The inshore fishing continues on a torrid pace along the Space and Treasure Coasts of central Florida as a late spring explosion of finger mullet have ignited a feeding frenzy in our salt-water rivers and back-water estuaries. This has resulted in a series of great guide trips for the guides of Native Sons Fishing Charters as giant snook, tarpon, bull sharks, and jack Crevalle have joined our more familiar predatory species of redfish and gator trout. Read on for details of happy anglers, fantastic fishing, and great times on the water.
Our first report features the Rimkus family and their friends from Colorado Springs, Colorado. This crew fished with Capt. Roland and Capt. Peter for three great days in three great venues. The following are accounts of those trips as recorded by Peter.
Day 1 – We fished the islands and flats in the Grant area of the Indian River for trout and snook. We caught 9 trout from 20 – 28inches with the 3 biggest being 26, 27, and 28 inches. Three of the four anglers I had on my boat caught their first seatrout, with two of them being big gators. Pictured below are Alex, Michael, Alex and Michael, and Bird Hunting Guide, respectively, holding their trophies from day one.
Day 2 – We fished the mangrove islands and crystal clear flats of the Indian River lagoon in the Vero Beach/Ft. Pierce area. The fishing was fun which included us managing 4 trout from 18 – 28 inches and a beautiful gag grouper. Pictured here are Alex with a healthy “gator” trout and Mariah with her gag grouper gang.
Day 3 –Our mission was to target hard fighting fish only on our final day. We started the morning off in the Melbourne Beach area fishing the mangrove lined creeks for tarpon. Then finished the trip off chasing giant schools of feeding jack Crevalle and waking fish. We landed a 50 inch tarpon, jack Crevalle, and gafftopsails. It was a very eventful and fun day of fishing even with the lower number of fish landed, as we hooked 5 tarpon up to 50lbs and countless jacks up to 35lbs. Pictured below is lady angler Mariah and myself holding her first tarpon.
Ralph Cummings, a professor at John Hopkins University, was in town visiting his in-laws and decided to get out of the house for a half day with Capt. Roland. It turned out to be a great decision as Ralph nailed an inshore slam of redfish, snook, and trout in the Melbourne area of the Indian River lagoon using light tackle. Pictured below is the “Prof” with his John Hopkins slam.
Young Micah Snyder from Merritt Island had my undivided attention recently for a few hours of fishing and boating in the Sykes Creek segment of the Banana River near Cocoa Beach, Florida. We had a blast catching fish and trading barbs. Here is Micah and his “four-foot” trout.
John Terrell of Orlando and Gary, his long-time fishing buddy from Rockledge, Florida, spent a lazy day with me yesterday fishing the Indian River in Titusville. The reason “lazy” is used to describe the day is because that is how I would characterize our normally hyper-aggressive redfish and trout. Whether it was the unusually high and tannic water from of our recent monsoons or the unseasonably low barometric pressure, the fish just seemed uncharacteristically lethargic on the half-day charter. We did catch a couple of redfish despite the day’s struggle. (Photo below was taken by Gary Yocum – Redfish being released below was also taken by Gary Yocum)
Dan and his wife Mary from “up-state” New York were chartered by Capt. Roland on Memorial Day. Despite the madness of the boat traffic of a major holiday weekend, the couple had a grand time fishing in the Grant segment of the Indian River. Among the many fish that were battled during the charter, two conquests are pictured below: the 24 pound snook and the five pound gator trout.
