12-15-2001, 07:54 PM
12/15/2001 Flats fishing report for the Indian and Banana Rivers. By Capt Doug Blanton<br>Fishing has been great these past few weeks. Bull reds are on the move in the north end of the Indian River and the thousand Island area of the Banana. Slot size reds are on the move everywhere. The good news is, they are hitting everything from DOAs to the Top Dog. It really did my heart good this week to see a red busting a mullet on the surface. As soon as I saw it tearing up a school of mullet I knew what my lure of choice was going to be. On my first cast, BAM, the water exploded. This happened 4 more times before he finally grabbed my lure and headed for deeper water. There is truly nothing better than catching reds on top water. Most of the reds I have found this week have been in 1 to 2 feet of water. They have been holding on both sides of schooling bait. Just look for bait that changes direction a lot as they move along a flat. I have also seen a lot of reds this week following stingrays around on the flats. A few times I have seen them laying next to the rays as they were feeding. I also saw a lot of reds sunning themselves in sandy holes in the grass. Something else to keep your eyes open for is large trout working the flats in the afternoon. In the early morning I have had some of my best trout catches in 4 to 8 feet of water. But as soon as the sun starts to move overhead, the trout have been sunning themselves in those same sandy holes. The water is very clear on the west side of the Indian River. If you want to try to sight fish a nice red you must, wear sky colored clothes, be very quiet, and keep jerky movements to a minimum. We were able to push up within 5 feet of many of the reds we caught this past week by following these rules of thumb. <br>This week most of the fish we caught where on:MirrOlure's Top Dog 94M21 rigged with a Daiichi Bleeding Hook<br>Near clear DOA shrimp with a fire tailGot-cha Saltwater Curltail Grubs or root-beer Trout Killers. <br>clear/silver flake Got-cha Saltwater Curltail Grubs<br>Cotee Reel Magic. <br>MirrOlure's 51MR-808 and the TT-28 and 21 rigged with a Daiichi Bleeding Hook on the front. <br><br><br>See you on the water<br>Capt. Doug Blanton<br>Indian River Adventures<br>321-432-9470