By: Captain Tom Van Horn
There is doubt the heat of summer is on here on Florida's Space Coast, so it's extremely important to adjust your routine and your tactics to be comfortable and successful and to enjoy your experience on the water.
First, dress is loose fitting light colored breathable long-sleeved shirts and pants. The more skin you have covered, the less sun exposure and mosquito bites you will experience. Many of our modern fishing garments are constructed of materials designed to reflect the sun and dry fast. Second, a large brim sun hat with neck flaps will help keep your head cool and protect your face from the sun. I use the Sunday Afternoons Adventure Hat, which is well vented and has extended neck flaps. Third, cover exposed areas of your skin with sunscreen of SPF rating of 30 or better, and reapply every few hours. Lastly, stay hydrated by drink plenty of water. I typically drink a complete bottle of water before reaching the lunch site in the morning, and then I try to drink a bottle on the hour throughout the day while under direct sun exposure. Another trick is to keep extra bandanas not bananas in your ice chest, and then every now and then retrieve a cold wet bandana wring it out and tie it around your neck, and then place the one you removed back in the ice box for the next rotation.
Dan, Leigh, and Art Share a Lagoon Moment
As far as tactics, fish early in the morning and late in the evening or at night. I usually like to get started before sunrise and finish the day before noon. Also wear a good quality pair of polarized sun glasses to protect your eyes from harmful reflected sun rays and to improve your ability to see fish. I personally use Maui Jims sun glasses. It is also very important to step up the size of your tackle to lessen the battle with the fish. Warm water holds less oxygen, so get them in fast, keep them in the water, and release them to catch another day.
Although it was hot on the water this week we still managed some outstanding catches. I had the pleasure of fishing with the Dunkley family from Ohio, and we found good numbers of tailing redfish in the mid water ranges of the flats. Our best results came from chunking mullet in areas of tailing fish. Altogether, each angler caught several redfish and all were over slot up to 40 inches.
Alex and Blaine Compair Kingfish
Besides flats fishing, on the second day I met three different members of the Dunkley family at the ramp at Port Canaveral before sunrise for a day of kingfish out on 8A Reef. The morning started out good as I caught a nice snook casting a Rapala X-Rap while waiting for my clients to board Three Quarter Time. From there we departed in search of live bait, which turned out to be a real challenge. As we left the port and headed south, we finally located some scattered pogie pods just north of Patrick AFB. After we acquired a reasonable amount of bait, we headed straight to 8-A. Once we arrived and set our lines, we trolled around for almost an hour without a bite, and we then found the right spot at the right time ending the day catching only three kingfish and one dolphin missing several other nice fish. I know three kingfish doesn't sound like a good day, but two of the kings were in the 30-pound range, and between the four fish we kept, we could barely get the fish bag zipped up, and it took two grown men to lift it out of the boat.
As always, if you have any questions or need more information, please contact me.
Good luck and good fishing,
Captain Tom Van Horn
Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters
http://www.irl-fishing.com
407-366-8085 landline
407-416-1187 on the water
866-790-8081 toll free
Book a charter, and let's go fishing.
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