Not sure if Bob Dylan was much of an angler, but his famous lyrics, “the times, they are a changing, certainly have applied to the fishing along the central east coast of Florida (greater Orlando area) over the past two weeks. The wicked winds of spring have finally blown themselves into an abyss, probably located someplace east of Mimms, and summer is now king. And his majesty has brought to his realm warmer temperatures, balmy conditions, and afternoon thunderstorms.
The fishing patterns are a changing too. We are doing more early morning fishing, noon napping and afternoon running, running away from the storms, that is. Vast schools of eight to ten inch mullet are concentrating the pelagic species along the shorelines and mid-flats and the fishing has been fantastic at times and lethargic at others.
Dr. Rick Baney and his son Jack, aka Capt. Jack, fished with Capt. Roland last Saturday in the Grant/Sebastian area (65 miles southeast of Orlando). After catching several large trout, they shifted from the shoreline and what had previously been a hyper-productive redfish spot to the islands in the middle of river. Several more trout and four snook were added to their totals. Pictured below is Capt. Jack with one of his snook and gator trout.
The following Monday, Antiny and Willie joined Capt. Roland in the same waters. They caught one redfish and six trout in a morning charter. The largest trout measured 25 inches as did the red. The pace of fishing was steady but one could sense the fishing pattern was beginning to change.
This past Wednesday all three Native Son guides were in the Grant/Sebastian area (55 miles southeast of Orlando) as part of a large corporate charter/tournament and we scorched the other teams by catching fish after fish after fish. Dale and Matt, from Daytona Beach, the crew of Capt. Rocky, drove home with three first place finishes for redfish, trout and sail cat and $1200 cash. This father and son duo emptied the bait well twice catching large redfish, gator trout, snook, bluefish, jacks and one silly sail cat (which, believe it or not, was one of the targeted species of the tournament). In addition to what was caught, the big ones got away including four monster snook doing their best freight train imitations, two bull sharks and one acrobatic tarpon. Not bad for a four hour cruise. (The angler below is Ed, part of the team fishing with Capt. Roland).
The next day the bluefish invaded the area and greeted Gary and Scott, his son, along with Uncle Ray from Crimson Tide Country. Despite many cutoffs from the toothy blues, we landed three redfish (largest was 32 inches) and three trout (largest 26 inches). We had a great time fishing and trading Bear Bryant stories. (Pictured below are Scott and two of his fish from the trip.)
When the times are a changing, it is time for the locations and tactics of the anglers to be a changing too. Cooler, deeper water is starting to become more important and slower, stealthier approaches are more productive. In addition to our year-round favorites of redfish and trout, we are spotting and targeting more snook and tarpon, the boys of summer. All in all, we welcome the change. Afterall, anytime is a great time to be a fisherman.
