We went fishing offshore yesterday, east of Sebastian Inlet, and caught a bunch of fish including several short cobia. We didn’t have a net, so we ended up losing two keepers while messing around at the rail trying to gaffe them. Trying to stick a 15 pound fish with a gaffe made for yellowfin tuna is not easy! On the bright side, we are now convinced that cobia really like the clams.

We also tested out the clam stringers to see how they would do and caught a ton of grunts, a couple of decent-sized kingfish, and some smaller snappers. For the kings, one was on the flat line and the other one I caught as I was retrieving a live sardine off the bottom.

I had a fun and fishy day as usual and this time it was with charter Captain Jesse Austin. My boat is in the shop getting the transom rebuilt, so we decided to hire Jesse because we know he’ll put us on the fish and it’s always a good time.

Altogether, we got at least seven species of fish on salt clam and clam stringers, and all of them were edible except for the remoras. Not all were keepers, but all were edible! We were also fortunate to see a beautiful leatherback turtle swim right by the boat. Water clarity at 80′ was pretty good, and there was not much current.

Get clammy, Get fishy. All the frozen bait we had went over the rail at the end of the day. But not our Salt Clam bait, which conveniently goes in the fridge, ready for the next trip. No waste, better value all around. Learn more about our Clam Baits on the Native Salt Clam website.

This week has been some fantastic tarpon fishing! From inshore to offshore the tarpon bite couldn’t have been better! As for the beach, we have finally had some consistent bait activity, from some mullet pods to larger pogie pods, and this has made for some great fishing.

The best way to find these fish is to simply drive down the beach until you see some activity from birds working bait pods, actual fish busting the surface, or even sometimes free jumping tarpon. If you do not have a boat these fish can be targeted from land as well! Once you’ve found the fish, the best method is simply to match the hatch. Take a look at the bait in the area and either grab some in a cast net, or even a sabiki, depending on the species.

It’s not uncommon to find these fish blowing up on glass minnow pods which can be very tough to produce a bite. In this instance, a smaller fly with a stout hook will normally work wonders. If fishing from land, typically, fishing live bait isn’t as easy. This is when I like to switch up to large bucktail jigs or topwater and jerk baits like the Rapala Skitterwalk or Hogy soft plastics in black, pink, or white. Walk along until you find some good activity while blind casting, you never what you’ll find.

Inshore, the tarpon have still been going strong as well. Most fish have been along the edges of shallow water grass flats early in the morning and been moving into the residential canals later into the day. Start out throwing top water plugs early in the morning. As the sun rises try some small swim-baits and paddle-tail lures, D.O.A. makes several great choices from the D.O.A, C.A.L paddle-tail and the TerroEyz in white, root beer, or natural will all do the trick!

Our first attempt to do some surf fishing was at Ponce De Leon beach, but there were way too many surfers to fish. Next, we headed a bit south of Sebastian Inlet and caught some catfish and few other random species. We didn’t stay too long as it was already late in the morning and quite hot — and it doesn’t take too many catfish to discourage us. Get clammy, Get fishy — and stay away from muddy water!

New Sputniks in development from Native Salt Clam Bait.

Check out the Sputnik weights I have been testing that work very well and we will soon sell online. They cast very well as they are quite aerodynamic. The stainless prongs mounted on the lead are designed to flip back when retrieving so as to not hang up. I like the way they hold bottom and are harder to rock up then pyramids. Fishing lead gets expensive in a hurry when you’re using 4, 5 or 6 oz.

New clam product coming out from Native Salt Clam Bait.

We’ve got a new clam product called Clam Stringers. These are going to be excellent for jigging pompano and other species, and also for catching fish on the beach as it stays on the hook very well.

Johnny caught redfish, trout and one little flounder on a recent trip with Capt. Mark Wright!

We had a couple of enjoyable outings fishing this week. Preventative maintenance on both boats ate up the rest of the weekly calendar.

Monday I was joined by Tom, a regular client/friend who often takes advantage of my “scouting trip charters.” If you are a local angler who can go fishing on MY schedule you might want to sign up. The discounted fee is attractive and the particulars are posted at the bottom of the home page on my website.

We were blown out from fishing the eastern shoreline of the south Mosquito Lagoon where I’ve been targeting shoreline tailing redfish. We abandoned our attempt at fishing this area quickly and headed to the west shoreline that offered us a bit of shelter from the northwesterly breeze.

Tom spent most of the morning tossing a Rapala popper and while an occasional fish smacked at the plug nothing was hooked. Switching to a soft plastic jig resulted in many short strikes and again no hookups. I threw a Z-man Diezel minnow in the Sexy Mullet color from the poling platform and managed a redfish, juvenile tarpon and a long distance release on an under slot snook.

