The “Fall Mullet Run” is here! Trout, redfish, and snook are now actively feeding throughout the day as the Indian and Banana River Lagoons are becoming filled with migrating silver and striped mullet. These mullet are favorite food among gamefish. The migrating schools of mullet are easily to locate as they prefer to move across the surface of the water over shallow grassflats, and fin and splash along their way. It is not uncommon to see an acre of tightly packed mullet nervously swarm certain areas as game-fish pick them off.

Jim and Jake Lusk from Virginia on a recent Orlando vacation with family chartered Capt. Rocky for a three quarter day fishing adventure in the north Indian River Lagoon near Titusville. The weather was absolutely picture postcard perfect with blue skies, mild temperatures and calm seas. Using a variety of fishing techniques including wade-fishing, sight-fishing and fly-fishing, the skilled father and son duo caught and released six reds and seven trout. Pictured below are father Jim with his big red estimated at 30 pounds and a pair of photos of son Jake with two other bronzed beauties.

Darren and Toby Scoles, a father and son from Colorado, experienced the mullet first hand with Capt. Peter. It was a beautiful day with a slight, cool breeze and cloudless sky. Being ice-fishermen, these guys knew how to be quiet and stealthy while fishing. This stealth allowed Capt. Peter to quietly poll his boat close to the fish, and stay on the fish all day. Capt. Peter kept the anglers near large schools of mullet, and fished both schooling redfish and scattered redfish and trout. Toby had the upper hand this trip landing most of the fish, with the joint efforts resulting in 9 redfish (most over 30 inches), and five solid trout. Pictured is Toby with one of his redfish.

Daniel Murphy from Orlando and his two fishing buddies from Woodstock, Georgia, Chad and Jason, aka ‘The Rookie,’ booked Capt. Rocky for a half-day charter last Friday on the Indian River Lagoon out of Kennedy Point Park in Titusville. These three fishing animals had spent the night rescuing Jason’s broken motorcycle from St. Augustine and, as a result, had little or no sleep upon arriving at the ramp. Unfortunately for them, the redfish and trout did not allow any time to doze on the water. Fishing in the morning was outstanding as the trio landed six reds and three trout in blustery conditions due to the approach of our first cold front or the fall. Pictured below are Daniel, Chad and the ‘Rook’.

Dave and Andy from Denver, Colorado chartered Capt. Roland for a half day fishing in the beautiful Banana River. They enjoyed constant action throughout the afternoon tallying 7 reds and 2 trout including this nice double.

The Bloomfields from Orlando, Larry, Karen and Sam, chartered Capt. Rocky recently for a fishing trip on the Indian River Lagoon near Titusville. River fishing was a new adventure for the trio of anglers and our shallow-water, finned friends did not disappoint them. Fishing the following day after the arrival of our first cold front of the season, the weather was absolutely, drop-dead gorgeous … and so was the fishing as the trio boated eight solid redfish and two fine trout on their half-day charter. Pictured below are the Bloomfields with broad smiles and big fish.

Capt. Peter guided CR, Gidget, and Jim to a nice day of trout and redfish fishing in the Banana River. Fishing near Cocoa Beach and the 1,000 islands, they fished schools of redfish and trout up on the shallow grassflats. Early in the morning, the redfish schools were actively tailing in the calm water near large schools of mullet. By casting live mullet at the tailing redfish, the anglers had steady action all morning long. When the water warmed, the fish went into their afternoon pattern, and the anglers keyed in on sandbars under two to three feet of water. Fishing these sandbars with live and cut mullet produced some really nice redfish and the largest trout. The final tally for the day was 12 beautiful redfish, and 5 trout up to 27 inches. Gidget shows off her biggest red of the day.

Mike Arbogast and son David from Melbourne spent the day in Cocoa Beach fishing with Capt. Roland. The weather was sunny but very windy most of the day. The duo caught ladyfish, jacks,trout, and redfish. The highlight of the trip was also a double hook up with these 2 reds. They commented afterwards it was the most reds they had ever caught in a single day.

