World Record Trout: June 2016

Hi,

There are two IGFA record's for Spotted Sea Trout, one is weight and one is length. The "length" record is a new record which is intended to promote catch-and-release. The weight record is 17 7/16 pounds from Fort Pierce, Florida, in 1995 by Craig F. Carson.

                                             Luke Ledbetter with his record trout

The new length record is 34.25 inches by Luke Ledbetter of Alabama on a boat guided by Captain Peter Deeks of Merritt Island. It was caught in the Lagoon in the Melbourne area on live bait. Deeks estimated the weight to be over 14 lbs.

The question is: how many more big trout are swimming around from Fort Pierce to Melbourne. There have got to be a few.

This is a record that is within reach- whereas catching a 52 lb redfish in the lagoon is not practical. I can always dream. . .

Richie

Fishing Repot 7-20-16. Big Redfish- and the one that got away!

Hi,

I caught my biggest redfish yesterday - one inch and 2 lbs bigger than the one I caught at Walton wading a few months ago.

                                              My redfish over 12 lbs and over 31" (Click to enlarge)

It was big-- so big  its tail wouldn't quite fit in the picture :) Jim had a nice trout that was around 8 pounds- it wasn't long just stout:


       Jim's chunk of a trout

So here's the report of our day yesterday and the big one that got away!!!

Fishing Report 7-20-16 around 7:00 am wind east 10-14mph. Jim's boat fishing Lagoon in Vero area, high tide going out water temp mid-80, air temp about 92 when we left. I fished Skitterwalk on top and various plastics on jig. Jim fished a jig and red mirro-lure on top plus a popper.

We got on the water fairly early a little before 7 am to beat the heat. I was fishing top water and Jim was using a jig. We went out to our best trout spot and there were some fish there. I got three hits on top - all misses before Jim caught a nice trout on a jig. He caught another trout before I finally got one on my Skitterwalk. I got a great strike and then wham- nice fish on! My drag whirred and when I got it the boat it was a 4 lb bluefish. Jim helped get it unhooked and I was back working the Skitterwalk on top.

I caught two more trout then switched to a jig and caught a nice 18" fish that flipped off at the boat. I switched back to topwater and threw my lure 50 yards away twitch, twitch and wham!! Huge explosion - I set the hook-- but the line broke. My 8lb test must have been frayed or something cut the line.

Jim had caught 10 trout to my 4 when we moved to another spot further North. We drifted through once and Jim caught a nice snapper, then on the second drift he caught a two pound black grouper- too small to keep tho. 20 minutes later we couldn't find any trout so we tried the middle section of the lagoon near near a sandbar. It was less than 3 feet deep an clear. I made long casts with the topwater and finally caught a nice jack. We drifted through another area fishing jigs but no trout.

Jim went to the East shore and we drifted out over a big shallow flat with jacks busting bait in the area. The grass which died off last year was starting to grow back. Jim threw a Mirro-lure twitching it on top and I used my Skitterwalk. Jim got three hits, one trout knocked his lure in the air. He got 10 strikes with no fish. Finally I caught a trout near the boat. Then he caught one and I landed two more on top. He switched to a jig and caught two more. We went back to drift through again but ended up further north. I caught one more trout on top and he got a nice trout on a jig.

"This is a big trout spot," Jim said. "I bet we get a big trout here and a redfish. We used to catch redfish here all the time but that was 6 years ago!"
"We haven't caught a redfish in a while," I said. "It's been two months since I've caught one, at Walton when I was wading."

We went back and drifted through again. Right by the boat-- with just 10 feet of line out-- a monster trout slammed Jim's jig. It pulled drag several times and Jim was right - there's our big trout (see pic at top) he predicted. She weighted almost 8 lbs but she wasn't very long, probably 26, maybe 27 max- still a beautiful fish. Jim also caught a 4 lber and I had a nice 20" 3 lber on topwater. The fishing wasn't fast but there were fish in the grass and bait swimming through.

