December...where did this calendar year go? I can't believe it's nearly 2010. We had so much fun this year on the coastal waters of Central Florida. To date I have put in over 240 days on the water, done over 150 charters, and we have caught hundreds upon hundreds of fish. With one month left to close out the year, the conditions are setting up to make a grand finale. Multiple cold fronts have moved through settling water temperatures firmly in the 50's and 60's. The fall bait migration is winding down and the fish are moving towards their overwintering areas. Water levels are still higher than normal for this time of year, but within a couple weeks they should begin to fall, condensing scattered fish into big schools. Crystal clear waters are taking hold everywhere and sight fishing conditions are rating a 8-9 on a 10 point scale. Redfish, giant speckled trout, and snook will dominate our action this month, with the occasional opportunity for some baby tarpon on warming trends between fronts. The beauty of fishing in Florida is there is never a slow time, we just adapt to the weather conditions, so take advantage of it and get out on the water now.
Redfish are a staple of winter fishing on the Space Coast. In the Mosquito Lagoon redfish are still somewhat scattered because of high water. Smaller schools of 20-50 fish have been found around cold snaps as they congregate near warmer mud flats. December is still highly transitional for redfish, each day can be different from the next (read my "Moving Targets" article in the October issue of Florida Sportsman for more details about this transition). On warming trends fish have been scattered on open grass chasing the remaining mullet and pinfish. On cooling trends redfish have been condensed near sand sloughs, potholes, sand swaths against shorelines chasing shrimp and fiddler crabs. The best chance for a giant redfish for the remainder of the year is in the ICW or at Ponce Inlet. Big redfish are at Ponce in moderate numbers at as they are winding down their fall spawn cycle. In the Ponce backwaters free-lined live finger mullet or a topwater plug score on good numbers on falling tides around the oyster bars and feeder creek mouths. Cleaner waters on the incoming tide allow for trolling down shorelines searching for cruising fish or sitting on oyster/shell points. Successful anglers will gauge weather conditions and baitfish presence and adapt lures and baits accordingly regardless of location. Power fish slow rolling a swimbaits or topwater plugs. Finesse and sight cast with soft plastic Strike King Zulu and Z Too soft plastics and DOA shrimp. Shrimp flies have been the number one producer for redfish, followed by a white or black clouser. Free lining live mullet among the bait pods will take both redfish and trout. Average redfish days lately have ranged from 5-15 fish.
Speckled Trout fishing is good and improving, especially for world class fish over 10lbs in Mosquito Lagoon. Fully realize that trout season is closed and fishing for them is strictly catch and release. Colder weather has these big fish on the move and into areas they are more easily visible. From now through the spring it's not uncommon to spot several trout each day over 10lbs, however they can be lethargic with the colder water temps.. There are two ways to score on a big trout in the winter. Take you chances sight casting to these trophy fish or wait them out with a live mullet. If you want to take you chances sight casting, a swimbait, soft plastic jerk shad, or a DOA shrimp is a good choice. Finding a school of fish and free-lining a live finger mullet will give you the best opportunity to catch a giant speckled trout. A clouser minnow or bendback are great flies to throw at fish when you spot them laid up in the sand. Ultra clear shallow water will put you on terms with the spookiest gamefish out there, so finesse and move slowly. We scored on numerous big trout over the past month with a few from 6-8lbs.
With colder weather becoming more of a regularity, Snook are on the move to the places they will call home for the winter around the Ponce Inlet backcountry. Focus efforts the remainder of the year on shorelines around deep holes and the adjacent flats where they will move during the daytime to warm up in the sunlight. Most of the time the clear water this time of the year allows for excellent sightcasting, albeit to fish that aren't nearly as energetic as they are during the warmer months. Skip cast DOA shrimp, lightly weighted soft plastics shads, or unroll a small bendback fly to the fish you can see. Powerfish with a swimbait or Mirrolure Mirrodine. When locating snook stacked up in deep holes, slow down and work a jig or DOA terroreyez. As the batifish migration comes to an end, snook are going to exclusively focus on shrimp the remainder of the year. Baby Tarpon can be found in the remote backwaters for the remainder of the year. These fish are generally pretty grumpy with the colder water temps during the winter and may only go on a feed once or twice a day. The best chances to score on one of these 1-15lb juveniles is around warming trends between the cold fronts, this will get them up and rolling more frequently showing their location. Shrimp and glass minnows will consist of most of their diet in the winter months. Baby tarpon flies, DOA shrimp, or live shrimp will score when you can find them eating. We've found several pods lately of 10-30 fish (5-15lb fish), having several roll up on flies or short strike a DOA shrimp.
Fish pictures from the past month can be found on my website.
www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm
December is nearly booked and openings are limited, call now to reserve a space. 386-212-4931 or email floridasightfishing@cfl.rr.com
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Nov 09 - Mosquito Lagoon, New Smyrna, Ponce Inlet Backcountry
November is a transition month on the inshore waters of Central Florida. November typically signals the end of the fall bait run as stronger cold front sweep into the area dropping water temperatures. The ensuing cooler water temperatures also start to move fish toward their overwintering areas. Tarpon and redfish dominated the action in October with fantastic catch results. While most of the tarpon have exited center stage, Novembers will bring great action for redfish, trout and snook. The clear waters settling in will make for epic sight fishing conditions the remainder of the year.
The first half of October was spent chasing the remainder of the migrating adult Tarpon on the nearshore waters off Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach. At one point we were jumping 4-5 tarpon over 100lbs each day. As these fish continued their migration down the coast, however, things slowed to 1-2 per day. What a great run it was though, with lots of landed fish including a few near the 200lb mark. Now we'll wait till next spring before these migrating giants move back up the coast. In the meantime we'll settle for resident juveniles in the 5-20lb range for the remainder of the year. Since these tarpon don't migrate, they will instead seek out deeper holes that will provide thermal refuge for the winter months. If you know where they hide, they can be caught anytime.
When the action began to slow for tarpon, it exploded in the Lagoons for Redfish. The first hard cold front of the season dropped water temperatures briefly into the 50's and the redfish turned ravenous. The week after was double digit redfish catches every day, including one day where I hooked 13 redfish on fly during a 4-hour span. The shorelines and sand sloughs were loaded with hungry redfish gorging themselves on fiddler crabs and shrimp. Clean water is grabbing ahold in much of the Lagoons making for exceptional sight fishing. I mentioned this time of the year is a transitional phase and the cold fronts can be infrequent. It's been two weeks since the last one and water temperatures have again returned to the 80's. The best action is now again on the open grass flats among the bait pods and the scattered redfish are back to eating baitfish. This pattern will repeat itself over and over with every passing cold front and proceeding warming trend. Lures and bait of choice are also transitional. DOA shrimp, soft plastic jerk shads, spoons, and topwater plugs have been the lures of choice. Redfish are trashing shrimp flies left and right. Sight cast with live shrimp or cut pinfish when necessary. Free lining live mullet among the bait pods will take both redfish and trout.
Speckled Trout fishing is steady around the bait pods in the morning. Colder and cleaner water is also improving sight fishing for bigger trout approaching 10lbs laid up later in the day. There has been a bit of floating grass making it tough to throw topwater plugs lately. Soft plastic jerk shads worked subsurface around the bait has scored good numbers of trout up to 5lbs. Free-lining a live finger mullet is also producing good trout catches during the first couple hours of the morning.
Snook lately are just as transitional as redfish. When the water is cooler around the cold fronts, snook have been schooled and concentrated on shorelines around deep water. As the water heats up on the warming trend, snook have been scattering out onto the grass and adjacent shorelines. The cold fronts have signaled the big snook to start migrating to the backcountry. DOA terroreyez or swimbaits have been good for working the bottom while DOA shrimp have been good for sight casting to ones you can see. I've landed many decent fish in the 20-25" range during the past month, nothing worth a picture though.
October was another packed month for charters, November will be as well. Only limited dates remaining in November so call now to reserve a date. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.
The first half of October was spent chasing the remainder of the migrating adult Tarpon on the nearshore waters off Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach. At one point we were jumping 4-5 tarpon over 100lbs each day. As these fish continued their migration down the coast, however, things slowed to 1-2 per day. What a great run it was though, with lots of landed fish including a few near the 200lb mark. Now we'll wait till next spring before these migrating giants move back up the coast. In the meantime we'll settle for resident juveniles in the 5-20lb range for the remainder of the year. Since these tarpon don't migrate, they will instead seek out deeper holes that will provide thermal refuge for the winter months. If you know where they hide, they can be caught anytime.
