Member since: January 22, 2018
Capt. Jim is a professional saltwater fishing guide based out of Rockledge, Florida.
The big redfish round up in the Indian River Lagoon has come to a close for this year. The giant schools of 40 to 50-inch fish have disbanded and moved back to the inlets and nearshore waters where they will continue to keep our clients’ rods bent on days that we can fish these waters. This action will most likely be best between cool fronts that move through the area over the next four weeks.
This past week’s trout bite was absolutely as good as it gets, which is a refreshing break from the struggles that we’ve had over the past few years in the Indian and Banana River Lagoons.
It’s been another great week here at Fineline Fishing Charters. The speckled trout bite that we’ve been experiencing over the last 2 to 3 weeks has continued on through this week in the Indian River Lagoon. Just like we have in the past few reports, we’ve been starting off with top water lures in the morning. Rapala Skitterwalk and Storm Chug Bugs being the two main types that we are using, then switching over to sub- surface lures like the smaller size Subwalk in the mangrove minnow color or the Rapala Twitching Minnow in the smaller size in the black back with an orange belly.
We’ve only been out a few days this past week, but on those days the black drum bite has been exceptional. These fish are roaming around in giant schools of 200 to 500 fish. You can find these schooling drum along the Indian River’s main channel between Cocoa and Scottsmoore. The schools are so big you can see them from a long way away.
The near-shore tarpon and shark action out of Canaveral is still on fire this week. Capt. Justin and I have been putting multiple fish in the air and bringing quite a few to the boat with our customers over the past seven days. This activity should continue and even get better as we move into the first part of September and we start to see a larger version of the “mini” mullet run that we saw along this section of coastline over the past week.
The speckled trout action in the northern Indian River has been a little slower with almost 18-inches of rain that we’ve had here in the past two weeks. Captain Justin and I have had to alter our tactics to get bites and some days are pretty slow if you don’t find where the trout have moved to with the huge change in salinity were are currently experiencing from the stormwater run-off.
The Indian River is the place to be right now if you are looking for quality speckled trout action. Captain Justin and I have been targeting these fish in areas where glass minnows and mullet schools are present.
The snook bite continues to be good at both Sebastian and Canaveral this week. Captain Justin and I have been landing fish up to 38 inches. Most of the snook are hitting live croakers, pogies and pilchards. You can either free-line or run these baits on a jig head. We’re also catching quite a few blacktip sharks and king mackerel along the near-shore waters around bait pods. The Canaveral shipping channel going into Port Canaveral is another good place to find both species. Slow trolling live pogies seems to be the best way to get these fish to bite, however they will strike artificials early in the day if you get into an area with a good concentration of fish. Tarpon fishing is getting better as we’re starting to see more pogie pods show up along the near-shore waters this week. The tarpon are running about 50-70 pounds, but a few of them are scaling over 100 pounds. Free-lined live baits are working best however, they will hit cut baits on the bottom some days.
Captain Justin and I wanted to offer a Special Discount to all of our faithful Spacefish friends out there. We are offering a $100 discount on our 4 hour flats trip to go chase some trout and redfish. To receive this discount on your booking call us at 321-636-3728 and mention the promo code “Topwater.” This offer is valid from July 22nd through July 29th and must be used on trips booked from July 22nd through August 31st 2019. Give us a call and let’s get out there to catch your next memory!
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.
“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
