January 29, 2006 Monday I invited Capt. Tom Van Horn to go scouting in the Mosquito Lagoon. He came up with a better idea and suggested we go to the east side on the Banana River no motor zone in his canoe. Having never been to the east side, I jumped at the chance. The day started off slow and we only saw a few slot sized reds that would not eat. Eventually, we came upon a huge school of black drum along the edge of a flat. As luck would have it, as soon as we found them the wind kicked up and made conditions difficult. I hooked up first using an exude crab but the hook quickly pulled loose. An examination of the hook revealed a small piece of bone or cartilage jammed just below the hook point which obviously kept it from fully penetrating. Capt. Van Horn quickly hooked up on a huge black drum with a Gulp crab. After fighting it for about five minutes, a quick and powerful surge by the fish parted the leader. As the high winds blew us quickly along the flat, we saw many large reds but getting shots at them was tough. I finally managed to get the Exude crab in front of one and hooked up one which was over 30 lbs. Capt. Van Horn had to paddle alone against the wind and the large fish to get us back into water which was shallow enough to safely land this fish. Soon after catching this fish the water began to whitecap and made sight fishing impossible so we made our way back to shore. Both Capt. Van Horn (www.irl-fishing.com) and Capt. Bob Jaspers (www.flatstime.com) provide charters in the No Motor Zone. I have fished with both Wednesday, I checked out both the Indian River and the Mosquito Lagoon. I saw only a handful of reds and found the water to be very dirty. I got a call from Capt. Van Horn who said he was going to look for shad in the St. Johns River. I pulled out the boat and drove over there to meet him. Fishing south of the SR 46 bridge, we found some fish. Capt. Van Horn got about 7 shad along with a ton of small bass and some specs. I managed only 2 shad, 2 specs and a bunch of small bass. Most of my fish came on a silver tiny terroreyz. Shad are a saltwater fish that travel up the St. Johns each winter to spawn. A member of the herring family, they look and act similar to small tarpon providing jumps and a good fight on light tackle. Shad can be caught using small jigs in deeper areas of the river for the next couple months. Saturday, I took a trip to the Sebastian River. I had not been there since early November. We fished the North Fork first and found tons of bait but only a couple ladyfish were coaxed into biting. While searching the south fork, my fishing partner for the day, Joe Blasko, picked up a few bass before we came upon a bunch of small tarpon. Although the fish were there in good numbers, they were not feeding well. I landed two fish. We threw a variety of artificials but only managed strikes on a rootbeer terroreyz and a white shad tail. The Sebastian River holds tarpon year round. Fishing for them in the winter, however, can be slow and frustrating. Late March through October are the prime months providing we don’t have late season cold fronts or excessive rains during the summer.  This is a great place for someone who has never caught a tarpon to experience their first fight with the “Silver King”.  These tarpon normally range between 5 and 40 pounds but much large fish may be encountered. They will take a variety of lures, flies and live baits and provide great fun on light tackle.