When the action began to slow for tarpon, it exploded in the Lagoons for Redfish. The first hard cold front of the season dropped water temperatures briefly into the 50's and the redfish turned ravenous. The week after was double digit redfish catches every day, including one day where I hooked 13 redfish on fly during a 4-hour span. The shorelines and sand sloughs were loaded with hungry redfish gorging themselves on fiddler crabs and shrimp. Clean water is grabbing ahold in much of the Lagoons making for exceptional sight fishing. I mentioned this time of the year is a transitional phase and the cold fronts can be infrequent. It's been two weeks since the last one and water temperatures have again returned to the 80's. The best action is now again on the open grass flats among the bait pods and the scattered redfish are back to eating baitfish. This pattern will repeat itself over and over with every passing cold front and proceeding warming trend. Lures and bait of choice are also transitional. DOA shrimp, soft plastic jerk shads, spoons, and topwater plugs have been the lures of choice. Redfish are trashing shrimp flies left and right. Sight cast with live shrimp or cut pinfish when necessary. Free lining live mullet among the bait pods will take both redfish and trout.
Speckled Trout fishing is steady around the bait pods in the morning. Colder and cleaner water is also improving sight fishing for bigger trout approaching 10lbs laid up later in the day. There has been a bit of floating grass making it tough to throw topwater plugs lately. Soft plastic jerk shads worked subsurface around the bait has scored good numbers of trout up to 5lbs. Free-lining a live finger mullet is also producing good trout catches during the first couple hours of the morning.
Snook lately are just as transitional as redfish. When the water is cooler around the cold fronts, snook have been schooled and concentrated on shorelines around deep water. As the water heats up on the warming trend, snook have been scattering out onto the grass and adjacent shorelines. The cold fronts have signaled the big snook to start migrating to the backcountry. DOA terroreyez or swimbaits have been good for working the bottom while DOA shrimp have been good for sight casting to ones you can see. I've landed many decent fish in the 20-25" range during the past month, nothing worth a picture though.
October was another packed month for charters, November will be as well. Only limited dates remaining in November so call now to reserve a date. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.
Oct 09 - Ponce Inlet Backwaters, Beaches, and Mosquito Lagoon
The first cold fronts of the season have just dipped into Florida, fall is in the air. From this point forward fishing on the Space Coast will be in a transition phase. The inshore and nearshore waters are full of baitfish making their migration south for the winter; and nipping at their heals are tons of redfish, trout, tarpon, snook and sharks.
The majority of time this past month was spent fishing for Redfish. September through November is the peak spawning time for redfish in East-Central Florida. There are several large schools of GIANT redfish in the Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River Lagoon, and at Ponce Inlet. These fish have two things on their mind, spawning and eating. With that in mind you'll appreciate this being one of the easiest times to catch a GIANT bull redfish over 20lbs. At Ponce Inlet drifting live baits like blue crab and mullet will score multiple fish. In the Lagoons these schools will ambush various artificial lures like topwater plugs, spoons, soft plastics, and flies. The annual fall cycle of higher tides and northeast winds have raised water levels 1-2' on the flats in the Lagoons. This has opened up lots of new feeding grounds scattering smaller redfish in the backcountry and against shorelines. We're spending the first few hours of the morning working congregated bait pods with plugs and soft plastics. Once the bait begins to scatter on the flats, we are shifting gears to shoreline sight fishing or locating laid up fish on the grass. Soft plastic jerk shads, DOA shrimp, and Strike King swimbaits are the top lures of choice. That exact pattern yielded lots of caught redfish for me at the recent IFA Redfish Tour event a couple weeks ago and a top 25 finish. My fly anglers are having the best luck using my personal hand tied crab and shrimp patterns, along with bendbacks, spoon flies, kwans, and redfish blossoms.
Tarpon fishing is beginning to wind down inshore as most of the migrating adult fish are moving out of Ponce Inlet and into the Atlantic Ocean. We'll still find scattered action inshore for smaller resident juveniles, however, throughout the fall and winter. But the best tarpon action is nearshore off the coast of New Smyrna Beach and Daytona Beach. Tarpon have been on fire over the past couple weeks in the 50-70' depth range, along with scattered fish shadowing bait pods moving down the beach. We jumped 25 or more fish from 80-150lbs, landing about half of them. We've landed several fish over 180lbs with a couple pushing (or exceeding) the 200lb mark. While fishing the nearshore waters we always pick up a bunch of Sharks in the process, they are mixed in tight with the bait pods and tarpon. We caught numerous blacktips, bulls, and sandbar sharks lately...too many to count. All of the sharks have been in the 3-6' long range.
The fall is also a great time to again spend the day targeting Snook. Snook are all to well aware that this is generally the last month of the year to stock up on baitfish. The higher water has many fish up in the mangroves and rocks waiting to ambush the next bait pod that swims past. These smaller fish are also a sucker for a DOA shrimp skipped up into the pockets. Bigger fish are migrating back from the beaches towards the backcountry. Docks along the ICW or the jetties at Ponce Inlet provide stopping points for them along the way. Fish jigs with a soft plastic paddle tail, bucktails, or a DOA terroreyez as many of these big fish are hanging around the bottom. A mullet freelined in just about any creek mouth will be a sure thing. Speaking of soaking finger mullet in a creek mouth, it's time to start capitalizing on the biggest Flounder of the year. A mullet on a fishfinder rig sitting in creek mouths or along the edge of the ICW will score quality flounder from now through the end of the year.
Speckled Trout fishing is still steady around the bait pods during the first half of the morning. When we have been targeting any trout we have been throwing a combination of plugs and soft plastics. And we did pretty well last month with a few fish over 7lbs. Once the bait starts to spread out on to the flats, we have found trout laid up in sand spots near the edges of flats and sand bars. With the first cold fronts now starting to dip into Florida, we are only a month or two away from the best trout sight fishing of the year. Then it will be the prime time to take your chances casting to 10lb+ trout laid up on the flats.
Be sure to check out the October issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Larry Kinder, an outdoors writer, did an article about me and strategies for fishing Mosquito Lagoon and the New Smyrna backcountry during the fall transitional period. Check out page 42.
Limited dates remaining for October and November. Call now to reserve a date. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.
The majority of time this past month was spent fishing for Redfish. September through November is the peak spawning time for redfish in East-Central Florida. There are several large schools of GIANT redfish in the Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River Lagoon, and at Ponce Inlet. These fish have two things on their mind, spawning and eating. With that in mind you'll appreciate this being one of the easiest times to catch a GIANT bull redfish over 20lbs. At Ponce Inlet drifting live baits like blue crab and mullet will score multiple fish. In the Lagoons these schools will ambush various artificial lures like topwater plugs, spoons, soft plastics, and flies. The annual fall cycle of higher tides and northeast winds have raised water levels 1-2' on the flats in the Lagoons. This has opened up lots of new feeding grounds scattering smaller redfish in the backcountry and against shorelines. We're spending the first few hours of the morning working congregated bait pods with plugs and soft plastics. Once the bait begins to scatter on the flats, we are shifting gears to shoreline sight fishing or locating laid up fish on the grass. Soft plastic jerk shads, DOA shrimp, and Strike King swimbaits are the top lures of choice. That exact pattern yielded lots of caught redfish for me at the recent IFA Redfish Tour event a couple weeks ago and a top 25 finish. My fly anglers are having the best luck using my personal hand tied crab and shrimp patterns, along with bendbacks, spoon flies, kwans, and redfish blossoms.
Tarpon fishing is beginning to wind down inshore as most of the migrating adult fish are moving out of Ponce Inlet and into the Atlantic Ocean. We'll still find scattered action inshore for smaller resident juveniles, however, throughout the fall and winter. But the best tarpon action is nearshore off the coast of New Smyrna Beach and Daytona Beach. Tarpon have been on fire over the past couple weeks in the 50-70' depth range, along with scattered fish shadowing bait pods moving down the beach. We jumped 25 or more fish from 80-150lbs, landing about half of them. We've landed several fish over 180lbs with a couple pushing (or exceeding) the 200lb mark. While fishing the nearshore waters we always pick up a bunch of Sharks in the process, they are mixed in tight with the bait pods and tarpon. We caught numerous blacktips, bulls, and sandbar sharks lately...too many to count. All of the sharks have been in the 3-6' long range.
The fall is also a great time to again spend the day targeting Snook. Snook are all to well aware that this is generally the last month of the year to stock up on baitfish. The higher water has many fish up in the mangroves and rocks waiting to ambush the next bait pod that swims past. These smaller fish are also a sucker for a DOA shrimp skipped up into the pockets. Bigger fish are migrating back from the beaches towards the backcountry. Docks along the ICW or the jetties at Ponce Inlet provide stopping points for them along the way. Fish jigs with a soft plastic paddle tail, bucktails, or a DOA terroreyez as many of these big fish are hanging around the bottom. A mullet freelined in just about any creek mouth will be a sure thing. Speaking of soaking finger mullet in a creek mouth, it's time to start capitalizing on the biggest Flounder of the year. A mullet on a fishfinder rig sitting in creek mouths or along the edge of the ICW will score quality flounder from now through the end of the year.
Speckled Trout fishing is still steady around the bait pods during the first half of the morning. When we have been targeting any trout we have been throwing a combination of plugs and soft plastics. And we did pretty well last month with a few fish over 7lbs. Once the bait starts to spread out on to the flats, we have found trout laid up in sand spots near the edges of flats and sand bars. With the first cold fronts now starting to dip into Florida, we are only a month or two away from the best trout sight fishing of the year. Then it will be the prime time to take your chances casting to 10lb+ trout laid up on the flats.