James Kennell and his buddy, and fellow chiropractor, Chad, both from West Texas, took a few hours from their recent convention in Orlando to do a little shallow water fishing in the Indian River Lagoon with Capt. Rocky Van Hoose. Launching from Kennedy Point Park and heading east into the rising the two doctors were blessed by one of the better fishing days as the strong east winds which had been hammering the area for weeks finally abated. The high winds left the water rather muddy and churned which hampering sight-fishing but not the fish catching. Barely ten minutes into the fishing, Dr. Kennell hooked a monster redfish which quickly broke both line and heart. Ironically James hooked the broken line later in the day when returning to the same area to round out the charter. The Texas duo managed to hook and catch six fine reds on the day and we won’t mention of the ones that got away. Pictured below are the pair of docs with their respective trophies on the paradoxal day.

The first wave of the fall mullet run has pushed into the rivers and along the beaches of the space coast. This massive amount of baitfish starting to flood through the area has the redfish, tarpon, and trout feeding heavily. This action will continue for another month or so as the mullet continue to push through our area. The best and most reliable fishing has been for redfish up on the flats. In the early hours of the morning, live finger mullet has been working best. The redfish are more schooled up and are shallower as well during the first few hours of daylight. Once the sun warms the flats, the larger redfish have been dropping off the flats, and holding in deeper potholes. The fish in the potholes have been readily eating cut mullet or dark colored jerkbaits.
John and his son Joe joined Capt. Peter for a day of redfishing in the Banana River. They started the morning off chasing two schools of 30 to 35 inch redfish. Each of the schools had between 20-50 redfish, and were fairly easy to fish due to their constant tailing and actively feeding along the flat. Pictured is Joe with the first fish of the morning, that he sight casted within one of the schools.

Once the anglers had their fun sightfishing the tightly packed schools of redfish, fishing heavy concentrations of non-schooling fish in the deep water took up the rest of the morning. The anglers caught over 12 redfish and a solid trout during the trip with multiple double hookups. Pictured is one of the doubles.

Scott Martin of Satellite Beach, fresh off a spectacular performance in an inshore redfish tournament the week before, decided to test his angling skills in another tournament the following weekend. This was a catch, photo and release junior only tourney with prizes going to the longest fish, the most fish of any kind, and several other odd categories. Capt. Rocky took Scott back to the Banana River where he had had success with tarpon, a particularly long fish, and several other species. Scott was able to hooked six poons and land the one pictured the below. (This was his very first tarpon). He also caught seven trout, a giant ladyfish and a number of other fish for a grand total of thirty on the morning. Scott’s tarpon was easily the most spectacular catch for the tournament and he received several good prizes as a result. And his overall fish total finished second on the day.

The Lee family made the trip to Florida from California for fishing/alligator hunting with Capt. Peter. The primary goal of the fishing trip was to target shallow water redfish. By sightfishing in the clear water on the flats and fishing sandbars with live mullet, the anglers quickly landed seven redfish. The fishing only lasted for three hours so the Lee’s could get back to the resort for a quick nap before their alligator hunting trip that night. Most of the redfish were in the 33 inch range, with two making the slot limit. After 10am, the redfish moved up very shallow and were actively tailing and cruising. This has been the pattern as of late, with the fish being deeper earlier in the morning.

Kurt and Chris from Denver, CO were down working beachside in the Sebastian area and could help taking a day off to go fishing with Capt. Roland. The ocean had been exceptionally calm so they insisted on going just off shore for whatever was biting. It was a good decision as the Bonita have moved in to a few hundred yards of the beach and are more than willing to provide some great light tackle action. Bonita, little members of the tuna family, hit hard and can rip a 100 yards of line off the spool in a matter of seconds. The duo caught seven in a couple of hours of fishing along with three small sharks. The rest of the half day charter was spent ‘inside’ the Inlet and around the grass flats. Snook was the primary target but a couple of great tasting flounder turned up instead. Pictured below are Kurt and Chris holding ‘tiny’ tunas.

Curtis and Kim Landry of Indialantic had been watching the surf from their condo on the beach and wanted to do the same thing. So back at it again and the bonito did not disappoint them either. Both hook and landed some nice fish. The big surprise on this half-day charter was a nice triggerfish that decided to join the action.. It was another beautiful day on the water.

