The month of August brought the usual fishing thrills along with a great personal loss within the Native Sons Fishing family. My dear mother had a sudden stroke and passed away three later early in the month. Much of my month has been spent assisting my family, particularly my dad, in adjusting to live without mother. However, this is a forum for fishing reports and we have several great summaries to pass along.
This trip was a very special one. The fishing trip was Joe’s (surprise!) birthday gift from his wife, Jo-Ann. Jo-Ann had set the fishing trip up and kept it a secret until the night before, at dinner, when she surprised her husband. Visiting the Orlando area, the New York residents, joined me for a day of fishing to celebrate Joe’s birthday. Due to the really stormy weather we experienced this week, we were forced to fishing for only a couple of hours in the morning. We fished schools of redfish in very shallow waters in the Banana River. Sight-fishing the schools of reds, and the single redfish in sandspots, Joe and his daughter managed 4 nice redfish and a big mangrove snapper. This father/daughter duo was very fun to fish with, and I look forward to fishing with them in the future. (Submitted by Capt. Peter)
Jason Harris was down in the area on vacation, visiting Daytona Beach with his family. The plan for the day was to target snook and tarpon, and then go fish for bull sharks. We fished the “Cocoa area”*, under blue skies and calm, clear waters. I really enjoyed fishing with this great family, as they were a lot of fun and really enjoyed being out there fishing. We caught jacks and snook during the morning, including Jason’s 34 incher. We then moved into the shark waters, and deployed the chum for the bull sharks. Suzette’s pole was the first to get hit, and she skillfully brought a nice bull shark to the boat for a pic (btw it was Suzette’s goal for the trip to catch a shark). We caught a couple of bull sharks before the end of the beautiful day. (Submitted by Capt. Peter)
Old friends, Lee and Angie Harp from Wichita Kansas, along with Dr. Ray, his brother Gene from Phoenix City, Alabama and his Chris from Orlando joined me for a two day, late summer charter. We fished the Indian River from Melbourne Beach to Sebastian in bright sun. drenching downpours, snow, sleet and hail. The hardy quintet caught redfish, trout, jack Crevalle and tarpon and ate ice cold watermelon and fresh pineapple at rustic Treasure Coast Marina while waiting for breaks in the rain storms.
Good friend Joe Schneider along with Dave and 10 year-old Chase from Dallas/Ft. Worth were my client for another late summer half-day adventure in the Sebastian Inlet area. The trio caught a super slam of seven different species – five trout to 22 inches, one 26 inch redfish, bluefish, jack Crevalle, ladyfish, gaff-top sailcat, and a bull shark. Part of our chater was spent wade fishing from the boat. Capt. Roland, who had loaned me his boat for the week, assisted on the charter.
Finally, Capt. Peter guided a party off-shore in search of late summer cobia. The following picture is Phillip Scott holding one of their tasty trophies from the day.
