Capt. Nathaniel recently spent a day in the Mosquito Lagoon area with the Digital Editor for Salt Water Sportsman magazine. The article was just published along with a short video. Check it out!
http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/mosquito-lagoon-fishing/seeing-red?src=SOC&dom=fb
Saturday, December 21, 2013
December 2013 - Ponce Inlet Area and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report
Just a couple weeks left in 2013! Everyone always asks when is the best time to fish here? Well, that time is upon us. The next two months produce the most numbers of fish caught per day. 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. Passing cold fronts push fish into predictable spots. As water levels drop, it condenses them even further. Our main targets this time of year are redfish, speckled trout, black drum and snook. Sight fishing is possible in much of the Mosquito Lagoon and backwater creeks around the Ponce Inlet area with clean, clear water. Things are a bit dirtier in the North Indian River Lagoon but that area should clean up over the next month or so.
Redfish fishing has been good in the Mosquito Lagoon and along creek shorelines in areas near Ponce Inlet. As water levels fall over the next few weeks and colder weather becomes more consistent, we will find our famed schools of 100-300 redfish around these areas. Lately we’ve been finding numerous small groups of 5-20 redfish tailing on shallow grass flats and holding on oyster bars. Catching has been getting more consistent each week with most days getting 5-10 redfish to the boat. Live shrimp, mullet, and cut crab have been good live bait options. When throwing lures we’ve done well with Aqua Dream spoons, small swimbaits, and DOA shrimp. Expect catching to increase dramatically as we approach the first of the year with many days seeing 10-25 redfish to the boat.
From now through the spring it doesn’t get any better for catching monster trophy Speckled Trout. We’ll see dozens of big trout this time of year, with several in the 8-10+lb range. These big trout are moving from deeper edges up onto shallow flats to lay up in potholes in the shallows of the Lagoons and in the shallow sand shelfs in the creeks around Ponce Inlet. A live finger mullet is the best chance to score on these trophy size trout. Sometimes we can get them on small soft plastics, swimbaits, and suspending plugs, but it’s often tough sledding with limited catching throwing lures.
Snook fishing is good and looks to be the best year since the freeze we had in 2009. Most of our catching is with fish in the 12-25” range. It hasn’t gotten cold enough to push them into their deep winter time holes, but they seem to be loaded up on deep edges near or adjacent to those areas. I spent one day this week checking one area...we landed 6 snook up to 24” with a few more shaking free and several others rolling on a lure but missing. Snook fishing for us is at it’s peak from now through the first part of March. We catch them on DOA shrimp, small swimbaits, Mirrolure plugs, and live shrimp.
A few schools of Black Drum have shown up on the shallow flats in Mosquito Lagoon. More will continue to show up as we get closer to their early spring spawn. They are considerably easy to catch; shrimp, cut crabs, as well as lures that imitate those will work. We should see some really big ones around 20+lbs show up after the first of the year.
I have a few dates left for December. January has been booking quickly so I only have about half the month left open. If you want to take advantage of some of our best catching of the year during the next 2 months, be sure to get on the calendar now. Short notice trips are available if I have the date open. Call or email to secure a date. Read my fishing charter page to view the top reasons why you should book your trip with me today. I look forward to fishing with you soon…386-212-4931.
Check out the 2013 slideshow with 60 of the best photos from the year!
2013 IFA Redfish Tour - Florida East Team of Year
Capt. Nathaniel Lemmon and his teammate Capt Patrick Rood took 1st place for the Florida East Coast Division Team of Year in 2013. The team started off the IFA season in April taking a 5th place finish in Jacksonville with 12.44lbs out of a field of 75 boats. They next competed in Titusville, FL taking a 14th place finish with 9.44lbs among 76 boats. They wrapped up the year competing in the IFA Championship in Houma, Louisiana. They held 7th place after day 1, but finished in 22nd place after day 2 with a total weight of 30.60lbs among a field of 86 teams from around the country. The three tournaments put them in first place for the Florida East Division Team of Year standings.
