November 2015 - Ponce Inlet, New Smyrna, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

November has arrived. We’re in the midst of a strong mullet run and fishing the transition between summer to fall. Everything is eating on the fall bait run; it’s been a great bite for redfish, some big trout, and some snook. One thing is for sure…days after a major weather change (rapidly cooling water or heavy rain accumulations) bite activity can be epic! Water levels are still considerably high in which is normal for this time of year. 

We’ve been targeting Mosquito Lagoon Redfish around sand spots on grass flats where there are large concentrations of baitfish. Most of our catching right now is on live mullet. But this is a good time of year for spoons, soft plastic jerk baits, and plugs. Most days recently we caught at least 10-20 redfish per day. On slower days we are still managing 4-7 to the boat. At Ponce Inlet bull redfish continue to school up for a late fall spawn. Drifting the ICW near and in the Inlet with live mullet, crabs or pinfish can produce a few redfish over 20 pounds. 

November is when we typically start catching more big Speckled Trout in Mosquito Lagoon and the North Indian River Lagoon. Cooler water temperatures and massive amounts of migrating mullet have the big trophy trout willing to stay actively eating on the flats throughout the day. Free lining a live mullet in areas where they are concentrated lately has yielded a few big trout in the 4-7 pound range each day. This bite usually only gets better throughout the next couple months and there is usually a 10 pounder or two caught before year end. 

It’s been another phenomenal year for the Snook recovery. We’ve seen dozens of big snook laid up on shorelines and docks lately. All that means translate to having an epic snook bite later this fall and through the winter when the water cools off and schools them up by the hundreds. On days we snook fish in late November and December we will routinely catch 20-30 snook daily with a few in the 7-12 pound range. 

November and December provide some great fishing during the fall transition. I’ve got 10 days left open in November and 15 left open for December. The holidays are usually super busy so don’t wait too late to book. I take last second scheduling if I have open days. Call me at 386-212-4931 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…

Pictures can be found on my website...

http://www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm

New Smyrna Beach, Ponce Inlet, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report - Sept 2015

As we approach the end of September, we’ve been having the first few cold fronts of the fall. Water temperatures are dropping and the fall mullet run will be soon winding down. This is a major transition period for our inshore fish and bite activity can rapidly change into full blown feeding frenzies on a daily basis. For the next 6 weeks it’s going to be redfish and speckled trout day-to-day. Tarpon are moving out of the area into the Atlantic Ocean, snook are on the move towards their wintering areas, and flounder will begin moving into the backwaters again. Around major weather changes (rapidly cooling water or heavy rain accumulations) bite activity can be epic! 

Water levels are way up so fishing for Mosquito Lagoon Redfish has been great for singles and doubles cruising shorelines and schools tailing on shallow flats. In the Indian River Lagoon and at Ponce Inlet bull redfish have been schooling by the hundreds to spawn. It’s a great time of year to catch redfish on topwater plugs, spoons, or soft plastic jerk baits. Otherwise shrimp, cut mullet, or pigfish will guarantee bites. Some days we’ll catch a few, other days we’ll wear with close to 20. Most of this depends on weather for the day as major weather changes will trigger intense bite activity. After a recent major rain event we found a school of 200+ redfish in a tight ball tailing madly on a shallow grass flat. Another day where the water temp dropped 8-10 degrees had every fish on a shoreline slamming baitfish and crabs. Bull reds that are spawning will often eat whatever is thrown in front of them…plugs, spoons, and flies. Soon the spawn will be over and these big reds over 20 pounds will scatter widely and we’ll quit fishing for them till late winter. 

It’s been quite the bite lately for Speckled Trout in Mosquito Lagoon with lots of 18-22” fish being caught with higher water levels and increased bait activity. They know colder weather is on the way so it’s time for them to “get it while it’s good”. We’re still getting 15-25 trout a day working pigfish on drop offs in the Lagoon and flooded oyster mounds and drainages around New Smyrna Beach and Ponce Inlet. Several trips recently caught nearly 10 trout a day in the 3-5 pound range. As we get into November we’re gonna start to see the giant gator trout moving up shallow to lay in sand holes and sand sloughs for most of the day instead of retreating to deep water shortly after sunrise. Free lined mullet in these areas will be a great ticket to a speckled trout over 10 pounds. 

The last recent cold front dropped water temperatures into the mid 70’s and many of our inshore Tarpon quickly made their way to Ponce Inlet and just offshore along the beaches. We’ll still find some stragglers hanging out in the ICW chasing schools of big mullet but the best is likely over. Swim baits, jigs, and free-lined large mullet and pinfish will draw interest. If we can get some calmer winds and light seas there can be epic fishing in the ocean on bait pods. The smaller tarpon in the 5-10 pound range will be here through the winter and we can find consistent bites into November. 

Snook are still scattered but you can see them starting to get more concentrated with slightly cooler water temps. Over the next 6 weeks all these fish will be on the move to where they are going to spend the winter. Now we are catching some here and there on deep shorelines and docks. I’m a cold weather snook fan and do my best catching November through March. Judging by how many snook we saw this summer and the increasing sizes, later this fall is going to be one for the books with 10-15 pound snook. 

October and November can be awesome fishing during the fall transition. While many people are in the woods hunting or settling into school schedules they miss some great catching. I’ve got half of October still open and a bunch of days in November. I take last second scheduling if I have open days. Call me at 386-212-4931 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…

http://www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm

July 2015 - Indian River, Ponce Inlet Area, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Hard to believe how quickly summer is flying by. Kids will be going back to school in just over a month from now! June and July have been super busy and we’ve been catching a lot of fish. There has been a huge influx of tarpon that moved into the inshore waters during the past 2 weeks. In addition to tarpon, we’ve been catching dozens of trout each day to go along with several redfish. Everything is eating well with the big run of menhaden and mullet that have moved into the area. Provided we don’t have any major weather changes, things should stay pretty consistent till the end of August.

