December 2012 Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River Lagoon, New Smyrna Beach Fishing

About time to put a wrap on 2012 and welcome in 2013. Colder weather has been a mainstay over the past 2-3 weeks. Regardless of weather, fishing is always good in Florida. In fact, the colder the better this time of year (extreme cold weather typically yields days with insane numbers of caught fish). December and January are generally the best “catching” months of the year. We generally average anywhere from 10-40 fish per day, and around the hard cold snaps, we’ll see days of 50-100 fish. As of late, water temperatures have coolded considerably and it has turned the water really clear in much of the region I fish. Sight fishing is really good and we are seeing schools of 25-50 redfish on a regular basis as well as numerous giant gator trout laid up in the shallows. Water levels are average for this time of year, so the huge schools of fish haven’t yet formed. We’re also seeing a few schools of black drum and finding increasing numbers of flounder in shallow sandy areas. Fair numbers of snook are starting to move into the remote backwaters, which means we might have some decent fishing for them this winter following a few very, very lean years after the last big freeze. 

Redfish fishing has been excellent as of late. Fishing for redfish will be good throughout the Mosquito Lagoon, North Indian River Lagoon and the creeks near Ponce Inlet. We’re finding small schools singles/doubles scattered over shallow grass flats on warmer days and on creek edges/holes around cold snaps. Average days lately have ranged from 5-15+ redfish. Shrimp and live mullet are top live bait choices. Lures like Aqua Dream spoons, soft plastic swimbaits, plugs, and DOA shrimp have also worked well. Fly fisherman have found success using a redfish blossom or a slider pattern. 

It’s also time for some of the best Speckled Trout fishing of the year. Not in terms of catching great numbers, but in terms of catching giant gator trout approaching 10lb’s or better. Colder weather moves these giant trout into the shallow waters to warm up as well as follow baitfish. This is one of the best times of year for sight casting 8-10lbr’s, a world class fish. We’ve caught several trout in the 4-7lb range over the past couple weeks, and have had chances at some giants up to 12lbs. Live shrimp and mullet, DOA shrimp, and lightweight soft plastic jerkbaits are all great tools for big trout. Only problem is these fish are extremely wary and a big on the lethargic side so catching can be tough at times. 

A few schools of Black Drum are showing up on the shallow flats. More and more will continue to show up as we get closer to their spring spawn. They are considerably easy to catch; shrimp, cut crabs, as well as lures that imitate those will work. Flounder action continues to be good in the backwaters of Oak Hill, Edgewater, and New Smyna Beach. Creek mouths, sand bars, docks and sea walls along the ICW and adjacent to it will hold the majority of fish. Fair nubers of Snook are moving into the remote backwaters to ride out the colder winter months. Numbers are still way off what they used to be before the last big freeze, but we might have some decent fishing for them over the next few months. 

I have open dates in December and January, but things always get busy around the holidays. Don’t forget these next couple months can be the best catching months of the year. As always short notice trips are available if I have the date open. Call or email to secure a reservation. Read my fishing charter page to view the top reasons why you should book your trip with me today. Read my fishing report archive to review write-ups from the past several years. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.

November 2012 Mosquito Lagoon, New Smyrna, Ponce Inlet Area

Hard to believe that it’s already November and the end of the calendar year is only weeks away. Tomorrow is Election Day and that typically means the fall bait run is nearly over. It’s been rather cool lately and the water temperatures dropped to a low of 59 degrees last week. They are now remaining constant at 65-70 degrees and that’s a range that usually equals a fantastic bite...which is exactly what it has been. Crystal clear water clarity and higher water tables are providing excellent sight fishing conditions. Lots of Redfish, and Speckled Trout, as well as increasing numbers of Flounder are being caught daily using lures, fly and live bait. We’ve been catching numerous fish primarily fishing the New Smyrna Beach/Edgewater area and all of the Mosquito Lagoon. Check out my new fishing rig I’m now running charters out of on a daily basis....BT Vengeance


If you like fishing for big trophy sized Speckled Trout, now is one of the prized months of the year. Colder water conditions thin out baitfish and push monster trout up into the shallows to find food and lay up to warm themselves. The Mosquito Lagoon and North Indian River Lagoon will have the best action. I’ve seen several trout over the 10lb mark lately, and dozens of others in the 26-30” range (5-9lb). We’re sight casting most of the time with artificials and fly, but in low light hours we’re whacking them on live mullet. We’ve had no problems catching trout up to 5lbs, with some being caught up to 7lbs within the past week. The colder it gets the more finnicky they will respond to lures as ultra clear water tends to rein in their aggressiveness, but it will bring the big ones into the shallows in good numbers and they will still there all day.