November 2013 - New Smyrna, Ponce Inlet, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report
Sorry for a delay in my monthly report, I spent over a week recently in Houma, Louisiana fishing the Redfish Tour championship. Finished the 2 day tourney in 22nd place out of 86 boats, falling from 7th place on day 1. But did win Team of Year for our division. Epic fishing in the marsh and bayou's in Houma. Saw thousands of redfish and caught hundreds up to 25lbs. Can't wait to go back again nexst year.
Back home, we're just a few days away from Thanksgiving and we’re stuck in a transition between fall and winter in the coastal waters of Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River Lagoon and the Ponce Inlet area. Cold fronts are making a more regular appearance. The water clarity is exceptional on the flats in the Lagoons and the creeks near the Inlet. Fish are starting to group up into winter schools. The only thing holding the fishing back from “epic catching” is the high water levels. As the wind continues to shift to more of a north and west orientation those water levels will drop. Our targets through the rest of the year will be primarily redfish. Added opportunities for giant speckled trout laid up in the shallows, flounder over shallow sand bottom, and snook in deep backcountry creeks and holes.
Redfish have for the most part completed their annual spawning and scattered widely. So it’s on sightcasting schools and small pods over shallow grass flats in Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River Lagoon. Most of these fish range from 4-10lbs and they feasting on shrimp, crabs, and finger mullet. Soft plastic shad style jerkbaits, spoons, and topwater plugs are all producing for us. The obvious choice for live bait has been cut finger mullet, shrimp and cut crabs. Since bites can be less noticeable this time of year, I prefer to use live baits on Lazer Sharp 4/0 circle hooks (L197BKU). Fish are still fairly scattered as the day wears on so catching has been a bit limited. Some days it’s a few, other days it’s 10 or more. As we get into December (and water levels drop) catching will take off with 10 or more being the norm and days of 20-30+ not out of the question.
From now through the spring it doesn’t get any better for catching monster trophy Speckled Trout. As the water temps continue to get colder, these big trout in the 4-15lb range move their way from the deeper edges up onto shallow flats to lay up in potholes in the shallows of the Lagoons and in the shallow sand shelfs in the creeks around Ponce Inlet. We’ll see dozens of big trout this time of year, with several in the 8-10+lb range. They can be a big lethargic during the winter months but if you’re patient with them the reward is the trout of a lifetime. Live bait like finger mullet are a must have if you want the best chance. Although we’ll occasionally catch some trophy trout on soft plastics and suspending plugs. I’m already seeing a lot of big trout and during the past week we caught a 10lb trout on a plug and a couple others in the 27-28” range on live bait. And it’s only going to get better! Giant trout are my favorite thing to target and my Trout Photo Gallery speaks for itself on the quality of fish we catch.
It’s been a surprising year for Snook, with many small juvenile fish in the 12-20” range moving around in the tidal areas right now. They’re on the move because they are headed to areas they plan to spend the rest of the winter when cold settles in for good. Before the big freeze in 2009, I used to spend many days during Dec-Feb targeting winter time snook and it looks like I’ll be able to get back to that this year.Flounder too are starting to move around quite a bit, heading out of creeks towards the ICW and on towards the Inlet. Jigs tipped with shrimp, mud minnows, and live mullet will produce for us around creeks mouths on outgoing tides.
November was slammed with a lot of charters. December and January dates are now starting to fill up too. If you want to take advantage of some of our best catching of the year during the next 2 months, be sure to get on the calendar now. 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...
October Fishing Report - Indian River, Mosquito Lagoon, New Smyrna Fishing Report
October brings fall to Central Florida. The first cold fronts start to dip into our area and we say good bye to 90 degree weather and hello to low 60’s in the morning. That means it’s time to break out the light jackets for the cool morning boat rides. Fall also means one thing...fall bait run! It’s on in a major way during the past 2 weeks. Thousands of big mullet are moving out of the lagoons and towards the Ponce Inlet where they will make their way down the coast. Finger mullet are piled up in the creeks and muddy backwaters. Redfish, speckled trout, tarpon, snook, sharks, flounder, jack crevalle and more are all waiting on them around every point, oyster bar, creek mouth and Inlet where they gorge themselves before they thin out and become scarce when it gets cold.