Gonna lead off with Tarpon because that’s been the biggest news lately. Very strong numbers of big adult fish have moved in through Ponce Inlet and pushed into New Smyrna Beach, Mosquito Lagoon, and North Indian River Lagoon. Most are in the 50-80 pound range. Haven’t seen this many around in a few years. The key is staying with their movements from day to day (and staying one step ahead of the people looking for them). This past week was great, with at least 2 fish hooked each morning we tried. I jumped one on fly tackle, the rest we got on lures. We got several great videos, maybe I’ll share after they’re gone for the year. The can move quite a bit from day to day, but if the weather stays consistent this should last till the end of August when they move back to the Atlantic Ocean.

The Redfish bite in the Mosquito Lagoon area has been pretty good lately. Super low water has the fish finning and waking on shallow grass flats near bait pods early in the morning before retreating to deeper holes when the sun gets high. We’ve been averaging 5-10 redfish each day. Pinfish, pigfish, shrimp and cut mullet have all been great producers. Topwater plugs, spoons, and jerk baits are working for lures. In the Indian River Lagoon it has been all about the big bull redfish getting ready to spawn the next two months. About the same average with 5-10 landed each day in the 20-40 pound range. Same baits are working and at times you can get them to eat a topwater plug.

In terms of fishing for Speckled Trout it’s been mostly smaller keeper size fish out on deeper edges. We’ve been catching 15-20 trout a day in the 12-22” range, with a few scattered big ones here and there over 5lbs. Had a good week during mid June where we caught a dozen fish in the 6-8 pound range. Maybe we just haven’t spent enough time targeting them with tarpon and big redfish biting well. Pigfish are the hot ticket for quality catching. Plugs and popping corks will get it done when throwing lures.

Picking up a Snook here and there lately but it’s they are so spread out it’s tough to predict or target. Can’t wait to see what this fall holds in terms of numbers of big slot fish. Still a couple big schools of Black Drum around as well in New Smyrna Beach and down in the Mosquito Lagoon. Don’t really put much time in them unless everything else is slow or we’ve got shrimp to burn for bait.

I’ve got 6 days left open in July. Only have about 12 days scheduled in August so I’ve got more flexibility on the calendar. I take last second scheduling if I have open days. Call me at 386-212-4931 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…

Check out my Report on my website to see pictures from past month...

http://www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm

June 2015 - Mosquito Lagoon, Ponce Inlet Area, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

June is here and summer vacations are getting under way. Summer months are packed full of charters and lots of fish catching. Summer bait fish like pigfish, croakers and pinfish are showing up well now. We’ve been busy catching lots of big bull redfish, some big speckled trout, snook, baby tarpon, and black drum. The Indian River Lagoon water clarity is still crystal clear in most places while the Mosquito Lagoon is a little dirtier which is normal for the summer. 

The best bite continues to be on big bull Redfish in the Indian River Lagoon. There are several schools of 50-100 trophy size redfish roaming in pre-spawn mode. With an abundance of clean water the sight fishing has been epic! These fish will form bigger schools around the full moon in the next 2-3 months and spawn in deep water. Catching continues to remain excellent, with numerous fish in the 20-40 pound range being landed on a daily basis. Mullet, pinfish, and crabs are live baits of choice and at times you can get them to eat a soft plastic, plugs, spoon or fly. Smaller redfish in the 5-10 pound range are mixed in with bait pods early in the morning on shallow grass flats in the Mosquito Lagoon. We’re doing well on cut bait, pinfish, and pigfish for live bait and soft plastics, spoons, and plugs for lures. By mid-late morning they’ve widely scattered and catching has gotten tougher. 

Big Speckled Trout in the 5-10+ pound range are roaming the shallows around mullet schools first thing in the morning in the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon. Live mullet are the ticket for some big bites, but pigfish and croakers on deep edges later in the day will produce a good mix of smaller keeper size fish and big ones over 5 pounds. Soft plastics and suspending plugs are the only thing you need for throwing lures. During the next few months trout produce the most catching per day with 15-25 fish landed being the norm. 

There are fair numbers of 20-40 pound Tarpon around the New Smyrna Beach with a few stretching down into the Mosquito Lagoon. Also fair numbers of 5-10 pound baby tarpon in the Indian River Lagoon. Either size are equally entertaining with lots of jumps and quick fights. Jigs and swimbaits do a great job for blind casting and sight casting to rolling fish. Live mullet and pinfish are top choices for live bait use. From now through the rest of the summer we will see more and more bigger adult tarpon moving into the area. Inshore numbers depend on ocean water temps with colder water pushing loads of them into the area backwaters. Warmer temps will keep them on bait pods along the beaches. 

There’s a few shorelines and docks in the New Smyrna Beach area holding good Snook up to 15lbs. It took 6 years to fully recover but there’s been loads of them around in 2015. We’ve even been catching them on flats mixed in with redfish and trout. Suspending plugs and DOA shrimp are top choices when throwing lures and live shrimp and pinfish are best choices for using live bait. The season closed on June 1st, so it’s catch and release the rest of the summer. Still seeing a couple places in Mosquito Lagoon holding a bunch of Black Drum in the 5-10 pound range. Haven’t really spent much time fishing for them unless everything else is super slow. 

Calendar is almost full booked for June. I’ve got 3 days left open at the end of the month. July is filling quick as well, but still have 15 days left available. But you might not want to wait till last minute as short notice is obviously tough to accommodate.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.

View my website to see photos from the past month...

http://www.floridasightfishing.com/report.htm