Family Fish Tales

Apr. 28, 2009 - Family Fish Tales
Someone once said, “A family that fishes together stays together.” There can be so many special memories made on a family fishing trip and it was our pleasure to be involved in the memory making process for five sets of families over the past week.

Our first family fishing report features the Bulingtons from Gary, Indiana. Jerry and Brenda brought their daughter and grandchildren to Melbourne Beach for a week of Florida vacationing. Part of their time was spent in the attractions of Orlando but I suspect that it is the two days of fishing that are the most deeply etched in their memories. On the first trip, Jerry took Graddin (11 years old) and MaKennah (7 years old) fishing on the Banana River near Cocoa Beach. We landed six redfish and trout for the day and saw all kinds of marine wildlife. Highlights included the melee of MaKennah’s first fish and Graddin’s largest fish to date as well as a pirate-like exploration of one of our spoil islands. The pictures below are from day one.





The second Bulington adventure took place several days later on the Indian River near Vero Beach. This stretch of our lagoon system is very different than central Brevard County. There are snook, flounder, grouper, snapper, bluefish, monster jacks as well as redfish and trout in these clear, pristine tidal waters. And we caught most of these species during day as we alternated between the flats and natural islands and wading and the large bay boat. By the way, there is one 40 plus inch snook (25 pounds or so) which Graddin will not soon forget. Pictured below are MaKennah and Graddin’s first snook along with a doormat flounder we could not bring ourselves to release.







The weather played a major factor in the fishing on our charter with the Evans family last Monday (Steve and Lauren along with their sons Sam and Ben). This outstanding family from Baltimore had a blast despite facing winds approaching 30 mph from a super high pressure system. By the way, in order to mitigate the effects of the elements, I used one of our larger bay boats and fished the narrower sections of the Banana River near Merritt Island. We had a ball, caught fish and made great family memories

The trip ended on one of the more bizarre catches in recent memory as the two boys collaborated on landing a single 30 inch trout, five minutes apart, on two different rods, connected by a common catfish. Here’s how it happened - the older brother hooked and fought the huge trout for several minutes before being suddenly broken off. Five minutes later, the younger brother began fighting a fish also - a catfish entangled half-way down his line. It turned out that said catfish had earlier entangled himself in the first line and cut the portion of the braided line leading back to the rod of the older brother. The whiskered creature then proceeded to eventually entangle himself a second time, this time in the younger brother’s line. Connected to the catfish was a thirty foot section of the first line with the angry trout still firmly attached. Sam started the battle with the trout while Ben concluded it boat-side. Pictured below are the two brothers holding the befuddled trout.







The Mulla family from Palm Bay, Florida is featured in our next report. Chartering with Capt. Roland, parents John and Marjorie along with daughters Sarah and Rebecca, fished the Melbourne Beach and Grant stretch of the Indian River. The crew caught a number of good fish and had a grand time on a picture-perfect day. It was tiny Rebecca with the biggest fish, a 32 inch, 8.5 lb gator trout.



(We have several other family charters over the past week and are awaiting summaries in order to post results. When received, these summaries will be added to the website).
Posted by Rocky Van Hoose on May 01, 2009 at 08:04:27 AM

Native Sons Fishing Guides
Captain Rocky Van Hoose
321-986-9588
rvanhoose@cfl.rr.com
Captain Brad Jones
321-626-5072
jonesmelb7@bellsouth.net