We got offshore out of Port Canaveral Friday and had a great trip. We knew the day before that the water was really cold and dirty out to the at least 180 ft, so we planned on jigging a spot in the 200-250 range than trolling east. This was our first time adventuring this far out, so it was definitely a learning curve.

The first spot yielded one amberjack head. As we were getting ready to troll, a nice mahi-mahi showed up. I threw a DOA swimming mullet, and the fish ate it. Unfortunately, it threw the hook because this was my inshore rod and had braid.

We trolled our three rod spread east, and got a netting size mahi on wire rigged ballyhoo in 375 ft. This depth was productive. Because we don’t have or want outriggers on our 20ft center console, we were using these sideways facing outriggers, They cost us a huge 40+ lb bull on a blue mono-rigged skirt. We decided these outriggers were doing more harm than good. We managed to get a barely legal mahi 20 minutes later using a red skirt on mono. 45 minutes later, we got a nicer one on the blue skirt. The bite turned off afterwards.

On our way in, we stopped at a different amberjack spot in over 250 ft. I hooked one on a jig, but it got off. I decided to try one more drift, but this time with a frozen sardine on a 16oz sinker. It produced a small amberjack. On the actual last drift, I caught a huge almaco jack. I didn’t know they grew that big! The current was ripping on both spots, but somehow the bait would stay right below the boat. If we spotlocked, the jig and bait wouldn’t go down. If you maneuver the boat properly, you can often pull the fish away from the wreck, and up quickly to avoid it from getting eaten by sandbar sharks.

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Went beach fishing today and caught all the bonnetheads. I spent about 4 hours on the beach and caught 6 bonnethead sharks and 1 sandbar. Not a bad day.

Hit up IRL this morning to get some fishing in. I hadn’t hit up the river in a while and had been hearing good things. After grabbing some live shrimp I put in near 520. After about 5 minutes of having my shrimp stolen I landed my first keeper Mangrove Snapper. The next few hours I hit a few more small snappers before calling it. On my very last shrimp I hit a 13.5″ mangrove with a little bit of heft. That shrimp barely hit the water when the snapper sent my spool spinning (lightweight reel and line today). Catching a larger snapper on a tiny reel was kinda fun. All in all a good day.

When is this rain and wind gonna stop… ohh and the weeds!?

We’ve had a couple good days this past week that produced some quality fish! Between the wind and rain it hasn’t been easy for us surf anglers. I figured I’d take this down time with you to go over a couple things that I like to do!

Usually when I see a mist of bad weather coming, I like to count my chickens before they hatch and start tying up as many Pompano Riggs as I need for the coming month. I’ll also grab my bag of Fishbites in various flavors and scents and begin cutting them into small rectangular pieces. I usually will cut a 1in. Strip then cut that strip in an angle to get two pieces. Once you went through all your tape make sure you store it in the refrigerator to hold scent and color. That way your bait is top-notch the next time you go to use it!

Blanching sandfleas is another step I’ll take when the weather is bad. Grabbing a rake and stocking up on bait is only going to help catch you fish and save you money! Once you’ve required enough fleas, heat up a pot of boiling water and put the fleas in for about 30secs.(per gallon). Making sure you stir evenly. VERY IMPORTANT — after cooking them put in ice cold water and stir till cooled. Once the fleas are cooled down grab an old towel and lay them out on it and gently dry off fleas by patting with towel. This will laminate the moisture being held in the fleas and will last longer and stay on your hook stronger!

I’ll also usually go through all of my rods and reels and make sure they are all in tip top shape!

Getting your equipment properly serviced at least once a year is ideal if you want your equipment to continue to achieve catching trophy fish! Putting on new line Whether it’s a braid or mono, greasing up or replacing any bearings. Checking eye components on rods as well! Having faulty equipment is probably the worst thing that can happen to you! And chances are it happens when you get a big fish! I’ve learned my lesson the hard way when I was younger and I’ll never let it happen again! Make sure you take care of your Surf Fishing gear and in return, it’ll take care of you!

Look forward to March! March usually produces great weather and great beach fishing for southern Brevard County and Indian River County! So hang on I can see the light on the other side!

The fishing has been great this week targeting big schools of redfish. I have seen schools of up to 100 fish. If targeting trout, the bite has been best using a jig head with a natural colored paddle-tail.

We headed out to the SR from McDonald’s park in our kayaks on Monday. Being our first time there we didn’t know what to expect. The wind was out of the south so we put in and headed north and tried the few dock with live shrimp.
Dolphin was chasing something and no takers so we went to the opposite side. Saw bait fish and some reds tailing ( I think they were ).
I picked up a catfish and the wife catches five or six small reds. Still no reds for me though. The bite ends so moved south and the wind picked up and we moved around out of the wind and she hooks up on three little snapper and a drum. Me zero again if you don’t count the catfish again . Moved again and she gets a Pompano this time. I did finally land a small pompano and red.
Also saw a Bald Eagle over head and watched it swoop in and pick up a fish about fifty yards away! Was a pretty good day for sure!