Be sure to check out the October issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Larry Kinder, an outdoors writer, did an article about me and strategies for fishing Mosquito Lagoon and the New Smyrna backcountry during the fall transitional period. Check out page 42.
Limited dates remaining for October and November. Call now to reserve a date. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.
Sept 09 - Mosquito Lagoon, Ponce Inlet Area & Beaches, Indian River
Labor Day weekend typically signifies the start of football games, the end of the busy tourist season, the early stages of the fall bait run, and all fish in Florida stuffing themselves before the colder weather begins to arrive next month. While visitors to Central Florida are slowing down, the fishing here in September certainly isn't. It's one of the best opportunities of the year to score on a quality backcountry super slam of Redfish, Speckled Trout, Snook, and Tarpon.
September for Redfish means the beginning of spawning time. This is perhaps one of the easier times to catch a redfish in the 15-40+lb range around Central Florida. Schools of GIANT redfish are congregating in select areas the North Indian River Lagoon and Ponce Inlet. At the Inlet drifting live blue crab, mullet, croakers, and pogies can pay off with double digit catches of 40"+ fish. In the Lagoons, massive schools of redfish will often crush topwater plugs, spoons, soft plastic, and flies. Remember to land these fish as quick as possible and release with care because these fish are spawning. Plenty of smaller redfish in the 3-10lb range are scattered all over the flats. There's a fairly consistent pattern for these redfish right now that produces good numbers on artificial, one that I will be more willing to share with others once the IFW redfish tour departs town in a few weeks. Until then, light tackle anglers are having good success with topwater plugs, spoons, soft plastics and live bait. Fly anglers are having the best luck with my hand tied crab, bendbacks, redfish blossoms, shrimp patterns, and bunny flies.
This is typically the last peak month to target Tarpon on the inshore waters around Central Florida. Loads of tarpon from 5-100+lbs are scattered throughout the Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River Lagoon, and around New Smyrna Beach. These tarpon have provided opportunities in a variety of ways depending on their locations including laid up fish, schooling fish, and quick rollers holding on the bottom. Remember these fish are keying on bait this time of the year so diving plugs, DOA baitbusters, swimbaits, and live bait like mullet or pogies will be the top producers. As the waters begin to cool and the bait begins to thin out by the end of this month the big tarpon over 50lbs will begin to move out of the backwaters, into the Atlantic, migrating south for the winter. So if a big tarpon is on your list of species to catch, this is the last best month to try for one in Central Florida.
Snook season starts today, making slot-size fair game again. We're beginning to enter my most favorite time of the year to target snook, fall and winter. Lately we've been beating the bushes (aka, working the mangroves), dock structures and bridges around Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach and the backwaters behind Ponce Inlet. We've been finding scattered small snook upwards of 6-10lbs, catching several each day. DOA shrimp, MirrOlure plugs, and big swimbaits have been my top producers on light tackle. If you're lucky enough to spot laid up fish a red and white redfish candy fly or EP fly will draw attention. The big females are staged at Ponce Inlet spawning and gorging themselves on the bait run. Drifting pinfish, mullet, and croakers along the north jetty will take it's share of oversize snook that must be released. Speaking of snook, I recently returned from a week at Captiva/Sanibel Islands where I caught bunches of snook on fly and light tackle at the beach. The highlight of the trip, however, was watching my 8-year-old son land his first fish on fly tackle.
Speckled Trout fishing is still steady on shallow edges of flats early in the AM and in deeper water later in the day. Topwater plugs are great for watching the exciting bites on top, soft plastics worked subsurface, however, are putting fish in the boat on nearly every cast. Bigger trout upwards of 10lbs are prowling the bait pods early before slipping off to deep water after sun-up. A seaducer or bendback fly will take trout working the bait pods early and a shrimp fly will take smaller fish laid up in sand spots later in the day. When the water cools off in a couple months we can again expect the best trout sight fishing of the year.
Photos of catches from the last month can be found on my website...
www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm
Still some good openings in September with scattered dates available in October. Call now to reserve a date. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.
September for Redfish means the beginning of spawning time. This is perhaps one of the easier times to catch a redfish in the 15-40+lb range around Central Florida. Schools of GIANT redfish are congregating in select areas the North Indian River Lagoon and Ponce Inlet. At the Inlet drifting live blue crab, mullet, croakers, and pogies can pay off with double digit catches of 40"+ fish. In the Lagoons, massive schools of redfish will often crush topwater plugs, spoons, soft plastic, and flies. Remember to land these fish as quick as possible and release with care because these fish are spawning. Plenty of smaller redfish in the 3-10lb range are scattered all over the flats. There's a fairly consistent pattern for these redfish right now that produces good numbers on artificial, one that I will be more willing to share with others once the IFW redfish tour departs town in a few weeks. Until then, light tackle anglers are having good success with topwater plugs, spoons, soft plastics and live bait. Fly anglers are having the best luck with my hand tied crab, bendbacks, redfish blossoms, shrimp patterns, and bunny flies.
This is typically the last peak month to target Tarpon on the inshore waters around Central Florida. Loads of tarpon from 5-100+lbs are scattered throughout the Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River Lagoon, and around New Smyrna Beach. These tarpon have provided opportunities in a variety of ways depending on their locations including laid up fish, schooling fish, and quick rollers holding on the bottom. Remember these fish are keying on bait this time of the year so diving plugs, DOA baitbusters, swimbaits, and live bait like mullet or pogies will be the top producers. As the waters begin to cool and the bait begins to thin out by the end of this month the big tarpon over 50lbs will begin to move out of the backwaters, into the Atlantic, migrating south for the winter. So if a big tarpon is on your list of species to catch, this is the last best month to try for one in Central Florida.
Snook season starts today, making slot-size fair game again. We're beginning to enter my most favorite time of the year to target snook, fall and winter. Lately we've been beating the bushes (aka, working the mangroves), dock structures and bridges around Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach and the backwaters behind Ponce Inlet. We've been finding scattered small snook upwards of 6-10lbs, catching several each day. DOA shrimp, MirrOlure plugs, and big swimbaits have been my top producers on light tackle. If you're lucky enough to spot laid up fish a red and white redfish candy fly or EP fly will draw attention. The big females are staged at Ponce Inlet spawning and gorging themselves on the bait run. Drifting pinfish, mullet, and croakers along the north jetty will take it's share of oversize snook that must be released. Speaking of snook, I recently returned from a week at Captiva/Sanibel Islands where I caught bunches of snook on fly and light tackle at the beach. The highlight of the trip, however, was watching my 8-year-old son land his first fish on fly tackle.
Speckled Trout fishing is still steady on shallow edges of flats early in the AM and in deeper water later in the day. Topwater plugs are great for watching the exciting bites on top, soft plastics worked subsurface, however, are putting fish in the boat on nearly every cast. Bigger trout upwards of 10lbs are prowling the bait pods early before slipping off to deep water after sun-up. A seaducer or bendback fly will take trout working the bait pods early and a shrimp fly will take smaller fish laid up in sand spots later in the day. When the water cools off in a couple months we can again expect the best trout sight fishing of the year.
Photos of catches from the last month can be found on my website...
www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm
Still some good openings in September with scattered dates available in October. Call now to reserve a date. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.
Aug 09 - Mosquito Lagoon, New Smyrna, Ponce Inlet Area and Beaches
The dog days of August are upon us. July is one month I didn't want to see end, the fishing action was spectacular here on Florida's Space Coast. As mentioned in my previous report, things wouldn't change much until September, so tarpon, redfish, and speckled trout remained the dominant attractions. We also occasionally fish for snook, tripletail, and sharks when the opportunities arises or someone wants. The menu stays the same over the next month; soon however, the fall bait run will begin and we'll enter the fall transition period.
Tarpon fishing has been red hot over the past few weeks. The month started off fishing out along the beaches shadowing bait pods just outside the breakers. Once the annual cold water upwelling got started many of these migrating adult tarpon moved into the warmer area backwaters. Over the past two weeks we've been finding big concentrations of 50-125lb fish inshore in Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach, Mosquito Lagoon, and the Indian River Lagoon. These tarpon have provided opportunities in a variety of ways including laid up fish, schooling fish, daisy chaining fish, and quick rollers holding on the bottom. We broke out the fly rod on several days and jumped 7 fish (50-100+lb) that ate a fly and had another half a dozen that rolled up on the fly but missed. Most of these fish were laid up and/or finning on the surface. Ten days ago I sight casted a big tarpon finning on the surface and ended up landing the 100+lb'r a while later on a 10wt. If fly tackle isn't up your alley, the rest of the time we have been throwing lures or bait at them. This produced another 8 jumped fish from 50-80lbs, with several more where we missed the bite. Congratulations to the 4 clients of mine who jumped their first tarpon ever during the past mont, the excitement was priceless! Menhaden and mullet are the top live baits lately, and the DOA Baitbuster has been my top lure. Then there were those days when tarpon acted like tarpon, shunning any and all offerings. August should be another great month for tarpon too, but as we get into September and the cooler water temps, these big fish will start to prepare for their migration south.