Redfish are taking advantage of all the high water levels and are working the flooded marshes, shorelines, oyster mounds and big grass flats. Lately with the colder water they have been laid up in the shallows around potholes and sand sloughs in super numbers. Catching has been ridiculously easy on lures, fly or live bait and with the crystal clear water, sight fishing has been phenomenal. Again, we’ve been doing a lot of sight casting with a variety of lures, but whacking them with live mullet and shrimp too. Catching 20-30 redfish per day has been expected lately as opposed to wishing. We were also catching great numbers of GIANT bull redfish up until this last front, haven’t checked to see if any are still hanging around. We were getting at least a few each day over 20lbs, with a big redfish of 45+lbs 10 days ago. The great thing about this region is the redfish action never slows, it’s great 12 months out of the year. In fact, it’s only going to get better from now through the winter as water levels drop, condensing fish into massive schools.


The Flounder action is really heating up as many of these fish begin to migrate into our backwaters. They have been shadowing the scores of mullet moving through the creeks and channels. We’ll be catching them on live bait and soft plastics rigged on jigheads. Some of the biggest flounder of the year will be caught from now through the end of November. Good numbers of Bluefish and Jack Crevalle are in the ICW around New Smyrna Beach. Docks, shorelines, and seawalls fished with live bait and/or jigs and plugs have caught numerous blues and jacks. Some small schools of Black Drum are popping up on shallow mud flats. They will be routinely caught from now through April.


This November is going to go down as one of the best ever witht he current conditions and expectations that it stays as consistent as forecasted. Don’t miss out on this transition month of fishing. Plenty of good dates open the rest of this month and December. As always short notice trips are available if I have the date open. Call or email to secure a reservation. Read my fishing charter page to view the top reasons why you should book your trip with me today. Read my fishing report archive to review write-ups from the past several years. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.

October 2012 Mosquito Lagoon, New Smyrna, Ponce Inlet Area

Fall has arrived as October is welcomed to Florida’s Space Coast. Morning and daytime temperatures are a little cooler now days, but more importantly, October has FLOODED our waters with massive amounts of mullet as the fall bait run hits its peak. The fishing has been excellent over the past few weeks. After a summer of dirty water conditions, clean water is everywhere allowing for great sight fishing conditions. Redfish have started forming into small schools of 10-30 fish and giant trophy bull redfish have formed into large schools at Ponce Inlet and the Indian River Lagoon. Speckled trout have been shadowing bait pods and redfish schools, and big gator trout have been laid up in sand spots and “finning” in shallow grass in the Mosquito Lagoon. Flounder are moving in great numbers in the Edgewater and New Smyrna Beach area. Tarpon numbers have thinned dramatically and we’ve likely seen the end of action for them. There’s no secret to our fishing this time of year...find the areas full of baitfish and our target gamefish have been right there with them.


I just picked up a new boat and sold my old rig within the past week. I’m now guiding out of a Beavertail Vengeance rigged with a brand new 70hp Yamaha outboard. This boat is fast, stable, runs super shallow, and provides a really dry and comfortable ride. Come spend a day with me and check it out.


The Redfish bite has been considerably strong. We’ve been averaging anywhere from 5-15 redfish per day lately...all depends on how long we want to specifically target them. The Mosquito Lagoon is full of fish cruising shorelines and schools tailing on shallow grass flats. The New Smyrna Beach/Edgewater area has seen a lot of fish patrolling mangrove edges and oyster bars. Around Ponce Inlet and the North Indian River Lagoon, giant trophy bull redfish over 20lbs have formed into large schools for their last spawning month of the year. Clean water has returned to the entire area and sight fishing has been really good. Anglers throwing artificial lures, flies and live baits like shrimp or cut mullet have worked extremely well. The great thing about this region is the redfish action never slows, it’s great 12 months out of the year. In fact, it’s only going to get better from now through the winter as schools get bigger and our daily catch numbers will increase to 20+ redfish per day.