It’s the time of year when anglers can expect good numbers of small fish working just off the shorelines where mangroves are present. Soft plastics like the 4 inch Salt Water Assassin Shrimp or Sea Shad tails rigged weed-less on an 1/8 ounce head are your best options right now. Cast out in front on cruising fish and slide these lures across their path. Once the reds see the offering, let them approach it and strike. Don’t move the lures too quickly, this often spooks these fish and they rarely give you a second chance.

Trout, ladyfish and jacks are possible species to catch near Sebastian Inlet. Incoming tides have been better than outgoing this week. The same Saltwater Assassin Sea Shad on a ¼ ounce jig head is all you need to get a bite. Work the lures quickly with an up and down jigging motion. You may find that by going with a slightly heavier jig head you get more action if the current is really strong.

Since the sweet-water contributor add, I have a sweet-water fishing report.

The weather was good enough to take the new paddle board out. I went out on a local lake on Saturday morning. The word of the day is beds, beds, beds. Holy Moley, there’s fish on beds everywhere.

Paddling around the lake, I see beds everywhere … and more importantly, fish on them. If you like the sweet-water, now is the time to pick them off … like fish in a barrel.

Here’s a pic of one of the ones I got on the paddle-board.

Conditions on the ocean only allowed us to get out twice offshore this past week. Unfortunately, you had to have a full-day trip and not half-days because we had to travel an awful far distance to find the fish! We found some dolphin out there, straight out, in roughly 400′ depths. There was a little rip going on, but nothing major yet. Amberjack were in 250′ depths on some of the deep wrecks but the sharks wouldn’t give you the chance to get them to the boat. We tried some chicken rigging, but it produced disappointing results. On the bottom, it was cold and muddy and there were no takers on our squid. Further down south out of Sebastian, the kingfish bite has been going off, but it’s

All in all, offshore out of Canaveral has been a giant dump. This week it looks like 15-30mph winds blowing, I don’t have very high expectations. Oh, we did manage to get one fish to the boat this week and it was a pretty good one! It’s nice to catch a Wahoo, but with the way things have been going lately, any fish is a nice one.

I took a week off of work to do some serious fishing this past week. I’ve been trying to take the week off to go fishing for a few weeks now, delaying it twice due to weather. Last week’s weather was supposed to be the best of the past weeks so I took that. The fishing plan was to do a few days in the NIR/Mosquito Lagoon then go south to Sebastian for few days…

Saturday, a front was supposed to be coming through so we made that the get the boat/bait gathering/maintenance day.

Sunday we put in at Riverbreeze Park and head north along the river waiting for the fog to burn off. Well, it never really did; at lunch time it was still foggy and we weren’t dressed for the cooler weather so we had a lunch warm-up break at JBs and had a few. Got back on the river and headed south after lunch. Two grown men, slayers of countless finned species, after hours of fishing were only able to boat a single Mangrove Snapper. We’re not worthy… we’re not worthy.

Monday, we chose a different strategy. Since the NIR didn’t do so hot for us we decided to fish the Mosquito Lagoon the next day instead, launching at Haulover. Due to the wind we went west once on the water and fished the flats and adjacent cove. The fog from the day before was still present, but did burn off earlier than the day before. Nevertheless, we didn’t do any better than we did the day before with just a couple of smaller fish boated.

Tuesday was my check in date for me down south so southbound I went at about 6 a.m. Hotels don’t let you check in till the afternoon so I found a boat ramp by the hotel, put the Gheenoe in, and headed east across the river towards the inlet.

Snook season just having opened up, they’d have to be willing to eat almost anything I reasoned. I fished by the rocks- before and after the fishing piers, tried the incoming and outgoing tide, even trolled a couple times with no hook ups; other than the rocks on the bottom.

A few hours of that not working, I then headed to the US-1 bridge over the Sebastian river to try bridge/pylon fishing. On the way to the bridge I cast netted some mullet so I threw one on a hook out of the stern of the Gheenoe and I’m fishing a live shrimp on the rod in my hand. About 30 minutes into fishing, the mullet gets tangled in the prop and I couldn’t get it unstuck. I didn’t have a knife handy so I got the bright idea to turn the motor on and have it cut the line. I turn the motor on, put it in reverse… uh oh, the line isn’t cutting, it’s taking up the rod instead. SNAP! The stankin’ rod breaks and the reel starts to go overboard… Instinct makes me reach for it but I’m on the back weighted to one side and as I reach, I cross the threshold of no return — and I’ll be damned if I didn’t fall out of my boat; pants, hoodie, boots and all.

Wait, it gets better! I pull myself back in the boat and notice during the commotion another one of my rods has also fallen out. I started out my trip with four rods and I’m already down to two. Freaked out and freezing now, I throw everything I was fishing with in the bottom of the boat and head to the boat ramp to get dry clothes and warm up. After about a 30 min boat ride, I get to the ramp, beach the boat, go to the truck and grab some dry clothes and change in the public bathroom throwing my soaking wet clothes in the back of the truck. And that’s how my down south fishing adventure started…

The first two days of fishing I concentrated on the fishing around the inlet- even heading out the inlet once to look for triple tail along the weed lines. The third day I did a bit more venturing and fished around the spoil islands, Black Point, and the flats around Big Slough. I saw/noticed more bites and life in that general area. Wished I would have explored a bit more, I may have found some other fishy spots.

