July 15, 2011 Nearshore Report

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

Larry Kilbourn joined me to try his luck on some Cobia and break in some new gear that he had just purchased. Larry had booked a trip last year but caught a bunch of short Cobia so this year he wanted to try again for some meat in the freezer. First we tried for some Tarpon to break in his new rod and reel, we saw them rolling all around us but none of them ate our offerings except for a bunch of drag screaming Bonita which was fun. We left the Tarpon rolling to catch some Cobia which we did, along with a handful of nice Kingfish that were released. The Cobia were caught on live Pogies and D.O.A. Swimming Mullet. We also did a little bit of bottom jigging with D.O.A. Big One TerrorEyz catching Sea Bass and Trigger Fish. It was a great day on the water, Larry got to break in his new gear with the non stop action from Bonita and Kingfish and he also got to fill his freezer up with some fresh Cobia!

-Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com




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Bottom fishing using D.O.A. Lures

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

There was a change of plans for us yesterday while heading out of Port Canaveral. Due to cloudy conditions and cold water temps from an upwelling, sight fishing for Tarpon, Cobia, Jack Crevalle etc. was out of the question. The surface temperature out there was as low as 68 degrees and the bottom temps in some areas were reported at 59 degrees! These cold water temps can really throw the nearshore fishing off especially the Tarpon that is targeted this time of year which prefer warmer water. We decided to do some bottom fishing this day so we hit a few bottom spots until we found one that was non stop action. I was jigging a D.O.A. Terror Eyz while the others on the boat were using a bottom rig with cut squid. While the cut squid was catching mostly small Sea Bass, I was pulling up all of the keepers so it wasn’t long until everyone on the boat switched over to D.O.A.’s. My brother Trung and Adam were using the Swimming Mullet while Shane and I were on the “Big One” Terror Eyz. The brighter colors seemed to work the best. The most effective trick that I learned is to not jig the lure, just let it fall to the bottom and let it drag with the current lifting up on the rod slowly and letting it fall back down to the bottom again until you feel the “THUMP”. Using this technique, we caught Sea Bass, Trigger Fish, Sharks, Grunts, Lizard Fish, and Red Snapper. One Cobia was caught using a live Pogie on the bottom but the D.O.A.’s did catch more and bigger fish than using live or cut bait. We were fishing in bottom from 50-70feet so if you plan on using these baits in the deeper bottom spots, you might want to add extra weight with an egg sinker “knocker style” to get it down faster. Go ahead and give D.O.A. Lures a try out there, you may be surprised….I know I’ve made believers out of this crew on the boat today.

-Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com






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July Report

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

The month of July is a good month for nearshore fishing. With calm mornings and flat seas you can expect to see lots of rolling Tarpon along the beaches along with schools of Big Jack Crevalle and sometimes the big schools of breeder redfish that show up this time of year. Cobia is also a good target in July, not as good as the Spring run but it is possible to catch your limit. This past Saturday I fished with my brother, Danny and Etienne. We tried for Tarpon for a quick minute, seeing them roll but non of them were interested in our baits. We then made a run to some Cobia spots catching 3, and we also ran upon a huge school of breeder Redfish that all 4 of us instantly hooked up on. Bait of choice for the Redfish and Cobia was a D.O.A. Swimming Mullet in Pearl/Green Back.




Inshore Fishing has been great in the Mosquito Lagoon. The fish I’ve been on are really shallow and swimming around with their backs out of the water. The bigger fish have been schooled up on the edges of flats. The trout bite has been on fire in all 3 Lagoon systems, fishing around bait pods in deeper flats is the key. The Snook have been making a good comeback further South in the Indian River, both big and small Snook can be caught on certain flats, jetties and docks. D.O.A. Shad Tail CALS on a 1/4oz. Jighead or a D.O.A. Shrimp worked real slow should do the trick for all 3 species.


Kevin and Joe from Arkansas booked a Mosquito Lagoon trip with me on the 4th. They had lots of shots at big tailing Redfish but couldn’t get them to eat, they did stay busy on some trout and smaller redfish. They had a great time just seeing Redfish, native birds and Alligators up close, catching fish was a bonus.



-Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com

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Tarpon fishing with Blair Wiggins

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

This time of year my main focus is on the Tarpon that migrate up the beach of the Space Coast. Last week Blair Wiggins from the TV show Addictive Fishing and I decided to get out and jump a few for some photos. We found plenty of them out there busting on bait pods and rolling around the boat. We jumped about 7 Tarpon with one of them pushing 130-140lbs. A couple fish made it close to the boat but then breaking off so I was not able to get a “hero shot”. July and August are the prime months to target beach Tarpon in my area, conditions are more predictable with calm flat mornings which makes beach fishing more pleasant in a small skiff or bay boat. Next week we plan on hitting the Tarpon again and trying to get the “money shot”!

If you would like to tangle with big Tarpon, and other fish that roam the beaches in the Summer time, give me a call and we will make it happen!

-Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com







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50/50 goes Mahi fishing

Posted on May 29, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

You don’t see many bay boats trolling for Mahi here out of Port Canaveral because of the long run that has to be made to reach the depths where Mahi are, this day the 50/50 did. The 50/50 is a 22′ Pathfinder “Tournament Edition”, when the conditions are flat and the Mahi are running, we will make that run to go and get some. First we tried to troll about 25 miles out and got 2 knock downs landing one and losing the other, after hours of trolling with not alot of action, we headed to a bottom spot where we would drop jigs for grouper. Drifting along the structure we come across 2 Dolphin, a Bull and a Cow. Scrambling for baits to throw at them, I got the cow to eat a D.O.A TerrorEyz but after shortly coming unbuttoned we hook up again with a live threadfin that we sabiki’d earlier that morning. We kept the Cow in the water to keep the Bull hanging around but he wouldn’t eat any of our offerings. I then decided to grab my lighter rod with a lighter leader and tied on a smaller hook then put a lively threadfin on it. Once that that bait hit the water, the Bull jumped on it and started giving us a show. I hand the rod to Danny and raced for my camera to take some shots of the action.





Here is the fish caught earlier in the day while trolling…

After the Mahi action we decided to go look for some Cobia. Cobia fishing has definitely slowed down a bit but we did manage to catch 3 fish about 30lbs each.





-Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com

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Hot Pink Cobia

Posted on May 26, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

Had the pleasure to fish with renowned guide Capt. Scott Lum and Jessica Stern aboard the “Outcast” this week. You may have seen Capt. Scott on a recent episode of Addictive Fishing with Blair Wiggins and a couple recent episodes of Average Angler Adventures with Glen Pla. Scott is known for doing some pretty funny stuff on camera so look those episodes up and see for yourself.

Anyways, the Cobia are slowly thinning out but fish are still around to be caught. Alot of patience and covering alot of ground paid off for us when we ran upon an area with a couple rays loaded with Cobia….we even saw a few on a Leather Back turtle. Cobia can be picky at times, usually they will jump on anything thrown in their face but this day was a little unusual. They were not wanting to eat live bait or the usual Cobia jig, they wanted the Hot Pink D.O.A. Swimming Mullet! Most of the fish chased down livies and jigs but didn’t commit, but once they saw the Swimming Mullet, they engulfed it right away. The next day could be the opposite so make sure you keep multiple rods rigged with different baits, colors and sizes. The set up that I use for Cobia is a 7’6 Heavy action rod by TFO(Temple Fork Outfitters), a Shimano Spheros 8000FB loaded with 30lb Power Pro. The longer rod matched with braided line helps me make super long casts at rays so we don’t have to get too close to it causing it to spook and head for the bottom. You can pick all these items up at Harry Goodes Outdoor Shop in Melbourne if you are in the East Central area of FL. Tell Rich I sent ya!

We also saw a Tripletail on the way out that Jessica put her time in to entice the fish to eat…..good job Jess!



-Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com

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Buff Water Gloves/Full Moon Goon

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

I had a chance to field test Buff’s new Water Gloves while flyfishing the Mosquito Lagoon with Eddie Oliveras. I have been using the Buff Fighting/Work gloves when poling the skiff around but using them for fishing can be tough because of the leather palms making it too thick and less sensitive. Buff now came out with a new thinner glove called the water glove…these gloves are extremely comfortable even when wet, when landing fish, it makes it easier because of the rubber palms making it “grippier” but yet soft so there is no harm done to the fish, the gloves are also UPF 50 so they keep your hands protected from ultraviolet rays. I have nothing but good things to say about Buff’s Water Gloves, I am very impressed with them and can’t wait to see what else they will come out with in the future for the fishing industry. Look out for these gloves to hit the store soon!



