Quick Fishing Trip to Vero Beach

Dec 17th Shu and I took a quick trip to Florida to see Rob Walsh and his awesome family.  The first night there we went out to the surf where Danny was catching pompano like crazy.  He would use a flea rake to catch fleas for bait.  It was a lot of fun to watch him catch over 20 pompano.

Rob, Chris & I-Old Friends

The next day we went out with a great guide service https://www.mattanzacharters.com/. Captain Mike and his crew were great.  We went out to the ocean from Stuart a few miles and fished some reefs.  The biggest problem was not catching fish, but getting the fish into the boat before the sharks got to them.  We caught a lot of red snappers, trigger fish and even a mackerel.  The half day was perfect and they even cleaned the fish.  That night we enjoyed steak and fresh fish with the Walsh's outside by their pool.  It was so nice to be in shorts in December.

The last day there had us renting a fishing pontoon boat.  I had been on a
"fishing" pontoon boat.  It was all tricked out with a live well, rod holders and fishing chairs in the back.  Leaving the marina we had to follow the channel way through the inter coastal.  A couple times we went into the shallows as Rob would catch mullet with his cast net.  We had to make an emergency stop at a tiny island marked by a wrecked yacht so Shu could answer nature's call in a timely fashion.  We set anchor up in the inlet and the tidal current was very strong.  The equipment we had was too heavy for the flounder we were trying to catch.  We caught a bunch of blue fish, while boats around us with smaller tackle were catching flounder.

A nice surprise on the trip was Shu and I spent the last night in a hotel that was actually located in the center of the Orlando airport which made it super easy to leave. 

Pic from my seat over Daytona Beach