We’ve been finding a lot of Speckled Trout lately as they gorge themselves on the mass movement of mullet through our area. Giant gator trout in the 25-30” range have been roaming shallow water early then retreating to deeper edges once the sun gets high. As the water continues to cool off, they will stay in the shallows longer and “lay up” in potholes in the grass flats of both the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon. Pigfish, our go to live bait, are still around and they are producing strong catching numbers as we average 15-25 trout per day. Most days have seen us get at least 1-2 trout over 4lbs...with more than a few fish over the past month in the 6-8lb range. Lure anglers have done well throwing crank baits, suspending plugs, and soft plastic jerkbaits. Fly anglers have also scored on several trout lately using shrimp patterns.


The Flounder action is really heating up as many of these fish begin to migrate towards Ponce Inlet. They have been shadowing the scores of mullet moving through the creeks and channels. The first cold front of the year will really set things off. We’ve caught several flounder over the past month on live bait and soft plastics rigged on jigheads bounced around creek mouths, oyster bars and docks along the ICW. Some of the biggest flounder of the year will be caught from now through the end of November. Loads of Jack Crevalle are in the ICW around New Smyrna Beach. They are chasing mullet schools down the channels and later in the day are hanging around docks, shorelines, and seawalls. Most of them are in the 15-20” range and there is a reason they are pound for pound the best fighting inshore fish around...they flat out pull hard regardless of size. Extremely fun to catch because they eat just about anything. Tarpon numbers have thinned dramatically since the beginning of the month. A few weeks ago there were hundreds of them moving through Mosquito Lagoon...lately it’s just been a couple fish here and there. Most have moved out Ponce Inlet and moved down the coastline. The first cold front of the year will move the remaining stragglers and all that will be left for the winter is smaller 5-20lb fish that don’t bite with much consistency.


October and November provide some great fishing and catching during the fall transition time. Don’t miss out on this transition month of fishing. Plenty of good dates open the rest of this month and November. As always short notice trips are available if I have the date open. Call or email to secure a reservation. Read my fishing charter page to view the top reasons why you should book your trip with me today. Read my fishing report archive to review write-ups from the past several years. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.

Sept '12 - Mosquito Lagoon, New Smryna Beach, Ponce Inlet Area

September equals the beginning of the fall transition in the Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River, and around Ponce Inlet. Cooler temperatures greet us to start the mornings and astronimical high tides raise water levels considerably. These two ingredients typically signal the fall bait run to start...and when it does fish feed aggressively before it’s gone. Lately, we have begun to see water clarity clear up considerably after dealing with extreme dirty water all summer. This allows us to do more sight fishing. The redfish and trout bite has been really strong over the past month. Giant trophy class bull reds are schooling to spawn in a couple different areas. We’re also finding pretty good numbers of tarpon, jack crevalle and a few flounder. September is going to be about the last month we are able to fish with pigfish and/or croakers for the year, soon they will all be too big to use and will migrate out of the area. The catching has been really good lately with several days of 10+ redfish and 15+ trout per day.

I fished two tournaments within the past month, both with my son. In the Skinny Water Redfish and Trout tournament we brought in the top total weight in the speckled trout division with nearly 10lbs for our two speckled trout. In the other, the CCA annual youth inshore tourney, I guided him to a overwhelming win. He took 1st place redfish (biggest in tourney), 1st place speckled trout (biggest trout in tourney), 2nd place Jack Crevalle, and 1st place Overrall Grand Prize for all age groups. 

The Redfish action has been the best thing going. Cleaner water has allowed for more sight casting and higher water levels have pushed the action to the shorelines, grass flats, and on top of oyster bars. We’re coming across numerous redfish in the 4-10lb range in these shallows, finding them in small schools, singles, and pairs. They’ve been eating best on soft plastic jerkbaits and shrimp, spoons, and plugs in addition to live shrimp, live mullet and pigfish. Bigger adult redfish have been on the move to Ponce Inlet and towards the Indian River to spawn. When you hit the right pattern, multiple fish are being caught over 25+lbs. The catching during the past week was really good, with most days producing 10+ redfish. This action should continue right on through the rest of the month.

