One of the great things about living in Florida is the variety of options available to us in our inalienable right to pursue happiness (Fourth of July themes still streaming through my consciousness). This past week we guided charters from Titusville in the north (35 miles east of Orlando)to Ft. Pierce in the south (75 miles southeast of Orlando) and the Indian River in the west to offshore in the Atlantic in the east. And we caught redfish, snook, tarpon, trout, black drum, black tipped-sharks, bull sharks, kingfish, ladyfish, alligator, alligator gar and even an extremely rare bonefish.
One group that tasted a variety of catches was the Musik Family from South Carolina who charter two boats in pursuit of tarpon. We started just after dawn and fished the creeks in the Melbourne area (55 miles southeast of Orlando)boxing a large school of tarpon between us. Even though we had a number of takes, only two fish got the stick. One fish was huge and parted with our company after several jumps. The other was small but did grace us with a photograph session. Also caught for an unusual slam was redfish, bull shark, ladyfish and a geographically challenged gar.
On Thursday, Dr. Rick Baney of Melbourne and Brian his brother chartered Capt. Roland for an offshore trip, which would be better described as near-shore. Leaving out of Sebastian Inlet (60 miles southeast of Orlando), they fished within two miles of shore and caught their own version of a slam consisting of black-tipped shark, kingfish and redfish. Pictured below is Rick and with his beautiful twelve spot redfish.
Another brother combination chartered Capt. Roland on the following day. Mark and Jeff George, along with Jeff’s son Greg, caught a number of fish total including five snook and five trout including the one pictured below. Despite having to dodge the rain showers, the trio from Sarasota had a terrific time wading along the spoil islands of the Intercoastal Waterway and enjoying the unspoiled, natural beauty of Ft. Pierce (75 miles southeast of Orlando).
Finally, on Saturday, Capt. Rocky took a party to pursue redfish in the shallow, clear flats of the Indian River Lagoon near Titusville (35 miles east of Orlando). The exact fish count was lost early but 25 reds would be a safe and conservation estimate. While the first red was the smallest of the day, measuring about 22 inches, there were monsters that followed. By the way, among the monsters there were three, drag screaming, rod bending, arm aching fish that exceeded 40 inches. Also caught on the trip were sea trout and ladyfish to complete the third slam of the week. Another successful pursuit of happiness, wouldn’t you agree?
