what you want, but you might sometimes, get what you need."

The Stones said it, I believe it.

For starters, Karen and I had a great time. It was good to feel the warm sun again (too warm as I found out Sunday... anyone ever see a well cooked lobster). Our hotel balcony overlooked the beach and surf. We left the door open at night to listen to the surf. Very relaxing.

We had moved our charter up to friday and we headed out into the Indian River with temps around 70, mostly cloudy and a stiff 15-20 knot wind from the north.

Denis mentioned this briefly in another thread. He was down there at the same time fishing a bit north of us in Titusville. He had the same conditions all week. For those unfamiliar with the Indian River, it is not really a river... it is the intercoastal waterway and runs pretty much dead north-south. This wind caused the river to muddy up and add the overcast and wind... just about the worst conditions for sight casting... maybe night would be a little harder.

BUT... we started the day fishing around the Sebastian Inlet on the dropping tide. This inlet connects the intercoastal waterway to the Atlantic. We immediately hooked up with some nice size Jack Crevalle. These fish are pound for pound the toughest fish I've ever caught, so we had a blast. I was uhhh, fishing for numbers, so the fact that Karen caught the two biggest fish didn't bother me :) Her two biggest were around 8lbs and the lunker of 10lbs. Most of my fish were in the 5-6lb. range and all you can handle. The scary thing is that they have schools of 20-30lb. jacks out on the beaches right now, plus the tarpon are showing up. It was a real shame we couldn't get outside. But the theme of the day prevented it... WIND.

Big redfish and snook also hang around the inlet and we had a couple shots. I hooked two big reds, Karen one. Unfortunately, they tend to hug the bottom when hooked and the inlet is very rocky... all three fish broke off. Not much you could do... when you hooked one of these fish, you just held on for dear life. Again, Karen's fish was the biggest. She held on for two incredible runs and the Stradic 6000 made sounds I've never heard before. She still winces when I bring it up. I wish we could've seen that fish. The action continued for several hours until the tide died off. I don't think we had a drift that didn't produce a hook up.

We then headed into the river to try and find some reds and/or snook in the shallows. We fished alot of mangrove shorelines and flats. As I said, conditions basically stunk, so we poled (or rather sailed) down the shorelines and blind cast. We drifted and cast poppers on his favorite flat and got several boils, but no hook-ups. We ducked out of the wind in the backcountry, but the water was muddy and we couldn't get the sun to come out. Captain Tod was working his butt off to try and find some fish, but it was tough. The wind never laid down and the sun rarely came out. We finally spotted some darker mud being churned up and it was a nice size red. I got several good casts to him, and finally he saw my jerkbait and grabbed it. I hit him, had him for a second, he rolled and spit it. I have been reliving that for days now. My stomach turns when I think about it.

We saw 2 or 3 more fish the rest of the day, but they were mostly spooked by the time we could see 'em. I also was gabbing at one point and suddenly realized my lure had moved several yards to the right. Again, I reeled the slack and hit 'em, but all we saw was a swirl.

Tod is really cool and wanted to get me a red... he was willing to stay at it, but we had a long wet run to get back and I resigned myself to defeat. On hindsight, I should've given up earlier and just gone looking for more jacks. Tough when you are only going out once and conditions just don't give you a break. It was a bit bittersweet. I get obsessive sometimes and I didn't get my red, but I got what I needed.

A great day on the water to put an end to this long winter. As I said, we had a blast and caught plenty of fish. I'll post some pics when the film is done.

This was my third trip to this area and it is amazing. We saw dolphins, big sea turtles, a manatee and all kinds of birds. There is so much bait down there, its distracting. We constantly saw mullet, needlefish and various other minnows. A steady diet of rays, sheepshead and marine catfish kept you guessing in the murky water. There was always life around. In three trips, I've caught reds, snook, seatrout, jacks and ladyfish. I've also had a shot at some tarpon and a school of spanish mackerel ripped by one time while I was fighting a jack. It is really sweet down there.

Sounds like things are starting to roll up here. Tight lines everyone.

Schoolie Monster I can vouch for the Jacks being pound for pound the toughest ever caught! I was down in Southwest Florida last week and hooked up with several jacks in the 8-10 pound range on my Flyrod from Shore. Very fun!!! Those things are like Piranhas when they get into a feeding frenzy. I threw a nice Rhody Flatwing fly to the first one but lost him at the jetty so from then on seing that they weren't too fussy I threw Chartruse Bonito Bunny flies at them since the are easy ties. Jacks were the highlight of my trip for the most part but I did manage several Ladyfish which put on spectacular jumping show once hooked. Two on the fly and ond on a lightweight spin tackle. A guy mentioned to me that it used to be you would go fishing and if all you caught was a Jack then you would tell people you caught nothing but not anymore. People have reconized the fact they have a value in catching fun if nothing else. Although I did meet a guy on the jetty at Doctor's Pass that eats them.

sounds like a good trip to me ! I fished the indian river 2 years ago and hooked upo with some jacks and a couple reds and a spotted sea trout ( weakfish ) . Real nice area I was up north around the banana river area . Titusville was the closest town I rememebr .

