June 3, 2010 - Summertime and Super Times
Summer has finally arrived along the Space Coast and the fishing has gotten downright ridiculously hot as a result. Giant snook, tarpon, redfish, black drum, jacks and other inshore species have settled into their summer patterns and we’re seeing some super catches over the past few weeks … read on for the details.
Capt. Peter recently guided Justin Stumpfhauser to a huge 45 inch snook. Justin treated himself to a day of fishing for his birthday, and was rewarded with a fish of a lifetime. Fishing back into mangrove creeks, Justin jumped several tarpon up to 30 pounds in the first hour of the trip but the silver kings shook the hooks before any pics could be taken. Switching to a different strategy, trying to get a better hook-set on the ‘poons, the 45 inch monster snook pounded the tarpon bait (an 8” mullet live mullet). With some serious effort and skill, Justin brought the fish boatside for a couple quick photos before releasing her back into the cool, clear water under the mangrove roots. After fishing the creeks, Capt. Peter moved out onto the grass flats, where Justin sight-fished the rest of the day catching redfish, crevalle, and ladyfish.
During another birthday celebration, Capt. Peter guided Paul, Kelly, and Trent Hunter to a day of backcreek fishing for Trent’s birthday in Melbourne. The goal of the trip was tarpon, but due to a lack of water flow the tarpon were pretty lethargic. Fishing a school of 30 or so rolling tarpon first thing in the morning, Paul was able to capitalize on one of the few tarpon bites and pulled a beautiful fish boatside for a quick photo before releasing. The tarpon bit 6” live mullet early, and later in the day they preferred pogies. The rest of the trip was spent sightfishing tarpon and black drum. Some of the schools of black drum they fished are in excess of 50 fish, and are just a blast to sight-fish.
Florida in late spring can bring some surprises, weather-wise and angling-wise. The weather for Greg Stever from Missouri, his two sons Tanner and Trenton, and Captain Rocky could not have been more surprising. Firstly, an unseasonal tropical system developed over the Atlantic during the night before their charter and threw early morning squalls and unseasonably low pressure upon central Florida delaying the start of their charter, Then the fish decided to play with baits rather than aggressively attack them as had been their pattern in the preceding weeks. Despite continuous hits, we were only able to set hooks in a couple of reds and trout before a late morning rain drenched us and chased us off the river. After the rain stopped we tried fishing again but were only able to stick one more redfish, although it was a dandy. Pictured below is Trent with his 32 inch Banana River Red.
Brian Baney and oldest son Nick fished a half day with Capt Roland in the Melbourne area. They started off trout fishing and landed some really nice ones. The fish ranged from 20 - 23 inches. When the river grew too rough they slipped back into Crane Creek for a shot at some tarpon. Although They didn’t land any one was jumped and a really nice jack was landed.
Visiting from Atlanta for some fun in the sun, Kim and John (the husband and wife fishing machine) joined Capt. Peter for a morning of flats fishing in the Banana River. Being friends of Capt. Peter and his family, Kim invited Christa to come along and boy is Christa happy she did. Fishing both islands and up on top of grass flats, the anglers had a blast hunting and catching redfish. With double headers and even a triple header, you could probably hear the laughs in the other river. Croakers and pinfish were the bait of choice. The two biggest fish went 48 and 44 inches….
Will, Jacob, and Wendell from Youngstown, Ohio fished with Roland for two days. The first day tarpon and trout were the targets. Even though the tarpon were not in the mood to eat Wendell landed a giant gar while Will added a big jack from a school of 30. Moving out into the river, the trio sight-fished for snook and trout and Will scored with a gator. On day two, Team Buckeye moved off the beach for a mixed bag of fish. The fish were picky but a few were landed – shark, kingfish, and bonita all made it to the boat while the tarpon and cobia teased the crew.
Mason and his dad, Chuck, joined Capt. Peter for another adventure on the Indian River Lagoon….In search of Mason’s first tarpon. Mason had jumped many tarpon in the past, but had yet to land one, so the purpose of the day was to get rid of that skunk. Fishing one of Peter’s schools of tarpon first thing in the morning, the anglers hooked at least 5 ‘poons with Mason bringing one of them boatside for a quick release, and his first silver king! Capt. Peter reports having a blast on the water sight-fishing many different tarpon schools, two big schools of black drum, sharks, crevalle, snook, and even sight-fishing five foot gar on fly. Mason caught so many black drum, that at times, the anglers found themselves just watching the school of drum just swim around the boat. “We lost a lot of fish and caught a lot of fish (lost count of how many drum we caught), but the best part was that we got to watch almost every fish eat the bait”. Mason is a fantastic angler, and his quest for trophy fish has definitely rewarded him with some awesome catches.
Finally, the Turner family joined Capt. Roland in the Melbourne area for some sight-seeing and fishing. The three young Turner boys were quite the hand full and made enough noise to send most of the fish running for the hills, however, they did manage to land a few redfish who, evidently, were hard of hearing. Seven year old Hayden struck first with a nice slot red which was his first and biggest ever. Four year old Carson was not to be out done and soon followed with a bigger one. Pictured below are Carson and his red.
Posted by Rocky Van Hoose on June 03, 2010 at 08:48:44 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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