The Speckled Trout bite continues to be good and consistent on a daily basis. Higher water levels moved most of the trout off of deeper edges and up into shallower waters where they are shadowing schools of finger mullet early in the morning. We’re still using pigfish for most of our trout catching, but with higher water levels we’re catching some big gators on live mullet now as well. The lure action has picked up with a return of cleaner water; soft plastic jerkbaits, topwater plugs, and crankbaits have all worked lately. Catching has been consistent, with most days producing 10-15 trout. During the past couple weeks we’ve caught numerous trout over 5lbs, with a couple big fish between 7-8lbs. 

Tarpon numbers have been strong in the ICW around Ponce Inlet, New Smyrna and down into the Mosquito Lagoon. Colder ocean waters have kept the tarpon action inshore and with the onset of the fall mullet run, most of these fish will hang around one more month feeding on the abundance of bait. Once the first cold front settles in later this month, most of the tarpon will leave the area, with only the resident juveniles sticking around for the coming winter. We’ll throw swimbaits, plugs, jigs and live bait to these since they are in 10-20’ of water. 

In addition to the above, we’re also finding loads of Jack Crevalle around Ponce Inlet and the ICW around New Smyrna Beach and Edgewater. Some days you’ll find them crashing bait fish on the surface, other days they are hanging 10’ deep. These fish will eat a variety of lures and live baits and provide constant catching action. The cleaner water has also helped the Flounder action. The first cold front of the year will also trigger a mass flounder migration towards Ponce Inlet and the catching will be steady. Some of the biggest fish of the year will be caught from now through November. 

Don’t miss out on this transition month of fishing. Only have about 12 days left open for the rest of September. October dates are starting to fill quickly as well. As always short notice trips are available if I have the date open. Call or email to secure a reservation. Read my fishing charter page to view the top reasons why you should book your trip with me today. Read my fishing report archive to review write-ups from the past several years. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.

Pictures from the past month can be found on my website...
http://www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm

July '12 - Mosquito Lagoon, New Smyrna Beach, Ponce Inlet Area

Happy Fourth of July to everyone! It won’t be long till summer is a faded memory as August is right around the corner. July fishing means any and everything is a potential opportunity. Speckled trout, redfish and flounder provide the most consistent fishing on a daily basis. There are also tarpon, jack crevalle, and small sharks around too. The only downside to fishing this time of year is daytime temperatures...it doesn’t affect the fishing that much, just wears on you being in the sunlight all day. My charters fishing with live bait are catching the majority of the fish. We’ve been averageing 15-20 speckled trout, 4-7 redfish, and a flounder or two each day. The best fishing for me has been in the tidal waters around New Smyrna Beach and Ponce Inlet where water temperatures are a lot cooler and it get multiple tide changes during the day. Things have also been good on sight fishing charters where we’ve gone down to Mosquito Lagoon and the North Indian River Lagoon. 

The Speckled Trout bite continues to put the most fish in the boat on a daily basis in the Mosquito Lagoon and the North Indian River Lagoon. That will continue right on through the summer. We are primarily fishing with live bait like pigfish, croakers and live shrimp to average 15-25+ trout per day. We could catch more, but if I don’t catch a trout over 3-4lbs within a few minutes at each stop I tend to move on to keep looking for a trophy fish. It was a great bite for big trout...we caught numerous trout in the 4-8lb range during the past month. When Tropical Storm Debby passed through recently it dropped water temperatures into the low 70’s and I saw hundreds of giant trout in the 7-12lb range up in the shallows. There has been a good plug and jig bite for those who like to throw lures, provided you can get away from the floating grass. We’re either fishing shallows early in the morning or deeper water once the sun gets high up over head. 

The Redfish bite has been fair to good. Water levels have been high which has kept redfish scattered. In tidal areas around Ponce Inlet and New Smyrna we’ve been catching our redfish around flooded oyster bars and mangroves. In the Mosquito Lagoon we’ve been catching 4-10lb redfish pitching lures and live baits into sand spots and the edges of sand sloughs. This is the time of year when big trophy bull redfish in the 20-40lb range school in the deeper portion of the North Indian River Lagoon for their annual spawn. When the conditions are right, sight casting is phenomenal and they’ll eat about anything you throw at them, including flies, plugs, spoons, soft plastics and live bait. 