Bill Pesci fished with Capt. Peter for a couple of days in the Banana River. Bill recently moved to the central Florida area, and had a week to fish prior to going back to school. Trying to avoid the heat, Capt. Peter opted to fish from sunset till early evening one day, and early morning the next.
On the first trip, the anglers fished a shallow flat that the redfish move up on to feed later in the day. The anglers fished cut-bait, and intercepted the single redfish as they finned along and foraged through the grass as the sun setted. After landing a handful of redfish, Capt. Peter took the anglers to some select docks that have lights that shine into the water that attract redfish and trout at night. Bill and his father, Bill, had steady trout action for the rest of the night. The trout school up heavily under some lights during this time of year. Under some of the lights, you can see dozens of the spotted seatrout laying up on the surface, ready and willing to take live bait, artificial, or fly. Most of the trout are smaller (12-16 inches) but a handful of 20-24 inch trout are caught almost every trip.
On the second trip, the goal was to sightfish redfish all morning. The morning started off by fishing a school of 50 redfish in 12 inches of water, Bill scored this beautiful fish (pictured) out of the school. After playing with the school of redfish for a while, they moved to a flat where Capt. Peter push poled Bill along mangrove shorelines in very shallow water, 7’’, sight-casting to patrolling redfish.
With the rising water, the redfish along the shorelines and in the mangroves are feeding heavily, and will readily take a bait or artificial. Sight-casting to aggressive redfish in shallow water is a ton of fun!

It has been a while since our last fishing reports were posted as vacations and moving college-age children have crowded our schedules. There have been, however, a number of terrific recent fishing recent which need to be broadcast across the worldwide web so let’s get started.

Scott Martin celebrated his twelfth birthday in grand fashion this weekend with a spectacular performance in the tenth annual SISA ‘Red Eye’ Inshore Classic. Competing along with his dad, Gary Martin of Satellite Beach, and Capt. Rocky, Scott caught redfish after redfish on his way to a third place finish in the adult division of the tournament. It was one of those golden days where everything went perfect on the water. Launching just before dawn Team martin positioned themselves to fish a single school of upper and over-slot reds on the Banana River. Shortly after the sun rose the school of tailing reds began foraging along the grass flats. They were immediately introduced to live finger mullet bombing from the long casts of the three anglers. In the next two hours numerous fish were hooked and landed. There were three double hook-ups adding to the excitement of the extreme early morning adventure. Scott ended the fishing catching the last eight redfish in succession. Pictured below is Scott holding one of the bigger fish of the morning, a 15 pound red which waged a brutal war with the young fisherman. By the way, Team Martin also took second place adult red with a 7.25 pound fish and top junior angler honors.

Another great birthday fishing story comes from Capt. Roland. Taking a rare day off, Roland and a couple of his buddies ventured into the mouth of Sebastian Inlet recently in hunt of giant snook. The crystal clear waters of the incoming tide revealed where a good pod of snook were holding. Using live shiners netted from the shores of the inlet, Capt. Roland stalked, fought, caught and released the giant linesider pictured below. Another great birthday experience!

Todd Mahaffey and son Todd along with cousin A.J. from Louisiana joined Capt. Rocky for a day of fishing on the Banana River between Cocoa Beach and Merritt Island this past Wednesday. The weather was typical for summer with clear skies and glass-like water early giving way to increasing cloudiness, a threat of showers and a solid east wind in the afternoon. The charter began by chasing tarpon crashing schools of glass minnows along the deeper drop-offs of the grass flats. We were able to jump one ‘poon before they tired of our company. Numerous gafftopsail cats were hooked and boated during this initial phase of our trip. Turning our attention to redfish and trout we invaded the shallow grass flats mid-morning. Ten year old A.J. was the first to score with an enormous 42 inch beast which gave him quite an epic tussle. His ten year cousin Todd was not to be out-done though as he hooked and boated the next several reds along with a trout whose eyes were ‘bigger than his stomach.’ The Mahaffey clan had a grand time and took home two bags of redfish and trout fillets, one which went straight to Grills at the Port to be enjoyed later that evening. Pictured below are A.J. with his monster and Todd with the fattest 27 inch redfish seen in quite some time.

Alex, visiting from California, joined Capt. Rocky for a rare afternoon charter last Wednesday. Despite the strong southeastern breezes, there were several stretches of the Banana River between Merritt Island and Cocoa Beach assessable and fishable. Pictured below is Alex with his largest redfish on the day, a dandy 25 pound monster which fell for a four inch finger mullet.

