Ever since my good buddy Capt. Honson Lau(www.purpleisleflyfishing.com) from south Florida came up to fish with me 2 years ago, we got into some insane tailing Black Drum action in the Indian River Lagoon. Since then, he has been making it a tradition to drive up for the weekend to target these fish every year when they show up on the flats in my area so we put January 7th and 8th 2012 on our schedules.
Usually the Drum would show up during the colder months, but since our winter has been feeling like summer, the fish were no where to be found! Finally we get a good cold snap dropping the temperatures into the 30’s at night, so I take a scout mission with my buddy Danny on Friday to see if they are around….and they were!
These fish were tailing and schooled up in the hundreds all around us and coming right up to the boat, it didn’t take long for Danny to hook up on a couple just a few feet from him on a D.O.A. Softshell Crab.
Of course I had to get in on some the action with the fly rod. I used an all black slider and a black crab pattern with gold tinsel to entice these Drum to eat.
…and I also wanted to see how they react to a 3″ D.O.A. Shrimp. They love it!!
The scout mission was a success and I had high hopes for the next 2 days while Honson was in town.
The next morning, Honson and I arrive at the same exact flat that I was at the day before. Immediately we start seeing tailing Drum and after a few shots, Honson hooks into this pig that drug us around the Indian River Lagoon for a while.
After celebrating his victory over the battle, we keep pushing along for the next contestant. The Drum were not as plentiful as the day before so not many shots were to be had. We did run into some Redfish along the way to keep us busy.
Sunday we decide to fish the Banana River in Cocoa Beach, we made the day a fun relaxing day fishing with the spin rods and sight fishing Trout after Trout in the 20″+ range using D.O.A. CAL Shadtails. Honson also popped a bunch of Redfish and big Trout with the fly rod but we quickly switched back to the spin gear and had multiple double hookups on Redfish and Trout just enjoying day and catching fish. The water in the Banana River is crystal clear, making sight fishing for laid up fish at it’s best.
-Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com