Tarpon numbers thinned a bit as of late around the full moon, but there had been good numbers of them in both Lagoons, the ICW, and around Ponce Inlet. I’ve been seeing bigger fish in the 50-80lb range in the area recently in addition to some resident smaller 20-30lb fish. These tarpon will be around from now through the end of September and action typically peaks towards the last half of August and early part of September. Mullet and pinfish are preferred live baits and swimbaits, plugs, and DOA jigs are preferred lures. I also have a few areas where I find laid up and slow rolling tarpon we can sight cast with a fly rod. 

The Flounder bite for me seems to have stalled during the past week or two in the inshore backwaters. I was averaging one or two each day at least, but haven’t caught any since the tropical storm passed. Hopefully when water temperatures and conditions stabilize the bite will pick up again. Around the tidal creeks and channels around Ponce Inlet, New Smyrna Beach, and Edgewater we’re finding a lot of Jack Crevalle and some Bluefish. Most of these fish are under 5lbs. They are more by catch when we are fishing for other species than anything else, but they still provide some rod bending action. 

July will be extremely busy, I only have a few dates left open. August dates are also starting to fill up so don’t wait till last minute if you can. I do also run afternoon charters as well fishing with live pigfish and croakers. Call or email to secure a reservation. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.

Pictures from the past month can be found on my website.  http://www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm

June '12 - Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River and Ponce Inlet Fishing Report

Don’t blink now, in a few weeks, half of 2012 will have passed us by. Summer months mean everything’s a potential target...speckled trout, redfish, tarpon, flounder, jack crevalle, baby grouper, sharks and more. Whether you want to fish them with lures, live bait, and/or fly tackle, it’s all good and I welcome and enjoy them all. Water levels have been higher than normal for a couple months now, scattering fish over grass flats and oyster beds. Water clarity is still really clear in all of the Mosquito Lagoon and North Indian River Lagoon which allows for pristine sight casting. In the creeks and channels to the north near Ponce Inlet and Daytona Beach where we don’t sight fish, we are fishing the tidal areas with pigfish, croakers, and live shrimp catching numerous fish of varying species. Many people wrongly assume that the hot summer months lead to slow fishing, that’s far from the case. Most days we are catching fish throughout the day, providing afternoon rain showers don’t chase us home. 

The Speckled Trout bite has been great over the past month and that will continue throughout the summer. This year has been the best year for trout fishing since before the big freeze we had 4 years ago as there are numerous fish in the 20-30” range in our region again. We are catching most of our trout fishing with live baits like pigfish, croakers and finger mullet. It’s an extremely fun way to fish as we are actively fishing baits instead of sitting and waiting hours for bites. We routinely catch dozens of trout per day in the slot range of 15-20”, and generally a few each day in the 4-5lb+ range or better. We will also catch our share of trout, however, casting plugs, soft plastics and jigs for those that prefer using artificial lures. Fly anglers also find success sight casting laid up trout in sand spots on the flats in the Lagoons.

The best action for Redfish has been on the trophy size fish in the 15-40lb range. These GIANT bulls are forming into bigger schools each week in preperation of a summer spawning season in July and August in the Indian River Lagoon and Mosquito Lagoon and then again in September and October around Ponce Inlet. As this approaches these fish become much more aggressive eating plugs, soft plastics, and flies. On the shallow flats of the Mosquito Lagoon and in the creeks around New Smyrna Beach we’ll find lots of singles and small pods of smaller 5-10lb redfish. Depending on how much time we want to spend fishing for redfish, on an average day we’ll catch anywhere from 5-15 or more on a variety of live baits, lures and fly selections.

 Resident Tarpon in the 20-30lb range have been active and roaming for 2 months now. I’ve seen a lot of tarpon in both the Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River Lagoon, the main ICW, and around Ponce Inlet. Bigger adult migrating fish over 50lbs are shadowing bait pods out along the beach for the past couple weeks. Lately it’s been too breezy to spend much time fishing for them, however, they will be around for the next 4 months and conditions and fishable numbers will improve with each passing week. Mullet and pinfish are preferred live baits and swimbaits, plugs, and DOA jigs are preferred lures.

 The Flounder bite has been good as of late. We’ve been catching some on most days around New Smyrna, Ponce Inlet, and Port Orange. The outgoing tide in creeks and around oyster bars have been consistent producers as well as some docks along the main channels. Flounder fishing only picks up from here through the remainder of the year as these fish migrate towards the Inlet following bait pods. 