It's also one of the best times of the year to target GIANT Redfish in the Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River, and up around Ponce Inlet. This is perhaps one of the easier times to catch a bunch of redfish in the 15-40+lb range. Schools of big redfish are growing bigger on the flats as these fish prepare for their annual spawn. At Ponce Inlet hundreds of them are schooling on the bottom for the same reason. Now throw in the need to fill their bellies when the bait run gets started and you have a recipe for a good bite. Depending on their mood and location we have been targeting them on light tackle or fly. Lure choices lately have been a slow worked surface plug or a spoon. Live bait choices have been a live pinfish, pigfish, or mullet. We are also finding plenty of smaller redfish in the 3-10lb range up on the shallow flats. Dropping water levels have turned on the classic tailing behaviors we have on our flats. Light tackle anglers are having good success with topwater plugs and spoons early and then and soft plastic baitfish and shrimp presentations for sight casting once the sun is up. Pickier fish have been fooled with cut mullet and pinfish. Fly anglers are having the best luck with my hand tied crab, merkins, kwans and seaducers. We caught a bunch of redfish during the last month and its only going to get better.
Speckled Trout is one of the easier things to catch this time of the year. We can make them the entire goal of the day, target trophy size fish, fish in between spots for other things, or fall back on them when everything else is slow. The easiest way to target spotted sea trout in the summer is with a frisky pigfish or mullet, guaranteed to put a bunch of them in the boat. For my artificial and fly tackle enthusiasts we will take our share of trout working plugs, jerkbaits, soft plastics, and flies in and around active bait pods early in the morning. Most of the fish are in the slot range of 15-20 inches, with the occasional gator trout between 5-10lbs.
This is one of the best times to catch big Snook on Florida's east coast. Big fish are schooling up around the Inlet, bridges, and beaches for the summer spawning period. Plugs, jigs, and bait worked along the jetty and nearby creeks or channels, will yield quality fish. Shark fishing is still steady around Ponce Inlet and on the beaches. Hammerheads, bulls, blacktips, and spinners are being caught in 40' of water. We've been finding Tripletail nearly everyday we want to look. A fresh shrimp, pigfish or small pinfish will draw a strike. A fun fish to spend some time searching for, most of them are 4-10lb fish. I also managed to locate a great Mangrove Snapper hole in Mosquito Lagoon. We've managed to pull a few out in the 2-4lb range, catching them on live pinfish and pigfish. Two unique experiences during the past month.One of the highlights was finding a baby Permit stuck inside one of my baitfish traps one morning. A rare find for Mosquito Lagoon, permit are generally found in S. Florida and the tropics. The second one was coming across a Manatee stranded on a sand bar in New Smyrna Beach. We spent about 30 minutes with her waiting for FWC to arrive so they could monitor and transport.
Still some good openings in August, especially later in the month. Call now to reserve a date. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.
Pictures from the past month can be found on my website. www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm
Tarpon fishing has been red hot over the past few weeks. The month started off fishing out along the beaches shadowing bait pods just outside the breakers. Once the annual cold water upwelling got started many of these migrating adult tarpon moved into the warmer area backwaters. Over the past two weeks we've been finding big concentrations of 50-125lb fish inshore in Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach, Mosquito Lagoon, and the Indian River Lagoon. These tarpon have provided opportunities in a variety of ways including laid up fish, schooling fish, daisy chaining fish, and quick rollers holding on the bottom. We broke out the fly rod on several days and jumped 7 fish (50-100+lb) that ate a fly and had another half a dozen that rolled up on the fly but missed. Most of these fish were laid up and/or finning on the surface. Ten days ago I sight casted a big tarpon finning on the surface and ended up landing the 100+lb'r a while later on a 10wt. If fly tackle isn't up your alley, the rest of the time we have been throwing lures or bait at them. This produced another 8 jumped fish from 50-80lbs, with several more where we missed the bite. Congratulations to the 4 clients of mine who jumped their first tarpon ever during the past mont, the excitement was priceless! Menhaden and mullet are the top live baits lately, and the DOA Baitbuster has been my top lure. Then there were those days when tarpon acted like tarpon, shunning any and all offerings. August should be another great month for tarpon too, but as we get into September and the cooler water temps, these big fish will start to prepare for their migration south.
It's also one of the best times of the year to target GIANT Redfish in the Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River, and up around Ponce Inlet. This is perhaps one of the easier times to catch a bunch of redfish in the 15-40+lb range. Schools of big redfish are growing bigger on the flats as these fish prepare for their annual spawn. At Ponce Inlet hundreds of them are schooling on the bottom for the same reason. Now throw in the need to fill their bellies when the bait run gets started and you have a recipe for a good bite. Depending on their mood and location we have been targeting them on light tackle or fly. Lure choices lately have been a slow worked surface plug or a spoon. Live bait choices have been a live pinfish, pigfish, or mullet. We are also finding plenty of smaller redfish in the 3-10lb range up on the shallow flats. Dropping water levels have turned on the classic tailing behaviors we have on our flats. Light tackle anglers are having good success with topwater plugs and spoons early and then and soft plastic baitfish and shrimp presentations for sight casting once the sun is up. Pickier fish have been fooled with cut mullet and pinfish. Fly anglers are having the best luck with my hand tied crab, merkins, kwans and seaducers. We caught a bunch of redfish during the last month and its only going to get better.
Speckled Trout is one of the easier things to catch this time of the year. We can make them the entire goal of the day, target trophy size fish, fish in between spots for other things, or fall back on them when everything else is slow. The easiest way to target spotted sea trout in the summer is with a frisky pigfish or mullet, guaranteed to put a bunch of them in the boat. For my artificial and fly tackle enthusiasts we will take our share of trout working plugs, jerkbaits, soft plastics, and flies in and around active bait pods early in the morning. Most of the fish are in the slot range of 15-20 inches, with the occasional gator trout between 5-10lbs.
This is one of the best times to catch big Snook on Florida's east coast. Big fish are schooling up around the Inlet, bridges, and beaches for the summer spawning period. Plugs, jigs, and bait worked along the jetty and nearby creeks or channels, will yield quality fish. Shark fishing is still steady around Ponce Inlet and on the beaches. Hammerheads, bulls, blacktips, and spinners are being caught in 40' of water. We've been finding Tripletail nearly everyday we want to look. A fresh shrimp, pigfish or small pinfish will draw a strike. A fun fish to spend some time searching for, most of them are 4-10lb fish. I also managed to locate a great Mangrove Snapper hole in Mosquito Lagoon. We've managed to pull a few out in the 2-4lb range, catching them on live pinfish and pigfish. Two unique experiences during the past month.One of the highlights was finding a baby Permit stuck inside one of my baitfish traps one morning. A rare find for Mosquito Lagoon, permit are generally found in S. Florida and the tropics. The second one was coming across a Manatee stranded on a sand bar in New Smyrna Beach. We spent about 30 minutes with her waiting for FWC to arrive so they could monitor and transport.
Still some good openings in August, especially later in the month. Call now to reserve a date. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.
Pictures from the past month can be found on my website. www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm
July 09 - Mosquito Lagoon, New Smyrna, Ponce Inlet Backcountry and Beaches
July in Florida...it's been hotter than a firecracker! We just wrapped up another busy June that provided some consistent fishing for a variety of species. Speckled trout, redfish, and tarpon are the everyday targets, with snook, black drum, tripletail, and sharks rounding out the opportunities. There are a variety of places to find and fish for tarpon right now and the migrating adult fish have pushed up the beaches and into the area backwaters. The spotted sea trout bite is phenomenal in the morning and we are catching loads of trout, including a few big ones up to 10lbs. Trophy class specimens are dominating the redfish action and we are catching numerous redfish each day in the 15-30lb range during the past month. The beach fishing has been really good over the past couple weeks, hopefully all of this west wind won't bring up the cold water, but it has dropped 8 degrees over the past week. The pogy pods are really thick in Volusia County and the buffet table is open.
Speckled Trout are a great and easy way to start the day; guaranteed to kick start things with a bunch of fish to the boat. The number one way to target summer trout is with live pigfish and/or mullet. When trout fishing with live bait a slow day has been 5-15 fish and a busy day is 20-30 trout in the boat. It's literally the hottest bite around during the summer months. Most of the fish are in the slot range of 15-20 inches, with the occasional gator trout between 5-10lbs. We caught several fish over 7lbs during the past month, with the big fish of the month being a 30"/9.5+lb trophy that exploded on a live mullet knocking it 2' out of the water, an awesome sight to watch. If live baiting isn't of interest, there is good plug and jig action on the deeper flats and sandbars as well, but the catching is a little slower.
The Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon are world famous for their trophy size Redfish. It's perhaps the only place in the world to sight cast 20-40lb schooling redfish on shallow flats in clear water and this is the peak time of the year to target these bronze bruisers. Summer is spawning time and during the summer these schools will contain anywhere from 50-300 fish on any given day. Depending on the mood of the fish they can be targeted with lures and fly tackle, but they are a sucker for a frisky live bait. We caught many trophy class fish from 15-30lbs during the past month, with a few days producing 10-15 hook-ups on these giant bruisers. There are also plenty of smaller redfish in the 3-10lb range up on the shallow flats. These fish are also putting on a show pushing wakes down shorelines and tailing in the thick grass. Fly anglers have been having good success using my hand tied crab pattern, merkins, kwans, bendbacks and ep minnows. Light tackle anglers are having good success with topwater plugs, spoons, and soft plastic shad baits for a finesse presentation.
Tarpon can be found anywhere are between New Smyrna Beach and Titusville...along the beaches, in the river and in the lagoons. Most of the resident juvenile 20-40lb tarpon have moved out of their spring locations and are on the move daily. These fish are feeding on bigger baitfish so we are connecting on swimbaits, diving plugs and live bait. Depending on where they are hanging out for the day, we are also getting good shots on fly. The bigger adult fish (60-100+lbs) arrived in big schools along the beach and have slowly been making their way down through the ICW and into the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon. The beach fishing has been the best lately with loads of tarpon parked out there right now. Things are just getting started with these giant adult tarpon and they will be available targets over the next three months. We didn't have as much time during the past month to target tarpon, but we still managed to hook another 12 fish between 20-100lbs, landing a couple in the 30-40lb range. If you love tarpon fishing you know it's not just about landing them, it's all about getting that bite and ensuing jumps.
The best Snook fishing is at daybreak or at dusk with plugs and bait. We can also find them during the middle of the day when skipping baits and lures deep under docks. There just seems to be more and more Black Drum everyday in Mosquito Lagoon, when everything else is slow then they will be there to provide a daily consistent opportunity. The warmer water and pogy pods have fired up the Shark fishing up at Ponce Inlet and along the beaches. We've been catching hammerheads, bulls, blacktips, and spinners in 30-60' of water. Speaking of beaches we're finding good numbers of Kingfish in 50-70' of water, live mullet are the top bait for me lately. Fair numbers of Tripletail are showing up inshore, more and more will be found over the next couple months. Pitch them a shrimp or live bait and enjoy one of the finest eating fish around. I road tripped up to SE Georgia for a day at the beginning of June sight casting tripletail along the beaches, we spotted 50-60 fish and caught several in the 4-9lb range.
It's been a tremendously busy year to date, and July isn't going to slow down, I've only got about 10 July dates still left open as of today. Call or email to reserve a date. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.
Pictures from the past month can be found on my website. www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm
Speckled Trout are a great and easy way to start the day; guaranteed to kick start things with a bunch of fish to the boat. The number one way to target summer trout is with live pigfish and/or mullet. When trout fishing with live bait a slow day has been 5-15 fish and a busy day is 20-30 trout in the boat. It's literally the hottest bite around during the summer months. Most of the fish are in the slot range of 15-20 inches, with the occasional gator trout between 5-10lbs. We caught several fish over 7lbs during the past month, with the big fish of the month being a 30"/9.5+lb trophy that exploded on a live mullet knocking it 2' out of the water, an awesome sight to watch. If live baiting isn't of interest, there is good plug and jig action on the deeper flats and sandbars as well, but the catching is a little slower.
The Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon are world famous for their trophy size Redfish. It's perhaps the only place in the world to sight cast 20-40lb schooling redfish on shallow flats in clear water and this is the peak time of the year to target these bronze bruisers. Summer is spawning time and during the summer these schools will contain anywhere from 50-300 fish on any given day. Depending on the mood of the fish they can be targeted with lures and fly tackle, but they are a sucker for a frisky live bait. We caught many trophy class fish from 15-30lbs during the past month, with a few days producing 10-15 hook-ups on these giant bruisers. There are also plenty of smaller redfish in the 3-10lb range up on the shallow flats. These fish are also putting on a show pushing wakes down shorelines and tailing in the thick grass. Fly anglers have been having good success using my hand tied crab pattern, merkins, kwans, bendbacks and ep minnows. Light tackle anglers are having good success with topwater plugs, spoons, and soft plastic shad baits for a finesse presentation.
Tarpon can be found anywhere are between New Smyrna Beach and Titusville...along the beaches, in the river and in the lagoons. Most of the resident juvenile 20-40lb tarpon have moved out of their spring locations and are on the move daily. These fish are feeding on bigger baitfish so we are connecting on swimbaits, diving plugs and live bait. Depending on where they are hanging out for the day, we are also getting good shots on fly. The bigger adult fish (60-100+lbs) arrived in big schools along the beach and have slowly been making their way down through the ICW and into the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon. The beach fishing has been the best lately with loads of tarpon parked out there right now. Things are just getting started with these giant adult tarpon and they will be available targets over the next three months. We didn't have as much time during the past month to target tarpon, but we still managed to hook another 12 fish between 20-100lbs, landing a couple in the 30-40lb range. If you love tarpon fishing you know it's not just about landing them, it's all about getting that bite and ensuing jumps.
The best Snook fishing is at daybreak or at dusk with plugs and bait. We can also find them during the middle of the day when skipping baits and lures deep under docks. There just seems to be more and more Black Drum everyday in Mosquito Lagoon, when everything else is slow then they will be there to provide a daily consistent opportunity. The warmer water and pogy pods have fired up the Shark fishing up at Ponce Inlet and along the beaches. We've been catching hammerheads, bulls, blacktips, and spinners in 30-60' of water. Speaking of beaches we're finding good numbers of Kingfish in 50-70' of water, live mullet are the top bait for me lately. Fair numbers of Tripletail are showing up inshore, more and more will be found over the next couple months. Pitch them a shrimp or live bait and enjoy one of the finest eating fish around. I road tripped up to SE Georgia for a day at the beginning of June sight casting tripletail along the beaches, we spotted 50-60 fish and caught several in the 4-9lb range.
It's been a tremendously busy year to date, and July isn't going to slow down, I've only got about 10 July dates still left open as of today. Call or email to reserve a date. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.
Pictures from the past month can be found on my website. www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm
June 09 - Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River, Ponce Inlet Backcountry
Can you believe it's already June and soon the year will be half way over? May was another great month of fishing here on the coastal waters of Central Florida. While we received about 20" of flooding rains at the end of the month, I found numerous fish when it ended and the bite has been better than before the rains. The main story for me heading into June is tarpon fishing, my personal favorite target. Loads of resident juveniles are out and about and we are jumping fish from 20-50lbs nearly everyday. May is normally our peak month for catching big speckled trout, and this past month certainly didn't disappoint as we caught several trout between 7-10lbs. The Redfish bite is fantastic! There are plenty of schools to target as well as tailing singles, doubles, and small pods. During the past 10 days we've been posting double digit redfish catches. It's no wonder I fared so well in a couple recent tournaments...
Most recent was the annual FishStock Redfish and Trout Challenge out of New Smyrna Beach. This year's two-day event saw 88 teams vie for $15,000 in cash and prizes. I fished with my teammate Capt. Tony Pantuso and we captured 4th place with a 34.28 pound total, just missing third place by less than 5 ounces. The tournament literally started a day after the week long rain ended; but we were on the fish and caught nearly 30 redfish and a half a dozen big trout over the two day event. Earlier in the month I also guided my 8-year-old son to a 3rd place finish in two categories at the CCA Youth Inshore Classic. He took third in his age group for biggest redfish and biggest trout. He's my star in the making.
Our resident juvenile Tarpon have scattered throughout the lagoons and are a daily target. We're jumping fish nearly every day now in various areas from New Smyrna down to the southern end of Mosquito Lagoon. While there are loads of baby (1-5lb) tarpon taking advantage of the higher waters and outflows, my main tarpon targets right now range from 20-50lbs and can be caught on light tackle and/or fly, the choice is yours. We've jumped 13 tarpon this size in May. It's a good start and just shy of last year's pace by this time. Within the next few weeks we will start to see the first wave of migrating adult fish move into the area backwaters and then we'll start looking for those 60-100lb fish too. I've got locations we can target tarpon at any time of the day now, even laid up fish.
May is generally the best month of the year to catch big Spotted Sea Trout and this May again proved that true. We caught loads of fish between 4-5lbs and several from 6-8lbs during the past month. Our best producer lately for big fish has been a free-lined live mullet and the bite explosions are awesome to watch. If you want to stay busy casting, the Mirrolure top dog and mirromullet have been the choice when working surface plugs around the bait pods. When they won't quite commit to the surface plug we have used soft plastic shad imitations like the Strike King Zulu for a finesse bite. There should be some excellent schooling activity for the big trout over the first half of this month as they prepare to spawn.
