The fishing this summer has been ‘off the charts’ good … and should continue in the weeks and months ahead. Capt. Peter has been sizzling in the southern waters of the Indian River Lagoon with monster redfish, snook, tarpon and trout (even guiding a client to a world record trout) while Capt. Rocky has been tearing up the northern Lagoon with similar catches. Check out some of the recent catches pictured below or flip through the photo pages of the website.

We have had a fantastic snook, redfish, trout and tarpon bite this fall. The snook, redfish, trout and black drum will continue to get better as the water cools in winter. The cooler water schools the fish up on the shallow flats. The cooler weather also turns visibility into gin clear waters making sight-fishing incredible! The following are some of our recent trips we’ve highlighted.

 While vacationing in Cocoa Beach, Alan wanted to give his entire family a chance to experience the great fishing the area has to offer.  Capt. Peter split the day into two trips, taking Alan and his dad out in the morning and then taking his three boys out afterwards. The morning started off fast and furious with non-stop redfish coming over the side of the boat. Peter pushed a school of 27-34″ reds up into a cove and the two anglers caught over 12 in the first hour before switching gears for the big fish. Moving out to clear sand flats, Alan got to fish the big bull reds as they schooled up on the bar to feed.

 After dropping off one and picking up three, the goal was to stay on fish and show the boys a good time.  Fishing small schools of redfish, the boys had steady action on big, drag screaming redfish.  When the boys were tired of pulling on fish, it was time to jig for trout.  Peter took the boys to a trout spot on the edge o f a drop off and tied on DOA cal jigs.  Casting jigs, the boys caught trout on almost every cast until it was time to quit.

 

 

Joe Schneider of Merritt Island booked Capt. Rocky for a half day of fishing in the Titusville  stretch of the Indian River on a balmy early fall day. It did not take long to find schooling reds in the slick calm waters and Joe caught a number of the hard pulling bulldogs. There were enough memories already when shortly afternoon a monstrous redfish exploded on a mullet in the shallows. After a forty five minute epic battle Joe finally had his trophy fish. The fish measured 56 inches and weighed a guestimated 50 pounds.

 

Capt. Peter had the privilege of fishing with two docs, his good buddy Dr. Garrett Wegerif, and Dr. Garrison.   The doctor duo sighfished 6 snook from 38-45″, trout, redfish, and two tripletail. The water was crystal clear – a beautiful day on the Indian River!  It’s hard to beat the rush you get casting to a 30 pound snook sitting in 2 feet of gin clear water 30 feet in front of the boat…let alone a never ending parade of snook that lasts for hours!

 This type of fishing can be done on a regular basis in the Sebastian area – highly recommended!!!

 

Natalie van Hoose from West Lafayette, Indiana can only visit home twice a year and those visits are not complete unless she can spend at least one day with her dad fishing the shallows of the Indian River lagoon system. Her last visit found her wading the sandy shoreline of the Banana River stalking huge reds and trout. Pictured below is Natalie holding a 27 inch trout and a huge red.

Mike Rimkus chartered Capt. Peter for a half day morning trip in the Sebastian area.  Fishing with his two friends, Mikey whacked ‘em – catching trout up to 33″, sightfished a 43″ snook, and landed six redfish. Great job on the mega snook and grand slam Mikey!

 Saige from Nebraska is quite a fisherman and his mother wanted to treat him to a birthday present charter with Capt. Rocky catching big fish in shallow water. And it turned out to be the kind of birthday present he’ll remember for a long, long time. Saige caught a number of reds and trout during the charter including the huge fish pictured below and a double catch and release which is not easy for even a seasoned angler to accomplish.

 

 

Capt. Peter had a fun two days with Mike and Wayne – catching multiple grand slams. Jumping 7 tarpon (most got the best of us), four snook, a pile of trout up to 27″, tripletail, and a half dozen big reds made for some great memories!

Pastor Larry Zimmerman of Merritt Island and Capt. Rocky have been goods friends and fishing buddies for many years. And Larry holds the boat record 58 inch redfish weighing an estimated 60 pounds caught several summers ago. Recently Larry wanted to treat his son-in-law Steve and grandson Blake to the fantastic fishing of east central Florida. It was another great day of fishing on the Indian River.