It’s been an extremly busy start to the year, matching the record year I had last year. Only a handful of dates left in June and July dates have been filling quickly. I do also run afternoon charters as well fishing with live pigfish and croakers. Call or email to secure a reservation. Read my fishing charter page to view the top reasons why you should book your trip with me today. Read my fishing report archive to review write-ups from the past several years. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.

 Check out my website to see some pictures from the past few weeks... http://www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm

March '12 - Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River, Ponce Inlet Area

March is here, but spring started a while ago. It’s been an amazingly warm winter and our fish have been on spring time mode for the past 2 months. Things this year have been running about a month ahead of schedule. Baitfish like finger mullet and pinfish are showing up everywhere, water temperatures have consistently been in the 70’s, and fish are fat and feeding well. Sight fishing is good in all areas from Ponce Inlet to Titusville. Redfish have broken up into smaller groups of 25-50-100 fish. Big speckled trout have been laid up in shallow sand spots on the flats and others are staged on deeper edges. Black drum are in big schools for their annual spring spawn. There’s no shortage of places to find any of the above species in the Mosquito Lagoon or the North Indian River Lagoon, it only depends on what your preference is or what you would like to target.

The Redfish bite has been really strong the last few weeks and where they are depends on the fluctuating water levels. Low water levels or falling tides have fish either staged on the edges of the flats and/or in deeper creeks/sloughs. On rising tides and/or high water levels redfish have been scattering into small pods over shallow grass flats or on top of oyster mounds/shell beds. We’ve been averaging around 10-15 redfish per day over the past 2 weeks. The hot ticket has been live finger mullet, but some days they’ve preferred live shrimp. Lure anglers have done pretty well casting Aqua Dream spoons, Mirrolure and Sebile suspending plugs and DOA shrimp. Fly anglers have done well with clouser minnows, spoon flies, and seaducers. spoon flies, worm patterns, and deceivers. Trophy size 15-30lb redfish in the Mosquito Lagoon and North IRL have begun schooling in deeper water adjacent to shallow flats. You still need really light winds and lots of sun to find them, those days will become more regular as we get into March and April.

Speckled Trout fishing has been phenomenal over the past few weeks. Typically we don’t see this type of action till Apri. Warm waters have triggered strong numbers of finger mullet to move into the shallows, cruising the creeks, flats, and channel edges. This annual showing of baitfish triggers the big gator trout to feed aggressively. We’ve really only been targeting the trophies, skipping quantity for quality. We’ve landed numerous trout in the 4-6lb range, as well as a few trophy fish in the 7-9lb range. Find areas holding these baitfish and trout will be on the perimeters. Live mullet are the hot ticket, free lined over sand spots, edges or around oyster bars. Lure anglers throwing soft plastic shad style jerkbaits and/or Mirrolure or Sebile suspending plugs have also caught a fair share of fish. Fly anglers have connected using clouser minnows and deceivers.

There are still several schools of Black Drum in the southern half of Mosquito Lagoon and the North Indian River Lagoon. These fish are all spawning during this time of year, and frankly they are about the easiest thing ever to catch. Many of the fish range from 5-25lbs, with a few larger fish upwards of 40-50lbs. Live shrimp and cut crabs almost never get refused. If you want to throw lures, dark colored jigs and soft plastic shrimp will produce bites. Fly anglers will have a good chance at scoring using black clouser minnows and black crab flies.

March is pretty much booked up with only one opening left. More, but limited, dates remaining in April. So book ASAP if you have a desire to fish the early spring months. As always short notice trips are available if I have the date open. Call or email to secure a reservation. Read my fishing charter page to view the top reasons why you should book your trip with me today. Read my fishing report archive to review write-ups from the past several years. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.

Pictures from the past month can be found on my website...http://www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm

February '12 - Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River, Ponce Inlet Area

It’s February, but you could hardly tell it from the very warm winter we’ve had thus far. Baitfish are still all over the flats, water temperatures have consistently been in the 70’s, and fish have been feeding agressively. The fishing between Daytona Beach and Cocoa Beach has been very strong. The sight fishing is really good in the tidal areas between Ponce Inlet and Oak Hill, sporting crystal clear water and schooling fish. schools of fish. We are catching lots of redfish, trout, and big black drum on the flats in the Mosquito Lagoon and North Indian River Lagoon, however, the water in those areas still hasn’t fully cleared and sight fishing is tough without perfect conditions. Regardless where we fish, we’ve been catching a lot of them.

