CAPT VAN HORN JUNE 2008

The winds have finally subsided as the summer doldrums settle in along the Indian River Lagoon Coast of Florida. Calm mornings have provided for some great sight fishing conditions both inshore on the flats and offshore. Clean green ocean water has pushed in close to the beach and the kingfish, jack cravelle, bonito, sharks, and tarpon have moved in with it. These conditions have provided for some excellent catches this past week, and if they hold, next week should be good as well.



Roland's Beach Jack

My first adventure this past week was on Father's Day where I had the pleasure of fishing with Rick Giddens from Washington State, and our plan was to target some of the inshore gamesters who frequent our coastal waters during the summer. Although Rick is an excellent angler and we jumped at least ten quality fish, Mr. Murphy hounded us all day and whatever could go wrong to lose a fish went wrong. Rick's first fish was a school bus size jack carvalle that slammed aD.O.A. Bait Buster right next to the boat, but within seconds of the strike it had Rick's line wrapped around the boat bounding up in a trolling rod on the back platform, and it freed itself. We had leaders break, monster kingfish bite through # 7 wire, we pulled hook on at lease 4 different fish, we had numerous tarpon blowup on and miss our baits or throw the hook, and yes we even had a knot fail which was totally my fault.

At one point in the afternoon we spotted an enormous school of 100 plus pound tarpon moving north in our direction, so I positioned Three Quarter Time, my trusted Maverick skiff, well ahead of the school and chucked out about twenty dead pogies. As the school daisy chained in our direction they passing directly under us and we could see that the school consisted of at least a hundred fish. When they reached the chum line they exploded into a frenzy eating every dead bait in the water without touching either of the live baits we had placed in front of them. These schools were north bound at a good rate of speed, so those of you who fish out of Ponce De Leon Inlet (Captain Fred) be on guard. Although we had great action all day, when it was all said and done, Rick's score was one shark and one large Spanish mackerel.

My next endeavor consisted of a venture into the Banana River No-Motor Zone with John "BooDreaux" Baumann of the Reel Outdoors TV Show on Brighthouse Networks. With my good friend and sight fishing specialist Paul Macinnis serving as our spotter and camera boat, we explored the west shoreline with hopes of capturing some hefty redfish and some good footage for BooDreaux's show. When scheduling this event, I failed to grasp the fact we were fishing on a full moon and although it was a gorgeous day with a good number of fish sighted, we failed to entice a substantial fish to play, so we will have to schedule another session to complete the show, that's fishing in the Reel Outdoors.



Roland's 30-pound Kingfish

Yesterday, it was back to the beach with my good friends Roland Van Arsdale and his son Roland, and our intent was to target anything that pulled hard for Roland Sr.'s 80th birthday. Roland was determined to catch a big jack, so after netting a live well full of Atlantic menhaden (pogies) we returned to the Port Canaveral Buoy Line and we immediately tied into a school bus on our first drop. The area was loaded with big jacks and rolling tarpon and our final score was 2 jacks in the 20 to 25-pound range, a 60-pound tarpon, and a 30-pound smoker kingfish also caught by Roland Sr.

All in all, it was a great week of fishing, and if you desire to tie into some of these mid-summer gamesters, you better make your plans before the doldrums are gone.

As always, if you need information or have questions, please contact me.

Good luck and good fishing,

Captain Tom Van Horn

Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters
www.irl-fishing.com
407-416-1187 on the water
407-366-8085 landline
Captain@irl-fishing.com

Mosquito Creek Outdoors, it's were your adventure begins, www.mosquitocreekoutdoors.com

Kingfish Stinger Rig

Currently, conditions off of Florida's east central coastal beaches are prime for targeting heavy duty game fish using a light tackle approach. The water is clean right to the beach and the kingfish and other predators (jumbo jacks, tarpon, and sharks) have pushed pods of pogies (Atlantic menhaden) and other baitfish into shallow water (15 to 40 feet), and slow trolling live baitfish on steel stinger rigs can reward you with fast and furious drag screaming action.

Due to the keen vision and razor sharp teeth of kingfish, it is important to use the shortest length and lightest wire leader as possible and still have a good chance of landing the big fish. Lowering the profile of your terminal rig will greatly improve your chances of a strike, and in some cases, can even making the difference in catching a fish at all. It is also very important when utilizing a light tackle approach to counter their long speedy runs and sharp teeth of a kingfish with a light drag setting on your reel. The combination of a light drag setting and the extreme speed and long run of a kingfish will often smoke the line off of your reel, thus the term smoker kingfish. Most inshore kingfish range in the 20 pound class, but it is not unheard of to tie into a 40 to 60 pound smoker, a 100-pound class tarpon, or a 30 to 40-pound jack carvalle or shark.

With these thoughts in mind, here is how I approach this situation. First, you need a medium heavy rod and reel combination spooled up with at least 200 yards of 20-pound test braided line or 30 to 40-pound monofilament. Next, I like using about 8 to 10 feet of 30-pound fluorocarbon leader, and if big tarpon are a possibility I tip the end with several feet of 50-pound test. Next, I attach my stinger rig which is described below:

I start by attaching a very small swivel (Sea Striker Bill Fisher Krok 70-pound test stainless steel swivel) to 18-inch of #2 or #4 American Fishing Wire stainless steel leader brown in color, using a haywire twist. I like using darker leader colors to keep toothy fish like small Spanish mackerel and kingfish from striking the flashy swivel high, thus reducing cutoffs. The #2 leader is rated for 27-pounds and the # 4 is rated for 38-pounds. Larger kingfish can cut through the lighter leader during extended battles, but the finesse of the light rig is required to gain the strike in the first place. Next, I twist in a VMC #1 Fast Grip Kingfish Live Bait hook. For the stinger I attach a VMC #4X Treble Hook to 4 to 7 inches of #4 American Fishing Wire leader, and then twist in the opposite end through both the loop and the eye of the VMC #1 hook.

Once you have netted live bait and it's in the live well, hook the #1 Live Bait hook through the bait's nose from side to side, and the 4X stinger near the tail. For best results your bait should swim as naturally as possible. When kingfish strikes a bait, they often slice thought the tail to crippling the bait, and then quickly turn around and eat it. With the stinger near the tail, you have a greater chance of a hook up on a short strike. I also like to troll three baits. The first (short bait) directly in the prop wash of your engine, the middle bait about 20 feet back, and than a long bait about 50 feet back. This arrangement helps keep the live baits from swimming into each other, and it prevents tangles during turns. Also, I like to troll my baits at the slowest speed my boat will run to allow the baits to swim rather than skip across the water.

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report by Captain Chris Myers

It has been some time since my last report but I have been on the water nearly every day. In addition to the Mosquito Lagoon, I have been able to fish the Charlotte Harbor are of southwest Florida as well as the Stuart area north of Palm Beach. My first trip this month was with Capt. Tom Van Horn in the Banana River no motor zone. We fished from Tom's canoe and it was my first chance to experience his new outrigger and deck systems installed by Kay-noe Paddle Products. The outriggers provide stability and allow anglers to stand in a canoe or kayak for better visibility while fishing. Tom also had a decks installed in both the front and rear. The ability to stand makes fishing from a paddle craft much more comfortable. We had to fight the wind all day but we did encounter some nice redfish and black drum. I finally managed to fool a big drum with a DOA shrimp in golden bream color.

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Tight Lines and Let's Go Fishing,

Captain Tom Van Horn
Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters