Sebastian Inlet Fishing Report 4-08

Reported by Capt. Sherrie Stovall on
April 3 , 2008



Offshore Sebastian Inlet

Blue water trolling days are here again! The dolphin run is starting and several huge Bulls have already been caught. A few dolphins in the 50 lb range have been reported by boaters out trolling close to the Gulf Stream and along weed lines.

Strong east winds have pushed in a lot of weeds and debris from the Gulf Stream and trade currents. Sargasso weed houses colonies of small bait fish and will keep most of the dolphin close by. Pick a direction on the weed line and begin dragging some rigged or naked ballyhoo up the cleanest side of the weed line. Turn around and work back down the other side of the weed line if nothing is happening. Throughout the day a rip or surface current may form, these are great places to look for fish. Most of the fish are on the clean side of the rips but if the temperature is right they might be swimming on the dirty side to help camouflage themselves. Look for dolphin, sailfish and Wahoo coming by to take a swipe at your baits.

While trolling keep a watchful eye out for large floating boards or any piece of debris. Trash that is exposed on the surface can house a tripletail or a small school of dolphin. Larger boards or objects that extend down into the water may hold some Wahoo down below. Trolling should be good starting about 130 ft out to the 400 ft cones area. If you are looking to burn some old fuel in the boat head out towards the Gulf Stream at the start of your day and catch the early bite. April is a great month to boat good numbers and larger sized Dolphin.

Sebastian Inlet & River

Sheepshead is still stacked in the inlet around all of the bridges. Fiddler crabs and sand fleas are choice baits but be ready to take lots with you. Sheepsheads are quick to steal bait right off the hook without even making a tug.

Large bluefish have been landed using spoons and cut bait from the jetties. Pompano are also caught off the south jetty this time of year. Cut clams and fleas are the old favorite but sometimes a light jig tipped with a small piece of shrimp works better on the sandy bottom. Expect to add a black drum or snapper into the take.

Many fish are being caught during the day on shrimp, mojarras and Pins off the North Jetty. Nighttime anglers are hooking up by using lures from the rocks and bridges. Try throwing dark color bombers, windcheaters and bucktails towards the channel to locate pockets of snook. Keep the cast net close by and look for schools of croakers, pins or mojarras to gather under the catwalks and present a chance to net some live bait. Hook the baits up with a little bit of weight and an #30lb. leader and cast them into the channel for the snook or redfish. Keep a camera close to get a nice snap shot of those oversized fish and take care in releasing them.

If you haven’t seen a tailing Red or giant Sea trout lying in a pothole this is a great time to start looking. With the warmer waters and flood of baitfish back into the river this is as good as it gets. Fish will stay in the flats and feed all day on the warmer days. Expect explosive top water action and jerk bait fishing too. Live bait can also be deployed for that occasional finicky fish.

Whitey's Bait & Tackle
321-724-1440
9030 S Highway A1a
Melbourne Beach, FL 32951
www.whiteysonline.com/

Visit our new Whitey's Photo Album site for loads of pictures new and old.

More information, or wish to book an Offshore Charter, please call us on 321-724-1440, or email us: captstovall@whiteysonline.com

Non-Stop Trout In Mosquito Lagoon

March winds continue to blow here in east central Florida. Last week was especially
tough with five straight days of 15-25 mph. I cancelled two trips but managed to get in
three days of fishing. More and more baitfish are returning to the flats with each day.
The finger mullet have still not arrived but the trout are feeding on glass minnows and
shrimp.

Last Tuesday, Canadian anglers Derek and Stacey joined me for a cloudy and
blustery day on Mosquito Lagoon. Although they had never fished for redfish, this
husband and wife team were excellent anglers and were prepared to face the tough
conditions. We fished DOA CALs in watermelon seed and morning glory colors all day.
They started the day off catching a few jack crevalle. Next, we spent a couple hours
trying to catch some large redfish. Poor visibility made it nearly impossible to keep
track of them and we went in search of easier quarry. Derek and Stacey combined for
six redfish and Stacey landed a nice trout.



