This isn’t the first time We’ve gone out with Cap. Brian and it certainly won’t be our last. My friends and I have gone fishing with Capt. Brian, the previous December, targeting Peacock bass and Lagremouth since it was the middle of winter. We were hoping for a Clown Knife to bite this time, but no luck. That’s fishing for you, as it’s never fully predictable. On this most recent trip, I just went with one friend of mine, so the boat was a bit less crowded. We started by targeting and catching many hybrid White Bass right off the main ramp, not 100 feet from shore. It was a species I’d never caught before, and while it may have annoyed my friend a bit, as he has these around his part of the US, I had never caught one before. Once that bite slowed, we began going for Peacocks in the residential canals of the Ida system. The fishing wasn’t nearly as hot as I had hoped, but a cold front had pushed through the day before, so it shut fishing down a decent bit. Captain Brian could still put us on some good fish and in good spots for my friend to use the fly rod he brought and sight fish for Peacocks in shallow water. He didn’t end up catching any, but he did catch a Gar on a fly meant for a Peacock. The fish that did bite were aggressive and more than hungry enough even to eat artificial, which doesn’t tend to work well in Ida due to the prevalence and use of shiners as bait. All this was done while the captain had an injured finger due to an unfortunate infection caused by an otherwise harmless prick in the finger. Captain Brian soldiered on and was still baiting our hooks and chatting like always. As I stated in my last review, if you’re serious about fishing, the 6 hour trip is WELL WORTH IT!

As I’m sure, many of you looking at the trips available are reading the reviews and wondering if all the reviews are accurate. I’m here to say that all of them are truthful. I booked the 4-hour trip for a birthday gift for a close friend and another friend of ours, splitting the cost three ways. I was able to contact Capt. Brian before the trip and asked him what gear he uses and what techniques he uses to catch the excellent fish seen in the pictures. As of late 2022, Capt. Brian uses Penn Fierce 3 2500 reels and mostly custom-made rods spooled with 15lb. braid, fishing primarily with live threadfin and gizzard shad as that is the predominant baitfish in the Lake Ida region. I asked this as my friends and I are avid inshore anglers in Melbourne, Florida, and we wanted to bring our own gear to which Capt. Brian had no problems with it, just some concerns as the boat is an 18-foot Carolina Skiff, so he advised us not to bring that many rods since there were 3 of us.

On the day of the trip, it was a bit of a drive to the boat ramp from Melbourne, but it was worth it with how quickly we got into some good fish. We arrived at around 7:45 before the trip was supposed to start, and Capt. Brain was already on the beach with the boat’s live wells filled with shad. Once we boarded, it was a 15-minute drive before we made it to the first spot, which was a spillway lock. Right away, we could see signs of fish in the area and began throwing baits out. Within 5-8 minutes of being there, my friend was the one to catch the first peacock, and the action was pretty consistent. It eventually slowed down a bit, which is when we switched spots. Between the four spots we fished, we caught 30+ fish and missed plenty more.

If you’re serious about fishing, book the 6-hour trip, as peacock bass are some of the best fighting fish I’ve ever caught in Florida, and four hours go by fast when we were getting as much action as we did!

We not only caught a good number of butterfly peacock bass but largemouth bass, a Myan Cichlid, and an Atlantic Needlefish. When my friends and I get the time again, we’ll definitely book another trip with Capt. Brian!

We wanted to trying fishing in Florida and Brian did not disappoint. He was easy to connect with and was responsive during set up. He was prompt getting there and got us on the water and fishing quickly. He showed us the wildlife and made sure to find us an iguana (my son was dying to see one) and we caught some cool fish. It was a memorable experience and Brian made that happen. Next time we will go out even longer, we enjoyed being out there. Highly recommend. Thank you again Brian!

We fished with Brian on a windy day at Lake Ida and had a great time. While arriving after an unusually cold weather cycle which affected the fish bite we were still successful more so than others who fished on the same day. Brian is an awesome guide, knowledgeable, friendly, willing to offer tips and perspective if you wish to chat. He is polite, timely and it was a great experience. I would highly recommend him and hope if we return to the area he is available again.

We had a beautiful couple of hours on the boat.  Although the morning trip out was rainy, the skies cleared for our trip and we had great weather.  We met up with Brian near the boat dock, and cruised down the canal for about 15 minutes.  He got us set up with our poles and we fished.  We each caught a peacock bass, probably about 14 inches long and weighing about 4-5 pounds.  When the action slowed, he took us to a different area to try our luck there.

Brian was super accommodating, and did whatever he could to insure we had the best possible experience.  He even takes the best pictures of our catches and emailed them to us so we could share them with friends and family.

We would highly recommend this trip to all!