We went back and drifted through near where we got all the trout strikes. They weren't hitting like before. Half-way through the drift it happened. by it- I mean a giant redfish, bigger than any I'd seen and bigger than any Jim had seen in Florida came up and swiped at Jim's jig not more than 12 feet from the boat. The water was crystal clear so the got a look at that monster. This redfish was way over 3 feet long and must of weighed over 25 lbs. After she swiped at Jim's jig, she swished her tail and was gone. We were both in shock.

I stopped fishing topwater and threw my jig. Two minutes later, I saw a huge swirl behind my jig. I lifted the jig near the top and shook it. Wham!! A big redfish grabbed it only 15 feet from the boat, and like the monster redfish we both saw this one too.
"Redfish!!!" I yelled as the fish pulled drag, "it must be over 5 pounds!"
"Take you time," Jim cautioned, "Don't reel in when he's pulling line!"
That's about all the redfish did was pull drag! I was reeling down but I couldn't get him in. 10 minutes later I'd bring him in 20 feet and he'd pull drag 20 feet.  He just kept pulling drag. Jim pulled up the drift sock and told me to pull him around the boat. Several minutes later I finally pulled the tiring redfish to the boat.

"That's a big one," Jim said, "way more than 5 pounds." He lipped him with his scale and handed him to me. "Grab him under his gills and we'll take a picture." We took a couple pictures (see one above) and set it free.

It was hot and we headed back to out honey hole to catch a few more trout before we went in. Jim caught three more trout and I caught one on a jig. We got off the water after over 5 hot hours.

My totals: 1 big redfish, 1 jack, 12 trout, 1 bluefish
Jim's totals: 18 trout with one 8 lber, 1 snapper, 1 grouper

A great but hot day on the water.

The Trout that didn't get away! July Fishing reports

Hi,

My biggest trout ever, just shy of 30" and around 9 lbs:

                                             My Biggest Trout (click to enlarge)

This beauty was caught on 7-7-16 in the morning on on top water (Skitter-Walk) and measured around 30" and weight around 9 lbs --almost caught my ten pounder!!!

I'll give a couple fishing reports. As you may know the South Indian River Lagoon near Stuart had some toxic algae and I'm not wading in that area- which includes Walton Rd. Even though it's not as bad that far north. The St. Lucie River and all the way to the inlet has been green- green algae in the water, so until it cools down it's best to stay out of the water. Most of the problem is the dumping of toxic water from Lake Okeechobee by the Army Corp of Engineers (more on that later).

The beach has been good for snook, ladyfish and jack in the early mornings and evenings (6:30-8:00) and I've caught good number and one over slot snook (around 33") but, in general, the large females have not shown up yet.

Jim Bohrer has taken me out fishing about once a week and we've done well, we caught 88 trout one morning in June (I caught 47 that day) and 45 the last week in June but not many good sized fish. That changed yesterday when I caught six trout 23" or longer.

Fishing Report 7-7-17 Vero Beach Lagoon, north of 2nd Ft. Pierce bridge, Jim's boat. It very hot 81 in the morning and around 91 when we got off the water at 11:15 AM. Water temp around 84 with a breeze fro the southwest about 5-12 mph. overcast but mostly sunny. Low tide and outgoing to dead low. I fished skitter-walk (topwater) and a 1/8 oz Cal jig with sparkle 4" shad-tail plastic. Jim fished poppers and mirror-lure on top and 1/16 oz jig with a white plastic Berkley shrimp.

We went out from the launch and there was a boat near out spot, so we went around him and fished North. We were still in out best spot this summer. I threw my Skitterwalk out and the second cast the water erupted-- fish on, this was good fish. When I brought him across the weeds I yelled out, "Bluefish!" I wheeled him down to Jim unhooked him.

Jim was fishing a jig and I cast the skitterwalk as far as I could- one twitch, wham! the water sprayed in the air as a big trout missed my lure. Two twitches later- wham - fish on! This was a nice trout around 24" much bigger than the ones we caught the week before.

