East Coast Florida Spring Break

March 2008

Nice redfish from Mosquito Lagoon (note the steelhead jacket I'm wearing, it was COLD!!!!)

 

Needing to be in Tennessee for the Knoxville Marathon on March 31st I decided to head to Florida for a few days to acclimatize and get in some fishing at the same time.  What I hadn't counted on was a repeat of the multiple cold-front trip from March 2006 but that is what I got.  Flats fishing in winter steelhead gear, you have to love it.  Even with the wind and cold we managed to get out and fish each day and even caught fish each day. In fact, I missed a trip super backcountry slam when I didn't get a good hook set on the one tarpon that hit.

Banana River No-Motor Zone

Our fist morning started out pretty hopeful in the no-motor zone. We launched to sunny skies and calm winds to begin the long pole up the zone to the good redfish flats.  On the way to the reds we found some fish hitting bait and proceeded to catch some ladyfish and seatrout including one nice trout that became our dinner that evening. About the time we got to the prime water though the clouds had rolled in and the breeze was picking up so finding fish was hard.  We got shots at one school of finned out reds but scattered them and the school never settled again.  We saw some huge reds as we ran them over with the boat and finally I blew a shot to a tailing single who spooked the instant my Clouser hit the water.   We were pretty exhausted from poling abut 5-6 miles total by the time we pulled out late in the day.

 Stick Marsh/Farm Pond 13

Our next stop was bass fishing in Farm Pond 13 where we had high hopes again when we started out clear but a bit breezy and cooler.  It was a long day of poling, trolling, casting and ultimately fighting wind.  The tally for the day - 3 small bass, 1 crappie, and 1 short-nosed gar.  Oh yeah, and lots of gators and lots of wind by the end of the day. 

Bass'in in Stick Marsh	Maybe this guy ate them all

Sebastian River Snook & Snapper

Day three was to be our banner weather day from the forecasts so we were going to fish Mosquito Lagoon. As we drove north to Titusville however it became clear that the wind was going to cut our ambitions short.  The front was hitting full force and it was blowing 15-20 and COLD out so we bailed and decided to try the Sebastian River to see if we could get out of the wind. 

At the river we first tried the North Prong expecting it to be a bit calmer but had no luck at all. Finally on our way out (got a hit and we soon began catching some small snapper to get rid of the skunk.   Back in the main-stem of the river we got a few move snapper hits then started hilting the calm shore in a cove. 1 was poling and Jeff casting  when he got a decent Snook, the first real fish of the day. Working a windier right-hand shone I got four Snook  while Jeff tried to control the boat in the wind. Further up-river on a left-hand shore Jeff got a very nice snapper  destined to be dinner until he came off right at the boat. All in all a decent day given the 15-20mph winos we  were fighting all day.

Indian River/Cocoa Canals/Crane Creek

The wind and cold continued the next day so we tried some Kind of protected water out of Cocoa Beach.  In the morning we tried the mangroves in the thousand Island area then hit the redfish flat on the outside of the islands. Nada.   The wind was picking Up so we next tried the coves in Cocoa and then the canals. All that fishing for one small puffer.   We did see a ton of manatee and dolphin about but no fish.

Trying to salvage the day we pulled out, drove back to Melbourne and put in at the harbor to fish Crane Creek.  Once in the creek mouth I was blind casting where tarpon were known to hang out  and had a good hit. I set up on a decent fish but it clearly wasn't a tarpon. The fish turned out to be a  decent jack. Working more in the area I got one more jack as the approached the boat on a feeding frenzy. Further in the creek I did have a hit from a baby tarpon but dint hook  it blowing the trip super-slam. I then hung UP the fly and spooked a decent tarpon  retrieving it.   Another bad day saved by a few decent fish.

Mosquito Lagoon

Finally the weather improved enough to fish Mosquito Lagoon with Capt. Scott Nickels.  It wasn't great by any means and the morning was very cold but there was some sun and less wind. At our first flat we saw a few tailors briefly but  nothing much to cast at so Jeff did some blind casting in hopes of finding a fish. At the next flat I was Up and we ran into fish pretty quickly. After my  Prince of Tides rode over top of the first fish I cast to I changed to a brown/copper Clouser and within minutes was into a nice redfish that  became our dinner that evening.  Within minutes I had another take and was into a strong fish that took me almost into the backing 3x and about broke my rod when he ran between  the pole and the motor. I got my line off the poop and got back around to the front and finally landed the 27" fish, my biggest redfish to date.   At that point I sat down to let Jeff get UP and it wasn't long until he had a fish on. Unfortunately that one got off close to the boat.

Dinner	Fish On!

Around this time the wind picked up and the light was going in and out so fishing got hard. The rest of the day we made every mistake possible - bad casts, good casts with bad retrieves,  getting a hit pulling the the up for a cast, etc... We saw some big schools of fish upwind from us and came UP on downwind  fish so fast we scared them off. Still, a good day on the water all said and done and a good way to end the trip.  of course the weather got perfect the next day as I was flying to Tennessee.

Tennessee and the Knoxville Half-marathon

The bad weather followed me north and I had cold, wind, and rain there too. I managed one fishless morning on the Hiwasee River and got overfished  by my mom At her lake one afternoon getting one fly-rod bass to her two on a spinner. 

The Knoxville Marathon turned out to be cool but it dirt rain on us at all.  The course was very hilly and hard but I was happy with my  1:54 finish and did several of the miles in an 8:20 pace. Mom finished the course in 3:33  with friend Carol and her sister Chris.

The Laurel Ladies team	Mom and Me