I had the rare privilege of having my guide/business partner Capt. Roland along with me on a charter to the Ft. Pierce area on Wednesday. We picked up our client, Don Raubach of Baltimore, at dawn and headed north in the Indian River to do a little flats fishing.
After several miles on tranquil waters we dropped the trolling motor and positioned ourselves to fish the inside of a spoil island on the outgoing tide. There was a large school of very nervous mullet holding along the island and we dropped several fingers into their midst. It didn’t take long before a snook decided to dance with us … after a fight, pictures, high fives we repeated our offerings. The next fish was a monster trout which measured 32 inches … our client was now ‘hooked on’ the virtues of pristine Florida flats fishing.
It is hard to believe that any fish could have topped that first trophy trout but, after landing several trout in the 17-19 inch range, the next one did … nearly 34 inches long … the boat record for Capt. Roland Jones.
There was another trout measuring 30 inches, several in the 26-28 inch range and a mess of ‘smaller’ ones. (It was hard to leave that island but the tide slacked and started to flood so we decided to try another spot).
The final spot yielded another large trout (27 inches) and a decent snook (28 inches). However, the memory of the last spot was etched by a monster line-sider (snook) has gave us a good five minutes of top water, head shaking antics before tiring of our company. We estimate the size of that freight train to be around 25 pounds … and she’s still lurking in the waters.
It was a Great Day at Sea for Don Raubach and Native Sons Fishing Guides
