Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River
Fishing on the in-shore lagoons will continue to show improvement this month.  

The predawn and late evening hours are the most productive times for catching big sea trout and larger redfish.

Look for small groups of redfish in the skinny water holding in the vicinity of bait pod concentrations and target them with the smaller size top-water plugs.  Storm's Chug Bug and Rapala's Skitter Walk in mullet patterns are your best bets.  

As the sun comes up and it begins to get hot, the top-water bite will slow down and live bait becomes the better option.

This past week, some big gator sea trout have been caught following the huge influx of finger mullet that have come into all three of the lagoons.  
 
If you plan on targeting a trophy gator sea trout, you can do it just about anywhere that bait pods of mullet are found.  The easiest way to catch them is to free line a live finger mullet around a pod of baitfish or to fish a live pigfish in close to docks or any other type of structure adjacent to deeper water.  
                              
If you don't want to use live bait, try a soft plastic Assassin, Offshore Anglers XPS Jerk Shad Softbaits - 6'' - 10 pack in Electric Chicken, or the new Trigger X soft plastic jerk bait.  

Rig them on a weighted worm hook and toss it around the mullet pods or around the floating grass close to the mullet pods.  Storm's Rattlin' Chug Bug - 3.25" - Gizzard Shad and Rapala's Skitter Walk in mullet like patterns are also good predawn baits.

The sea trout that are being caught this past week are averaging only a couple of pounds, but several 5 and 6 pound fish have been reported.

If you're fishing the deeper water in the lagoons, be on the lookout for concentrations of terns or cormorants feeding on the surface.  This is a dead giveaway for finding big schools of ladyfish, small sea trout and tarpon that are pushing schools of glass minnows to the surface. 

The larger 5" smelt colored Trigger X jerkbait is a killer bait in these situations for big sea trout, snook, redfish and tarpon.

This surface feeding activity is also perfect for fly fishermen who are looking for some fast and furious fishing action.  Match the glass minnow hatch for immediate hookups.

Near Shore and Off Shore Fishing:

The Gulf Stream during the month of August will typically move in closer to land, making tuna fishing possible for small boats to work the thermals and the areas around anchored shrimp boats.

As long as the summer squalls stay away, a run to the other side of the Gulf Stream isn't out of the question.

During the month of August, the blue water bite should improve around the inshore reefs and wrecks of 8A Reef, Chris Benson, and Pelican Flats. 

Kingfish, dolphin, black fin tuna, and cobia will be the main species to target along with an occasional hookup with a wahoo or sailfish.

August is also the time of year when the cooler waters sometimes push giant manta rays in close to the shoals off of Cape Canaveral. 

 

When the huge rays come in, they normally bring cobia along with them.

As long as the summer squalls keep away, fishing along the beaches and in the inlets will stay hot.

Along the beaches you can look for silver kings, smoker kingfish, blacktip sharks, big jack crevalle, and redfish to be shadowing the pods of pogies (Atlantic menhaden), greenies (threadfin herring), glass minnows (bay anchovies) and Spanish sardines that come in close to the beach.

Right now from Vero Beach to Bethune Beach the big "smoker" King Mackerel can be found along the near shore beaches in decent numbers.

If you slow troll live blue runners, pogies, silver mullet or even small bluefish rigged on a wire stinger rig and fished near the bait pods; you should be able to pick up a few of those big smoker Kingfish.

A BMC 9626 permasteel 4X strong treble hook in either a size #2 or #4 works well for these rigs.

Right now the king mackerel are averaging abpit 15 to 20 pounds, but smoker kings scaling over 40 pounds have been coming into the docks in and around the around Port Canaveral area this past week. 

 

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