 

Austin and Sam Lowery Chartered Capt. Peter for a full day in Fort Pierce to experience the fantastic fishing the area has to offer.  It was a phenomenal day with many slams caught.  The snook fishing was non stop up on the flats.  The anglers hooked snook as soon as their baits landed in the water.  The gator trout and redfishing was also stellar with some huge flounder, lemon shark, barracuda, and jacks thrown in.  It was a day to remember and shows what Fort Pierce can produce when the tides are right.  Austin and Sam went home with a limit of Snook, an 8lb flounder, redfish, and trout – talk about a good fish fry!

Rick Johnson of Merritt Island and Bruce from Jacksonville have been friends and fishing buddies from childhood. They try to get together and bend rods and share memories at least once a year and Capt. Rocky has been the host and referee the past several years. Pictured below are Rick and Bruce creating another round of fishing memories with the redfish and trout of the Indian River lagoon system.

Kenny and Aimee Vitek chartered Capt. Peter for a snook trip in the Fort Pierce area.  Fishing live baits along the mangrove Islands provided a very fun trip with lots of snook, trout, redfish, jacks, and ladyfish.  There were a couple special accomplishments this trip, including Kenny’s biggest snook (close to 40 inches on ultralight gear) and Aimee’s first snook.  The couple brought home a limit of snook filets and memories of an action packed day.

 

Matt and Zach recently visited the Orlando area and the booked a charter with Capt. Rocky to do some shallow water fishing along the east coast. The weather was perfect and so was the fishing as the duo battle fish after fish in the Indian River near Titusville. Pictured below are Zach holding one fo the better fish from the charter and Matt and Zach holding a double catch of reds.

 

Capt. Peter had a great time on the water this past week with Hallie Wegerif and Yunlang Xu  Haillie’s dad booked the charter as a gift for his daughter and her friend from China.  The girls spanked the fish, catching many big redfish and trout.  The highlight of the trip was the massive bull redfish they caught that was featured in the news paper…way to go girls! They showed some serious fishing skills!!!

 

Jim and his buddies from Kentucky recently took a day from their family vacation to chase a few reds on the Indian River with Captain Rocky. It turned out to be a quite a day as the Jim and crew caught limits of reds and trout which served as the featured guests at a giant family fish fry later in the evening.

Dave, Dave the Wave, and Doormat Dan chartered Capt. Peter for the third year in a row to catch big redfish.  Fishing in the Indian River Lagoon, the trio got to sight cast to schools of over 100 big bull redfish in shallow water (right next to the boat!).  The majority of the trip was spent sight-casting to these schools and tugging on these fish till their arms were sore.

 

It is always a blast for a guide to have a young couple fishing for the day. Recently Capt. Rocky had the privilege of chaperoning Vince and Ashley on  the fishing adventure of their dreams. The twosome turned out to be quite the outdoorsmen as they abandoned the safety and comfort of the boat and waded out onto the grassflats. And the fish showed their approval by putting on quite the show. Pictured below are Vince and Ashley with several of their newest finned friends.

 

Avi and Dor chartered Capt. Peter for a half day to fish the big schools of redfish in the Titusville area.  Using both techniques of sightcasting and blindcasting, the anglers had quick and steady action in the morning…catching fifteen 30” redfish.  Once the sun rose higher in the sky, Avi and Dor got to experience sightfishing a school of 500 bull redfish with artificials.  It’s quite an experience to sightfish the schools of 30-50 pound redfish we have in the area – especially when the school has 500 fish in it!

 

Ronnie Nail, of Nail Farms, fished with Capt. Peter in the Sebastian area.  The goal of the trip was to sightfish the massive redfish that live in the area.  During the “right” tide, the water came alive with 30-60 pound redfish feeding on the surface.  Dragging baits right in front of the fish produced immediate bites!  The trick is to pick out an individual fish and feed it – you had to keep yourself from casting at the school.  Both Ronnie and Peter caught big redfish after big redfish for hours until their arms were sore.