Your April 2011 Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing Report
Published: Fri, 04/01/11
| Newsletter Issue # 20 Fishing Forecast |
April 1, 2011 | |||||||
Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing | ||||||||
he Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River
Throughout the month of March, Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Fishing has been nothing short of excellent for Redfish and Black Drum schools that continue to roam the shallow water flats and back country bays.
In the Mosquito Lagoon, except for some windy days, the weather has been perfect and the sight fishing has been outstanding.
Most of the Redfish are still traveling in schools, however some flats are beginning to hold singles.
During March and into April, the fish will still be moving around quite a bit and a spot that may hold hundreds of fish today, may not hold any fish tomorrow.
 If you can find the right spots, you can easily catch dozens of Redfish. Casting is the key and the more accurate you cast to the fish, the more fish you will catch.During April, we can expect to see the water levels rising in both lagoons. This will bring foraging Redfish and black drum back into areas where they were previously unable to access. As the water temperatures continue to rise, the schools of finger mullet that have already begun to invade both of the lagoon systems will increase in numbers and will spark the beginning of some great top water fishing opportunities for wary "gator" sea trout and redfish on the flats. The fish will become more and more aggressive as their breeding activity commences. Excellent sight fishing conditions that we had throughout March will continue through April.
Live shrimp, live mullet and large fresh dead shrimp have been the baits of choice for consistent Redfish catches on light tackle. Sight fishing schools of Redfish using large shrimp on a circle hook or behind a jig head has been a guaranteed ticket for success throughout the past month. An alternative technique that will give you some very exciting and explosive hits, is to free line a live finger mullet within reach of the cruising Redfish schools. If you prefer fishing artificial lures like I do; try tossing a DOA bait buster, a 3" DOA CAL bait or GULP jerk shad to the schools. Gold or gold glitter on black, have been the most productive colors for those of us who prefer targeting the Redfish schools with soft plastic baits. A slow fished gold spoon will also trigger strikes and is always a great lure for blind casting to locate reds.  If you fish the deeper edges of the flats with shrimp or small blue crabs, you can expect a strong black drum bite. Most of the fish you catch will be in the 3-5 pound category, however you can't rule out one of the occasional 10 pound plus fish that prefer the deeper waters.
April is the unofficial start of spring "gator trout" fishing on the Indian River. As more mullet come into the river systems and the baitfish congregate and become more concentrated on the shallow flats; topwater chug bugs or rapala skitter walks should produce outstanding strikes early in the mornings when worked slowly around the bait pods. Fresh live mullet or shrimp are deadly to large seatrout in areas where you have 3-5 feet of water, along the edges of the flats. The Indian River has produced many world-record class sea trout and if catching a big Gator Trout is on your agenda, you should definitely consider fishing the flats North of Mims to Scotsmoor, Fl. at first light. Shiloh Marsh road is now open, however the reports of bull Redfish and large gator trout that we normally get this time of year in the area have been lacking because of the extremely low water levels
This time of year is excellent for fly fishermen using any pattern resembling a small crab.
 Black or olive colored crab patterns seem to work the best, but anything remotely resembling a crab will get you a tailing redfish, especially on the Mosquito Lagoon.Fly fishermen using Clouser minnows or patterns resembling a minnow, will do  well early in the mornings, later on in the evening, or anywhere that night lights bring in small bait fish. The residential docks and those around resturants in Titusville are seldom fished at night and some huge sea trout have been caught in these areas by fly fishermen and fishermen throwing topwater plugs.
I've been picking up slot sized sea trout using a variety of soft baits and gold spoons, but the large female gator trout that inhabit this area have evidently not yet started the spawn. Shrimping has been getting a bit better from the new fishing pier on the Indian River, but the locals are still saying that the run this year wasn't as good as previous years.
The other evening I visited the local shrimpers, to see if they were doing any better than last week, and the concession area on the fishing pier was loaded. People were having a party and parking underneath the newly constructed bridge and parking area was at a premium.
I tried a DOA jerkbait hoping for some trout and only got a couple of legal sized fish for my efforts. There were lots of under size trout in the area eating the shrimp. April is when you begin to see large pods of baitfish migrating along the beach.
This is when you can expect to catch Jacks, Bluefish and Spanish Mackerel in the surf using live bait, cut mullet, or if you prefer using artificial baits; a silver Krocodile spoon.
 The whiting bite should be hitting better as the waters warm up.  The St. John's River and Harris Chain fishing has been slow due to the strong west winds this past week. The St. Johns north flowing currents at times flowed south. This made fishing with shiners preferable to using artificial lures for most of the guides. Even with the strong west winds, bass in the 5 to 10 pound category are being caught. When the west winds finally die down and come in from the east, the local guides are predicting their normal 25 to 30 fish days.
The
St Johns River offers some of the best
fly fishing for largemouth Bass in
Central Florida.
During the Spring Shad
run on the St Johns River, you can find
these St Johns River Bass busting shad
on the main river channel. These schooling
bass will range in size from two to
eleven pounds.
The bass have already left the spawning areas on the St. Johns River and are now stacking up in the main river stuffing themselves with shad.
The Harris Chain artificial bite was reported to be
great last week with over 30 fish being caught in one day by flipping the Kissimmee Grass with a Green
Pumpkin Bitters Bat and a Bitters 5/16
oz rattle weight.
April and May are by far the best months for catching trophy size Florida bass with artificials in this area, especially with top water baits. ________________________ Near Offshore Fishing out of Port Canaveral should be killer as the water temperatures hit 68 to 70 degrees.
Cobia have been arriving throughout the month of March, and as the large Manta Rays continue moving closer inshore, they will be appearing in greater numbers than they are right now.
Right now Cobia are everywhere from just a couple of miles south of the port to way down south of Patrick A.F.B.
Start looking for Cobia just outside the port when you get to about 40 feet of water and slowly navigate south. There are some huge 50 pound plus fish out there that will pop up right in front of your boat when you least expect it.
Catch them using jigs, live bait, eels, or whatever you feel confident with.
Because Cobia generally shadow the large Manta Rays in singles or small pods, they can be easily sight cast to.
Kingfish, Tarpon, and Tripletail have also been coming in this month, and should continue increasing in in numbers throughout the month of April.
Kingfish and Tarpon will follow the bait pod migrations of pogies, mullet, and herring that move up and down the coast just offshore. Small boat owners have a good chance of hooking up with one of these battlers on light tackle when the seas are calm.
Port Canaveral Tripletail are being caught in good numbers around the marker buoys along the ship channel, around floating debris and seaweed.
These tasty "leaf fish" are very popular
 with small boaters and can be found throughout the month of April just outside the Port.They are relatively easy to catch with live or dead shrimp, small jigs, D.O.A. shrimp, or soft Creme plastic baits fished on light 8 to 10# line.
Tripletail are one of the best eating fish in the ocean and possibly my all time favorite.
Till Next Month, Good Fishing & Tight Lines To You All! | ||||||||
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