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August 23rd, 2010 Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Reports
With one of the hottest summers on record here in Florida and water levels down a few weeks ago, now back on the rise, salinity levels returning to acceptable conditions, and last but not least, it is not cold out, the fishing here on the Mosquito Lagoon has been steady to great. The weather for sight fishing in Florida is by far perfect! Extremely hot days call for early starts to beat the heat along with getting into optimal position before the feeding frenzies begin. Water temperatures are getting into the 90's at times and the air temp is feeling like the 100's. However an early start does not mean that the fish are just biting in the morning. This is what it is all about. Saltwater fishing in Florida. There is nothing at all better on the planet.
As the morning sun rises feeding redfish can be seen and are being caught in very good numbers among the backcountry grass flats of the Mosquito Lagoon and in the Indian River from the New Smyrna Beach waters down through the MINWR flats. Redfish in the average size range of 5 to 12 pounds are the normal for tails among the pristine shallow waters with a fish here and there over 15 and even 20 pounds. The reds are moving into areas now that a few weeks ago were not accessible due to the lower water conditions we were experiencing here in east central Florida. Now that the water is rising this is opening up new feeding grounds for them and other predators including the nicer trout and black drum. Think of this as a pasture with your cattle in it. You have been keeping your herd in a 50 acre area and now you allow them into the rest of the property. They go crazy!
Big bull red drum are moving throughout the lagoon and are mostly active at day break and late afternoon towards dusk. They can be seen moving among deeper grass flats and along the bars and drop offs where baitfish are present and thick. Black drum have been present and mixed in as well as being found in separate schools in areas where the red fish are moving about as well and are feeding on crabs, clams and worms. Gator trout are scattered about the grass flats and are very elusive unless you are able to approach them with great stealth. Throwing a top water plug is always a great start to a Floridian summer on saltwater back country waters. The activity of bait fish crashing all around you calls for this. You can just feel it in your veins.
The best choices for baits for redfish recently have been D.O.A CALS in several colors and the D.O.A shallow running Bait Buster. Other great go to baits this time of year always include a well placed finger mullet or mud minnow. However if you are able to catch them yourself a nice live blue crab about the size of a silver dollar on a circle hook and then placed in front of a redfish or black drum with a perfect presentation will always work very well. With a live crab it always boils down to the soft presentation without scaring the fish off. They do tend to make some noise on splash down. However the fish just can not resist it. As always when fishing the flats use your push pole as much as you can, give your fellow anglers around you more than enough space and please do handle every fish with care for a perfect release and even better survival rate. Also take your time too! Do not rush yourself to get into position too fast. This is one of the biggest faults to over come when targeting fish that are feeding in very shallow water. The key is just not to rush it.
Captain Drew Cavanaugh
Florida Inshore Fishing Charters
Cell/352-223-7897
Light tackle fishing guide on the Mosquito Lagoon.
Specializing in fly fishing or spin fishing for redfish, trout, snook and tarpon.
Visit us at: http://www.floridainshorefishingcharters.com/
Fish the world famous Mosquito Lagoon. The redfish capital of the world!
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The summer fishing continues to be outstanding here in central Florida. Redfish have been providing the most consistent action with large schools being encountered on most days. These fish have been biting well and will chase down lures fished on the surface providing some explosive bites. There are a few tarpon around but they have yet to appear inshore in significant numbers.
During the first week of the month, I spent a couple days fishing with Capt. Blair Wiggins, host of the Addictive Fishing TV show. We spent the first day fishing without cameras and found some huge redfish willing to eat both Baitbusters and DOA shrimp. Nearly every spot we visited held hungry redfish. The next day the cameras arrived to film an episode of the show. Of course the giant reds were not in the mood to bite but we did find and catch plenty of other redfish. The episode should air in late September.
Sam and Wade had a good day redfishing in Mosquito Lagoon. The four inch Cal in silver mullet color accounted for multiple fish caught and released.
After dropping my clients off at the ramp, I went back out for an hour of fun fishing. Using the shallow running Baitbuster, I fooled four more redfish from 15-20 pounds.
Glen and his son Gabe had shots at hundreds of redfish throughout the day. We found fish in schools and small groups roaming the shallow flats. Gabe landed the largest fish of the day just before we headed in.
Rusty and John had a tough start to the day as many of the redfish that had been present the previous two days had spread out with the rising water levels. It took us a while to find them but we located some large schools of black drum and redfish. Rusty got a black drum around 15 pounds and John landed a similar sized redfish.
Sunday, I took a break from the flats fishing to fish along the beach with Capt. Ron Presley. We encountered tarpon and large jack crevalle along with schools of little tunny. I had one bite from a large tarpon but missed the hookset. The tunnys and a barracuda gave us some great light tackle action on Baitbusters and the 5.5 inch BFL.
Yesterday, Dan and his father George had a great day on the Lagoon. The redfish were chasing down the Baitbuster all day long.
I look forward to continued topwater action for the next couple months. As the fall mullet run gets under way, the fish will get more and more aggressive as they fatten up for the winter. With lots of grass floating on the surface, treble hooked plugs can be difficult to use. The DOA Chughead rigged on a weedless jerkbait and the Baitbuster are effective despite the grass.
