Cocoa Beach Report

[captdoug]

[#312c98]4/17/2003 Flats fishing report for the Titusville & Cocoa Beach area. By Capt Doug Blanton[/#312c98]

[#312c98]Fishing has been good this past week despite the full moon and cooler water temperatures. The name of the game has been find the mullet. If you can find the bait the fish are close by. Everything we caught this past week has been in or just outside of schools of larger mullet. Also, with the full moon our best catches have come around first light till around 10 am. As this moon passes you will start to see more fish willing to play in the afternoon. Also, keep your eye on the mouth of the cannels around Cocoa Beach. There have been a few snook and tarpon busting the surface at first light. [/#312c98]

[#312c98]Redfish[/#312c98]

[#312c98]Every time we have a full moon the reds have a tendency to feed best at night. This full moon has been a little bit of an exception. I believe this is due to the water temp. dropping last week and just beginning to rise within the past few days. The main thing I have been seeing is that the reds are a little spookier than normal for this time of year. I have watched these fish over the past few days get spooked of by someone starting their motor within a hundred yards of them. Spook off from someone running a trolling motor. And by us casting to many times at them. Keep in mind that when the reds are like this you may only get 2 or 3 casts at them. If you see them start to move off let them go and try to follow a few hundred feet behind until they settle down. Many times they will push a few feet away and start tailing again. Wait till you see this before you move in for a cast. If you don't it is like chasing them and throwing rocks at them.[/#312c98]

[#312c98]Most of our reds this past week were caught on [url "http://www.donraystudio.com/fishinglures.htm"][#800080]3 1/4 inch Florida Special Rip Roller[/#800080][/url] rigged with a #4 [url "http://www.eangler.com/eangler/proshop/productdetail.asp?prod_id=3840&"][#800080]Daiichi's 3x Bleeding treble hook[/#800080][/url]. in 2 feet or less. Once we had made a few casts at school and they started to become a little spooky we pulled a few more out using a [url "http://www.eangler.com/eangler/proshop/productdetail.asp?prod_id=776&"][#0000ff]1/4 oz gold silver minnow[/#0000ff][/url]. Most of the fish we found this past week were in the 6 to 16 pound range. However, I did see one school starting to move in with a few fish in the 30 pound range. Just remember to be a quite as possible when trying to move within casting range. I highly recommend cutting the motor a hundred yards or more off the flat you plain to fish or away from other boats. If you are not able to pole, bail out and wade to them. You will find you spot a lot more fish and put a few more in the boat. [/#312c98]

[#312c98]There continues to be a good number of slot sized reds willing to bite in a foot or less in the early am. Our best catches have come using soft plastics such as Cotee's [url "http://www.donraystudio.com/fishinglures.htm"][#800080]Reel Magic[/#800080][/url] rigged with a 5/0 [url "http://www.truturnhooks.com/cgi-bin/Web_store/web_store.cgi?page=/daiichi/products.html&&cart_id=9172973_2371"][#0000ff]Daiichi Bleeding Copperhead Hook[/#0000ff][/url] in [url "http://www.donraystudio.com/fishinglures.htm"][#800080]black/gold/flk[/#800080][/url]. [/#312c98]

[#312c98]Reds on Fly[/#312c98]

[#312c98]Our best fish caught over the past few weeks on fly have been on black/white or black/gold #1 bend-backs with a red and gold body. [/#312c98]

[#312c98]Trout[/#312c98]

[#312c98]The trout fishing slowed down with our last cold front but is starting to pick up now that the water temperature in back up in the low 70's. Now all we need is for this full moon to pass by and we are going to be looking at some great trout fishing. We put a few fish in the boat this past week up to 5 lbs but as the water continues to warm up you will begin to see more fish under 15 inches being caught. This is not to say that the larger fish will stop biting. You will just have to sort through the smaller fish. Usually start switching over to a larger plug this time of year a using something that will weed out most of the smaller trout. [/#312c98]

[#312c98]All of our trout for the past few weeks have been caught on [url "http://www.donraystudio.com/fishinglures.htm"][#800080]3 1/4 inch Florida Special Rip Roller[/#800080][/url] rigged with a #4 [url "http://www.eangler.com/eangler/proshop/productdetail.asp?prod_id=3840&"][#800080]Daiichi's 3x Bleeding treble hook[/#800080][/url]. As I start using larger baits I will start throwing [url "http://www.donraystudio.com/fishinglures.htm"][#800080]4.25 Rip Roller and the 4.25 Original High Roller[/#800080][/url] in the Florida Special rigged with a #2 [url "http://www.eangler.com/eangler/proshop/productdetail.asp?prod_id=3840&"][#800080]Daiichi's 3x Bleeding treble hook[/#800080][/url]. If you haven't tried the bleeding hooks before you really need to give them a shot. Where ever you put the bleeding hook is where the fish will strike 9 out of 10 times. [/#312c98]

[#312c98]Everything else [/#312c98]

[#312c98]We have continued to see a few tarpon in the early morning showing up in the mouths of the canals near Cocoa Beach. Schools of larger jacks have been chasing mullet along the outer edge of the flats. Snook have been starting to bust bait near the mangroves. larger ladyfish have been starting to move around the outer edge of the flats where glass minnows are present. The main thing to keep in mind is, look for the bait. If there isn't any, move on to somewhere ealse. [/#312c98]

[#312c98]Get out there and catch a memory. Capt. Doug[/#312c98]

[#312c98]Here are a few pictures from last week. [/#312c98]

[url "http://www.indianriver.cc/doug's/pic's/DSCF0058.JPG"][img]file:///C:/DOCUME~1/Owner/LOCALS~1/Temp/FrontPageTempDir/wpe49727.JPG[/img][/url] [url "http://www.indianriver.cc/doug's/pic's/DSCF0057.JPG"][img]file:///C:/DOCUME~1/Owner/LOCALS~1/Temp/FrontPageTempDir/wpe49728.JPG[/img][/url] [url "http://www.indianriver.cc/doug's/pic's/troutky.jpg"][img]file:///C:/DOCUME~1/Owner/LOCALS~1/Temp/FrontPageTempDir/wpe49745.jpg[/img][/url] [url "http://www.indianriver.cc/doug's/pic's/red403.jpg"][img]file:///C:/DOCUME~1/Owner/LOCALS~1/Temp/FrontPageTempDir/wpe49746.jpg[/img][/url] [url "http://www.indianriver.cc/doug's/pic's/trout403.jpg"][img]file:///C:/DOCUME~1/Owner/LOCALS~1/Temp/FrontPageTempDir/wpe49747.jpg[/img][/url]

[#312c98]Here are a few videos made by Zuni Bob on a fishing trip a few weeks ago. Thanks Zuni.[/#312c98]

[url "http://www.indianriver.cc/doug's/video/Red%20100kbsps.wmv"][#800080]Redfish video[/#800080][/url]

[url "http://www.indianriver.cc/doug's/video/trout%20100kbsps.wmv"][#800080]Trout video[/#800080][/url] [left][#312c98]My tips for sight catching fish with Top Water!!! [url "http://www.sightfishing.com/fishingtips.htm"][#800080]click here[/#800080][/url] . [/#312c98][/left]

[#312c98]For more information on Flats fishing with Capt. Doug [url "http://www.indianriver.cc/fishing_trips.htm"][#800080]click here[/#800080][/url][/#312c98]
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