Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Great Spring Fishing In Bananna River

April 11 - A Little Tom Foolery, A Lot of Fishing
The monthly calendar has flipped and so has the fishing. We’ve gone from the madness of March winds to the wetness of April showers. Enough of the Tom Foolery, the logbook is bursting with reports and pictures, let’s get down to it.

After a few days off in the Florida Keys, Capt. Rocky returned the middle of last week to guide Scott and Jesse from Orlando for a much anticipated fishing charter. Originally receiving their half day trip as a Christmas gift from a very dear friend, these two waited until spring break to assault the Titusville flats in search of monster redfish. Six brutes were fought and caught with an equal number battled and lost. Check out the spots on these fish and smiles on these faces.



Kirk and Ron, another pair of eager anglers, chartered Capt. Roland last Saturday after an all-night alligator hunt. They had a decent day of fishing the Melbourne Beach area of the Indian River catching redfish, trout and snook. Even though it appears in the following picture that Kirk is about to keel over from exhaustion while posing with one of his reds, we are happy to report he hung tough through the entire trip and has some great tales (and tails) as a result. After all, it was a most unusual Orlando vacation for these two extreme outdoorsmen.


A pair of Yankees from Connecticut, Ron and Tim, are the next fishermen found in the logbook. Capt. Roland was their guide and the Banana River near Cocoa Beach was their adventure. And it turned out to be one of the better recent charters as the two caught 12 reds and 2 large trout. (Ron and one of his reds are pictured first while Tim and one of his trophies follow).




Another pair from the Yankee State, Ernie and Bill, were our next visiting anglers. These two had both Capt. Rocky and Capt. Roland as their guides on their Titusville fishing charter. It was one of those post-cold front, high pressure system kind of locked-jaw days that needed the collective fishing wisdom of two guides to produce fish. Covering nearly twenty miles of shallow water, we had a grand time with alligators, manatees, and dolphins while managing to find a few fish willing to cooperate. Pictured below is Bill with one of the three large trout caught on the day.


Our final report features the ‘Geerlings Gang’ from Michigan - family patriarch Mike, along with four sons, Doug, Dan, Brian, and Phil and son-in-law Mike. Even though the Geerlings Gang sounds like a group of gangsters, these were actually great guys and good anglers. Fishing the Banana River near Cocoa Beach again, this double boat/captain, half day charter caught six reds, four trout and an early-season snook. Pictured below are Doug, Dan, Brian and Phil respectively – incidentally, the first redfish photographed had 59 spots.





Posted by Rocky Van Hoose on April 11, 2008 at 01:27:15 PM

Native Sons Fishing Guides
Captain Rocky Van Hoose
321-986-9588
rvanhoose@cfl.rr.com
Captain Brad Jones
321-626-5072

jonesmelb7@bellsouth.net

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