~ Note ~ Because of the federal gov’t closure, much of the Mosquito Lagoon and a few areas in the North Indian River Lagoon are closed because they are national parks. However, this is a non-issue for me or my charters because we haven’t been fishing there much during the past month. Frankly, fishing is better elsewhere anyways. So it’s business as usual.
Redfish of the trophy variety (over 20lbs) have been piled up at Ponce Inlet for their annual spawn cycle. Same goes for the the North Indian River Lagoon. Catching can be insane this time of year for big bulls in the NIRL as they will eat just about anything thrown at them, you just need some decent weather to find them in deep open water. At Ponce Inlet it’s deep jigging or live baiting the jetties and ICW. In the backwaters smaller redfish around 4-10lbs are cruising mangrove shorelines and staged up on flooded oyster bars. Live mullet, pigfish, and pinfish are producing well, as well as lipless crankbaits, soft plastics, and topwater plugs. Soft plastics work well on Lazer Sharp 4/0 weighted EWG worm hooks (L092G-8).
Giant Tarpon are everywhere inshore and just offshore along the beaches. In the ICW they are scattered throughout New Smyrna and at Ponce Inlet. Along the beaches they are stacked on bait pods and around shrimp boats. In the ocean most of them are well over 100lbs. This is the time of year when it gets tougher to get out there though, I need light winds and no more than 2-3’ seas. We’re living on borrowed time fishing tarpon in October. First hard cold front that hits and they will quickly vanish and make their way south. Smaller juveniles in the 5-20lb range will stick around through the winter but become lethargic and inconsistent. Live mullet, pinfish, pigfish draw most attention, but swimbaits and large surface plugs work too.
Best action for Speckled Trout is around oyster bars and ledges on the outgoing tides. Pigfish and live mullet haven’t lasted long in the water. Topwater plugs and shallow twitch baits have down well too. Most of the fish are in the 15-20” range with a few upwards of 6-7lbs. We just haven’t put as muc time into them because we’ve been working on the redfish and tarpon instead.
Only have 7 days left open in October. Got a bunch of open dates in November which is when we see more schooling redfish and big trout in the shallows again. 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...
September 2013 - Mosquito Lagoon, New Smyrna, Ponce Inlet Fishing Report
It’s September and we’re quickly approaching the fall fishing season in Florida. The annual bait run down the coast has been in full swing lately and within the next few weeks we’ll see the first cold fronts dropping into our area. Catching over the past month continues to be consistent and very good. Higher water levels has smaller 5-10lb redfish pushed way up in the shallow grass flats in Mosquito Lagoon or on top of oyster bars in creeks near the Inlet. GIANT bull redfish over 20lbs are schooled up in spawning groups in the channels, ICW, and Ponce Inlet. Speckled trout are shadowing schools of mullet in the 3-5’ deeper creeks, channels, and sloughs. Loads of tarpon are in the ICW and on the beaches shadowing migrating mullet. Around docks, bridges, and sea walls are loads of jack crevalle, ladyfish and the occasional snook. All of these things will stay the same for the next month until the cold fronts start and the bait run winds down.
The Redfish bite continues to be very good with lots of oversize redfish in the 10-20+lb range. Bigger bull redfish are schooling in the ICW around Ponce Inlet and in the deeper basins in the Indian River Lagoon. Many of them run in the 15-30lb range, with the occasional giant redfish over 35lbs. Two weeks ago my son caught his personal best redfish, a beast over 50lbs. Smaller redfish in the Lagoons are tailing way up on the shallow grass flats. In areas close to Ponce Inlet they have been laid up on top of flooded oysters. Topwater plugs, spoons, and soft plastics all are working when sight casting. Live pigfish, mullet, shrimp and cut baits have been catching numerous redfish too. When using cut baits I use a Lazer Sharp 4/0 or 5/0 circle hook (L197-BKU). On slow days we’ve caught a few redfish, but on most trips it’s been about 7-10 redfish per day.
