Salty Sarge here for a little update on the surf fishing report. For Wednesday, the 14th of March, the Satellite Beach bite has been weak. The wind blowing and the rip current pulling south makes for some challenging fishing. Although I was able to land some small whitening and some black drum. All of the fish were caught using frozen shrimp.

At Spessard Holland North Beach on March 16th, the wind was blowing south and the rip current was still pulling south. The bite was better, getting hits on clams, shrimp and cut finger mullet. In the early morning we landed 3 whiting and one small black drum on clams and shrimp. We switched to cut mullet and got two nice size blue fish. Other anglers were getting blues just 300 or so yards to the north of us on cut mullet as well. So the blue fish are definitely running right now. Try using 4oz -5oz or a Sputnik weight which will hold a bit better then your standard pyramid weight (a Sputnik weight is a lead weight with 4 or more stainless steal or copper probes that bite into the sand that help the weight stay in place).

That’s it for the Salty Sarge — over and out!

Salty Sarge here again with some serious action coming out of Mathers Bridge this weekend! We started off at Man Over Board for the bait, picking up dozens of shrimp and frozen mullet.

Once to the bridge, we hit it hard landing small mangrove snappers and some nice speckled trout. The channel cats were out and about as well. Lots of pin fish near the mangroves and some keeper sheep heads as well. There’s always a common thread here with the Salty Sarge — monster fish is what we want and here is a little tale of Billy The KID.

My buddy, Billy the Kid, shows up ready to do some work on some fish. The kid comes out with the gear, 5ft Medium to heavy rod with a hell of a reel. Billy had his setup perfect — heavy duty 60lb breaded line and 80 pound leader, joining the two using a AB knot or (Alternate Blood knot) paired with SZ 6/0 hook and a 5oz pyramid weight. With the wind and the tide pulling north we set on the north side of the bridge as to let the current pull the baits into the channel. Billy had a nice size mullet maybe around 12inch which he cut into two pieces. He Baited it up and casted around 20yds into the channel. As the bait sat we managed to land some pin fish, trout and some more small mangrove snappers. Then, IT HAPPENED.

Billy’s rod started hitting, click, click, click, then followed by that sound every angler wants to hear, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Billy flips the trigger on the reel and hits it hard. At this point the fish is taking line like no one’s businesses. His rod was being pulled hard but he keeps on the fight. Taking drag and having a fight of the Kid’s life. We finally saw the leader come to the surface. RED DRUM comes out and breaks the surface. I drop the dunk net into the water and try to slide it underneath this monster. We get it in the net and we pull it over the bridge railing. We all were shaken by it’s massive size. It’s a monster Red Drum. We get the pictures and measurement of 46,” but no weight because my scale couldn’t handle the beast. We releases the massive Red back to the water.

The week before we also helped another angler land a 30″ 10 pound monster red drum. So Mathers Bridge has been producing some major fish and has got the locals coming out as well as the out-of-towners to get in on the fun. All and all it has just been a great week full of fishing at Mathers Bridge. Salty Sarge over and out!
Salty Sarge 478-919 -7640 Fishing Guide

The high winds and rough seas have made fishing the beach tough this last week but pushed a lot of clean water into the lagoon, which needed it very badly. But at the end of the week and weekend the weather was nice enough to get outside and find some fish. The inlet bite slowed down quite a bit for Snook and Redfish but if you put in the time, the fish were cooperative.

With the higher water levels and clean water, the inshore bite was pretty good with some trout, jacks and ladyfish on the menu around the deeper mangrove shorelines and they were hitting the Storm 360GT Coastal Paddle tail baits and jerk baits. Pompano, jacks, mackerel and bluefish pushed inshore around the inlet. Goofy jigs work best for the Pompano but the Mackerel, Blues and Jacks were eating the Paddle tail baits worked deep.

This past week the bite has been very good for giant redfish in the Indian River Lagoon near Titusville. We are casting hand picked shrimp to these bulls and fighting them on 12-15 pound class tackle. Black drum are mixed in as well but the main species are the reds. The water has been rising most of the week and this has the fish moving around a lot, but when you find them they are usually cooperative which makes for a fun time for my anglers.