Friday, Tom and Marion, from Kansas, took a break from the theme parks and spent
the day relaxing on Mosquito Lagoon. Like the previous day, the big redfish would
show themselves briefly and then disappear into the deeper water that had been
stirred up by the consistent high winds. Several schools of 3-8 pounds fish provided
us some shallow water sight fishing action and Tom hooked up first with the morning
glory CAL. The wind made casting a challenge but we had clear skies and good
visibility. Several more redfish were fooled by the lures before the day was through.


By Saturday, the winds had finally subsided. Tim and Debbie joined me for a
spectacular morning. With the slick calm conditions, we were easily able to spot
several schools of redfish at our first stop. Within twenty minutes, the couple had
landed three redfish to 36 inches.



Before long, there were boats in every direction and the clouds had covered the sky.
We left the redfish in search of a less crowded area. I tied on a couple DOA Deadly Combos and Tim and Debbie spent the next hour enjoying some non-stop trout
action. They caught too many to count before we decided to hunt for some more
redfish. We tried several more spots but landed only one more red.

The March winds will be blowing the next couple days but are predicted to subside by
mid week. The calm winds with warm temperatures should provide some excellent
fishing. The redfish can be spotted in very shallow water while the trout bite should
remain consistent in 2-4 feet.

This weekend is the Federation of Fly Fishers National Fly Expo in Lakeland, Florida.
It will feature lectures and workshops on all aspects of fly fishing. Capt. Keith
Kalbfleisch and I will be giving a seminar on fly fishing the Space Coast on Friday
afternoon.

April 18-20 is the Coastal Angler Magazine Fishing and Boating Expo in Melbourne.
Capt. Tom Van Horn and I will be at the Mosquito Creek Outdoors Angler Improvement
Center to answer your questions about shallow water fishing.

Captain Chris Myers
321-229-2848
http://www.floridafishinglessons.com/
cmyers@floridafishinglessons.com

Spring Fish Will Become Aggressive

Catching Up Report!
What a great month! The fishing for the most part has been very good. I had a couple of slow days, but all in all a solid month. There are schools of redfish all over the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River. There are days when the fish are more aggressive and will eat just about any offering. There were a few days were they would not eat at all. As we move into spring the fish will become more aggressive and the top water bite is a great way to start the day. What a great estuary we have and if you you would like to come enjoy the area please call at 407-405-0819. I am booking for April and May with 14 days already booked for April. They will fill fast! THanks for stopping by!

Tight Lines and Good Fishing!
30 Mar 2008 by Captain David Rogers

Captain David Rogers
AAA Hawgwild Saltwater Charters LLC
Host The 'Hawgwild Fishing Show'ESPN WIXC 1060 /WAMT 1180 Satudays 6-8am
(407-273-1190) Live call-inESPN WHOO 1080 Sunday 6-8am/ replay - http://www.hawgwildradio.com/
407-405-0819 Book Charters
http://www.blogger.com/

Native Sons Catch Fish In Bad Weather

March 29, 2008 - Trying Times
“These are the times that try men’s souls …” Now Thomas Paine’s famous quote originally had little to do with fishing, but it could not have been more applicable to fishing guides in the greater Orlando area than during the last two weeks. Horrendous north winds, unseasonably cold temperatures, historic low water levels and funky fish combined to make this stretch in our calendar a real challenge. Blessedly, however, there were just enough good charters sprinkled between the successive cold fronts to keep us from running off and joining the French foreign legion.

Casey Haire from Orlando, his neighbor and Rusty his grandfather, joined Capt. Rocky for a Titusville redfish hunt several days ago and observed first hand the difficulties of trying to fish in water too shallow to float a flats boat. We finally found enough water to keep our ankles wet and several willing combatants such as the one pictured below, but it was certainly trying.






The following Wednesday, Shawn, also from Orlando, along with his two sons Samuel and Seth, his boss JR Lundy from Dallas and his two sons, fished with Capt. Rocky and Capt. Roland in the Grant area on a double charter. This was a day when even the frogs and ducks would not have ventured forth. The crew caught several large trout, black drum, sheephead and mango snapper while hiding in the relative protection of Honest John’s Canals. Pictured below are Samuel and Seth hold one of their black drum.






