I did a short scouting trip with my buddy Frank early this week. My friend is slowly recovering from some medical issues and I was happy to provide a few hours of get-away time for him.

The topwater bite was good for Tony this past Wednesday morning. Pushing the Banshee down a mangrove riddled shoreline in the backwaters of the Pole and Troll Zone I was mystified by a lack of fingerling mullet here. Even with the apparent lack of suitable baitfish at this particular time there were a few fish hiding near the trees that blasted Tony’s Skitterwalk.

We enjoyed a great topwater bite on Thursday as Bill helped me scout for Friday and Saturday charters. Armed with a small saltwater Chug Bug, Bill caught quite a few slot sized spotted seatrout and lost twice as many as he boated. I can’t be sure if Fate played a role in losing so many fish or if the inline hooks on the plug were maybe a bit too small. We won’t ever know for sure, though we’ll re-fit the lure with slightly larger hooks and see if it helps.

We had several good trips this past week starting with Topwater Tony. Targeting spotted seatrout in the south Mosquito Lagoon he gave his favorite lure a workout. The bone colored Skitterwalk caught a good number of released fish and we didn’t bother with getting any photos.

Things have been a bit snooky as of late. Even with the low water levels our juvenile snook population is happily relating to shorelines. If you find a shoreline area with tree branches extending over the water offering a bit-o-shade to hide in, you might find several snooklettes hiding there and fighting over your jig!

Lower than normal Springtime water levels and warmer than normal water temperature have not exactly stopped the spotted seatrout bite in either the Indian River Lagoon or Mosquito Lagoon. However, the redfish bite has certainly slowed down a bit. The redfish haven’t stopped altogether by any means; they’ve just changed their pattern.

After such an unusual run of charters last week I was happy to get back into the normal routine of early morning fishing this week.

What an unusual run of business for me this past week. One day I took part in a two boat charter that was originally slated as a four boat trip; another day I filled in for Capt. Jim on a supposedly nearshore trip, and finally finished off with a Mosquito Lagoon charter with a couple of guys from Ohio.

Fishing was pretty good this past week and the highlight was being able to spend some quality time with Ed on the front of my Banshee Extreme. Ed’s been fishing with me for many years and he’s one of the very few clients I spend personal time with whenever possible. He needed a break from his busy automotive repair shop and I was happy to offer him a diversion from turning wrenches.

One of the perks of being in the charter/guiding industry for a very long time is forming lasting relationships with key players within the industry. On a breezy morning this week I was joined by just such a person who was looking for an opinion on a couple of prototype lures. Also on board was a mutual friend who is not a guide but has a plethora of flats fishing experience borne of competitive angling.

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!

After being snubbed by the trout in one of my favorite spots then being continuously flipped-off (yep, they were tailing) by a finicky school of black drum Matt made contact with this 40 inch redfish.

Bill caught a bunch of redfish this morning on the Mosquito Lagoon and finished up with an average-sized trout.