So much wind lately, but we’re still catching in the shallows of the Mosquito Lagoon.

Protected backwaters have been producing good catches of trout and redfish. Tony, my most frequent client, has been having a ball throwing top-water walking plugs. Starting at first light and often through the morning the bite has been consistent.

Actually, the bite has been better with Z-Man Minnowz and Diezel Minnowz rigged weedless. Slow roll these three and four inch soft plastic lures near the bottom and hold on. Often a stop and go retrieve results in more and more aggressive bites than the “slow roll” retrieve. Experiment a bit on your retrieval and let the fish tell you want they want at the time.

Tailing fish are usually eager to eat a shrimp whether live or plastic. I like adding a bit of Pro-Cure shrimp scent to my soft plastic EZ Shrimpz. I’m firm believer in scented lures, especially when an extremely slow or “dead stick” presentation is necessary.

As I write this we have a cold front sitting on top of us. Dropping air and water temperatures will change things in the coming days. I’m actually happy for the temperature drop as the water temps were climbing well over normal for late winter/early spring conditions. If the winds settle down a bit I’m expecting great fishing in the very near future!

The snook bite had picked back up at the inlet. Large live shrimp are getting it done. Black drum and sheepshead are still being caught in good numbers on the outgoing tide. Use live shrimp and clams for the drum and sand fleas for the sheepshead. There have also been some nice size trout caught west of the catwalk on live shrimp as well.

When the weather puts a damper on your fishing plans, it’s never fun. I’ve learned over the years when we get bad weather, it’s time to get ahead of yourself for the coming season!

One thing I like to do on my down time is service my reels. I was always told “If you take care of your tools, your tools will take care of you!” I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to take care of your fishing gear.

I usually take my reels to a professional to service them, such as Mac’s Reel Repair. If you’ve ever tried to service a reel yourself, you can understand how frustrating things can get! All those little springs and pinions… Mac is a Brevard local and is the best at what he does in our area!

He has two drop-off/pick-up locations here on the Space Coast:
North Location: Chum it up (Port Canaveral)
South Location: Strike Zone (Melbourne)

You can also reach him direct at (321) 804-0488 or MACSREELS@GMAIL.COM

Pictured above is a before and after photo of a Shimano Stradic found at the bottom of the river. What it looked like when he found it… then after he cleaned it and brought this beauty back from the dead! It still amazes me how talented Mac really is!

Penn fishing also has a GREAT line of reel & rod cleaning supplies to make sure your equipment is in top shape. And remember that you should always rinse off ALL tackle after every use! Saltwater is the WORST thing for any of your equipment!

I know some days you’re beat up from being on the boat or out in the hot sun on the beach and just wanna relax and sit on the couch… I promise over time if you neglect your fishing gear… Your stuff will lock-up tighter then a pit bulls jaw caught in a junk yard fight!

See ya on the beach!

We are seeing big redfish at Mather’s Bridge along with mangrove snapper. At Eau Gallie Causeway, there have also been reports of mangrove snapper, sheepshead and some decent trout mixed it. The surf has been challenging this week but for those that were able to fish, there have been solid reports of black drum, big whiting and margate on clams and shrimp. In the Grand Canal, juvenile tarpon have been caught is good numbers.

In Mosquito Lagoon there are slot reds being caught on cut mullet. There have been reports of really nice trout exceeding 30″ caught using live finger mullet. The black drum are still around, live shrimp and blue crabs work best when targeting these whiskery critters. In Haulover Canal, there have been reports of mangrove snapper. Live shrimp and mud minnows are the go to bait of choice.

There have been lots of big jacks caught in the Sebastian River this week along with quite a few undersized redfish and sharks. Not as many reports of trout this week, but there have been a handful a big pompano. Anglers are still catching redfish and snook at the inlet and lots of sheepshead are being caught around the docks as well.