It's hard to talk about Redfish third, considering how good the bite is starting in June. The past 10 days had to be the best in two months. After the rain ended, I relocated all of the fish I had been fishing and the catching exploded. The flooding rains we received raised water levels quite a bit and pushed many of the average size redfish up against the shorelines. But there are still plenty of fish schooled out on the open flats shadowing bait pods in clean water. For my artificial casters, the same lures mentioned above for trout have also been consistent producers for redfish. A DOA shrimp has been deadly for those pods of skinny water tailers. Cut mullet and cut pinfish have been the hot ticket when we can't sight cast. May was a great month of fly fishing for redfish, several anglers caught their first redfish on fly with me during the month. My top fly choices lately have been a seaducer, bendback, or ep mullet. There are schools of GIANT reds everywhere in both the Mosquito Lagoon and North Indian River, although the water dirtied up quite a bit lately in the river. Summer is the peak time to catch those GIANT trophy redfish between 20-40lbs. While they are here every month of the year, this is the best time to find them tailing and finning on the surface. Most of the schools are starting to grow in numbers as these fish prepare for their annual spawn cycle. This is also an easier time of the year to catch these bruisers on topwater plugs and fly.
Good opportunities for Snook, especially lately targeting the outflows and creeks draining all the flooded rain water. The warmer water tends to move snook all around the lagoon, concentrated in creeks, channels, and tidal areas areas where there is more water movement. But as I said last month, it's an early morning event and I typically skip them over in favor of tarpon. So not much to report in terms of catching because I haven't been looking.
June openings are pretty limited with only 9 dates available as of today. Call now to reserve a date as June is usually a fully booked month. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.
Most recent was the annual FishStock Redfish and Trout Challenge out of New Smyrna Beach. This year's two-day event saw 88 teams vie for $15,000 in cash and prizes. I fished with my teammate Capt. Tony Pantuso and we captured 4th place with a 34.28 pound total, just missing third place by less than 5 ounces. The tournament literally started a day after the week long rain ended; but we were on the fish and caught nearly 30 redfish and a half a dozen big trout over the two day event. Earlier in the month I also guided my 8-year-old son to a 3rd place finish in two categories at the CCA Youth Inshore Classic. He took third in his age group for biggest redfish and biggest trout. He's my star in the making.
Our resident juvenile Tarpon have scattered throughout the lagoons and are a daily target. We're jumping fish nearly every day now in various areas from New Smyrna down to the southern end of Mosquito Lagoon. While there are loads of baby (1-5lb) tarpon taking advantage of the higher waters and outflows, my main tarpon targets right now range from 20-50lbs and can be caught on light tackle and/or fly, the choice is yours. We've jumped 13 tarpon this size in May. It's a good start and just shy of last year's pace by this time. Within the next few weeks we will start to see the first wave of migrating adult fish move into the area backwaters and then we'll start looking for those 60-100lb fish too. I've got locations we can target tarpon at any time of the day now, even laid up fish.
May is generally the best month of the year to catch big Spotted Sea Trout and this May again proved that true. We caught loads of fish between 4-5lbs and several from 6-8lbs during the past month. Our best producer lately for big fish has been a free-lined live mullet and the bite explosions are awesome to watch. If you want to stay busy casting, the Mirrolure top dog and mirromullet have been the choice when working surface plugs around the bait pods. When they won't quite commit to the surface plug we have used soft plastic shad imitations like the Strike King Zulu for a finesse bite. There should be some excellent schooling activity for the big trout over the first half of this month as they prepare to spawn.
It's hard to talk about Redfish third, considering how good the bite is starting in June. The past 10 days had to be the best in two months. After the rain ended, I relocated all of the fish I had been fishing and the catching exploded. The flooding rains we received raised water levels quite a bit and pushed many of the average size redfish up against the shorelines. But there are still plenty of fish schooled out on the open flats shadowing bait pods in clean water. For my artificial casters, the same lures mentioned above for trout have also been consistent producers for redfish. A DOA shrimp has been deadly for those pods of skinny water tailers. Cut mullet and cut pinfish have been the hot ticket when we can't sight cast. May was a great month of fly fishing for redfish, several anglers caught their first redfish on fly with me during the month. My top fly choices lately have been a seaducer, bendback, or ep mullet. There are schools of GIANT reds everywhere in both the Mosquito Lagoon and North Indian River, although the water dirtied up quite a bit lately in the river. Summer is the peak time to catch those GIANT trophy redfish between 20-40lbs. While they are here every month of the year, this is the best time to find them tailing and finning on the surface. Most of the schools are starting to grow in numbers as these fish prepare for their annual spawn cycle. This is also an easier time of the year to catch these bruisers on topwater plugs and fly.
Good opportunities for Snook, especially lately targeting the outflows and creeks draining all the flooded rain water. The warmer water tends to move snook all around the lagoon, concentrated in creeks, channels, and tidal areas areas where there is more water movement. But as I said last month, it's an early morning event and I typically skip them over in favor of tarpon. So not much to report in terms of catching because I haven't been looking.
June openings are pretty limited with only 9 dates available as of today. Call now to reserve a date as June is usually a fully booked month. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.
May 09 - Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River, Ponce Inlet Area
The spring bait run is fully underway on the coastal waters of Central Florida. I'm ready to leave behind the windy April we just had and welcome the warm wind-free days of May. Redfish are still providing the most consistent bite; right now is a great time to catch that trophy size 20-40lb redfish. But we are still fishing plenty of large schools of smaller 3-10lb redfish too. Loads of speckled trout are scattered throughout the lagoon and we are catching some gators and and getting shots at trout upwards of 10-12lbs. Tarpon are a lot more active and the older juveniles (20-40lb) are kicking it into gear with the warmer water temps. Open dates for May are again limited, with approximately 10 dates left open. Read on for more details.
Redfish continue to provide the most consistent action. We are sight fishing trophy size redfish between 15-40lbs nearly every day. April yielded some gigantic redfish caught with a few fish topping the 30lb mark. One young angler set a new best aboard my boat for Mosquito Lagoon redfish with a huge bull red that weighed between 45-50lbs. Once we broke the fish free from the school, we got towed about 3/4 of a mile away! There is good action for these trophy size reds in both the Mosquito Lagoon and North Indian River. If sight casting a trophy redfish is on your list to do, now is the time to do it. We are also finding several schools of smaller 3-10lb redfish up on the super shallow flats. There are several schools of 200-300 redfish still sticking together. But most of the others have broken up into smaller pods of 10-25-50-75 fish. Most of the redfish have been picky over the past month when it comes to taking an artificial lure, but we're catching fish on soft plastic jerkbaits, swim baits, and suspending plugs. When they start refusing lures we break out the pinfish or mullet and they won't pass that up. Fly fishermen have fared much better lately when tricking them into eating. Seaducers, bendbacks, and ep baitfish patterns have been my top producers and we got some quality fish in April on fly.
We are seeing loads of Speckled Trout...everywhere! With the spring bait run fully underway these trout are gorging themselves in between spawn periods. You could catch 50+ trout a day by working the edges of flats, but most are all 10-20" trout with the occasional bigger fish. It takes a trout over 5lbs to get me excited. There's more than a few world class trout swimming around these parts, and we are getting a couple sight casting shots a day at trout over 10lbs. Without a doubt live mullet are producing some great blow-ups and catches. Suspending plugs and soft plastic jerkbaits are our choice when blind casting or sight casting.
My Tarpon fishing is getting better with each passing day. Older juveniles (20-40lb class) are up and moving around. Tides are a critical factor when tarpon fishing, more so during the early spring. I know all the best stretches around for any tide phase, and on the right tide set-ups I am finding decent early spring numbers. I jumped two 20lb fish during the past week on one of my favorite jigs. We're also getting some shots on fly. I've got tarpon in several places now at different times of the day, so we're right on the cusp of all day, every day tarpon fishing. When the water warms a couple more degrees things will really start to take off for these bigger juvies. In about 2 months (July) the first migrating adult tarpon will start showing up inshore.
Not much to report on snook for my May report. They are definitely out and biting...but like every spring and summer, I end up skipping over them in favor of other preferred targets. Docks and deep shorelines along the way will be where the best action is.
I still have available dates in May coming off two fully booked months. Only about 10 dates remaining though so call soon to reserve a date. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.
Redfish continue to provide the most consistent action. We are sight fishing trophy size redfish between 15-40lbs nearly every day. April yielded some gigantic redfish caught with a few fish topping the 30lb mark. One young angler set a new best aboard my boat for Mosquito Lagoon redfish with a huge bull red that weighed between 45-50lbs. Once we broke the fish free from the school, we got towed about 3/4 of a mile away! There is good action for these trophy size reds in both the Mosquito Lagoon and North Indian River. If sight casting a trophy redfish is on your list to do, now is the time to do it. We are also finding several schools of smaller 3-10lb redfish up on the super shallow flats. There are several schools of 200-300 redfish still sticking together. But most of the others have broken up into smaller pods of 10-25-50-75 fish. Most of the redfish have been picky over the past month when it comes to taking an artificial lure, but we're catching fish on soft plastic jerkbaits, swim baits, and suspending plugs. When they start refusing lures we break out the pinfish or mullet and they won't pass that up. Fly fishermen have fared much better lately when tricking them into eating. Seaducers, bendbacks, and ep baitfish patterns have been my top producers and we got some quality fish in April on fly.