Some great news from this past weekend was me capturing my first tournament win of 2012. After garnering five 2nd place finishes last year, it felt good to get a 1st place in the first event I entered this year. The HT Redfish Series came to town, hosting a qualifier open for their pro redfish series. Fishing with my teammate Capt. Paul Jueckstock, we took the win with 12.2lbs. We’re now qualified to fish their Pro Tour in 2012, and are currently looking for a major sponsor to make that happen. Contact me if interested in potential sponsorship opportunities.

The Redfish bite locally has good in all areas from Ponce Inlet to the extreme south end of Mosquito Lagoon. Low water levels have fish schooled up in great numbers on the edges of creeks, sloughs, and bars, and flats. In other areas you can find redfish tailing on the shallow grass flats. Lately we’ve been catching anywhere from 10-30 redfish per day. Lure anglers have done great casting Aqua Dream spoons, soft plastic jerkbaits, Mirrolure and Sebile suspending plugs and DOA shrimp. Live bait anglers have done well with mullet, pinfish, and mud minnows. Fly anglers have done well with spoon flies, worm patterns, and deceivers. We’re also starting to see our giant trophy 20-40lb redfish form into small groups/schools on the deeper flats/edges. You need perfect weather conditions to find them and have a chance, but this time of year those days are few and far between.

Speckled Trout fishing has been on and off again, depending on the prevailing weather patterns. We’ve done well catching smaller fish in the 12-23” range in good numbers in deeper sloughs, edges and creeks. Most of our huge gator trout in the 25-34” range have been laid up in over sand spots in super shallow water. Fishing for them has been tough, however, as they are ultra spooky in the crystal clear water. Conversely, the bite for smaller trout has been good in deeper water because they aren’t as put off my boats and birds. Live bait like finger mullet, mud minnows or live shrimp work quite well, as do lures like small crankbaits and soft plastics on jigs. Fly anglers will connect with clouser minnows, seaducers and deceivers.

There are numerous schools of Black Drum in the southern half of Mosquito Lagoon the North Indian River Lagoon, and the ICW in New Smyrna Beach. These fish are schooling in big numbers preparing for a spring spawn. Many of the fish range from 5-25lbs, with a few larger fish upwards of 40-50lbs. Getting them to bite is really easy, so when everything else is slow, they’ll put a pull on the line. Live shrimp and cut crabs work extremely well. If you want to throw lures, dark colored jigs and soft plastic shrimp will produce bites. Fly anglers will have a good chance at scoring using black clouser minnows and black crab flies. For a different change of pace, Bluefish are scattered throughout the ICW and creeks adjacent to Ponce Inlet. We’re still catching mostly schooly size fish in the 10-20” range. They aren’t picking on eating; diving plugs, crankbaits, spoons, and jigs will score on blues you come across blasting bait on the surface.

February is nearly fully booked, only 5 dates remaining. March is getting close to fully booked as well, with only 12 dates remaining. April bookings have also been going quick so book ASAP if you have a desire to fish the early spring months. As always short notice trips are available if I have the date open. Call or email to secure a reservation. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.

Pictures from the past month can be found on my website...
http://www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm

HT Redfish Series - Edgewater, FL (1st place)

Capt Nathaniel Lemmon teamed up with former ESPN Redfish Cup pro Capt. Paul Jueckstock (Port Orange, FL) to compete in the HT Redfish Series Icebreaker Open hosted out of Edgewater, FL in February 2012. The duo captured 1st place besting an 11 boat field with 12.2lbs. The tournament was a artificial lure only qualifier event to fish the HT Pro Redfish Series that travels around the Southeast US. "I laid out a good game plan on a few school of fish I found that had potential winning fish," said Capt. Lemmon. All teams were challenged mightly by the windy weather conditions and a winter fishing season dominated by 4-5lb redfish. "It's tough finding any 6lb+ redfish around here right now," Lemmon said. "To find and catch two 6lb fish took a lot of homework."

http://www.theredfishseries.com/