Not really NY, but looking for FL info ...

So my dad moved to FL last fall and wants to do some fishing down there. He is a long time fisherman, knows the gear and all that stuff but i was always a fresh water NY guy. I want to try and help him out some with finding productive water.
 
He wants to target some Redfish, Snook, Snapper ... staying in the inlets/inland, not the ocean. He is located just north of Orlando.
 
He is more interested in eating size fish not trophy hunting.
Don't need honey holes or anything.
 
Any help or suggestions would be great ?
 
 
Thanks guy !
Brian
 

I knew Jimmy would jump on this one  ... he is in Lake Mary.
 
And YES , I do need to get down there for the bass !!!
 
From what i have been reading you use a lot of similar spinning tackle and artificial baits you would use for bass. Sound right to you ?
 
 
 
 

Lake Mary is cool...  My parents house is about an hour or less east of there on the coast.  If he wants saltwater fish he is going to be right in their backyard.  Quite literally if he fishes the inland Intercoastal and the backwaters of Canaveral National Seashore...  It is SWEET there if he has a little boat.

If he wants food for the table and he is living there he's going to be all over Spotted Sea Trout.  18-22" and guys like to eatfish love them.  Fight good enough, but nothing crazy- but the old men in FL dig 'em because unlike several other fish down there, the Trout won't rip their arms out of their sockets.

Here's an eater sized trout my buddy Justin got on my last trip to the Everglades in February:



Redfish are also badass there, and the monster reds are sighfished in Mosquito Lagoon down by Titusville, which is probably due east of your Dad.  Less than an hour, I bet?  They are too big to keep in summer (slot is like 18-27in) but in winter the smaller ones are in. 
 
I have never caught a HUGE redfish, but I've never been rocking Florida in the summer.  They are good eats though.  Grilled, blackened, whatevah'!

I've caught them up to about 10lbs though, including many on the fly, and they are brutes.  Your Dad will catch a lot of Jacks too (Jack Crevalles) which are tough as nails to fight, totally hadcrorem, but no good to eat. 
 
Here's one from last month too:



I don't think I ever showed you guys some of these photos from that short little weekend trip I took down there.  They weren't on my Photobucket page, so why not rock 'em on the rare Florida thread. 

Maybe one of these days you guys will want go get down there.  I spent seven winters rocking the backcountry pretty hard.  First in my canoe for a few years.  Then bought the boat.  Then later bought the houseboat and basically moved into the backcountry for the long term while 'communting' to the Ranger Station for work.  It was sweet.  I still get back several time each winter.  Its cheap from Albany to Fort Myers and you guys would love it.  Plenty of free couches and floors to sleep on still in Everglades City and all the boat use I could hope for.

Here are some other cool shots from the "Booze Cruise" I gave my buddy Justin.  He now owns and guides ecotours with his wife in a company they started two years ago.  I was showing HIM these spots for his clients:



We also partied like the old days when I was a young Park Ranger and he was a boat hand in a little fishing village on the Southwest Coast of Florida.  Neither of us have grown up, but now we have business cards:



For the record:  I always mean business when that "Vote For Pedro" shirt makes an appearance.  Don't be surprised to see it unveiled once again in late August somewhere in the hills of Rensellaer County.

As for freshwater in Lake Mary, I think he will get mostly LMBs and Crappie ("Specks" down there).  The St. Johns, as Backin said, is good too.  In fact, they have Stripers!  As do some of the inland lakes around Lake Mary.

Some Hybrids, some sea run.  But no one seems to mess with them, from what I understand.  We never caught them at all on the SW coast of Fl in the Gulf.  Spanish Mackerel and some bluefish...  But no Stripers.

Anyway.  You should go there.  That is all. 

Jimmy, awesome pics! that is a whole lot of fun in the sun kayaking gator water! lol  Hey that sit on top looks almost like my ocean kayak drifter! Man, i'm hoping to drift mine for some brooktrout soon by my campsite. Hey Brian, I was down there in my early 20s lol , jimmy is right about the crappie too I remember they can be hitting bigtime during prespawn. We were down there for the women but reserved a fishing day, I brought the bassrods and we just used lures but I remember the  trphy hunters liked using the biggest shiners i ever seen, those bait were rigged with huge floats on bass rods resembling more like jetty sticks with 20-30lb test and huge spinreels to match.Certainly the gear has come a long way since then, I remember asking why so big the gear and these regulars said it was needed to pull these lmb out of the thick sticky cover in the back channels where they said the big trophies were. We went out in the lake and basically toured a few hrs. I bet you have a blast no matter where you fish in florida. cheers!