By Connor Byrne
The end of the Fall 2016 semester was a busy time for us UCF students and Reel Knights members alike, spending most of our time hitting the books and trips to the library and less time out on the water. However, members that were able to sneak in a little fishing time found the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River to be very productive. One member in particular, Mandy Tuckus, a lady angler and member of the fishing club for multiple years was able to pull in a 43 inch redfish along with a couple 20 inch trout all on artificial baits while spending the day in the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon. Not only is a redfish this size on artificial a trophy on its own, Mandy caught this fish while using the club L2Fish Paddle Board provided by one of our generous sponsors, Live Watersports. Club President Charles Hertel was also able to put a few friends on multiple 40+ inch redfish using artificial lures while fishing the same area. Member Bobby Buzaki has had luck as well fishing the north end of the Indian River on one of the club’s kayaks. He has been finding most of his reds in skinny water, looking for the telltale signs of tailing fins and backs sticking out of the water.
At the end of the fall semester we were fortunate enough to have Captain C.A. Richardson come and speak with us at our monthly meeting. C.A. is a full time guide and television host for Flats Class TV. He was kind enough to spend time sharing his knowl- edge and telling us about his experience as a guide, giving us tips and tricks he has learned throughout his fishing career as well as answering questions any of the members had. All mem- bers were grateful for this awesome experience.
We are looking forward to this spring semester with events like club tailgates for baseball games and bowling night as well as both the spring bank hopper bass tournament and spring inshore tournament. Be sure to check us out at ucffishingclub.weebly. com and on Facebook at “Reel Knights at UCF”, and as always special thanks go out to Hell’s Bay Boatworks for giving us the opportunity to have a Reel Knights column and thank you to Orlando Coastal Angler Magazine for their continuous support. January marks a new beginning for semester 2 – tight lines ev- eryone!