The Keeling Family, Robert, Angel, Alexis and Seth, joined Capt. Rocky for a recent half day charter on the Banana River near Cocoa Beach. Launching just after daybreak, the full boat of anglers headed to a wide stretch of the BR just north of Pineda Causeway where massive schools of glass minnows have been holding. Feeding on the tiny bait fish were tarpon, trout, ladyfish and gaft-top sail-cats. The two hours of frenzied action turned the water surface into a sci-fi looking scene of multiple explosions as the glass minnows and the poggies being used for bait scattered for their lives. So many fish were caught during this timeframe it was impossible to keep count as there were many times were two and three fish were being fought simultaneously. Unfortunately, the action was so intense that we were not able snap any photos but for the Keelings the memories of that morning are firmly etched in their memories.

John Hughes from Orlando and his brother Gordon from Georgia fished with Capt. Rocky on a on the Banana River between Cocoa Beach and Merritt Island last Monday. Launching from Kelly Park the trio headed for the clear shallow waters known as Pineda Flats. Using a variety of live baits – poggies, mullet, croakers and small ladyfish – the bite was slow until late morning. However, once the fish turned on, they really turned on. Pictured below are John and Gordon with a double catch, one of several during the trip.

Natalie Van Hoose, daughter of Capt. Rocky, wanted introduce two of her international students, Edu from Saudi Arabia and Jin from South Korea, to authentic Florida experiences. She convinced her dad to take them on a fishing adventure on pristine waters of the Grant/Sebastian area. Edu and Jin were treated to a full experience on their half day charter which included manatees of the close kind, a too close encounter with a bull shark and playful dolphins. They also hooked numerous fish including a giant redfish and huge gator trout hilariously lost at the side of the boat. Among the many woos and awes where plenty of laughs and memories.

(Accounts and Photos from recent charters with Capt. Peter will be added to this report shortly.)

Summer weather has firmly established itself along the Space and treasure Coasts out side of Orlando – calm, warm seas in the morning giving way to gentle easterly sea breezes and even warmer condition later in the day with the threat of daily thundershowers in the afternoons. Redfish feed shallow in the calm mornings and move off to the deeper drop-offs and potholes later in the day. And now that normal patterns have finally returned to the area, the fishing caught fire as well. We start our individual reports with a spectacular catch.

Some fellows are born great fisherman and other have the honor thrust upon them. We are not sure which applies to Larry Zimmerman from the Villages near Ocala, Florida but his feats on the water the last two years are becoming legendary. Celebrating his 49th anniversary, and staying on Cocoa Beach last week, Larry joined Capt. Rocky on the Banana River for some laid-back fishing. Redfish were the target de jour and they did not disappoint. While catching nine of bronzed beasts on the half day charter, a giant appeared to turn the day from really good to the stuff of which legends are made. Pictured below are Larry and an unbelievable 58 inch redfish. The monster took a four inch pogy in only two feet of water and spent the next hour and half towing Larry, the guide and 17 foot, 6 inch flats boat up and down the flats. Six times Capt. Rocky had to raise the PowerPole and chase the brute in order to keep enough line on the reels but in the end, it was Larry Zimmerman who emerged the victor thus securing his place among the greats in local fishing lore.

The second day of Larry’s two day charter package was also a titanic success. Changing venues from the Banana River near Cocoa Beach, Larry and Rocky headed for the clear grass flats of the Indian River near Titusville. This time using live and cut mullet, the action started almost immediately with another monster redfish. Instead of chasing the fish from the boat, this time Larry opted to wade after the fish in the shallows. Pictured below is Larry with another trophy redfish. After live releasing the first monster it took less than fifteen minutes for the next one to join the fray. This fish was able to strip the reel bare so quickly that no adjustment could be made. There were other redfish caught on the day along with several fine trout. The end of the half day charter was spent chasing and sight-fishing waking black drum along the grass flats.

The tarpon bite has slowed a little in the past week, mainly due to the lack of rain. However, Brent was able to bring a beautiful fish boat-side on a trip with Capt. Peter for a quick photo before release. Brent was invited on this fishing trip (his first saltwater excursion) by Bill Pesci, and the targets for the day were tarpon and snook. The anglers sight-fished schools of tarpon early in the morning, and were able to get bites on live mullet. When the tarpon bite slowed, Capt. Peter switched over to sight-fishing for snook under docks on the Indian River. Live pogies worked best on the snook, as they turned down everything else. Pictured is Brent with his first tarpon.

Due to the slow tarpon bite, Capt. Peter has been fishing schools of redfish in the Banana River. These schools are in shallow water and make for excellent sight-fishing. These schools of reds have been between 15 to 50 fish in number, and are ranging in size from 25” to 35”.