                                                          My First Trout of the Day

I hooked and released a slot trout two casts later when Jim finally had a hit. "Big one !!!" he yelled. His drag whirred. The fish swam at the boat then took off into open water. Jim had 100 yards of line pulled out and he yelled, "We're going to go after this one!" He automatically pulled up trolling motor and cranked the engine. "Must be a shark," he said as we followed it for 1/2 mile as it headed North towards the bridge. The fish slowed and Jim gained about 10 yards before it took off again. He cranked the engine and we went across toward an island. "that's twenty-six minutes already" Jim said. The fish wasn't even tired and Jim knew it. 'I'm going to put some pressure on it" he yelled and cut off the engine. He pulled the propeller up out of the water. "It'll pull the boat around," he explained. The fish pulled the boat about twenty feet before Jim's line went slack. He pulled the line in--the fish broke the hook!!!!

"At least my knots held," he said. I was glad we could finally get back to fishing for trout again. "That was a big fish," Jim said and speculated that it could have been a 30lb redfish. I guess we'll never know!

The guy that was fishing our spot had moved east and was a couple hundred yards away. I immediately got some awesome topwater strikes before landing a 19" trout. Then I cast shallow and had a big hit, water spraying everywhere- fish on! This fish was every bit as big as the 4-5pounder I landed earlier- I got it to the boat with Jim telling me to keep my rod tip down. He lipped the trout with his de-hooker and we took another picture of another big trout!!

While Jim was tying on a different topwater I hooked another big trout and it jumped completely out of the water twice before making its way to the boat. I pulled it around to Jim who didn't even look up, the 4 pound trout splashed against the boat and flipped off. On the next cast I caught and 18" trout and Jim helped me get the two treble hooks loose. Jim set the trolling motor heading North and I was casting in the shallower water. I got strike, then I left it sit, twitch and wham!!!

"Fish on!!" I yelled.
"Is it a big one?" Jim yelled back.
"Yes, bigger than the other ones!!!" I answered. I put my rod tip down to keep her from jumping.
"She's going under the boat" Jim yelled.
'Turn off the trolling motor" I yelled. I walked around the deck to the back of the boat. "This is monster!!" I yelled and then I pulled her up.
"Keep your rod tip in the water," he warned.
I kept her beside the boat for 10 seconds before Jim could lip her.
"Nice trout Buddy!" Jim said. He took several pictures and the fish was so long it barely fit in the picture. He measure her and she was over 29" and under 30. "Closer to 30" he said later. He weighed her and she was just under 9 pounds. What a fish!!!

Several minutes alter I landed another nice trout. We went by the our spot shallower and suddenly the water exploded around my Skitterwalk. Another huge trout grabbed by lured and with a tremendous splash of it's tail took off north. I set the hook and reared back- the fish pulled 10 yards of drag and just popped off. This was at lesat as big if nor bigger than the other one. I was shaking. I realized I put way too much pressure on that fish instead of letting it take line. I pulled back my Skitterwalk- the hook was bent, I lost a trophy trout.

We went to another spot but the trout weren't there I caught one small slot on a jig but that was it. We went North where Jim's friend had lost a big trout and fished the flat. Nothing. we caught a couple jack and made 5 passes with no trout. We hit another spot and nothing. Then I realized that Jim, the master, had not caught a trout. I'd only caught 11 but 5 of them were 23" or over so it by anyone's standards was a great day- especially with a 30" trout. We headed back to the honey-hole.

On my fist cast I got a vicious a strike on topwater and then near the boat a 19" trout slammed it and I got it over the boat side before it flipped off almost hitting the rail. Jim hooked a big fish on a popper but it was a 4 lb bluefish- he still didn't have a trout! I caught another 4-5 pound trout and we took another pic. I was hoping he'd catch a trout soon. Jim caught two more big bluefish. And I caught my last trout, nice slot, before Jim finally caught a slot-trout on his topwater.

It was getting hot and we made a pass in hte shallow water but I got just one strike before we headed in it was around 11:00 am. We'd fished about 4 hours.

My totals: 12 trout with 6 trout 23" or bigger and one almost 30"er (11 on topwater). I also caught 1 bluefish and 2 jack. A hot day on the water.
Jim's totals: 3 jack, 3 bluefish and 1 trout; most on topwater.