The tarpon have returned! With the cold fronts pushing further and further south, they won't stay around long but it will be fun while it lasts.
You may visit my website at http://www.floridafishinglessons.com/FishingReport.html for pictures of fish from this week.
Sunday, my Indian River charter with John and Jason Brandt began with the beautiful sight of large tarpon rolling all around us. The father and son team were excited, as was I, but the tarpon were not as cooperative as we had hoped they would be. John put a fish of about 70 pounds in the air on a rootbeer DOA TerorEyz and another struck a live bait we were drifting behind the boat while we cast lures. No tarpon were landed but were certainly saw plenty of big fish. We searched around for some reds but only saw a few so we decided to go after some trout. Using a DOA Deadly Combo, they caught at least 30 trout which were holding in 2-4 feet of water around schools of small mullet. Near the end of the day, I spotted a school of larger redfish cruising along the edge of the flat. John was able to get a gold DOA Baitbuster in front of the fish and was hooked up instantly. The 34" fish topped off a good day of fishing.
Monday, I returned to the same area but a stiff breeze was keeping the tarpon down. I saw a few fish rolling and the Terroreyz launched another 70-80 pound fish into the air but the fight was short-lived. I had some rod bending action with ladyfish until the wind died down and the tarpon began to show themselves. During the next several hours, I used the TerrorEyz to get three bites, jumped two fish and landed one around 50 pounds.
Tuesday, Captains Ron Presley and John Kumiski invited me to join them on board Capt. Ron's Pathfinder for a nearshore trip out of Port Canaveral. We hoped to find a feeding frenzy of large fish feasting on mullet. We saw a few mullet schools, a ton of scattered menhaden, but no preadators. We ran almost to Melbourne before giving up without a bite. The following day, Capt. Kumiski travelled to Ponce Inlet where he went 4/5 on tarpon including a fish of over 200 pounds.
Wednesday, George Wessell treated his son Kyle to a fishing trip in Mosquito Lagoon before Kyle is deployed with his Army unit to Iraq. Heavy cloud cover dashed our hopes of sight fishing for redfish. After several hours of blind casting with only one nice trout landed, George and Kyle elected to try their luck with some cut ladyfish. Between catfish bites, they were able to land six nice redfish to 34".
Thursday, my wife and I planned on paying a visit to some Indian River tarpon. The wind had the river in whitecaps when we arrived and the few tarpon we saw were well out of reach. After several hours with only one redfish and a few ladyfish caught, we gave up on the tarpon and moved over to Mosquito Lagoon. We saw quite a few fish but with the wind and clouds, most of them saw us about the same time we saw them. Julie was able to land one nice redfish before we called it a day.
Friday, I was joined by Frank and Wendy from Boynton Beach. We planned on targeting the tarpon but the wind was still not in our favor. We left the Indian River after having caught only two trout and moved over to the Mosquito Lagoon. We began to see redfish right away but the fish at our first stop proved to be very spooky and only gave us a few shots. We moved around a bit and Frank was able to connect with his first red caught while sight fishing. He fooled that fish and one other with a gold DOA Baitbuster.
Wendy had one fish break off and landed another that proved to be the biggest of the day.The water levels in the Lagoons has been dropping steadily during the past few weeks and should concentrate the fish which have been scattered as of late. The lower water should also improve visibility and the sight fishing.
Capt. Chris Myers
http://www.floridafishinglessons.com