, the anglers had a blast hunting and catching redfish. With double headers and even a triple header, you could probably hear the laughs in the other river. Croakers and pinfish were the bait of choice. The two biggest fish went 48 and 44 inches….

Will, Jacob, and Wendell from Youngstown, Ohio fished with Roland for two days. The first day tarpon and trout were the targets. Even though the tarpon were not in the mood to eat Wendell landed a giant gar while Will added a big jack from a school of 30. Moving out into the river, the trio sight-fished for snook and trout and Will scored with a gator. On day two, Team Buckeye moved off the beach for a mixed bag of fish. The fish were picky but a few were landed – shark, kingfish, and bonita all made it to the boat while the tarpon and cobia teased the crew.

Mason and his dad, Chuck, joined Capt. Peter for another adventure on the Indian River Lagoon….In search of Mason’s first tarpon. Mason had jumped many tarpon in the past, but had yet to land one, so the purpose of the day was to get rid of that skunk. Fishing one of Peter’s schools of tarpon first thing in the morning, the anglers hooked at least 5 ‘poons with Mason bringing one of them boatside for a quick release, and his first silver king! Capt. Peter reports having a blast on the water sight-fishing many different tarpon schools, two big schools of black drum, sharks, crevalle, snook, and even sight-fishing five foot gar on fly. Mason caught so many black drum, that at times, the anglers found themselves just watching the school of drum just swim around the boat. “We lost a lot of fish and caught a lot of fish (lost count of how many drum we caught), but the best part was that we got to watch almost every fish eat the bait”. Mason is a fantastic angler, and his quest for trophy fish has definitely rewarded him with some awesome catches.

Finally, the Turner family joined Capt. Roland in the Melbourne area for some sight-seeing and fishing. The three young Turner boys were quite the hand full and made enough noise to send most of the fish running for the hills, however, they did manage to land a few redfish who, evidently, were hard of hearing. Seven year old Hayden struck first with a nice slot red which was his first and biggest ever. Four year old Carson was not to be out done and soon followed with a bigger one. Pictured below are Carson and his red.