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View Full Version : Flordia 4/19-Indian River/Mosquito Lagoon Slam with pics



James343
04-28-2008, 11:20 AM
Well as some of you might have read a while back I want on a trip to Florida to do the whole Disney world thing with my fiancés family. Luckily I was able to book a guided trip for one day. Little did I now at the time of booking how much a day away would be needed. Anyways I booked my trip with Tom Carver though flataddicted.com. I originally wanted a 6 hour trip but when I got there it turned out I would only be able to do a 4 hour trip which turned out to be ok. Now on to the report:

Arrived at the launch at 6:45 and headed straight out. I wasn’t really sure where I was most of the time so I can’t really give you many details about that. The first stop was about 300 yards from the shore. We had noticed a ton of birds diving so naturally we stopped Tom thought we might have found a school of baby Tarpon but it was not to be just Jack Crevales I landed 3 in about 30 minutes 2 on a shallow diving crank and one that just inhaled a live shrimp. Surprisingly these guys were in the 3-5 pound range and fought like champs. I also caught to puffer fish at this stop.

Next we motored across the river to the other side and cut the engine about 200 yards from shore. Then out of no where we see some huge Red Fish fining. Tom handed me a live crab rig to toss at them first cast was off a little bit and on the retrieve a little John boat literally motored right thru the school effectively killing the bite. These would be the only reds we saw fining the whole time we were there.

Next we moved down the line a bit still about the same distance from shore. I was tossing the crank and kept pulling up puffer fish who by the point were getting annoying so Tom had me switch over to the live shrimp. Not more than 2 minutes after I cast out I feel a big hit and since we were using circle hooks I just let him take some line then started reeling. As soon as the fish felt the pressure he took off and started peeling drag about 5 minutes later I pull my first and only sea trout in the 3-5 pound range.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll63/Jvoda420/DSC_6308-1-1.jpg

We stayed in this spot for the rest of the time. After this I Went back to the crank bait and had a huge Trout explode on it to bad I was to slow on the hook set. Back to the shrimp next up was this healthy Black drum that would turn out to be the best fight of the day. Tom said he probably went about 6-8 pounds:

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll63/Jvoda420/DSC_6310-1-1.jpg

At this point I'm getting a little scared that I would not get what I came for which was a red fish. I went back to the crank and missed a couple hits then switched back to the live shrimp and as Tom was prepping the boat to head back in I got one final hit let him run start cranking a couple minutes later and I had my red smaller than I was hoping for but a red none the less:

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll63/Jvoda420/DSC_6315-1.jpg

After this we packed it in and headed back. So in 4 hours fishing time the totals were 3 Jacks,1 Red,1 Trout ,1 Black Drum and countless puffer fish. All in all it was a good trip but I had the feeling that the shrimp must be pricey so Tom was rationing them out. I think if I had been able to use the live shrimp the whole time the numbers would have been better but getting an Indian River slam in 4 hours was good enough for me. The rest of the trip would be spent with the family touring all the different parks and stuff. The most interesting part of the trip was the Everglades tour man I want to fish there. Turns out they rent boats there for a fraction of what I paid for my guide had I know then what I know now I might have brought some gear and just rented a boat and fished the glades solo next time maybe. Hope you guys enjoyed the long post but hey at least there were pics right?

Liteliner
04-28-2008, 01:19 PM
Nice fish and report. Im hitting up mosquito next feb. My wifes sister lives in orlando so we are there every year. The shrimp isnt that expensive. If i remember correctly its like a dozen for two bucks. They can be hard to find though. Too bad you didnt get those big reds. Man they are strong fish.

Granny Fish
04-28-2008, 03:27 PM
Great report! Isn't that river the greatest? We just got back from there as well. We didn't get a guide or have much time to fish it, but I can't wait to get back. We paid $3.00 a dozen for live shrimp at Sebastian Inlet.

Nhatster
04-28-2008, 08:00 PM
Wow, those are some beautiful fish! :D

fleaflicker
04-29-2008, 11:44 AM
Pretty cool, I'm headed out there next week and am fishing with the same guide. I'm going to fly fish the whole time.

Hope to catch as well as you did on your trip.

one_leg
04-29-2008, 11:49 AM
Great report and pics too.

Congrats on your catches.