We are seeing loads of Speckled Trout...everywhere! With the spring bait run fully underway these trout are gorging themselves in between spawn periods. You could catch 50+ trout a day by working the edges of flats, but most are all 10-20" trout with the occasional bigger fish. It takes a trout over 5lbs to get me excited. There's more than a few world class trout swimming around these parts, and we are getting a couple sight casting shots a day at trout over 10lbs. Without a doubt live mullet are producing some great blow-ups and catches. Suspending plugs and soft plastic jerkbaits are our choice when blind casting or sight casting.
My Tarpon fishing is getting better with each passing day. Older juveniles (20-40lb class) are up and moving around. Tides are a critical factor when tarpon fishing, more so during the early spring. I know all the best stretches around for any tide phase, and on the right tide set-ups I am finding decent early spring numbers. I jumped two 20lb fish during the past week on one of my favorite jigs. We're also getting some shots on fly. I've got tarpon in several places now at different times of the day, so we're right on the cusp of all day, every day tarpon fishing. When the water warms a couple more degrees things will really start to take off for these bigger juvies. In about 2 months (July) the first migrating adult tarpon will start showing up inshore.
Not much to report on snook for my May report. They are definitely out and biting...but like every spring and summer, I end up skipping over them in favor of other preferred targets. Docks and deep shorelines along the way will be where the best action is.
I still have available dates in May coming off two fully booked months. Only about 10 dates remaining though so call soon to reserve a date. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.
April 09 - Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River, Ponce Inlet Area
Citrus trees in full bloom, white butterflies in the air, and glass minnow and mullet are filling the area waters...April has arrived in Florida! We are just wrapping up a fully booked March and the fishing was pretty great. Trophy size redfish in the 20-40lb range dominated the best action, followed closely by trophy size speckled trout from 4-10lbs. Black drum schools are everywhere in both lagoons, snook have broken free from their winter hiding spots, and tarpon are up and moving in various locations. Spring tides are always higher and that combined with a persistent south wind has brought water levels considerably higher than the dramatic winter lows. A warmer than normal March has also kick started the beginning stages of the spring bait run and the fish definitely shifted their preferred food source. Open dates for April are limited, with less than 10 open dates remaining.
Redfish continue to be the dominant action here on Florida's Space Coast. The only change from the previous couple months is the size we are catching. There are many schools of GIANT redfish up and moving in both the Mosquito Lagoon and North Indian River Lagoon. Most of the schools currently contain anywhere from 50-150 fish in the 15-40lb range. The bite has been fairly consistent lately and we landed quite a few trophy size redfish in March around 20lbs, a few over 30lbs, and two that pushed the 40lb mark. This action will only get better over the next couple months as the fish start to move around and prepare for their annual spawn cycle. Higher water levels have helped break up many of the schools of smaller redfish (3-10lbs) up on the flats. When the schools disperse we begin to target singles, doubles and small pods tailing up in the shallow grass. The warmer water in the New Smyrna Beach area also has redfish moving back up to the oyster bars so there are a variety of areas to target smaller redfish. The best action is being found using bait, soft plastics and lures that resemble minnows, mullet or pinfish. Fly anglers are finding success on redfish using bendbacks, ep minnows, spoon flies, and bunny patterns.
Spotted Sea Trout would have to currently rank as the second best bite. The warmer weather and water temperatures have really turned up the action and loads of trout are working the available bait pods. More importantly they are letting their guard down and biting well as they look to replenish lost body weight coming out of the winter. This all day action for trophy size trout will stay consistent into May. Plugs, soft plastics, and live mullet are the ticket. We caught two gator trout over 29 inches during the past couple weeks (upwards of 9lbs) and also landed many fish in the 4-7lb range.
It's almost time for the bigger juvenile Tarpon to turn it up a notch. Right now we are settling for catching 1-5lb babies in a few locations I fish around New Smyrna Beach. These fish are actively taking DOA shrimp, 3-4" minnow plastics, or flies that resemble either of those. I have a few areas that lately are showing 10-30lb fish, but the action is still to slow to merit taking clients there, a quick roll here and there just to let you know they are there. As the water temps work their way up to a consistent 75 degrees these fish will start to eat more frequently and allow us to pick off a fish or two. Tarpon spin rods and fly rods are rigged and ready for the bigger juvies, it's just a matter of time.
Sticking with the theme of warmer water temps turning on the action, the Snook bite has picked up in several areas from New Smyrna Beach down into Mosquito Lagoon. The fish are on the move from their wintering areas towards Ponce Inlet before they head out onto the beaches to spawn this summer. Docks and deep shorelines along the way will be where the best action is. Lately we've been hitting snook spots during the first hour or so of the morning before moving on to redfish and trout once the sun is up. The average size fish is anywhere from 1-5lbs. Topwater plugs and suspending/diving plugs are the choice for working tight to mangrove shorelines. Jigs, DOA plastic shrimp and bucktails are the choice for docks and bridges.
Black drum schools are still everywhere, but the bigger fish are moving off the flats into deeper water. The schools are a little smaller than the last couple months, but there are still 200+ fish in each. I located one roaming groups out in deeper water one day and found they were all 8-15lb fish. We hit them in passing a few different days and caught several fish around 10lbs and one big one that was approx 17lbs. Shrimp, cut crabs, and cut clams are the best bait. They will also readily eat a fly.
March was a fully booked month and April dates have been reserved well in advance. I have less than 10 openings remaining for April and expect another fully booked month. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.
Redfish continue to be the dominant action here on Florida's Space Coast. The only change from the previous couple months is the size we are catching. There are many schools of GIANT redfish up and moving in both the Mosquito Lagoon and North Indian River Lagoon. Most of the schools currently contain anywhere from 50-150 fish in the 15-40lb range. The bite has been fairly consistent lately and we landed quite a few trophy size redfish in March around 20lbs, a few over 30lbs, and two that pushed the 40lb mark. This action will only get better over the next couple months as the fish start to move around and prepare for their annual spawn cycle. Higher water levels have helped break up many of the schools of smaller redfish (3-10lbs) up on the flats. When the schools disperse we begin to target singles, doubles and small pods tailing up in the shallow grass. The warmer water in the New Smyrna Beach area also has redfish moving back up to the oyster bars so there are a variety of areas to target smaller redfish. The best action is being found using bait, soft plastics and lures that resemble minnows, mullet or pinfish. Fly anglers are finding success on redfish using bendbacks, ep minnows, spoon flies, and bunny patterns.
Spotted Sea Trout would have to currently rank as the second best bite. The warmer weather and water temperatures have really turned up the action and loads of trout are working the available bait pods. More importantly they are letting their guard down and biting well as they look to replenish lost body weight coming out of the winter. This all day action for trophy size trout will stay consistent into May. Plugs, soft plastics, and live mullet are the ticket. We caught two gator trout over 29 inches during the past couple weeks (upwards of 9lbs) and also landed many fish in the 4-7lb range.
It's almost time for the bigger juvenile Tarpon to turn it up a notch. Right now we are settling for catching 1-5lb babies in a few locations I fish around New Smyrna Beach. These fish are actively taking DOA shrimp, 3-4" minnow plastics, or flies that resemble either of those. I have a few areas that lately are showing 10-30lb fish, but the action is still to slow to merit taking clients there, a quick roll here and there just to let you know they are there. As the water temps work their way up to a consistent 75 degrees these fish will start to eat more frequently and allow us to pick off a fish or two. Tarpon spin rods and fly rods are rigged and ready for the bigger juvies, it's just a matter of time.
Sticking with the theme of warmer water temps turning on the action, the Snook bite has picked up in several areas from New Smyrna Beach down into Mosquito Lagoon. The fish are on the move from their wintering areas towards Ponce Inlet before they head out onto the beaches to spawn this summer. Docks and deep shorelines along the way will be where the best action is. Lately we've been hitting snook spots during the first hour or so of the morning before moving on to redfish and trout once the sun is up. The average size fish is anywhere from 1-5lbs. Topwater plugs and suspending/diving plugs are the choice for working tight to mangrove shorelines. Jigs, DOA plastic shrimp and bucktails are the choice for docks and bridges.
Black drum schools are still everywhere, but the bigger fish are moving off the flats into deeper water. The schools are a little smaller than the last couple months, but there are still 200+ fish in each. I located one roaming groups out in deeper water one day and found they were all 8-15lb fish. We hit them in passing a few different days and caught several fish around 10lbs and one big one that was approx 17lbs. Shrimp, cut crabs, and cut clams are the best bait. They will also readily eat a fly.
March was a fully booked month and April dates have been reserved well in advance. I have less than 10 openings remaining for April and expect another fully booked month. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.