The weekend brought Andy Kane and his two twin children, Ben and Mattie to the Cocoa Beach area. The Saturday portion of the two day charter gave us a brief respite from the brutal spring conditions and the fish responded with a certain degree of savagery. The final count for the day included six redfish to 48 inches (see below) and eight gator trout, the largest being 30 inches.




Two days of unseasonable cold weather descended upon the area and the water temperatures dropped 12 degrees in less than 48 hours. This caused the fish to scramble into survival mode and guides to ponder the providential vicissitudes of life. Unfortunately for Todd Reader and his wife, who had been looking forward to fishing the Indian River Lagoon for nearly a year, their charter was as trying upon the soul of Capt. Rocky as any in recent memory. Pictured below is Todd holding the best fish on the most trying day.




Finally, yesterday the weather began to show signs of returning to normal late spring conditions. Jeff Tomski and his son Jackson, got to see hundreds of redfish schooling and large trout holding in the sandy potholes of the Banana River. And even though the fish were not yet in a feeding frenzy state of mind, several were coaxed into attacking our baits, including the two pictured below.


Posted by Rocky Van Hoose on March 29, 2008 at 09:12:43 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

Best Time To Fish Apalachicola

Mid Spring Break - Mar 28, 2008

If you are a regular reader of ours, you already know that I consider April and May to be pretty much the best time of the year to go fishing here. (And since I'm the one writing this fishing report, my opinion is the one that counts.) If you are lucky enough to have stumbled upon this site for the first time, I'll be happy to explain. April is historically when most of the fish that swim in the Northern Gulf of Mexico choose to begin making themselves available. Pompano normally begin showing up the last couple weeks of March and there should already be a good supply of Spanish Mackeral. The month of April is when the weather starts to be more consistent, the water begins to warm up and we begin seeing more and bigger (Bull) redfish and speckled (Gator) trout. A day of inshore fishing this month with or without a guide should also put you in direct contact with everything from sheepshead & ladyfish, bluefish & flounder, whiting, jack crevalle & black drum.

Capt. Nathan Donahoe is happy to report that his prediction of Pompano on March 26th was right on target - he caught 3 fish off the rocks at Sikes cut Wednesday morning. Capt. David Heinke is just happy that conditions are back to normal and his angler Jack Browning from Madison WI was able to experience this reel-spooling 12lb redfish yesterday. David also hooked a couple of tripletail this morning. I have to admit that this March has presented us with the opportunity to learn where & how to fish in adverse conditions as we don't get to just fish only on the "Good" days. Several days this month I would check in with Jr. or one of our other Flats or Bay guides, certain that they must have cancelled their trips to learn that they had a box full of fish and their anglers had a fantastic time. The beauty of our area is that for the most part there's usually some place to get in a successful day of fishing in less than perfect conditions. You just need to know how to read the water and have the experience of knowing how the fish will react given those conditions and what to use to tempt them to bite.

FORECAST: May is our secret season. Most every type of fish we can think of will be here before Memorial day but the people don't actually get here in any significant numbers until June. What that means to you is plentiful fish with a scarcity (comparatively speaking) of anglers fishing for them. The local "Fish List" for those who haven't already memorized it is as follows:

Inshore - Speckled trout, redfish, Spanish mackerel, pompano, flounder, black drum, ladyfish, bluefish, whiting, jack crevalle, cobia, sheepshead, and as the water gets warmer later in the month, we'll see tarpon, tripletail and sharks in larger numbers.

Offshore: Snapper, grouper, amberjack, cobia, dolphin, wahoo and king mackerel.

Note - the 2nd Annual Fins & Family Allshore Fishing Tournament will be held May 9th & 10th in Apalachicola. For info call 850-653-3142.

Hope you're out having a great time on the water!

Robinson Brothers Guide Service
118 Commerce St.
Apalachicola, Florida 32320
850-653-8896
850-653-7196 (cell)
http://www.floridaredfish.com/
Robinson@Flaredfish.com

REALTOR - Robinson Real Estate Company
http://www.robinsonrealestatecompany.com/
850-653-1653

Member:Apalachicola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce http://www.apalachicolabay.org/Carrabelle Chamber of Commerce http://www.carrabelle.org/Gulf County Chamber of Commerce http://www.gulfchamber.org/Florida Guides Assn. http://www.florida-guides.com/Florida Realtors Assn.