The dreaded ‘D’ word

SovDog

SovDog

Steelhead
So the wife and I are starting to have The Talk, about taking the kids to disneyworld next spring. The oldest of our four kiddos will be 13 and the youngest will 6, so that is mostly our window for it still being age appropriate. I did a little research and found that there are some guides in the area, apparently you can fish for bass inside the resort, but I’d be looking to chase my first tropical saltwater species. A day on a skiff would also help sell this trip to our 13 yr old. Anyone fish the Cape Canaveral area, know of any guides that would pick us up, do a mixed gear/fly trip, etc? Is this even a realistic possibility? Thanks in advance. Cheers.
 
SovDog said:
So the wife and I are starting to have The Talk, about taking the kids to disneyworld next spring. The oldest of our four kiddos will be 13 and the youngest will 6, so that is mostly our window for it still being age appropriate. I did a little research and found that there are some guides in the area, apparently you can fish for bass inside the resort, but I’d be looking to chase my first tropical saltwater species. A day on a skiff would also help sell this trip to our 13 yr old. Anyone fish the Cape Canaveral area, know of any guides that would pick us up, do a mixed gear/fly trip, etc? Is this even a realistic possibility? Thanks in advance. Cheers.
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Cape Canaveral won't be as "tropical" as you're probably imagining. Maybe some opportunity for some redfish and maybe snook. I lived in Orlando for a few years when I was doing college and post-college life, and never really dialed it in there on my own, but I'm sure a guide can find stuff. Issue in Florida is that anything close to civilization gets absolutely hammered.
 
Evan B said:
Cape Canaveral won't be as "tropical" as you're probably imagining. Maybe some opportunity for some redfish and maybe snook. I lived in Orlando for a few years when I was doing college and post-college life, and never really dialed it in there on my own, but I'm sure a guide can find stuff. Issue in Florida is that anything close to civilization gets absolutely hammered.
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Haha, figures. I don’t have high expectations for tropical paradise but it would be cool to chase saltwater species. Maybe better to just keep expectations low and book something affiliated with the resort package even if its freshwater and get back in time for the dinner buffet.
 
If you go in the other direction you are about 90 minutes from the Homosassa/Crystal River area. Flats fishing for redfish, snook and speckled trout is the name of the game there. Spring and early summer used to offer world class tarpon fishing when I guided there but that fishery for a number of reasons, primarily environmental, has collapsed to a mere shadow of its former self. The redfish and snook fishing is shallow water sight fishing if that is what you are looking for and can be quite productive.
 
albula said:
If you go in the other direction you are about 90 minutes from the Homosassa/Crystal River area. Flats fishing for redfish, snook and speckled trout is the name of the game there. Spring and early summer used to offer world class tarpon fishing when I guided there but that fishery for a number of reasons, primarily environmental, has collapsed to a mere shadow of its former self. The redfish and snook fishing is shallow water sight fishing if that is what you are looking for and can be quite productive.
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That would absolutely be the better direction to go. It's just about double the driving than Cape Canaveral. Probably longer than 90mins if memory serves, especially if there's traffic (there will be traffic).
 
albula said:
If you go in the other direction you are about 90 minutes from the Homosassa/Crystal River area. Flats fishing for redfish, snook and speckled trout is the name of the game there. Spring and early summer used to offer world class tarpon fishing when I guided there but that fishery for a number of reasons, primarily environmental, has collapsed to a mere shadow of its former self. The redfish and snook fishing is shallow water sight fishing if that is what you are looking for and can be quite productive.
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Now we’re talking. I did read Lords of the Fly so have some understanding of what you’re referencing. Any of those species would make 3-4 days in the park worth it. Thanks.
 
Can't help you with a guide, but God Bless you on the D word...
:)
 
I know of someone who guides out of Ft. Pierce. That might be a way down south of Cape Canaveral. His website is www. FloridaFishing.net..
 
