Member since: January 22, 2018
Capt. Jim is a professional saltwater fishing guide based out of Rockledge, Florida.
Speckled trout continue to be our most reliable targets in the lagoons. Captain Justin and I have been catching them in a variety of ways on our charters this week. Live fingerling mullet free-lined near mangroves and spoil islands are accounting for the largest trout on most of our trips.
Rough weather and high seas this past week kept us off the ocean. Once the seas subside, Captain Justin and I will be taking our clients out to chase schooling king mackerel on the 70 to 90-foot reefs. A variety of artificial lures will work for these fish but we will look for live baits to increase our odds at a successful day out there. If bait fish are present in the nearshore waters, we will be targeting kings in the 20 to 40-foot depths. May is also a great time to catch giant jacks, big tarpon, shark, and bonito in our nearshore waters.
Calm weather and plentiful bait are the two words that come to mind when thinking of this past week. When you combined those two things with an outgoing tide you create exactly what we experienced on our outings, an epic snook bite! Double digit hookups and 6 to 12-fish landings were the norm. This fantastic bite will continue for the next few weeks.
This time of year is one of the best times to get out and go fishing. We will be targeting snook on many of our near-shore trips. There are a variety of places that hold these hard fighting fish and our success rate is really good for snook up to 44-inches in length.
We are two weeks into our social distancing and we are just about done with our list of things that needed to be done around the house. Most of you have probably scratched quite a few things off your lists as well. Our Easter Sunday service was much different this year than it has been in years past. We decided to get out on the water and do a little fishing while observing our saviors day of resurrection. The northern Indian River near Titusville was our location for this event.
Capt. Jim discusses business practices and procedures in these unprecedented times, and also offers a discount to customers interested in booking a future trip.
This week’s report is going to be about all of the potential times that captain Justin Ross and myself currently have to take locals fishing. The Chinese flu has everyone on lock down.
In the Indian and Banana River Lagoons, anglers are hoping that sea grasses return to the flats in these bodies of water. Right now, many areas are covered with a grass-like algae called Caulerpa which is better than nothing at all. Last spring we had a minor resurgence of grasses due to the restricted use of lawn fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides that destroy it. This should lead to some good spring time fishing for trout and redfish.
This past weeks warm weather has produced multiple slams for our fishing charter clients. Drum slams consisting of redfish, black drum, and speckled trout have been the most common of these.
The past week provided a huge variety of fish for Captain Justin and myself. Mangrove snapper, crevalle jack, ladyfish, snook, redfish, speckled trout and even a baby tarpon came aboard our boats to pose for a quick photo and release session with our charter guests. Live shrimp have been our go to natural bait for this week. Saltwater Assassin 4-inch Sea Shad and Rapala Subwalk and Twichin’ Mullet have been our choices for artificial lures.
“If you want to!”
Red Snapper soon is just around the corner with dates soon to be announced…
Capt. Jim Ross says he catches mangrove snapper like this one with light leaders and small hooks, which will get you more bites on the mangroves than standard bottom tackle.
Beating the storm, hitting that black drum bite!
The black drum bite is still booming in the Lagoon!
Big barracuda caught with Capt. Jim Ross
