Your December 2010 Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing Forecast
Published: Wed, 12/01/10
| Newsletter Issue #16 Fishing Forecast |
December 1, 2010 | |||||||
Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing | ||||||||
osquito Lagoon December can be an awesome month to fish for giant redfish and sea trout on the Mosquito Lagoon flats.
Water levels in the Mosquito Lagoon have finally stabilized and the water clarity is much better than last month.
This will make for excellent sight fishing conditions on the flats that will continue throughout the cooler months and into the winter.
 Inshore, both redfish and sea trout will
remain in the skinny water as long as the water temperatures stay warm. Inshore fishing is best once the sun warms the water a bit, so sleep in
and enjoy a good cup of coffee before heading to the ramp.
Fish in
protected areas and sunny spots, and look for fish to be holding in sand
pockets until the sun gets overhead.
Also, now is also the time of
year to target tailing black drum in the Banana River Lagoon No Motor
Zone
Remember, sea trout are out of season from
November 1st through January 1st on Florida's east coast, so if you
catch one, please handle and release it with extreme care.
Indian River
November is when everybody starts thinking about Pompano. The surf fishermen at Playalinda Beach enjoy this fishery for most of the year, but starting  this month, Indian River fishermen will also have a good shot at catching these tasty game fish.The SR 406 bridge at Titusville, the Port Orange bridge, the two Melbourne Causeway bridges (US 192 and SR 518), the Wabasso Causeway Bridge (SR 510) and some other areas in the Indian River are all hot spots for pompano this month. The pompano congregate around the bridge pilings in deeper water and are best caught by boaters. However, they can also be caught from the bridges using almost any type of 1/4 to 3/8 oz. yellow or orange colored jig. Many Indian River pompano fishermen use tandem rigs, which are also extremely effective on light tackle.
Near Offshore And Offshore When the weather is nice and the seas are
fishable offshore, solid concentrations of kingfish will be holding on
the inshore reefs and wrecks in 60 to 100 feet of water. Several prime
locations to target December kingfish are the north end of Pelican Flats
and 8A reef out of Port Canaveral. The kingfish bite should remain
steady as long as water temperatures stay above 74 degrees.
When near-shore waters approach the
70-degree mark, start looking for cobia and tripletail along Port
Canaveral buoy line and the shallow waters just off the bight of the
Cape. These two species normally hold around floating structure, but
they also have a tendency to free swim once the water temperatures warms
up in the afternoon. Port Canaveral and Sebastian Inlets
 If the ocean conditions are a bit too
rough, good concentrations of breeder redfish will be holding in the
inlet passes of Ponce De Leon and Sebastian. Try drifting the passes
during the falling tide bouncing live pinfish off the bottom.
In the
Port Canaveral shipping channel, work the edges of the channel using the
same technique.
Remember these are oversize redfish, so please step up
the size of your tackle to lessen the stress of the fight, and release
them with extreme care to be caught again on another day.
Snook fishing will also remain steady around Sebastian Inlet as long as the water temperatures stay warm. It is best to target inlet snook during periods of slack tide fishing live pigfish, pinfish, or croakers at night in the channel under the A1A Bridge. Snook season ends
December 15th, so if you enjoy a snook dinner once in a while, don't
hesitate.
Another notable species worth mentioning when speaking of
inlet fishing is flounder. Depending on surf and lagoon temperatures,
the flounder migration can stretch into late December, with the larger stragglers
filtering through the passes all month and into Jan.
For flounder, a sliding sinker rig with at least 20# test for your main line and a very short 12 inch leader of at least 20# test will keep mullet or mud minnows on the bottom in the strike zone.  Haulover Canal fishing in December will remain constant for breeder redfish and black drum.With the cool weather conditions, you can expect to see more shrimpers lining the banks and entrance to the canal doing their thing.
The shrimp in the canal run much larger than their Northern cousins in the Intercoastal Waterway at Oak Hill.
So far this year, the shrimping has been extremely slow on the Max Brewer Causeway in Titusville.
The locals I spoke with are still waiting for a decent cold snap to spur the shrimp run.
Last year during this time of the year, most of the locals were netting jumbos in their 5 gallon buckets. This year, the shrimpers appear to be staying at home until the cold settles in.
_________________________
 Playalinda Beach surf fishermen will be primarily concentrating on Pompano when the weather cools down a bit more.If the winds are westerly, concentrate your
efforts along the beach, and look for pompano to begin moving off the
inshore flats to the deeper troughs along the beach.
Also look for
schools of bluefish and Spanish mackerel shadowing pods of glass minnows
and other bait is the surf.
To target both blues and Spanish, watch
for birds working bait pods, and through small jigs like the D.O.A
C.A.L. and spoons with a fast retrieval to avoid cutoffs.
_________________________
The sport shrimpers are beginning to congregate on the causeway bridge and the new Veterans Memorial Fishing Pier in Titusville. I hope to be passing along some reliable sport shrimping information to subscribers within the next couple of weeks if the weather continues to cool down.
Until then, Tight Lines To All! | ||||||||
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