April 29, 2010 – Spectacular Spring Fishing Report
The past couple of weeks have offered up some great fishing, strong winds and all. Moreover, there has been a great variety of fish in our waters right now. Applying different techniques by sight-fishing on the flats and in the creeks and canals has been a ton of fun and very productive. The following accounts are from the past several weeks.
On an afternoon trip, accompanied by CJ Hobgood, Capt. Peter fished back into some mangrove lined creeks in search of tarpon and snook. This was a really fun trip because CJ is a blast to fish with and is pretty darn skilled when it comes to battling big tarpon. They caught some really nice tarpon and some snook from 32 to 40 inches in the four hour trip. They also jumped a bunch of 30-50 pound tarpon, but were only able to get one boat-side. A cool picture of one of the fish making his grand leap out of the water turned out pretty good. Live baitfish was the bait of choice, and they were sucking ‘em down.
Dennis Gast, wife Samantha and 6 yr. old daughter Harmony from Wis. Fished ½ day charter with Capt. Rocky on the Banana River. Partly cloudy skies turned to rain by early afternoon. Caught 2 reds to 18 lbs and 2 trout to 26 inches. Saw manatees, dolphins, and all kinds of waterfowl including rosette spoonbills, snowy egrets, blue herons, ibis, pelicans and ospreys. One osprey kept threatening our baits and finally took a finger mullet only ten feet from the boat. Family had enjoyed Sea World in Orlando the previous day but I doubt it could have compared to all the water creatures seen on the day.
Capt. Peter had another great day of fishing recently this time with Bill Pesci. Accompanying Bill was a friend of his visiting from Georgia. They fished in the Banana River, and were blessed with a beautiful breezy day. They started off sight-fishing snook that were sunning on the surface holding over some six foot deep structure; both man and tackle were tested. Pulling upper thirty to forty inch snook from barnacle encrusted wood with light tackle can be challenging but these two guys put it to them. After tugging on the snooks, they played on the flats for a little, and then fished a school of big black drum and redfish that were holding on the shallow side of a five foot deep trench. This dynamic duo put the hurt on the fish, landing over eight solid black drum, some good fifteen pound plus reds, and a handful of beautiful snook up to thirty-eight inches (with one 40 inch plus snook “released” next to the boat – would have been nice to get a picture of her).
Dave and Maritza from Pennsylvania spending a week in west Melbourne fished with Capt. Rocky on a perfect morning. The glassy conditions and clear water made a stealthy approach mandatory for the spooky fish. Using both live finger mullet and four inch shiners, Dave slammed catching redfish, trout, flounder and jack among the dozen or so fish caught on the half day charter. They had numerous shots at monster snookers cruising the shallow shorelines but could not entice them to bite. These huge fish were sight-fished. They also had a shot at a fifty pound tarpon, one of the first tarpons spotted in the river this spring. (We’ll post photos at a later date.)
One other trip that sticks out in Capt. Peter’s mind was one with a group of very skilled anglers who were visiting Cocoa Beach on business – and the wind was blowing pretty good! They were forced to seek shelter behind islands and in protected mangrove coves the entire day in order to fish calm quiet waters. They chased schools of reds around all morning, and had a blast.
Finally, Capt. Peter wishes to say congratulation to his little sister Christa Deeks for her 1st place finish in the Hunt for Reds tournament this several weeks ago. The pro-team on his boat that day consisted of Brian and Matt Holmes, along with Christa. The team worked hard all day culling through reds trying to find the magic multi-spotter. They caught other multi-spot fish on tournament day, but were just too big. Peter warns we need to look out for Matt Holmes – he’s fired up on these tournaments, and is a real competitor!
Native Sons Fishing Guides
Captain Rocky Van Hoose
321-986-9588
rvanhoose@cfl.rr.com
Captain Brad Jones
321-626-5072
jonesmelb7@bellsouth.net
Posted by Rocky Van Hoose on May 09, 2010 at 04:20:00 PM
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