Member since: January 22, 2018
Capt. Jim is a professional saltwater fishing guide based out of Rockledge, Florida.
This past week has been a hectic one for us here at Fineline Fishing Charters. Between getting anglers out for fishing charters and running back and forth between the coast and Orlando three days to attend ICAST, captain Justin and I have been busy.
Our nearshore bite has been really good around the Sebastian Inlet area. Live pilchards and greenies are the two best baits to use right now, especially for targeting Spanish mackerel (up to 5lbs,), king mackerel (up to 25lbs.), and snook in the surf break or larger species like sharks or tarpon. Rig these on a VMC 7385 circle hook and some 60 pound Suffix fluorocarbon leader.
It’s been another week of mixed fish and mixed species. In the Mosquito Lagoon the trout bite has been the most consistent with Saltwater Assassin Sea Shad and live pigfish being the two most productive things to cast.
This past weeks action has been versed depending on where we’re at. The Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon have had a lot of trout. We’ve had quite a few of our customers with us lately that have signed up for the CCA Star Tournament…
The kingfish bite along the nearshore waters continues to be really good this week. I’ve been slow trolling with live greenies in the 25 – 50 ft depths around bait pods that I’m marking on my Simrad elecctronics. A wire stinger rig consisting of a #4 nose hook and a #6 stinger hook have been my rigs of choice with the current type and size of baitfish we’ve been using.
This week’s adventures have covered much of the central east portion of Florida. From giant jack crevalle along the beaches from Sebastian to Vero to king mackerel offshore of Port Canaveral to black drum in the Indian River lagoon, it’s been a pretty good week.
Kingfish action has improved along the beaches this week but the bait situation is still not what we had hoped for. Bait gathering each day has taken longer than it should. Once you get bait things start happening quickly though. Slow troll these on a wire stinger rig. Most of the kingfish are running 20-25 pounds right now. We’ve been finding a few schools of big jack crevalle south of Sebastian. They are not in good numbers yet, but the fish are all in the 20 to 35 pounds range. If you like a fight, these fish will bring it!
Big game action along the nearshore waters is kicking in and should only get better over the next few weeks. Shark, jack, snook and tarpon are the main species we have been chasing on our recent trips. Most of these fish are hitting live or chunk baits. Pilchards, greenies and croakers are all good bait to use right now.
This week has been another good week for trout in the northern Indian River Lagoon. Topwater plugs like the Rapala Skitterwalk and Storm Chug Bug are working from first light until about 8:30am. We are fishing these on the shallow flats near schools of mullet the trout are shadowing. The trout are looking for an opportunity to ambush one of these unsuspecting baitfish.
The northern and central Indian River Lagoon has had a resurgence of speckled trout this week. Captain Justin Ross and I have been using topwater plugs near mullet pods on the shallow grass flats of the northern Indian River from Scottsmore to Titusville with good success this week. Two of the more productive lures have been the Rapala Skitterwalk in redfish pattern and the Storm Chug Bug in the chartreuse back with chrome sides.
“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
