Thanksgiving weekend could not have started any better for good friends Allan Brady and Richard Fuller as they were blessed with a near perfect day on the water. The late fall weather featured bright blue skies, mild temperatures and calm winds. And the fish fed voraciously on any live finger mullet offered. Guided by Capt. Rocky, they lost count of the fish caught on the half-day charter but a conservative estimate would be eight reds, two in the upper slot and six well over-sized, and ten trout, all in the 18 to 24 inch range. In addition to those boated, there were a number of other big fish fought and lost during the four hour feeding frenzy including one 20 plus pounder which came unbuttoned just before being netted. Indeed, it was a near perfect day of fishing which gave these buddies another good reason for which to be thankful this weekend.
Fishing on the day a front pushes through this area can be a challenge, especially if the steady decline in the barometer and temperatures are accompanied by heavy overcast skies and occasional drizzles. Such were the conditions presented to David Gehrke from Denver, his son Kevin and father-in-law Hans the day after Thanksgiving. Guided by Capt. Rocky on a stretch of the Indian River between Vero Beach and Ft. Pierce, the trio started their charter by wade fishing from the shores of a small spoil island where three hunger snook exploded on baits within the first ten minutes. After several other hits, and one caught gator trout, during the insuring hour, the party began changing tactics and venues in search of snook willing to cooperate. The final totals for the charter included ten or so trout, several ladyfish, jack and bluefish but the snook, as occasionally happens, remained elusive. However, it was a great day despite the weather and inhospitable snookers.
Luis and Libby from Bethesda, Maryland, in the area for a business conference, decided the weather was too nice to spend all day listening to presentations and opted to charter Capt. Rocky for a half day charter instead. Fishing the Indian River out of Titusville the duo had the good fortune of a pre-winter feeding frenzy by large gator trout but the bad fortune of catching the redfish in a rare, new moon, lock-jaw mode. Despite having redfish waking, tailing and holding around the boat all day, and offering them a smorgasbord of live and cut mullet, fresh ladyfish strips and jumbo live shrimp, only two had the good graces to dine with their out-of-town guests. However, the trout absolutely lit up the flats in huge numbers as Luis and Libby boated at least 25, all 20 inches or longer. One other interesting aspect to the eight hour adventure was the time spent sight-fishing a wad of large black drum which have recently invaded the shallow water grass flats. Pictured below are Luis holding a 10 pound red and Libby holding one of many five pound plus trout caught on the day.
Karen Kleinschmidt, originally from Merritt Island, and two close friends from Woodstock, Georgia, Bobby and Becky Harris, recently joined Capt. Rocky for an afternoon of watching the Canaveral Airshow and fishing on the Banana River. The Blue Angels put on quite a performance over Cocoa Beach and the adjacent river while providing some spectacular sights for those watching from the unique vantage point of a boat. And after the show some of our areas finest redfish and trout did likewise. Pictured below are Karen and one of her two reds followed by Bobby holding the largest trout of the dozen or so caught on the day.
Gorgeous orange and yellow colors danced in eastern sky and a slick calm reached out to greet Jonathon Dodd of Merritt Island as he and Capt. Rocky launched from Kennedy Point Park in Titusville for a recent morning of fishing on the Indian River Lagoon. Jonathon caught his first redfish shortly after staking down in an expanse of swallow grass flats and islands dotting the eastern shoreline of the river. And redfish two, three, four and so forth soon followed. He also caught a number of spotted sea trout during the day, taking a couple home for a fine fish fry later that evening. Pictured below is Jonathon with his very first redfish.