On Monday of the days this week, Capt. Peter had a trio of fishing fanatics from Georgia aboard his boat. The first couple of hours was spent sight-fishing some larger schools of reds. The anglers got to fish over eight different schools of redfish in the crystal clear water. At one point, there was three different schools within casting range around the boat. When the wind picked up a little and the schools of redfish laid down for the afternoon, Capt. Peter moved into some mangrove coves that produced good numbers of upper to over-slot redfish for the remainder of the trip. Pictured are Jeff and Jake’s double hitter and one of the nice upper slot fish.

Returning the scene of the crime only two days later, Capt. Rocky guided Kim from Titusville and Shawn, his son from Orlando on another half day redfish safari. Despite the overwhelming presence of the reds in the same waters several days before, for some reason, they had completely vacated the area. After searching in shallow, medium and deeper waters it became apparent that no redfish would be spotted on this charter. However, there were still trout and a dozen or more were caught on the day using live shrimp and large poggies cast-netted from several migrating schools in the area. Other fish caught included ladyfish, bluefish and gafftopsail catfish which had been following the poggy schools.

Mike and Devin Hinton from Ohio, along with her cousin Aaron Hubbard from Tampa, Florida spent a glorious day of fishing with Capt. Rocky in the Banana River last week. Launching from Ballard Park in Eau Galle, the foursome were making the long trek to the Cocoa Beach/Merritt Island areas when they spotted massive schools of glass minnows being trashed by birds and schools of predatory fish. Over the next hour, trout, ladyfish (later used for redfish as cut bait) and gafftopsail catfish came to boat one after another. Fearing the once ample supply of live poggies would be exhausted in the middle of the river, Capt. Rocky cranked the engine and headed for the shallows in search of redfish and trout. Devin scored first with a fine 26 inch trout (see picture) and Mike boated the first redfish which measured just over the slot. Several redfish and one miss on a huge redfish later the crew decided to concentrate on the bigger, memory-making monsters with the remaining baits. Good decision! Pictured below are Mike and Devin holding a heavy 42 inch brute requiring a group effort to subdue and cousin Aaron with his 41 inch beast which anchored the day … and what a wonderful day it was!

On another trip fishing the schools of redfish in the Banana River, Capt. Peter was joined by Bill Flack and his grandson, Andrew. The purpose of the trip was to fish many different flats and islands within the Banana, and experience the unique types of fishing and scenery. Bill and Andrew landed a sizeable trout and redfish, with most of the reds being over the slot limit. Pictured are Bill with his biggest red to date – a healthy 15lber – and Andrew with a nice over slot red.

Chuck and Mason Theurer recently fished two days with Capt. Peter – with one of the days being spent fishing in the FLFA Junior tournament. The tournament was Mason’s first fishing competition. With Mason on the bow of the boat the whole day, Capt. Peter pushed poled after schools of redfish for the most of the morning. Mason did a fantastic job casting to fish, and landed a handful of redfish…including the largest redfish in the tournament at 33 inches, and the second largest fish in the event. Mason also made some casts count, when schools of trout and ladyfish started crashing schools of glass minnows on the surface, where he quickly landed both species. Mason’s dad, Chuck, took video of most of the tournament, and caught some really awesome footage (the first cast to a tailing school of 50 redfish in 1 foot of clear, glassy water will get your heart pumping every time).
The second trip, was spent chasing schools of redfish early in the morning, and then fishing shallow water docks later on. The schools of reds were cooperative in the morning, with Capt. Peter fishing two schools (one school had a couple of dozen 26” fish, and the other school was much larger with at least 50 fish ranging from 25” – 35”). Both chuck and mason were on the bow this time, and they sight-fished the entire day. They left the schools to sigh-fish some shallow water docks near Cocoa Beach around 10am, and were able to entice a couple fat redfish into biting. The docks tend not to hold schooling fish, but singles here and there. This is a different style of fishing than that of chasing schools, but is equally as fun. Pictured are Mason posing with his biggest tournament redfish and Mason with a fish that came off of a dock.

Ah, summertime fishing along the Space and Treasure Coasts is so much fun! Quality, quantity and variety … everywhere … a true fisherman’s paradise.

Our first individual report features Capt. Peter along with his good friends Bob and Robert Rohmann of Satellite Beach. Taking advantage of the slick calm offshore seas, the trio slipped out Sebastian Inlet earlier this week to do a little tarpon and shark fishing. They did catch several of the large poons and black tip sharks roaming just offshore which would have made for a fine trip on any other day … however ‘fine’ went to ‘fantastic’ when a rare beachside SAILFISH was spotted, stalked, stuck, landed and released. Pictured below are Bob and Capt. Peter with this beautiful billfish.

