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| Record Smashing Redfish |
For some, June 23rd will be known for more than World Cup Soccer thrillers and Wimbledon marathons. At least it certainly will be for Pastor Larry Zimmerman of Ocala, Florida. Fishing with fellow pastor and Native Sons guide, Captain Rocky Van Hoose, Larry latched onto to an enormous redfish in the Banana River around noon. The epic battle continued for well over an hour before the 58 inch, other-worldly, monster mogan was finally subdued. The fish smashed a personal record for Captain Rocky, a 16 year old record for his boat, the Flat Broke, the Native Sons Fishing Charter guide service record and probably the Florida State redfish record. Since the onboard, IGFA certified Boga Grip maxs out at 30 lbs it is impossible to known for certain the weight of the big red but in 50 plus years of fishing, we have never seen or even heard of one caught even close to this length.
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| Rare Beach Billfish |
Capt. Peter and his good friends Robert and Bob Rohmann turned in one of the more spectacular catches in quite some time – a SAILFISH hooked less than 400 yards off Melbourne Beach. The group had been targeting large tarpon which frequent our beaches this time of year when they spotted the billfish free-swimming in the beautiful, clear, calm water. The fish was taken on a medium-action St. Croix rod. Incidentally, the threesome, fishing from a flatsboat, also caught several tarpon and black-tip sharks.
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| Oil Free Guarantee |
In response to several inquiries, we want to communicate to all our clients that we are diligently monitoring the situation with the oil spill along the northern west coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. Despite the size of the oil spill and a single 'worse-case senerio' model of potential migration of the spill into the Gulf Stream, we, along with most with commercial fishing concerns, do not expect any impact from this ecological disaster to our area. However, in the event the unthinkable would occur and the spill migrates to our waters, we are issuing the following ‘Oil Free Guarantee.’
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| NSF Client & Giant Snook Featured in Florida Today |
(Repost of Florida Today Article of May 23, 2010 by Matt Badolato)
After the icy winter and devastating fish kills in Central Florida, it's nice to know that some big snook survived to be caught another day.
On May 11, Cocoa Beach resident Justin Stumpfhauser was fishing with friend Peter Deeks Jr. of Merritt Island when they came across Stumpfhauser's largest snook to date, a 45-incher.
They began their day near Pineda Causeway at 6 a.m. and rounded up a livewell full of mullet. Deeks, who operates Native Sons Guide Service, knew of a particular stretch of shoreline that had been holding tarpon. "We started the day off soaking live mullet near some mangroves, and we kept hooking into 20-pound tarpon," said Stumpfhauser, who was celebrating his 24th birthday. "But we couldn't land one, so we tried trolling for them."
While slow-trolling a pair of live mullet on 12-pound spinning tackle, the two fishermen hooked into a couple more tarpon but couldn't manage to keep one on. They kept at it, and Stumpfhauser was rewarded with a massive strike.
"She just came up and whacked my mullet," Stumpfhauser said about the big snook. "I thought I had a decent tarpon on, but I knew something was funny when she wasn't jumping."
After a 15-minute fight and a few drag-zinging runs, Stumpfhauser brought the beast of a snook in for a quick photo and released it back into the lagoon. "She was just over 30 pounds, for sure my biggest snook," Stumpfhauser said. "Peter is a heck of a guide; we had the best day of fishing in my life."
The anglers were using very light tackle to be taming big snook. Their leaders were 25-pound test affixed to small black live bait hooks
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| Sweeeeet Shuttle Shot |
Jason and Kaden Tacker from Arkansas had a special bonus to their recent fishing charter with Capt. Rocky - a front row seat to watch the last Atlantis Shuttle launch, from just off the NASA property on the Indian River near northern Merritt Island.
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