The No Motor Zone is an area of the North Banana River where you are not allowed to run a motor of any kind. This place is as close as you can get to how fishing was back in the day. The seagrasses out there are amazing and the fishing is top notch. It was Saturday the 11th and a weak cold front was on the way. Corey caught nothing but I was lightin the Sea Trout up! The wind was blowing from the south which was perfect because it set me up for a perfect drift along the grassline. Monster trout were busting mullet all over and all it took was a cast in that general direction to hook up with lunker trout. The reds were all over in areas also but I couldnt get a hook into one. They were tailing in the deep grasses….had I had some hand picked shrimp, it would have been all over for them!!

The No Motor Zone rocks bawls and I highly suggest giving it a go if you have a canoe or kayak. Please try to avoid wading so as not to kill grasses. It takes years for them to recover. Take 528 to N Courtenay Blvd. Take a right on E Hall Rd and follow that all the way to the end. Take a left at the T intersection into Kars Park. Its Five dollars to hang out all day…there is also camping!! But I dont know if thats extra.

I love it when a nice fat rain cloud passes over just as I’m getting out of work because I know where I’m going. Snook usually do a lot of there hunting when the light is low so they can hide in the shadows while during the day they tend to be spooky, especially in the more clear shallower waters. But when it rains and the creek waters start to flow they will do there feeding at anytime…even at 4pm. They will hide behind things and wait for smaller fish or whatever to wash out from the feeder creeks. Also the waters are darker from the current and turbulent from the rains so they spook less. These two are definitely not lunker but what made it fun was leading them through the obstacle course of mangrove roots and bridge pilings. Plus I had no leader on for one of them. Even the small ones will bust 12 pound test.

Brian and I headed out fishing thinking man it is chilly out. We better wear long sleeves. The sun was already starting to head toward its evening resting point. We ended up hitting one of our local Palm Bay hot spots. Just as we expected the bass were hitting on impact of the lure hitting the water. Weather did not bring them down a bit! We ended up staying till it was hard for us to set hooks not being able to see our line anymore. As we left, we thought… “We will be back!”

The one time I did not make our normal Sunday fishing trip, Corey and Brian hammered it! They were pulling fish out of the water at the same moment. Bass were caught up to 5 pounds that day. I remember joking with my wife. I said, “I bet they come back with some crazy fishing stories!” well sure enough they did. They also provided photos to back up there stories. That’s how it works when you miss a planned fishing trip.

Thats right and when it does this usually means the wind is not to far behind. 2009 has so far been straight up ridiculous with all this wind! 20 mile an hour  for days and days and days. This is the time when we still get those cold fronts barreling down from the north and this is what gets the wind kicking.  So whats an angler to do? Dont even think about offshore and most of the lagoon looks like white water. Instead go find your creeks and rivers that feed the lagoon or stick to areas of high cover…canals of thousand islands for example. Turkey and Crane creeks have been great options for me since I do my fishing from a kayak. Go check out turkey creek just east of the US1 bridge for some snook action. Now is the time to do some hogleggin for tarpon in the turning basin area of turkey creek.

I decided to stop off at a local bait shop and get some handpicked shrimp and give turkey creek a go. Just as the sun set I picked up this 24 inch Black Drum and it was a great fight. The biggest you can keep is 24 inches and since it was right on the nose I decided to keep it. It was a great choice because she tasted sooooooo good :>

FYI..if you keep black drum….bleed em.

Took Jaz fishing in Palm Bay, Florida in Brevard County on a nice day. Clouds set low in the sky possible chance of rain. Humidity thick like butter in the air. Decided to use live worms and live minnows to assure a catch for Jaz. She was using minnows and picked up at least 5 alright size bass on her ultra-light open face.