Member since: March 10, 2018
Capt. Mark’s passion for inshore saltwater fishing began while living in Stuart, Florida at the southern reaches of the Indian River Lagoon. Here he learned the fine art of snook fishing from the area’s lighted bridges while fishing at night. Here too he learned how to catch trout by the hundreds on the expansive flats from Jensen Beach to Ft. Pier
Tuesday I scouted the Mosquito Lagoon with Rayzor Ray. Even if the fish don’t cooperate it’s still a great time with Ray on the bow. The good news was the fish did cooperate eventually. We both caught a redfish and trout or two or three before leaving the happy fish I needed for my Wednesday charter.
Terrible weather conditions kept me off the water except for our annual Redfishpalooza tournament. This corporate event is a based on a bragging rights tournament where the combined total inches of length of one spotted seatrout and one redfish decides the victor!
It’s been a cold water and breezy week for us and this combination of weather factors tends to keep me off the water. I ventured out only two times; a scouting trip with my friend Capt. John Tarr on Tuesday and again on Wednesday for a Mosquito Lagoon charter.
John and I launched from Marina Park about 8 A.M. and the expected three to four mile an hour wind was already double the forecasted wind speed. We decided to hide from its northerly direction and I headed to a sheltered bay.
We had three enjoyable trips early in the week with Tony joining me on Monday. As usual Tony starts his day tossing a top-water walking plug and it paid off in spades for him.
The trout bite was on and while he caught a bunch of lower slot trout and a few under-slot fish as well, his best trout came on a “twitchin’ mullet” lure. The chunky twenty plus inch fish was not a trophy by any means it was still welcome catch.
We had an interesting week as we fished offshore on Wednesday then did a seminar Wednesday evening at Boaters Exchange. Caught a few fish with top-water Tony on Thursday and whacked the juvenile seatrout Saturday morning!
Top-water Tony graced the bow of my Banshee Extreme for three days running this past week. Fishing behind a full moon is tough enough, but these three days were also behind a major cold front.
In retrospect we probably should have scheduled our trips during the middle of the day and dealt as best as we could with the afternoon’s blustery winds. Truth be told, Tony and I both are a bit hard headed and we both prefer getting out early and getting off the water early. While this tried and true tactic pays off most of the year it sometimes bites us in the proverbial butt when the water is cold…
I only managed two outings this past week. Trip one we scouted a large portion of the North Indian River Lagoon. Initially concentrating on the western shoreline locally known as the “Carbide Flat,” we found very few fish, though we did make a few presentations to a tailing black drum. Water clarity was actually pretty good and so was water temperature and the wind was near calm.
Due to the colder than I like weather I stayed hidden under an electric blanket for most of last week and didn’t venture out until Thursday. Waiting for a warm-up following a major cold front often results in fantastic fishing. The few guys who didn’t wait until Thursday morning, but gave it a try on Wednesday’s late morning/early afternoon schedule also reaped big rewards!
We managed three trips over the last week. All three were windy and one was windy and wet. Tony spent a windy Monday morning tossing his usual top-water plugs to no avail. He did however manage a redfish a trout and a barracuda (yes a barracuda!) on a Z-Man Curly Tailz in the pearl white color.
The fishing was pretty darn good the day before the frigid temperatures kept me indoors with the furnace running. Happily, the fishing was still good once things warmed up again!
Ahead of the front, Top-Water Tony took turns tossing his bone colored Skitterwalk and a white Z-Man Curly Tailz grub rigged on the new Finesse Bulletz head jig. This new jighead makes rigging the smaller Z-Man plastics simple with a nearly weed-free retrieve!
It’s good to be back on the platform! The knee injury is well behind me and looking forward to the cooler weather that’s in our near future!
Bill caught a bunch of redfish this morning on the Mosquito Lagoon and finished up with an average-sized trout.