JudyM said:
I know of someone who guides out of Ft. Pierce. That might be a way down south of Cape Canaveral. His website is www. FloridaFishing.net..
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Doesn't look like he does fly trips though, which is likely what he's after.
 
What month will you be in the Orlando area? In March the cobia are running up the Atlantic coast and you can catch them with flies (boat required). Jupiter to the south has some good snook fishing.
 
I'm into sneaking fishing into family trips too, but I'm going to suggest that you just lean into the completeness of the family trip. It doesn't sound like the opportunities are worth missing time with your family in THPOE(tm).
 
Last June we stayed at Cocoa Beach and I fished the causeways over the Indian Lagoon waterways. Easy access and plenty of water to fish. I fished 4 of the days during our 8 day stay. I fished usually from 530am up to 11am. Gets to damn hot and I get all sweaty and sticky.

Variety of fish. I missed out on a
couple of Snook opportunities because I didn’t follow the local advice of stalking/hunting properly. When opportunity presented itself I was not prepared.

Some Causeway access spots I tried.

IMG_5490.jpegIMG_5491.jpegIMG_5476.jpeg

Flies and the night before beverage
IMG_5479.jpegIMG_5481.jpeg

Visitors and caught a bunch of these guys 12-20”. Speckled sea troutIMG_5523.jpegIMG_5498.jpeg

Gorgeous beaches but almost every day around 4pm you start to hear the thunder and in came some dark ass clouds. Followed by bucket size down pours. IMG_5526.jpegIMG_5512.jpegIMG_5511.jpeg

Sun protection and bug deterrent a must!!!

IMG_5502.jpeg
 
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PhilR said:
I'm into sneaking fishing into family trips too, but I'm going to suggest that you just lean into the completeness of the family trip. It doesn't sound like the opportunities are worth missing time with your family in THPOE(tm).
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That’s pretty good advice but it sure would be nice to have some grip and grins to look at while paying this trip off 3 months after the fact. Just sayin..
 
Porter2 said:
Last June we stayed at Cocoa Beach and I fished the causeways over the Indian Lagoon waterways. Easy access and plenty of water to fish. I fished 4 of the days during our 8 day stay. I fished usually from 530am up to 11am. Gets to damn hot and I get all sweaty and sticky.

Variety of fish. I missed out on a
couple of Snook opportunities because I didn’t follow the local advice of stalking/hunting properly. When opportunity presented itself I was not prepared.

Some Causeway access spots I tried.
Click to expand...
Those are some great pictures, maybe the time commitment away from the rest of the fam isn’t too bad if you start early and quit early anyway.
 
Evan B said:
Cape Canaveral won't be as "tropical" as you're probably imagining. Maybe some opportunity for some redfish and maybe snook. I lived in Orlando for a few years when I was doing college and post-college life, and never really dialed it in there on my own, but I'm sure a guide can find stuff. Issue in Florida is that anything close to civilization gets absolutely hammered.
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Orlando...........went to Fred's Steak House and had fresh grouper, one of the best fish meals ever. You been there?
 
I misread your post. Cocoa beach is in the Port Canaveral area and I thought that was what you were asking (targeting) . Now I realize you’re looking for a variety of options from Orlando. We stayed in Orlando 6 days for my daughter’s VolleyBall tournament but I had no time to go fish. We piggybacked on her tournament and rented a home at cocoa beach. Orlando has a lot of water near by and I read about the big bass in Lake Apopko (sp?). Good luck.
 
I really hope you have a good family experience. I spent about 4 years living in central Florida and had many visitors and relatives come to see us when we lived there. The ones who were most disappointed by their visit were the ones who ignored our advice and visited Orlando, a cultural and intellectual cesspool of Florida, a state that specializes in that kind of place. See Mar-a-Lago for a reminder.
 
Hope your family does not have a problem with palmetto bugs. First, I hate bugs with a passion. Palmettos are the B52's of the cockroach family.
 
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