Capt. Chris Myers
Orlando Fishing Guide
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I have had a very busy summer of inshore saltwater fishing trips here on the Mosquito Lagoon flats and in the Backcountry at Edgewater and New Smyrna Beach, Florida. On the grass flats the Redfishing has been very steady with the summer pattern of fishing the mullet schools early and sight casting the sand holes later in the morning. Also some nice size Seatrout coming aboard. Backcountry trips have had steady action with some keeper Seatrout, Black Drum, and Mangrove Snapper. The Jack Crevalle and Ladyfish are always there to provide exciting strikes and fish fights from these fun catch and release game fish. We even had a few exciting moments from Tarpon strikes and jumps which were a little to much for our light Trout tackle to handle for long. Here are a couple of pictures from recent trips. My nephew Christopher Frost with his first ever Redfish and client Mike with a nice Black Drum caught on one of my Backcountry mixed bag trips.
Come fish with me on beautiful Mosquito Lagoon for flats fishing, we will target Redfish and Seatrout.This type of sight fishing can be challenging and very rewarding when you hook up with a drag pulling Redfish or Trout. Good for experienced anglers or the less experienced anglers looking for a new fishing challenge. Or you could try one of my Indian River Backcountry Fishing trips, that is mixed bag fishing for Seatrout, Redfish, Black Drum, Jack Crevalle, Ladyfish, Bluefish, Snapper, & many more saltwater fish. On the average Backcountry trip we catch between 10 and 15 (or more) different species of saltwater fish.You never know what will bite with this type of fishing, mainly drift fishing while free lining live shrimp on light tackle make for lots of rod bending and drag pulling. Fun for experienced anglers and an easy way for less experienced anglers to be successful at catching lots of fish.
MY BOAT COMFORTABLY ACCOMMODATES 1 TO 4 ANGLERS
Located close to DAYTONA BEACH, NEW SMYRNA BEACH and ORLANDO, FLORIDA. Feel free to contact me at any time with questions you may have about my fishing charters.
CHILDREN ALWAYS WELCOME – FAIR PRICES
Capt. Michael Savedow
Edgewater River Guide, Inc.
386-689-3781
email> EdgewaterRiverGuide@cfl.rr.com
website> http://www.EdgewaterRiverGuide.com
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Low water levels in the Mosquito Lagoon have concentrated the redfish. They can be found in schools, singles, and small groups throughout the day. The best baits have been those imitating mullet or small fish with the DOA Baitbuster and four inch CAL in the silver mullet color. The tarpon that were present last month have been few and far between. The ladyfish schools have thinned out as well but some large schools of jack crevalle can be found crashing schools of mullet.
The fishing was excellent this week. Each day clients had consistent shots at redfish throughout the day. As always, casting accuracy was the determining factor. Good casts usually resulted in a hookup. Jim and his son James had the best day landing over a dozen redfish and losing a few more.
For some great light tackle action, watch for mullet being crashed by schools of jacks along the outside edges of the sand bars during midday. They are usually being shadowed by diving pelicans and can be seen from a long distance. These schools move quickly but will strike anything that moves when it is cast into the feeding frenzy.
As mentioned above, the water levels are extremely low right now. We witnessed multiple boats run aground during the week. Navigate with care and always wear your kill switch.
Capt. Chris Myers
Daytona Beach Fishing Guide
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Well summer is most definitely here. Where was this 7 months ago. Right! This weather by far is much more acceptable than the cold snap here of 2010 that occurred. I welcome this weather year round. I am sure most of us would agree with this too. With that said the fishing the past several weeks has been outstanding. Epic days for sure. With the days being extremely hot out your best bet by far is to start early to beat the heat and finish before it is too hot out to enjoy the day. Start way before sunrise as the bite will drop off as mid day approaches and then will pick back up towards the end of day light hours.
Redfish have been the major staple of the Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River here near the New Smyrna Beach area to the Titusville flats. The redfish bite has been great at first light among the flats all throughout the backcountry waters in shallow waters with baitfish present. Clean water will help too. Sight fishing is at a premium for slot sized red fish and the bigger bull redfish. As always please just give your fellow anglers a very wide gap between you and them if you arrive to an area later than the boats already present. Good distance - 600 feet at least. It is just a common basic courtesy to apply any where you fish in the world. The early bird gets the worm. Many anglers work hard with stealth like tactics to get into position early to be in the right place at the right time.
Redfish are hitting a wide variety of bait but the go to bait this time of year is a live finger mullet, mud minnow and soft plastics. Placing a mullet or mud minnow on a 3/0 circle hook and then a targeted precise cast to taillers will work most of the time. Just do not land on the fish you are throwing to and get it in front of them as the tail does not eat. They will spook and they will ALL run. However I have been getting some of the bigger redfish on some hand picked small blue crabs put on a circle hook then with a well placed soft presentation will bring on major big action. DOA plastics with a small weight on them will also produce great action while sight fishing. Please as always with every fish you are handling and landing make the first priority their quick release for a higher survival rate.
Trout are being caught in good numbers while working the deeper ledges of the grass flats and the sand bars where mullet and bait fish are moving around. Stay in three to five feet of water. Pig fish will work but are hard to come by this year. As long as you can find clean waters top water baits will produce as well and always as well fly fishing is great on the lagoon. Moving throughout the lagoon and river look for bait pods being hammered by birds and most likely you will find jacks, ladyfish and blues mixed in.
Captain Drew Cavanaugh
Florida Inshore Fishing Charters
Cell/352-223-7897
Email us at: drcfishmaster@cfl.rr.com
Light tackle fishing guide on the Mosquito Lagoon.
Specializing in fly fishing or spin fishing for redfish, trout, snook and tarpon.
Fish the world famous Mosquito Lagoon. The redfish capital of the world!
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