Your September 2013 Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing Report
Published: Sun, 09/01/13
| Newsletter Issue # 49 Fishing Forecast |
September 1, 2013 | ||||
Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing | |||||
Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River
In the Mosquito Lagoon, live pigfish, shrimp and mud minnows are the best producers right now for larger sea trout. Catches of 30 to 70 fish per day are being reported by guides using live pigfish freelined on a large Khale hook. Once you locate a school, stop and fish the area thoroughly until the school moves on. The two to four pound sea trout can now be found in the 2 to 5 foot depths, especially along the channel drop-offs. Storm wild eye swim baits and topwater plugs without rattles in them seem to be the best artificial baits to use on calm mornings, overcast days and close to dusk. I fish Chug Bugs on a regular basis and have found that the rattles sometimes spook fish in very shallow water. I have found that a fresh water model Chug Bug
The saltwater assassin 5-inch soft jerk bait shad in the Golden Bream color is also working well on well on most days.
I have become a firm believer and use Pro-Cure Super Gel Slot size redfish are hitting both live and cut baits in the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon flats.
Fish your baits in the one to two foot flats around schools of mullet earlier in the day and in deeper water as the day progresses. The slot redfish have been averaging two to five pounds. If you are after the big bruisers, oversize redfish have been holding around the inlets and are being caught by boat anglers drifting live baits on the outgoing tides.
Jetty fishermen have been catching oversize reds on XRap 14s and on 4" to 6" Storm swimbaits. The oversize reds are averaging around 40" with some larger fish in the mix.
Snook are being caught in both lagoons around the docks, in the shallows around the mangroves and at ambush points along the bridges in low light conditions and in the evening hours.
A variety of lures and live baits will work well on these acrobatic fish. Along with ladyfish and tarpon, snook are great jumpers and fun to catch when they are in our neighborhood.
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Near Offshore Fishing The King Mackerel are following schools of pogies and mullet up and down our near shore beaches.
Right now, the best areas to find them are the troughs north of the false cape and the stretch south from Satellite Beach to Sebastian Inlet. Kayak fishermen find these fish eager to please as you can see by the pic below.  You should be able to get a hookup if you slow troll live pogies or mullet on a wire stinger rig. These September kingfish are running 25 to 40 pounds. In concert with the FWC carcass recovery program, a red snapper mini season was opened up this past weekend. The red snapper tournament out of Blue Points Marina at Port Canaveral produced some very nice red snapper up to 26 pounds.  In general the bottom fishing from Ponce Inlet south has been superb for black sea bass,triggerfish, red snapper, permit and others. Squid, frozen sardines, and tinker mackerel were some of the top producing baits that anglers fished during the red snapper mini season last weekend. Some nice grouper and cobia are also showing up at the Port Canaveral docks. On the days when there is a good supply of baitfish in the water; you will be able to find tripletail, snook, tarpon, snapper and other near shore species around the mouth of the Port. Sebastian Inlet
 OFFSHORE:Over this past weekend there were good catches of most bottom species reported and if the weather holds, good fishing should continue through September. Offshore anglers have been making nice catches of mangrove snapper, gag grouper, sea bass, and triggerfish.
INSHORE:
Inshore fishermen at the Sebastian jetties are making nice catches of Snook and redfish on the outgoing tides using live baits and jigs. This activity usually increase as we move farther into the fall mullet run over the next three weeks.
During the incoming tides along the beaches surf fishermen are catching some nice whiting, pompano and permit on shrimp, sand fleas and live crab.
Some nice sheepshead are also being caught by anglers using fiddler crabs and sand fleas. ________________________
PONCE INLET
 OFFSHORE:Although the mini season for red snapper is now closed, the bite is still pretty good for the species. Red snapper are found side by side with mangrove snapper and triggerfish on the 65 to 120-foot reefs, and farther out on the 22 and 28 Fathom ridges where anglers are fishing for gag grouper.
Use live baits or frozen squid for all of these bottom species.
If you move in closer to the near-shore waters from about the 25-foot mark out to around the 75-foot mark around the bait pods; you can find tarpon, shark, king mackerel, bonito and an occasional cobia.
INSHORE: Right now the mangrove snapper bite is hot. They can be found around almost any piece of structure in the river and inlet rocks, bridge pilings, docks and oyster bars. Fish for them with live shrimp or small baitfish.
You can find redfish, black drum, trout and some flounder around the area bridges along with Snook if you are using live pinfish, mullet or pogies.
Night fishermen who are fishing around structure and the dock lights are taking tarpon and snook in good numbers.
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Haulover Canal
Haulover Canal is still hot for black drum, redfish and mangrove snapper.
 Most of the area bridges and causeways right now have black drum around them, as do the deeper sections of all our lagoons and especially the deeper waters of Haulover Canal.
Black Drum in the 5 to 25 pound range are being caught by boat anglers on a consistent basis.
Pieces of cut crab, cut clams or a large jumbo shrimp on a standard bottom rig is the best method used by the guys fishing the mouth of the canal.
For oversize redfish the best baits to use inside the canal is jumbo live shrimp, pinfish, cut ladyfish or a fresh crab.
Live shrimp is a good all round bait for black drum, mangrove snapper, sea trout and reds but you have to put up with a lot of bait stealers.
If you're still trying to catch one of those "bull" redfish that cruise Haulover Canal from the bank, try a live pinfish, finger mullet or blue crab rigged on a 5/0 vmc circle hook
Till Next Month, Good Fishing & Tight Lines To You All! | |||||
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