Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing

The bait of choice right now is shrimp in almost any form.  Live shrimp, fresh dead shrimp, and even "stinky" old re-frozen shrimp have been producing reds and black drum on a regular basis. 

In the Mosquito Lagoon, targeting potholes with live shrimp, jerk baits, DOA type shrimp imitations and shrimp or crab flies should be productive for sea trout and an occasional redfish.

The Tiger Shoals area near the middle of the Mosquito Lagoon, and Whale Tail to the south, is always fished pretty hard by the guides but the redfish schools are there and should continue to grow in numbers.

The water clarity in the Mosquito Lagoon right now is excellent for sight casting and it should improve as winter moves in. 

As of last week, redfish and spotted sea trout are still shadowing the finger mullet schools when you can find them. Most of the big redfish are homing in on live mullet and taking live or cut baits.  The sight casters in the lagoons are doing just fine using live shrimp for bait or DOA shrimp and soft plastic jerkbaits.

The winter months are good fishing for world class spotted sea trout and weakfish in East Central Florida.  Sight casters will get a shot at some of the really big gator trout that hole up in the sandy pot holes during the cold snaps, and January is historically one of the best times of the year for sight casting to these 8 to 11 pound fish.

The fish this time of the year are spooky, so stealth approaches and long casts with smaller diameter lines are the norm. 

The Peacocks Pocket and Catfish Creek areas in the north Indian River have been holding small schools of Black Drum that cruise close to shore near dusk. 

 

The bait of choice for Black Drum is a live or peeled dead shrimp right on the bottom.  I've caught them on white Zmann jerkbaits smeared with Pro-Cure, white hair jigs and occasionally on a small cut bait, but shrimp is definitely the "go to" bait for drum.

 

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Playalinda Beach and Jetties

Playalinda Beach surf fishing should be picking up this month when the cold fronts start to move through our area and news of the Pompano bite begins to spread among surf fishermen. 

 

For the most part, especially during the week and until the Pompano bite heats up, surf fishermen will have an entire stretch of beach to themselves.

During the past few weeks when conditions were favorable, surf fishing has been good to excellent along Florida's Space Coast.  

 

Local surf fishermen have been hooking up with whiting and pompano at Playalinda Beach, from parking lots #8  thru #11, and sometimes #4. 

South of the Cocoa Beach Pier the surf fishermen are beginning to bring in some nice size Pomps on sand fleas, clam strips and peeled shrimp.

 

A good time to fish for Pompano is just after a low tide, preferably at first light.  Get out on the beach early and toss your baits into the deeper troughs between the sandbars. 

 

Like the fish below,  Pompano in our area have been running between 2 and 3 pounds with an occasional catch in the 4 pound category.

 

 

 

Playalinda Beach surf fishermen have also been catching bluefish just after first light until the mid morning hours.  Cut baits, live finger mullet and silver spoons have been the main producers.

 

To trigger more strikes, use a fast retrieve when fishing silver spoons in the surf.  Most of the bluefish that are being caught are typically under 18" in length but on light tackle they are scrappy fighters.

 

Inside Port Canaveral and around inshore structure, black drum, snapper and sheepshead have been hitting pretty regularly. 

 

Fiddler crabs and small jigs tipped with a small piece of peeled shrimp are the baits of choice for tasty sheepshead.

 

The sheepshead that are being caught around the Jetties in Port Canaveral right now are running well over the minimum legal length of 12 inches. 

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Near Offshore and Offshore

 

Due to the fish closures, bottom fishing out of Port Canaveral will be limited to mostly Amberjack.

 

The water temperatures offshore have been in the low 70's and as long as they remain in that range, we can also expect to see a lot of King Mackerel in the fish boxes.

The Kingfish have arrived off of Port Canaveral in mass, but they are running much smaller than what we normally catch this time of the year.  

The good thing about smaller kingfish being in the area, is that they become food for Wahoo, Blackfin Tuna, Sailfish, etc.  

Wahoo in the 40 pound range and decent numbers of sailfish, blackfin tuna and dolphin are also being caught offshore this past month and as long as water temperatures stay in the low 70s, the fishing should continue into January.

Fishing live baits will get you faster action and larger fish but if trolling is your bag, and you start near inshore by the kingfish fleet, be prepared to eat up plenty of ballyhoo baits.

Because of the closures, bottom fishing will drive you crazy. 

 

You can still keep Amberjack, but the red snapper and gag grouper that you have to release will drive you nuts.

 

Gag grouper up to 20 pounds and Amberjack up to the 50 pounds range have been hitting live baits on the 180 to 240 foot reefs and some Cobia should still be holding on the near shore wrecks from 90 to 150 feet.

Offshore fishermen slow trolling the reefs this January should be getting their share of king mackerel as well as a few sailfish. 

The flounder migration at Sebastian Inlet is pretty much over and done with, but a few nice flounder will remain around the Inlet throughout the winter.  

 

Haulover Canal fishing in January is always good for Redfish and big Black Drum.

 

You can usually find them cruising through the deeper water in the canal between the North Indian River and the Mosquito Lagoon. 

 

Fish the mouth of the canal in the direction that the current is moving with your bait on the bottom.

 

A prime bait for big reds and Black Drum in the canal is a blue crab split in half, with its legs and top removed, and placed on a 5/0 hook with a four foot length of 40 pound fluorocarbon leader.   

 

Jumbo shrimp, large cut baits, or a live pinfish or croaker on a 5/0 or 6/0 hook are also good alternate baits during the winter.

 

If you hook into a giant drum, you will need at least 60# Power Pro or other braid to keep the fish off the coquina outcroppings.

 

Shrimping also cranks up in the Haulover Canal during the winter months, so don't be surprised to see sport shrimpers anchoring along the banks starting at dusk.

 

When the weather cools down, the shrimping reportedly gets better, so January should be a good month to dust off your shrimp lights and nets.

 

Until next time,

Tight Lines and a Happy New Year to All!