The Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River

The water quality in both the Mosquito Lagoon and northern Indian River was showing signs of improvement, but has degraded with the lower water levels we are having.  Inshore fishing in these areas has been hit and miss for speckled sea trout and redfish.   The trout bite one day can be gangbusters, and the next dismal.

The water clarity in the northern portion of the Mosquito Lagoon allows for decent sight casting opportunities in many areas, but for the past couple of weeks following the full moon, the bite has been slow for both redfish and sea trout. 

The redfish schools seem to be getting harder to find and they are a lot spookier than usual when you do get up on them.

Slot size redfish and sea trout have been cruising the grass flats and anglers covering a lot of water using Saltwater Assassin Sea Shad and 4" Assassin Shrimp on jigheads and gold spoons have been picking up their fair share of fish.    The Silver Mullet and Houdini colored 4" Sea Shad rigged weedless on a weighted worm hook, and Rapala Sub Walk lures in the Mullet color are also good baits to throw for covering a lot of water. 

The fish have been partial to smaller size baits and lures for the past few weeks so if a Zara Spook doesn't get bit, downsize to a Zara Spook Jr.  Smear your baits up with some Pro-Cure Inshore Formula to increase your chances of a hookup.  It makes a huge difference.

Bait fishermen casting live finger mullet, Croaker, or shrimp and cut baits have been doing well with slot and oversize reds in the no motor zone area of the lagoon, off the banks of Bio Lab Road, and farther south around the Whale Tail and Pelican Island.

The water in the north Indian River lagoon above Titusville is relatively clean and the bite in this area is best in the early mornings and late afternoon when you can find the fish.  During the the upcoming month, there will be more baitfish moving around the flats which will improve the fishing.

Land based fishermen around the A. Max Brewer bridge, the two fishing piers, and the banks of the causeway have been dunking live mullet, cut baits, and shrimp for redfish and black drum with some success.

The black drum bite in the Mosquito and Indian River Lagoon along the deeper channels, bridge pilings, and dropoffs has been good and is producing black drum up to 25 plus pounds.   Although live and dead shrimp are the primary baits of choice with most bank fishermen; fresh cut sections of blue crab, fiddler crabs, and clam are also great baits that often produce larger fish.

Bank fishermen along East Gator Creek in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge have been sight casting shrimp to the slot size black drum that are easy to spot in the clear shallow water flats.    The guys are getting on top of their trucks to spot them and are casting to them above the mangrove lined banks.   The problem is landing the fish through the mangroves once they are hooked. 

If you plan to target these black drum, I recommend gearing up with 30 pound or higher test Power Pro or other braid, a length of 30 to 50 pound fluorocarbon leader on a sliding sinker rig, and a 5/0 circle hook to keep the fish from breaking off on the mangroves.  

The drum in this area have been averaging 14" to 26" in length.

April, May, and June are the best months to fish for gator sea trout in our area, and with the intermittent cold fronts we have had, the bite has been slow one day and hot the next. 

Those over slot fish are still in their spawning mode and are on the shallower flats bird dogging the pods of finger mullet.  Look for flats with slightly stained water and plenty of silver mullet and you have a good chance of hooking up with a gator sea trout.   The secret to getting a bite right now is to down size your baits.  The bigger trout have not been hitting larger baits but are murdering smaller size lures.

The shallow flats along the eastern shoreline of Mosquito Lagoon are one of the better areas to target gator sea trout this month on topwater plugs during the early morning and evening hours.    

As more and more baitfish move onto the shallower flats, the sea trout and redfish that shadow them can be caught on a variety of topwater baits.   Rapala Skitter Walks, Top Dog MirrOlures , Chug Bugs, Heddon's Super Spook or Zara Spooks, XPS Slim Dogs, and anything that resembles a silver mullet will catch fish.  

Working the bait slowly along the outside of the bait pods during the early morning hours and varying your retrieve until you get a hookup is a good tactic to employ.  Overcast calm water mornings and evenings are the best times to toss topwater baits.   

May is also when kayakers and wade fishermen who enjoy topwater fishing head to the shallow flats along BioLab Road to toss their baits.  The water is not crystal clear right now, but it is clear enough to target the potholes among the sea grasses.

Slot size redfish, Snook, and some respectable sized sea trout lay around the potholes waiting to ambush their prey. 

If you plan to wade fish, pack some DOA shrimp, a few CAL jerk baits, a Gold spoon, and a couple of top water lures in you vest and you should have all your bases covered.   It pays to be prepared for changing fishing conditions.   Expect to pick up a few ladyfish, jack crevalle, black drum, and an occasional snook or flounder along with the reds and sea trout.
 

Sea trout up to 10 pounds or more are always roaming the flats hanging around the bait pods looking for an easy meal.  Your best bet for hooking one in May is to fish  early in the morning, late in the afternoon close to dusk, and during overcast days with topwater baits, or live Croaker or finger mullet under a Cajun Thunder type float.

Unless it is raining or an overcast day, the bite on the flats will usually slow down and cease around 9:00 am when the fish start moving into deeper water. 

Smaller schoolie trout can always be caught throughout the day on live shrimp under a popping cork, but the big breeders are solitary and more difficult to catch.
 