Clean water and a huge influx of finger mullet continues to keep the the Speckled Trout bite on fire. We’ve been crushing them on pigfish and live mullet to the tune of at least 15-20 trout on shell beds and ledges along channels, creeks, and open bays in the 3-5’ depths. Still catching fair numbers of big gator trout with a bunch in the 4-5lb range with a few up to 8lbs. Shallow crank baits and soft plastics on 1/4oz Slayer jigs are producing bites when throwing lures. But the best bite is still using pigfish. We’re free-lining pigfish unweighted on a Lazer Sharp 4/0 kahle hook (L142F).
Tarpon are thick again around Ponce Inlet and down through the ICW into the Edgewater/Oak Hill area. A warm up in ocean temps, however, has them piled up along the beaches shadowing bait pods as they migrate south. Many of them are bigger fish in the 50-100lb range. Tarpon will be here through the end of the month...once the cold fronts start though they will disappear almost instantly for the rest of the year. Live mullet and pinfish work well free-lined or suspended under corks. Otherwise it’s swimbaits and jigs run near the bottom.
Only a handful of dates left open in September. Bunch of good dates open in October. If you want to take advantage of red hot summer fishing don’t wait till the last minute to set something up. 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...
August 2013 - New Smyrna, Ponce Inlet, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report
Rolling right into August which means hot summer days and the beginnings of an annual fall bait run. To say the fishing hasn’t been epic for the last 6 weeks would be an understatement...and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. We continue to average 7-15 redfish and 15-20 speckled trout per day fishing with live bait and some lures. Big bull redfish in the 20-40lb range are schooling in areas near Ponce Inlet and in the Indian River Lagoon near Titusville. There are a bunch of tarpon around Ponce Inlet and throughout the ICW down into Mosquito Lagoon. Water clarity has consistently improved each week and we’ve been doing a bunch of sight casting on open grass flats in the Lagoons and shorelines and around oyster beds in tidal creeks around Edgewater, New Smyrna, and Port Orange. Also in those tidal areas we’re finding trout, jacks, as well as some snook and flounder around docks. The inshore fishing is about as good as it gets right now, so give me a call to reserve a spot for yourself.
The Redfish has been fantastic over the past month. They are piled up in and around bait pods, tailing over shallow grass flats, or cruising shorelines and bars in tidal creeks. These fish all range from 4-12lbs. Bigger bull redfish are schooling in the ICW around Ponce Inlet and in the deeper basins in the Indian River Lagoon. Many of them run in the 15-30lb range, with the occasional giant redfish over 35lbs. The annual summer algae bloom has been dramatically reduced and water clarity has really cleared up allowing for sight casting with spoons, lures and flies. The bite has been best, however, on live pigfish, pinfish and croakers. I rig my summer live baits on Lazer Sharp 3/0 and 4/0 Kahle hooks (L142F). We’ve averaged 7-15 redfish a day over the past 6 weeks and it’s not slowing down.
The Speckled Trout bite continues to be fantastic with cleaner water and the return of lots of finger mullet. We’ve been crushing them on pigfish and live mullet to the tune of at least 15-20 trout a day along drop offs and ledges, many in the 3-4’ depths. We’d catch even more if we brought more live bait or spent more time fishing for them. During the past month we caught a lot of big gator trout too..., a bunch of 3-5lb’s, close to ten 6-7lb’rs, a couple 8’s and one 9lb’r. If we throw lures, topwater plugs and shallow crank baits have worked around bait pods if it’s not too grassy. Otherwise weedless jigs and soft plastic swimbaits have produced. I rig my weedless soft plastics on a Lazer Sharp 4/0 weighted EWG worm hooks (L092G-8).
Tarpon are thick once again around Ponce Inlet and throughout the ICW from New Smyrna down into Mosquito Lagoon. Cooler ocean water has kept many of them in the backwaters instead of out on the beaches. Many of them are bigger fish in the 50-100lb range. Only downside lately is the water clarity in the river has made it tough for them to see jigs and swimbaits we’ve been throwing. Live mullet and pinfish work well free-lined or suspended under corks. Tarpon will be around for the next two months shadowing bait pods before the first cold fronts of the year push through around the 1st week of October.
First part of August is booked solid but have dates open during the last 2 weeks. Dates are quickly filling for September. If you want to take advantage of red hot summer fishing don’t wait till the last minute to set something up. 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.
Check out pictures from past month on my website...
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