Tuesday morning was much calmer and I fished several miles north of Monday’s venue. Johnny held down the bow and experienced the same results as Tom did on Monday. With lots of blow-ups on the K9 Walker but no bends in the rod for Johnny; obviously a change was needed.

Using the same lure as Monday I managed several schoolie trout and one decent trout of 23 inches as Johnny went fishless. Rigging his rod with a Diezel minnow in a different color he quickly caught a redfish a little flounder and a few smallish trout.

Moving down the shoreline we see more action as the big trout are having their way with a huge school of mullet. I picked up the K9 Walker and tossed into the fray. The plug hadn’t even settled on the surface before a monster trout ate it. This Gator fought like a redfish, dragging the plug on the bottom, ripping line from the reel, never coming to the surface for a head shake. Alas, she gained her freedom boat-side as Johnny readied himself to land the trophy. The hook straightened out just enough to lose its hold… Oh well, that’s fishing!

The recent hurricane we had off our coast has made the water very dirty which is causing our sharks, tarpon and king mackerel to spread out and not be in any one focal point. We recommend getting live baits where you can and trolling them around the bait in the dirty water. A recommended technique is putting some weight on your line to get your bait lower in the water column.

Inshore, the spawning redfish are starting to show up on the Mosquito Lagoon flats. We’ve been catching these fish using chunked or cut bait in and around the drop offs.

If you’re interested in getting in on this bite, give us a call or check out our website at finelinefishingcharters.com.

Nick Got a slam this week with a 27.5″ Trout, 23″ Redfish and a 29″ Snook plus a few other snook and trout and jacks for the day!

We fished inshore most of the week with a good bite on the Storm 360 GT Coastal baits and Rapala Twitchin Minnow. We fished the shorelines with bait pods and were able to get some Snook, Trout and redfish along with some Jack Crevalle and Ladyfish. When the sun came up in the lagoon, the bite slowed and we moved to live pigfish and croakers with good success.

The bite in Sebastian Inlet has been good on both tides with live pigfish and croakers the best bet. Snook, redfish and Cubera Snapper have been hitting both day and nighttime. Nighttime anglers can also do well on Bucktail jigs and Rapala XRAP 14 long cast baits. The beach was dirty with the swells this week but there is some bait around and there are sharks and tarpon in them if you can find it in the dirty water.

Next week should be a great week as the mullet will continue to migrate and congregate around Sebastian if we get some west and north winds. Once the mullet get thick, the tarpon, sharks, jacks and kingfish will pile in and it will be game on!

Elaine with an overslot snook!

Well, I would love to tell that the fishing was epic this past week, but that’s just not the case. That’s also what’s cool about Spacefish — they will report if it’s good or bad. Unfortunately, this past week was just terrible for us. We only ran four trips due to the weather. The swell from hurricane Florence had everything just messed up. The water was dirty out to 180ft. Even our nearshore shark trips were bad. Hopefully, we will make up for it this week. We will keep you posted, stay tuned!

In the canals and around Mathers Bridge we are still catching mangrove snapper, trout, a few snook and some small reds. Further south, there have been some decent reports of pompano in the lagoon. Doc’s Goofy jigs tipped with shrimp are hard for them to pass up. At Port Canaveral, the mangrove snapper bite has been pretty consistent. There are some snook and reds being caught as well. I was excited to see a friend end up with a few nice flounder, too.

The snook bite at Sebastian Inlet is still pretty good. Live croakers are the go to bait for these fish. You will probably catch some redfish to while chasing your slot snook. There are quite a few tarpon being caught in the river on live pinfish and shrimp. If you want to have some fun with the kids, there are still plenty of mangrove snapper being caught around the docks

Here is Johnny on opening day of Snook Season at Sebastian Inlet.

The mullet run has officially begun! Snook, redfish, tarpon, cubera snapper, mackerel, jacks and sharks are all on the docket. You name it and they are all gorging themselves on the buffet migrating past our coast right now. You can find mullet at the beach, in the river, and in the inlet — you pick, there is bait and fish everywhere right now, so get out and fish!

I’ve not been fishing that much this week, but I found some fish and noticed some changes in the Indian River Lagoon. The water level has came up a foot and is fairly clear by this year’s standards. There have been a lot of 15-25 inch black drum on drop-offs and near structure. I haven’t been able to find the big redfish school, but I’ve seen ones and twos of all sizes. I’m sure there are juvenile tarpon in the usual spots.

If you’re sight fishing, use shrimp and be very quiet. For blind fishing reds, use live finger mullet, chunked mullet/ladyfish, blue crab, or even topwater plugs.