Shooting Spanish Fly TV show on the Banana River

I wasn’t going to make a post about this because the credit belongs to Jose Wejebe, Derek Redwine, and his son Alden. BUT, it was such an awesome experience that I have to share it with you. Last year, I was invited to run the camera boat for the filming of an episode of “Spanish Fly” that was to be filmed right here on the waters of the Banana River where I guide and fish for fun regularly. What an experience this was! I never knew just what it took to put together a 30 minute TV show. Trust me when I tell you that Mother Nature DOES NOT cooperate when there is a camera on the boat. We could not even get out of the residential canals for the first 2 days because of the wind. Also, Jose, who is a little bit more in shape than I am, poles a flats skiff like its an Olympic event. So for me to keep up with him was quite a chore in itself. To make a long story short, we pulled it off. Many different species of fish were caught, and with the help from Merritt Island native Antanas, we wrapped up the show with a nice over-slot redfish. I had a great time, would do it again in a heartbeat, but I don’t want my own TV show. Too much like work.

Break for lunch.

Relaxing after catching nice redfish!

Hanging out with Jose Wejebe.

Quick picture with SF camera crew.

Redfishing with friends

My old roommate had never fished inshore before, but after watching so many episodes of (insert fishing show name here) he wanted to go catch a redfish. So with that being the goal, we set set off to mark a species off his list. We didn’t have to search too long before we saw reds blasting bait on a sandbar. These fish weren’t just eating, they were in a full blown frenzy! All you could see were bronze colored backs, 4 inches out of the water, and small mullet running for their lives. One properly placed Berkley Gulp Shrimp on a jig sealed the deal. Luckily I had another friend on the boat who was equally interested in our goal, and allowed me to get hooked up as well.

Pair of hungry redfish

Space Coast redfish

I love to sight fish for redfish on the Banana River. Here’s a picture of my clients from Alabama with a pair of decent red drum. As the weather cools off here in central Florida the redfishing should continue to heat up.

Clients with a pair of redfish.

Banana River Redfish

Here’s one of my charters Tony with a nice Banana River redfish he had to muscle out of the mangroves.

Tony with a nice redfish!

Redfishing charter with kids

Pair of Red Drum for the boys

Some days everything just works out on the Banana River. Slick calm conditions, great anglers and chewing fish. We found a nice school of redfish and Henry and John took full advantage of the good fishing. Between the two of them they caught 9 redfish in an hour. I consider that good fishing and it’s always rewarding to get some great kids and their grandfather out on the water. MAKING MEMORIES.

Here’s a series of pictures from their charter.