Jeffsod, I agree, I don't think many people appreciate the jacks and I kinda equate them with bluefish. They may not be your targeted species, but they are still alot of fun. And they are relatively new to me, so I still think they are super cool.

I really wanted a red (bad), but the jacks salvaged my trip. They just never give up the fight. I can't imagine a 30 lber.... scary.

Chris, that area is supposed to be the best red-fishing around. Denis from the board spent the week down there and I'm hoping he sees my report and posts one of his own.

That area from Titusville down to Vero Beach supposedly has something like 400 different species of fish, shellfish, etc. That is incredible.

schoolie monster,

Of all the places I have had the good fortune to dive, I have never seen more diversity of game fish, in any one spot, then at the tip of the north jetty at Sebastian Inlet.

I was diving in a giant ball of big reds with at least a hundred snook (many of them wearing jigs and swimmers like jewelry) while on the bottom a huge grouper was patroling the edge of the sand...spade fish, lookdown fish, jacks, catfish, and even pompano were all in a tight formation, right at the tip of that breakwater.

Glad you had a well deserved vacation, now roll up your sleeves and go catch a few stripers.

Mike

Congrats on the trip, too bad the weather didn't cooperate. That's the big drawback to booking a long range charter, it's a crap shoot on the weather and conditions. I've lucked out both times and my guide always put me on fish.

Those jacks are fun, like a 8 lb bluegill. Welcome back.

schoolie monster

right on about the wind , real hard fishing but the weather was nice and warm.
only saw one red that i did'n catch,and then only caught 8 redsand 2 trout in 5days of fishing,not great but i'll take it, just nice to see the different sights.
sunday took a ride to sabastin inlet,had lunch at captain hirim's
cool place.
wanted to fish mosquito lagoon but the wind made it too rought
to try, 16 carolina skiff,very wet boat.
monday saw atlantis go up,now that is a great show.
had no problem at either airport,checked bags at curb cleared security in 5-10minutes,then waited three houres,to board,nice flight down the coast,nj nc,sc looks real fishy from the air,enought
time to get some guys with stripes at the ww.

tight lines to all

Denis, my wife and I stayed at the Key West Inn right there at Cpt. Hiram's last March. That's a nice little spot down there, though we were disappointed with the pool.

Before making reservations, we asked about the pool and stuff. They said it was heated, etc. It was really small and if it was heated, it was heated by the sun, 'cause it was freezing.

We had fun though and ate at Cpt. Hiram's and walked around the docks. There were some offshore boats coming in and we saw some nice mahi mahi getting cleaned. There were dolphins feeding off the dock... it was cool. And it was about 2 miles from the launch on the Sebastian River. I probably wouldn't stay there again 'cause we got rooms for the same price in Melbourne right on the beach.

Here was our view...


http://striped-bass.com/images/sm/ek_8.jpg

... And the pool was much nicer and the beach access was great.

Here are the fish highlights from the trip. I'm still disappointed about the severe lack of reds caught, but some fresh stripers can ease that pain.

http://striped-bass.com/images/sm/sebastianinlet.gif

Greg, I'm glad to see you 2 had a fun time. Sorry about the weather, atleast you caught fish. Those jacks sound like fun.
I go in a week and a half, I hope it's not too hot. I'll be in Stuart and in the keys.

Hey Slip,

Don't waste your telekinetic energy on holding back the high temps... focus on the wind. My uncle was down in the keys for 4 days and up in the 1000 Island area for a couple more. He got out 3 days, but the winds killed the fishing. No fish.

He's pretty stubborn about using his flyrod, and sticking to his targeted species... personally, I'll do what I have to do to get some fish in the boat.

But anyway, use your mojo to tame those winds. I was almost in tears when we were fishing the inlet and we see this big flock of birds working several hundred yards past the mouth. Big reds, huge jacks, possibly tarpon?? I don't know, but I sure woulda coulda shoulda liked to have seen. Not bad enough to re-enact the plight of the Andrea Gail in a 16' Hewes flats skiff.

Good luck with the POON! I want to hear a great report when you get back.