Most fisherman do not like to fish during full moon periods, I have heard that during a full moon, the fish feed all night and will be too full to eat the next day. Well, the last few full moons that Eddie and I have fished together have been unusually good including this past full moon that we had recently. Last time we fished a full moon it was the best Black Drum fishing that I have ever witnessed, this time it was the Redfish in Mosquito Lagoon. It could be that we have found a new unfished area. Due to higher water we were able to push the Maverick HPX-T over very shallow bars and into some really skinny creeks that are usually dry. These creeks led out to an open pond that was loaded with unspooky fish ready to eat anything in it’s path. This place I call “Escondido” (which means “hidden” or “secret” in spanish) is like a totally different world once you get out of the high mangrove lined creek into the open area on the otherside, everything looks so different compared to the rest of the lagoon system, the water was a different color, the land was different, and it was filled with life. We lost count of how many fish we caught that day on the flyrods but it was in the double digits for sure. At one point we got a little tired of catching them on fly and threw D.O.A Baitbusters at them just to watch the fish chase it down and devour it right before our eyes. The fishing kinda reminded me of how Louisiana Redfishing can be, you can pop the fish in the head with your fly without the fish spooking and he will chase it down and eat it! This day was by far the best day flyfishing that I had ever witnessed in the Mosquito Lagoon. Soon the water level will be too low to get back there so I will have to wait until we get long periods of rain to get to fish “Escondido” again.








-Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com

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May Fishing Report

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

The Cobia off of Cape Canaveral are still around in good numbers. The fish that I’ve been finding are mostly on Manta Rays. This past Saturday my brother, his dog Romeo, Danny Francis, and I(TEAM 50/50) fished the Central Florida Offshore Anglers/Blue Points Marina Tournament out of Port Canaveral. Our main target was the Cobia division, we caught about 10 Cobia that day with the biggest one weighing in at 32lbs taking 3rd place in the tournament caught by my brother. We saw about 5 rays and each one was holding at least 4-5 Cobia on them. Tarpon are also showing up in good numbers, soon they will be in full swing and ready to be targeted on the Flyrods!

Mosquito Lagoon has been very hot as well this month. We have been getting into tailing and “belly crawling” fish in super skinny water aggressively feeding on small baitfish. Here is Panos Galanapoulas from NYC displaying a healthy Mosquito Lagoon Redfish caught on a baitfish pattern yesterday.

-Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com

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Trout Bite remains hot

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

The Spotted Sea Trout bite remains hot in all 3 lagoon systems! D.O.A. Shadtail Cals and jerkbaits were the ticket for Richard Miller while Monique was using the Deadly Combo. Both landed a good number of Trout including several Gators up to 8-9lbs in the Banana River last week. We saw several Redfish but only 1 came to the boat that day. Most of the trout are being caught on the edges and drop offs of shallow flats around mullet pods.







Friday, Mike Edgerly hopped aboard to try his luck on some Mosquito Lagoon Redfish on fly. Mike is an avid fly fisherman from Minnesota and has never fished the Lagoon before. We were into some tailing Redfish in really skinny water that were actively feeding. The Maverick HPX-Tunnel really came in handy this day. Mike had lots of fish follow his fly and 3 actually ate but shortly came unbuttoned. No fish came to the boat but Mike had a great time in a new area and got to at least feel the power of an upper slot Redfish at the end of his line that day. We will get em’ next time Mike!

-Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com

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96 Rock Saltwater Classic Tournament Win!

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

I don’t usually enter too many big fishing tournaments, especially tournaments with thousands of other anglers chasing for that 1st place spot. My brother talked me into doing this one with him…and I’m kinda glad he did. I can sit here and write about it, but nothing can explain it better than this article in Florida Today by Matt Badolado: http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110508/SPORTS05/105080327/Team-Fifty-Fifty-doggone-lucky-96-Rock

Here are a few photos from the day:




photos courtesy of 96 Rock FM



For having the biggest fish overall, I had a chance to play a “Price is Right” type game of choosing envelopes with prizes written down in a card inside. I had a chance to win a choice of $50,000 or a Brand New Truck, $965, $10,000 or a rod and reel combo by filling up 5 empty slots in each category. It was a close race between the $50,000/truck and the rod and reel combo….of course I win the combo, but it was loads of fun and we walked away with some cash.

See more pics and more info on the tournament here: http://www.96rockorlando.com/gallery/events/2011-saltwater-classic-fishing-tournament/gCfq/#176651

Thanks to all the sponsors who were involved and 96ROCK FM for putting on a great tournament!

-Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com

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