02-13-2002, 08:12 PM
Flats Report for the Banana River<br>2/12/2002 Flats fishing report for the Indian and Banana Rivers. By Capt Doug Blanton<br>Fishing has been great this past week on the Banana River. We have been fishing small schools of reds up to 30 inches and trout up to 27 inches. If history repeats itself, we should be starting to see the reds grouping up into schools up to 300+ and Gator Sea Trout ( trout over 30 inches ) moving on the flats within the next few weeks. The bad news is all of the trout and reds we have put in the boat over the past few weeks have not been on top water. I know that most of you just want to catch these fish and don’t care what you catch them on. I am just one of those die hard top-water lure fisherman that lives for that surface explosion. All of the reds we have caught this past week have been in 2 feet or less on the inside of the bait. They where all caught on Cotee Reel Magic rigged with a Daiichi Bleeding Copperhead Hook. The best news is we have been catching them all day. The hard part has been finding the schools of bait. All of the larger trout we have caught this past week have been in the same area as the reds. However, there have been schools of smaller trout starting to feed on the deeper edge of the flats. Most of these fish will be under the 15 inch minimum but if you continue to work these areas you should catch a nice keeper just under the 20 maximum about every 10th fish. Please crush your barbs on your hooks when you find these schools of smaller trout. Every little trout you let go now will be one more larger trout you will catch next year. <br> (tip) Most of the reds have been real spooky. When you find these fish fining, work up on them being as quietly as possible. Keep all movement to a minimum. As soon as the reds stop fining, STOP CASTING. Set and wait until the start fining again before you make another cast. The reds have found a good place to feed when they are fining and if you don’t pressure them too hard they will come back to the same place you first spotted them.<br>This week all of our fish we caught where on: <br>Cotee Reel Magic - chartreuse (63)<br><br><br>See you on the water<br>Capt. Doug Blanton<br>Indian River Adventures<br>321-432-9470