Indian River Lagoon & Banana River

Outstanding Catch Dept.- This week's outstanding catch was all mine, just a few hours ago. My charter was a no-show this morning so I went out alone. I found a big school of huge redfish in shallow water, put on my boots, and abandoned ship. One cast with a Royal Phoenician Clouser Minnow (purple and gold) netted a strike and long battle with a fish that turned out to be 44 inches long with a 27 inch girth. Jay Dee Osier came and took some pictures, but neither of us had a scale over 30 pounds. Using the length X girth squared divided by 800 formula this fish was a touch over 40 pounds, a new 16 pound tippet world record. Without the scale all we could do after a couple of photos was to watch her swim away. Upcoming Events: The Cypress Gardens Great Outdoors Adventure Show will be from March 17-19. I'll be speaking there. I'm also presenting a seminar at Wilderness Outfitters in Kissimmee on April 1st. Come on out and talk to me! On the flats there are still excellent conditions for sight fishing. There are still loads of slot sized reds around, still schooled up. I know the locations of five seperate schools of redfish in the Mosquito Lagoon. Dave Fawcett and his buddy Jeff got eight reds yesterday, along with two nice trout of about four and five pounds. Strictly sight fishing, too. Those big trout are still sunning themselves in shallow water. The fishing should remain good at least into next month.