March 09 - Mosquito Lagoon, New Smyrna, Ponce Inlet Backcountry
It's March and despite some fairly good fishing, I'm quite happy to be leaving February behind. Winter struck hard in February, bringing very cold weather and gusty winds for much of the month. During the middle of the month we experienced a hard freeze, and with it my main concern as a snook fisherman happened with a major cold weather fish kill. Despite the lackluster weather, it was a busy month of charters and fishing. Water levels are still pretty low, the water is still crystal clear, and it's still great action for sight fishing schools of fish. Fly fisherman are still seeing excellent shots for redfish and trout, two anglers even caught their first redfish on fly with me during the month. Tarpon are also getting a little more frisky. Our light tackle catch numbers slowed a bit from previous months; we're still posting double digit days on most outings, however it's down from the epic 30-40 fish days we were having.
The Redfish bite has definitely been the most consistent opportunity over the past month. The schools are holding tight to deeper water just adjacent to the way too shallow flats. Most of the schools I have been fishing have anywhere between 50-300 fish in the school. We've been ranging throughout the Mosquito Lagoon and New Smyrna Beach backcountry and diligent work has generally kept us away from the crowds still fishing spots that once were hot long ago. We're still catching double digits on most day we specifically target redfish with most fish ranging between 4-12lbs. DOA shrimp and a Mirrolure plug have been my two most productive artificial lures, but most days it's taken a live shrimp to find a consistent bite. The windy weather limited how much time I spent looking for GIANT redfish in the 20-40lb range. There are several schools now up and moving on the edges of the flats in Mosquito Lagoon and the North Indian River, but we need decent weather or it's not really been worth the effort. We caught two that were around 18lbs over the past two weeks when we got a slight wind break. Fly anglers are having good success on redfish as of late. Longer leaders and delicate (but accurate) presentations are key. I had the pleasure of guiding two anglers to their first redfish on fly over the past month. The flies of choice lately have either been a kwan, ep crab, clouser minnow, or borski slider.
Just as the Snook action was about to explode, everything went terribly wrong. Two nights of 26 degree weather dropped water temperatures into the low 40's and we experienced a major cold weather snook kill, erasing 8 years of progress (the last one was back in 2001). Snook around here can tolerate 50 degree water temperatures for short periods of time, however we saw two days where the water temperatures barely made it to 50 degrees. Thousands of snook ended up dying in the Ponce Inlet backcountry. I found 20 fish dead that were over 40 inches (upwards of 30lbs), too many to count that were 30-40 inches (10-20lbs). The good news is it wasn't a total loss. I explored every nook and cranny I could around Ponce, New Smyrna Beach, and down into Mosquito Lagoon and found a few areas that are holding fish that survived. The water has warmed back up and the fish are now more active. Some of these active snook shorelines are nearer my preferred redfish and trout stomping grounds which limits the drive distance. Catching is starting to improve and during the past week I had a day where we caught 8 over the span of a couple hours with a few fish over 26 inches. A few clients got to put snook in the boat recently, but we are way off the numbers we were seeing and catching at the end of January. Snook fishing for right now will be something we add to the day instead of our exclusive target. Mirrolure mirrodines, DOA shrimp, and small paddle-tail plastics are the main choices for lures.
Spotted Sea Trout also continue to provide good targets when prowling the flats in Mosquito Lagoon. The trout are moving up shallow during the morning hours to warm up in the sand spots. As the bait concentrations increase over the next month the bite will really begin to pick up. Historically looking back, late April, May and early June are when we catch the biggest fish of the year as these giants fill their belly on the arriving baitfish and increase in body weight. I caught several four to six pound trout recently, but it's a tough task sight casting trout in shallow water for everyone else. The redfish bite has been much better and consistent, but trout make a great add-on once we get enough of catching reds in the Lagoons.
Tarpon are getting more active, especially over the past two weeks. The problem with tarpon fishing right now though is it's only a one or two day event every couple of weeks. It takes several days after a cold front to get the tarpon up and moving, by that time another cold front seems to be knocking at the door and it shuts them back down. So by the time the water warms up, there is only one day that might produce. Regardless, I have found a couple sections of water that have a few dozen active tarpon from 10-25lbs when the timing is right. The bridge I mentioned last month now has a few fish working it at night too. So they are starting to move around. I had one bite this past week, broke the fish off quickly there after. I expect the opportunities to increase as we work our way through March.
Another change of pace fish is Black Drum. Everyone else seems to know about the 5 main schools in the Mosquito Lagoon and North Indian River. At anytime the schools may hold 500 or more fish, but they will splinter into several groups of 100 or so after catching a few. They are relatively easy to catch if you're using the right baits. I'd rather fish other things first, saving these for later in the day if necessary. Judging by my pictures, catching 8-12lb redfish has been more of a priority.
March is almost fully booked, with limited dates still open. I look forward to fishing with you soon…
386-212-4931.
Recent client catch photos can be found on my website...
www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm
The Redfish bite has definitely been the most consistent opportunity over the past month. The schools are holding tight to deeper water just adjacent to the way too shallow flats. Most of the schools I have been fishing have anywhere between 50-300 fish in the school. We've been ranging throughout the Mosquito Lagoon and New Smyrna Beach backcountry and diligent work has generally kept us away from the crowds still fishing spots that once were hot long ago. We're still catching double digits on most day we specifically target redfish with most fish ranging between 4-12lbs. DOA shrimp and a Mirrolure plug have been my two most productive artificial lures, but most days it's taken a live shrimp to find a consistent bite. The windy weather limited how much time I spent looking for GIANT redfish in the 20-40lb range. There are several schools now up and moving on the edges of the flats in Mosquito Lagoon and the North Indian River, but we need decent weather or it's not really been worth the effort. We caught two that were around 18lbs over the past two weeks when we got a slight wind break. Fly anglers are having good success on redfish as of late. Longer leaders and delicate (but accurate) presentations are key. I had the pleasure of guiding two anglers to their first redfish on fly over the past month. The flies of choice lately have either been a kwan, ep crab, clouser minnow, or borski slider.
Just as the Snook action was about to explode, everything went terribly wrong. Two nights of 26 degree weather dropped water temperatures into the low 40's and we experienced a major cold weather snook kill, erasing 8 years of progress (the last one was back in 2001). Snook around here can tolerate 50 degree water temperatures for short periods of time, however we saw two days where the water temperatures barely made it to 50 degrees. Thousands of snook ended up dying in the Ponce Inlet backcountry. I found 20 fish dead that were over 40 inches (upwards of 30lbs), too many to count that were 30-40 inches (10-20lbs). The good news is it wasn't a total loss. I explored every nook and cranny I could around Ponce, New Smyrna Beach, and down into Mosquito Lagoon and found a few areas that are holding fish that survived. The water has warmed back up and the fish are now more active. Some of these active snook shorelines are nearer my preferred redfish and trout stomping grounds which limits the drive distance. Catching is starting to improve and during the past week I had a day where we caught 8 over the span of a couple hours with a few fish over 26 inches. A few clients got to put snook in the boat recently, but we are way off the numbers we were seeing and catching at the end of January. Snook fishing for right now will be something we add to the day instead of our exclusive target. Mirrolure mirrodines, DOA shrimp, and small paddle-tail plastics are the main choices for lures.
Spotted Sea Trout also continue to provide good targets when prowling the flats in Mosquito Lagoon. The trout are moving up shallow during the morning hours to warm up in the sand spots. As the bait concentrations increase over the next month the bite will really begin to pick up. Historically looking back, late April, May and early June are when we catch the biggest fish of the year as these giants fill their belly on the arriving baitfish and increase in body weight. I caught several four to six pound trout recently, but it's a tough task sight casting trout in shallow water for everyone else. The redfish bite has been much better and consistent, but trout make a great add-on once we get enough of catching reds in the Lagoons.
Tarpon are getting more active, especially over the past two weeks. The problem with tarpon fishing right now though is it's only a one or two day event every couple of weeks. It takes several days after a cold front to get the tarpon up and moving, by that time another cold front seems to be knocking at the door and it shuts them back down. So by the time the water warms up, there is only one day that might produce. Regardless, I have found a couple sections of water that have a few dozen active tarpon from 10-25lbs when the timing is right. The bridge I mentioned last month now has a few fish working it at night too. So they are starting to move around. I had one bite this past week, broke the fish off quickly there after. I expect the opportunities to increase as we work our way through March.
Another change of pace fish is Black Drum. Everyone else seems to know about the 5 main schools in the Mosquito Lagoon and North Indian River. At anytime the schools may hold 500 or more fish, but they will splinter into several groups of 100 or so after catching a few. They are relatively easy to catch if you're using the right baits. I'd rather fish other things first, saving these for later in the day if necessary. Judging by my pictures, catching 8-12lb redfish has been more of a priority.
March is almost fully booked, with limited dates still open. I look forward to fishing with you soon…
386-212-4931.
Recent client catch photos can be found on my website...
www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm
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