Capt. Roland, with dreams of leaping billfish dancing through his head, took fellow captain Chuck Lloyd and son Charlie out the inlet on the next day. Pulling along side of the first massive bait pod Oceanside, they found three rolling tarpon feeding just in front of their boat. Still without live bait, they tried tossing plugs to the huge silver kings before parting company. Returning to catching bait, the trio next discovered other competition within the pods, toothy competition from sharks and Bonita. Pictured below is Capt. Chuck with one of the two sharks caught by his young son Charlie.

Our next report moves from offshore/nearshore action to the Indian River in Titusville. This is a favorite stretch of water for Native Sons guides and clients during the summer months. After months of murky water and few fish we can finally report big numbers of reds, trout and drum residing in the now clear, shallow, grassy flats. Capt. Rocky was up there three times this week with each of his charters scoring well into double digits. The smallest red of the week was 24 inches while the largest measured a hefty 42. The fish are aggressively eating anything thrown to them, except, of course, for foul tasting sprigs of broccoli. We’ll have more reports from Titusville in a special follow-up segment.

Traveling south down the Indian River Lagoon system from Titusville to Merritt Island, our next report comes from this past Monday. Capt. Rocky guided good friend Joe Schneider, his nephew Tom and his son Joseph Schmitz from Denver, Colorado. Launching from Kiwanis Park in Merritt Island, the foursome fished the Sykes Creek stretch of the Banana River in order to stay close to home because of a lousy weather forecast. The rain held off long enough for the crew to catch nine redfish and a rare Merritt Island snook. Most of the fish measured well over the 27 inch slot limited. Since finger mullet have been almost impossible to find, poggies were used as the bait for the charter. Pictured below are Tom and ‘Little’ Joe with one of their bigger reds followed by a photo of Joe holding his snook.

We stay in the Banana River of Merritt Island for our next report. Mike Foytek from Orlando teamed with Capt. Rocky to form Team Got Milk for the recent Riverside Café Inshore Fishing Classic held in Vero Beach. Making the long run back to the Banana River in Merritt Island, Team Got Milk weighed a solid redfish (5.99 lbs) and trout (4.89 lbs) to finish fourth and fifth respectively. Ironically, their two fish ‘slam’ wound up being bumped out of first place by Native Sons’ Capt. Peter and Capt. Robert Rohmann who regularly fish the Florida Flatsfishing Association circuit. Team Got Milk also caught several redfish just over-sized on the day. Pictured below is Mike holding twin 31 inch redfish which were released back into the wild.

Heading south again, we travel to the Melbourne Beach stretch of the Indian River for our next stop. This time the guide is Capt. Roland and his client is Prof. Ralph Cummings who returned to the area for a visit and some fishing. Launching from Front Street Ramp in Melbourne, the charter started with an intent to sight-fish snook on the flats. And although the big linesiders were there every time a bait was cast near them a more aggressive gator trout bolted in and ate it. After several trout over 25 inches were landed and released the duo decided to switch to targets to schooling black drum. Several drums were beaten before the charter concluded by chasing tarpon in one of the creek tributaries to the IR. The picture below is Prof. Ralph holding a nice 40 inch fish caught using 10lb test spinning tackle. It was a great end to a fun trip.

Our final report concerns a charter which covered over 200 miles on the day – a Native Sons record incidentally. The trip involved Capt. Rocky and his good friend Tom Seaman of Melbourne. Fishing the Strike Zone Inshore Tournament last Saturday, the duo decided to target the giant trout of Ft. Pierce to start the day. After spending and hour and half unsuccessfully stalking the big trout at dawn, the team opted to radically alter strategies and locations by making a long run to Merritt Island. The strategy worked as Tom pulled four redfish, one with four spots, and a big black drum off a dock on the Indian River (Tom and the drum are pictured below). Rushing back to Grant to weigh the fish added another 40 miles to the odometer. The day ended with Tom and Rocky chasing tarpon up Crane Creek … from predawn in Ballard Park of Eua Galle to Ft. Pierce to Merritt Island to Grant to Crane Creek in Melbourne/Palm Bay, that’s a long day of fishing … that’s a fantastic day of fishing!