Just how good was the fishing in Brevard County back in the days when the Indian River Lagoon had a hard-sand bottom, lush sea grass beds and the water ran clear as gin
Also during those times in the 1960s and ’70s the St. Johns River flowed clean and clear as a haven for largemouth bass and panfish.
With bountiful catches a common practice, catch-and-release was seldom considered, and in most cases, there were no catch or size limits.
Unfortunately, no one envisioned the day when our beautiful waterways would be strapped with pollutants, widespread algae blooms and fish kills under exploding growth and development.
Yearly event: Sargent: Family-oriented Autumn Inshore Classic draws Indian River anglers
Contribution to science: Sargent: Killin’ Time II of Cudjoe Key hits 4,000 tagged dolphinfish for science
Secret revealed: Sargent: ‘Bird dog’ shrimp led angler Don Hunter to Honest John’s seatrout
In the late ’60s and ’70s when this paper was known as TODAY, I compiled a weekly Fish Camp Hotline column that consisted of fishing reports from area tackle shops, camps and clubs. Readers enjoyed seeing their names and catches in the paper.
Here is one of those columns from the summer of 1969 that I pulled from my archives and it is typical of the catches we enjoyed during those times. Unfortunately, along with the fishing some of the camps and shops are long gone.
The column is from one week of fishing:
Tingley’s Fish Camp, Merritt Island: Larry and Terry Sohm, Kansas City, Mo., 15 trout to 3 pounds. Craig Mauny and Whitey Holzlohner, Merritt Island, 21 trout plus a 5½-pound redfish. Clarence Spradling and Doc Holloway four trout to 5 pounds. John Braun, Macon, Ga., totaled 15 trout to 2 pounds. Miller Conner, Merritt Island, four trout to 3 pounds. Bill Link and sons from Carrolton, Ga, boated 30 trout to 3½ pounds on Jim Pfeffer plugs.
Sebastian Inlet: Jack Forte at the Crow’s Nest reports trout, snook and bluefish as best bets. Joe Propia, Wabasso, had trout and snook to 8 pounds. John Pruitt, Satellite Beach, landed two kingfish of 28 and 33 pounds from the north jetty. Bill Clark and Ed Wells of Eau Gallie took six reds to 17 pounds. Orlando’s Bud Day had two snook to 11 pounds and four flounder to 5 pounds.
Harry Goode’s Outdoor Shop, Melbourne: Two entries in Harry Goode’s Fishing Contest this week. Bill Clenney of Sebastian registered an 8-pound, 15-ounce sheepshead caught on a fly rod and it’s in second place. Gary Schroeder of Melbourne Beach landed a 9-pound, 5-ounce trout while wading south of Sebastian Inlet, but it didn’t place.
Fishing Corner, Melbourne: Melbourne causeway producing trout to 6 and 7 pounds. O.F. Harsh of Paris, Ohio took an 8-pound snook, five trout, a black drum and a sheepshead on the causeway. Don Porterfield had six trout near the same spot. Benny Jude caught 24 trout. Tubby Buffington, Melbourne, took Palmer Hughes and Al Booth of Radford, Va. and boated 53 bluefish at Sebastian Inlet.
Causeway Marine, Titusville: Big trout working on the flats. Eddie Ratliff took trout to 8 pounds. Jim Coyne and Bobby Clark totaled 20 largemouth bass 2 to 5 pounds, with black plastic worms on the Merritt Island Refuge.
Canaveral Seafoods, Port Canaveral: Harbor producing snook and trout. Lee Martines, Cape Canaveral, took an 11-pound, 15-ounce snook on live shrimp. Eddie Wroblinski, Cape Canaveral, had 18 pounds of trout, the largest 7 pounds.
Florida Sport Fishing Association, Cape Canaveral: Dolphin are good southeast of the port. Skip Mackey of Cocoa Beach took seven kingfish to 32 pounds. On another trip he landed an 8-pound, 10-ounce trout. John Yockel bottom fished for 12 snapper to 8 pounds and two amberjack, the largest 37 pounds. Don Seib and Bill Leffingwell took a mixed bag of cuda, dolphin and one sailfish. Ed Smith boated a 9½-pound bluefish inside Canaveral Harbor.
Satellite Bait and Tackle, Satellite Beach: Trout in the Banana River and canals. Bob Fisher took a 7¾-pounder. Nick Collier a 7-pounder. Carroll Counts had four trout 3 to 6 pounds. Richard Patton got a 20-pound redfish at Mather’s Bridge. Art Askey reports lots of whiting, sea bream, sheepshead and drum in the surf.
Camp Holly, U.S. 192: Bass to 5 pounds hitting everything and lots of bluegills and shellcrackers by fly fishermen, mostly from Lake Sawgrass to Lake Hell’n Blazes. Horace Towell and Eddie Ray, Gulfport, Miss., totaled 30 bass and 42 panfish in three days. Dave Mercer, Jacksonville, 10 bass and 45 panfish on flyrod. Ronnie Hillpot and party totaled 20 bass. Kenny Meehan took a limit of 10 bass. Marvin Tallent 42 bluegills. Jack Montrose and Dean Dunne got their limit of 20 bass. Ben Heilman and Bill Stewart boated 40 bass in two days. All from Melbourne area.
Lone Cabbage Fish Camp, SR 520: Good catches of bass, panfish, catfish, says owner Tom Finney. Lee Williams of Cocoa and Al Peeples of Bradenton totaled 12 bass to 3½ pounds on popping bugs. Charles McGregor of Patrick AFB used black plastic worms for six bass, largest 6½ pounds.
Those were the days!
Bill Sargent of Melbourne has been writing about sports and outdoor subjects for FLORIDA TODAY for over 50 years. His column now appears the last Sunday of the month. Contact Sargent at sargentwb@gmail.com.
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