What’s up fish n geeks,

It’s been a minute, I’m a little rusty at this. Just because I haven’t posted in a while though, doesn’t mean I haven’t kept up with my lurking. Stay creepin. I haven’t made a post or video in months for various reasons but mostly because when I’ve gone fishing there hasn’t been much to post about. For me, in order to be successful at fishing, I have to be out of the water every week. Time on the water is the only way I can put together a string of consistent good days fishing. That being said this is the first time I have had in awhile to put the time in. The Banana River for the last 6 months hasn’t been much. There are good pockets if you are willing to spend days on scouting more than fishing. Once you find a good area, take of it, there is not that many fish here so please remember conservation is key.

This week I was able to do some scouting / sight fishing in some shallow areas that had clearish water. I was impressed with my 21 foot bayboat for being able to do this style of fishing about 12-15 inches of water. As you can see in the video the water was clear enough to spot several fish, but I spooked a lot more away than I had shots at. I always get excited when I find areas clear enough to sight fish but also a little sad because its basically just mangroves with desert flats in between. My tactics for fishing in the river are almost all weedless setups. There isnt really a point to use baits like mirrordines or even topwaters that often in scenarios like these because all the fish are usually underneath the branches. The best way to sight fish these fish is to use weedless setups. My two favorites are a 3/0 or 4/0 weedless hook paired with either a Gulp shrimp or Slayer jerk shad. Another tip I have had success with is casting past the fish you find. My boat will typically spook the fish when I get to close and send them the opposite way, which is where I have been leaving my baits to sit until the fish cross near them. Obviously not scaring the fish is key here, but if you do I have been getting bites as they run out of the mangroves as well. Practicing skip casting is a must as well. As you can see in the video I catch both a snook and a redfish by skip casting into the mangroves.

I hope you guys enjoy the video, and it’s nice to be able to say hello again. If you have had any luck in the Banana or central parts of the Indian River leave a comment or message me on IG: @AlexSpanky and we can talk shop. I’m always curious to see what others are fishing with and patterns they are seeing. Take it easy y’all.

Spanky =)