With summer beginning, the variety of game fish that are available in the Mosquito Lagoon, Banana River, and the Indian River include tarpon and snook, along with the always abundant redfish and sea trout. Juvenile tarpon invade the residential canals in the Banana Rive and 40-100plus pound tarpon will begin showing in the Mosquito Lagoon. In recent weeks, the tarpon and snook have added variety into the mix making the possibility of a super grand slam, (snook, trout, redfish, and tarpon), very achievable.
The warming waters have given the choice of targeting snook and tarpon, but the redfishing has been excellent in the past couple of months. Numerous shots at 20-40lb redfish has been a daily occurrence.
John Hall with a 47″ long redfish with a 28″ girth. The weight calculated out to 46 1/2lbs. John landed 3 other fish over 20lbs in four- hour morning trip. This fish was caught on a skillfully placed live shrimp.
*Note- Boga gripping or weighting a large fish by the jaw can kill them. When lifted by their jaws, two things can happen. Firstly, the jaw muscles can be torn along with the ligaments with in the fish¡¯s mandible joint. Secondly, fish live in a weightless environment and when a fish is lifted in a vertical manner the stomach and intestines are forced into the bottom of the abdominal cavity. The intestines can be twisted, resulting in a blockage of the natural flow of the food from the fish’s mouth and out of the anus. Any fish over 10lbs should never be lifted by the jaw and the fish’s weight should remain horizontal, in result spreading the fish’s weight more evenly.
Dan Weeks with a 15lb redfish caught on a Black Clouser Minnow on May 23rd. This fish was caught out of a school of around 200 redfish that were daisy-chaining and fining, just as tarpon do.
Bryan McGuiness with a mini-poon caught on a foam slider on May 29th. This was one of the most acrobatic tarpon I have ever seen. We had multiple shots at rolling and surface feeding tarpon.
Aaron Spence, a Michigan steelhead guide, with one of** 5 sight-casted fly-caught redfish** in extra-skinny water on May 26th. All ate crab patterns. Aaron caught 3 tailing redfish, a cruising redfish, and a redfish that was in such shallow water that its back was exposed.
Scott Paschal with a redfish caught on crab pattern while tailing on May 27th.
Danny Brown, a Titusville Native , now residing in Washington, D.C. with one of 3 monsters sight-casted on 10lb spinning gear on June 2nd. Danny graduated from Astronaut High School, my rival school. But we won’t hold that against him.
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T.J. Bettis** co-owner ,along with his father Tim, of Orlando Outfitters a new fly shop that will be opening mid-June. T.J. caught this redfish left-handed. Being a right-handed caster this was a very impressive feat. T.J. recently had elbow surgery, note the brace. This fish was caught and released on one of my custom tied shrimp patterns on June 3rd. Orlando outfitters can be reached at 407-896-8220 or on the web at www.orlandooutfitters.com. Tell them that Capt. Scott referred you to them.
I am booked solid until June 17th, but have opening throughout June and the rest of the summer. Please call me or email me to book a trip or ask any questions that you might have.
