Father-Son Fishing: Melbourne

Happy Monday Spacefish!

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and I hope you were able to stay high and dry. My personal fishing plans were totally washed out this weekend. Right now, I have trouble getting on the water. As I have mentioned before I am a highschool teacher, but I am also a football coach too. I am the offensive coordinator at Melbourne Central Catholic High School, which means for the last 7 weeks I’ve been working 6 and a half days a week, and my time to try and fish this weekend was literally washed out! I am sure many of you reading this can probably relate after what we all experienced this weekend. But hey, that’s life…it just be that way sometimes! In happier news, our team won 49-0 Friday vs Father Lopez in Daytona, we are 4-2 and have made huge leaps and strides this year, we have won more games in the first 6 weeks than MCC won in the past 2 years (Shout out to Coach Hooks!), and our points per game have increased from 4.7 per game to 31.7 in our new staff’s first year (maybe they will hire me back next year) so there is a lot of buzz and excitement, so I am happy that if it eats into my fishing, at least we’re winning and scoring a few points along the way!

That being said, no fishing for me this weekend, but I was able to actually get out with my kids recently and wanted to talk about that. Back in the early spring I wrote a report about taking kids fishing, so I feel like we’re due another one of those! So with no further ado, let’s talk inshore fishing with a 2-3 year old!

Where We Fished

So we have found us a great spot for inshore fishing from land, Kiwanis Park at Geiger Point located at the base of the Melbourne Causeway (192) right there in downtown Melbourne. This is a good spot for several reasons. Number 1, it’s pretty fishy, the way this point juts out into the Indian River Lagoon, it is a great spot to catch a wind blown current from somewhere, and it’s also within walking distance of the causeway bridge. One thing I have always liked about causeways and bridges is that they bottleneck moving water, but with the big causeway there is usually some depth change within casting distance of the shore due to how they dug these areas out to build the causeways.

Well my friends, if you find depth contours, structure, and moving water…You probably already know, there will be fish in the area. The other nice thing about this spot is there is some walk around space so even though you’re confined to the shore, you can still stick and move a bit. We found us a good spot on the northeast corner of the “point” and were able to hunker down and hook a few in the mouth to get our fill so once we started getting some action we caught as many as we could for about an hour then packed up and walked around trying to find dolphins before it was time to head home.

Where We Got Our Supplies

So another nice thing about this spot is it is less than a mile from Rigg’s Outpost in downtown Melbourne. My boys think going into any fishing store or bait shop is like the coolest thing ever, but they love being able to go in with a bait bucket and get bait, get snacks and see all the cool stuff in the shop. Dad likes it because I get to talk to other adults that are eaten up with fishing too! I can’t recommend going into Rigg’s or ANY of our local bait & tackle stores along the Space Coast enough! Look, I get it, we live in an area where you can get cheap fishing gear on Amazon or on these various online subscription services, but there is nothing like going into a local, small business. A brick and mortar SHOP and talking to locals that know what is biting, where they are biting, and can talk to the customers about it. At the very least, it’s places like these that represent what fishing means to so many of us. The friendships, and the fellowship, the support, help, and intel that we are able to provide one another.

How They Stayed Engaged

So since I last wrote about our family fishing times, I have to say, we are getting better. I mean, we’re borderline “dialed in”. Ok, maybe that’s a stretch, but like anything with children, the more you do it, and the more fun you can make it for them, the more they want to do it, and the better they will be at it. My 3 year old, Seven has become pretty good at casting and retrieving a hollow body frog on his Spiderman rod, and my 2 year old can whip a styrofoam bobber like he’s aiming to be the next Brian Latimer. They can do this for quite sometime, as long as Dad packs snacks and drinks our fishing time can push upwards of 45 minutes to an hour now. Also, they love the bait bucket. Maybe a little too much, they have killed their fair share of live shrimp and croakers over the last few weeks and months, but it’s hard for them not to want to stick their hands in their and play with the bait. It is what it is, and if it keeps them “into it” that’s just something we will have to keep working on! Luckily we have been able more often than not to roll up on a good spot at good times with live shrimp and catch our share of Trout and Mangrove Snappers (and of course, Catfish – always too many Catfish).

How It Went

We had a good time at Geiger Point, we caught a few nice Trout that had schooled up, and we were able to catch a few small Mangrove Snappers right off the rocks. I think the key to quick success with kids is to come out the gate hot with a rod or two baited with live bait and keep those presentations in the water early and often. Having the kids throwing around kiddie rods keep them engaged and enables me to keep bait in the water and the lines get tight enough, often enough to where they are thrilled.

I have been fortunate enough on most of our outings this year, whether it is inshore or freshwater ponds to catch enough that I can have them run over and help me reel in, and land fish, so it results in lots of smiles! But even on trips where it doesn’t work out that way, the kids are just happy to be outside and with Dad, Dad is happy to be able to spend meaningful time with sons, and mom is happy all 3 boys she has to look after can get out of the house and give her some much deserved time for rest and relaxation.

I wrote a report a few weeks ago about live shrimp fishing as a great beginner tactic, so I don’t want totally rehash it, but outside of the two aforementioned kiddie rods, I bring a rod or two of mine with 10 pound braid with a 30 pound flurocarbon leader tied on with either an FG knot or attached to a Cajun Thunder popping cork. For live shrimp, I like a size 1, maybe a 1/0 circle hook, If I want to try bigger bait like a live baitfish I am going up to a 3/0 or 4/0 hook.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this, and found it helpful. Chances are many of us have children, or grandchildren that we want to be able to take out and have meaningful experiences with, and as many of us know – sometimes it can be a challenge (fun challenge), but that doesn’t mean it is not worth doing, or we shouldn’t stick with it, even if they aren’t as into it as we would like at first. That all being said, let’s pray for better weather in the coming week, I will be absolutely fiending to be back in my kayak fishing somewhere, anywhere next weekend! If you are reading this, I hope your week ahead is happy, I hope you’re healthy and may your lines be wet, and your rods be bent…until next time!