I did do some night fishing, too, but that didn’t pan out either. I drove to the Jetty Tuesday night and tried for a couple hours but didn’t have much luck. While driving to the pier I did notice some docks had lights on them so I got my boat and headed out to them. I hooked a couple smaller trout and a small snapper but nothing big.

All in all, not the most productive fishing I’ve had but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it …

Fishing is looking really good this week! The Pompano bite is off the hook on the beaches. Clams and live sand fleas are getting the job done well. In the Ranana/Indian River canals, mangrove snapper, black drum, sheepshead, and smaller-sizes reds are all being caught in good numbers. We’re also hearing several reports of tripletail being caught in the lagoon down by Grant around the crab buoys. The tripletail are also holding offshore around the first weed line a couple of miles out. Rays and cobia are out there, too.

I was running and working on the boat yesterday, but the crew held down the beach in my absence. All three anglers hit the pompano limit in the Melbourne Beach surf using Fishbites and blanched sand fleas on Pompano Riggs by Couture! I expect the pompano bite to continue to be hot well into April, so get to the beach!

We had a good weather week last week with some tough fishing for the snook and reds due to the cold water and a lot of weeds along the beaches and in the inlet. However, The pompano bite was good and there were plenty of bluefish and some mackerel around. The weeds brought in the triple tail along the beaches and into the lagoon as well.

Next week is going to be a busy one. Let’s hope the weather holds out and we get some calm seas. There is starting to be more bait around and the trout bite should get better as well, as should the snook and redfish bite in the lagoon. Live bait is best but artificial baits work well. If the water stays clear people will be finding tripletail on the channel markers. Live shrimp is your best bait for them. The forecast for the middle of the week is windy and next weekend will be windy, too, but the fishing should stay decent as long as the air and water temps don’t drop too much.

The first of many fish for Keith on this beautiful Mosquito Lagoon day!

Tuesday I scouted the Mosquito Lagoon with Rayzor Ray. Even if the fish don’t cooperate it’s still a great time with Ray on the bow. The good news was the fish did cooperate eventually. We both caught a redfish and trout or two or three before leaving the happy fish I needed for my Wednesday charter.

Wednesday morning I found the fish close to where Ray and I left them on Tuesday. They were still a bit reluctant to eat early in the morning. Keith did a good job of presenting his Z-Man Curly Tailz and Minnowz to several reds and trout with only one spotted seatrout caught and a few short strikes to show for his efforts.

Deciding to offer the fish a different shaped lure with a more aggressive retrieve was the right call. Keith now tossing a four inch Jerk Shadz in the Houdini color captured the attention of plenty of small reds and lower-slot trout.

The rod bent frequently over the next few hours for Keith as I pushed into backwater areas I haven’t been able to access in a month or more. The bite was pretty much over by eleven thirty or so.

While we did not catch any trophy trout on this day it was gratifying to see three huge hens laid-up in the super skinny backwaters. Now that I know where they’re hiding I’ll be back in low-light conditions to offer them a big top-water plug and invite them aboard the Banshee for a quick photo-op!

Sorry, the only photo we took was of his first fish of the morning… This beautiful weather won’t last long and now is the time to go!

Treasure Coast Marina is pleased to join the impressive list of contributors to Spacefish! We will provide the best information available for central and south Brevard County as shared with us from the expert anglers and guides who come to us with their stories. Many of these people are career anglers with decades of experience fishing the Indian River Lagoon, its tributaries and Sebastian Inlet.

This week we have finally got some offshore information and the news is good! Fish in close, inside the 90 ft bar, and the bite is good. Sailfish, Blackfin tuna, among others. Eighteen lane snapper and 9 trigger fish. Lots of grouper and snapper but those all out of season so released. Stay in close. If you cross the second bar, you ran over them!

Inshore is also cranking. Use big shrimp for trout and reds. Pinfish work best at the inlet during the tide change for snook. Go up Sebastian River if you want to try for tarpon. There are also pompano in the river. Use live or salted clams on pompano rigs for that. We are very impressed with NATIVE SALT CLAMS. We have just started our guys using them and they love the ease of using this well packaged, clean bait.

That’s it for this week! We’re glad to be here and will do our best to help you get on the fish!

So wife and I went to Wabasso for the first time yesterday. She caught a lot of snapper around the docks and one pomp. I just got cat fish and one snapper. We were using live shrimp. When we were done and got back to the launch we find out the pompano are biting over by the west side of the 510 bridge. We should have checked it out early but who knew. All and all a good time, we’re still learning everytime we go out and thanks to everyone here for that.
We’re looking forward to the next time out.

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