In the northern section of the Mosquito Lagoon, the Tiger Shoal area north to Three Sisters Creek, and farther north from Plantation Island to the Slippery Creek, are usually good areas to target.  In the southern section, the flats along Pelican Island, along Bio Lab Road, and the Wale Tail are often productive.

In the northern Indian River, the flats just north of Mims up to Turnbull Creek past Scotsmoor, Georges Flats, the flats in Dummit Cove, and the flats on the east side of the Merritt Island Natonal Wildlife Refuge paralleling Peacocks Pocket road are all good areas to target.   

                                      

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Playalinda Beach and Inlets

May marks the beginning of the summertime fishing season in our area for large jack crevalle, sharks, tarpon, and kingfish just out from the beach.

The Pompano beach run for the season has pretty much dissipated in our area and most of the Pompano on the east coast have moved north to Jacksonville and Georgia.

The surf fishermen at Playalinda Beach have been pulling in good size whiting, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, juvenile black drum, and an occasional snook.   Sand fleas and small pieces of shrimp are baits of choice for whiting, drum, and the occasional under size pompano.

The mackerel and blues have been hitting Clark Spoons and Krocodile Spoons and live or cut finger mullet on short #2 wire leaders when the baitfish are in the surf.

When targeting Spanish Mackerel from the beach, wait for two or three days of consecutive offshore winds to blow the fish close to the beach within casting range before heading out.
Larger bluefish usually run just outside of the second set of breakers.   Live finger mullet on a 3/0 or 4/0 hook with a #2 wire leader or plastic coated steel leader on a sliding sinker rig, is all you need for blues, Spanish mackerel, shark, etc.

The most productive times to fish in the surf in our area is at first light, early in the morning, preferably during the higher phase of the tidal cycle, about 2 hours on either side of a high tide. 

The best surf fishermen take some time to "read the beach" and target the breaks, troughs, and deeper sloughs that form just past the shore break.   

The sandbars at Playalinda Beach, usually form about 20 yards past the first trough.   As the waves approach the farthest sandbar out from the beach, they  break up to reform again over the troughs, where they again break up over the next sand bar, until they reach the shore.

The deeper troughs between the sandbars are where the fish are likely to be holding and where you want to target your casts. 

Breaks and cuts in between the sandbars can be hot spots for fish that use them as a "highway" to swim between the sandbars.  

A variety of fish species cruise the troughs and hold just outside of the breaks to grab small baitfish, sand fleas, crabs, and other crustaceans as they are pulled out to sea. 

South of Titusville, Fl. around Patrick AFB and Satellite Beach, surf casters are catching Margate, sheepshead, whiting, and a few under size pompano, primarily on sand fleas. 

The residential canals in that area are also producing some nice sea trout, lots of mangrove snapper around Mathers Bridge, and some nice size sheepshead in the lagoon areas.  The sheepshead in the surf and around the bridges are being caught primarily on fiddler crabs and when the fiddlers are not available, sand fleas.

The Magellan beach access south of Patrick is also a good area for lots of Margate, bluefish, whiting, Palometas, and undersize pompano.   The best bite last week has been on an outgoing tide. 

A lot of surf fishermen down there have been using "Native Salt Baits";  Brined Sand Fleas, Salted Clams in original, pink, and orange colors, and some clam stringers in assorted colors, apparently with a great deal of success . 

The snook bite in our area is about to go through the roof as the bigger fish that have been feeding in the backwaters and small creeks are starting to come out for their summer spawn.

Live pinfish, croakers, mojarrah, and pilchards rigged on a 5/0 or 6/0 size VMC 7385 Circle hook with just enough weight to get the bait down into the strike zone are the best live baits to use in the inlets and along the beaches.  

All of our inlets and beaches will be holding snook and as the baitfish migration ramps up along our coast, snook in the surf will be on the agenda throughout our region for many surf fishermen. 

Beach snook will be holding tight close to the shore and in close proximity to the baitfish pods.  If you see dark shadows behind or among the schools of bait fish, it is likely to be a snook. 

For surf fishermen that prefer using artificial baits; lipped diving plugs, jigs, spoons, or anything that looks like a baitfish will catch them when presented properly. 

In southern Brevard County, a few tarpon are off the beaches about 150 to 200 yards out.  As the baitfish schools start coming closer inshore, the tarpon will follow.

Surf anglers always have a shot at hooking one of the Silver Kings, but kayakers have a much better chance.

When the water temperatures hit the 75 degree mark, the paddle boarders and kayakers will start to get out to launch their paddle craft into the surf.  This is when the baitfish and predators are more abundant and fishing becomes more productive.

Get some baits with a cast net or farther out on a sabiki rig, and wait for a rolling tarpon to show up.   Cast about 15 to 20 feet ahead of a rolling fish and hang on.

A lot of kayakers prefer using flies and other artificial baits when targeting tarpon.  A 6" pink or bone colored Hogy Pro Tail is candy to a rolling tarpon and almost any tarpon fly will get a hookup when properly presented. 

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Port  Canaveral Offshore and Nearshore

Offshore

April and May are when the largest bull dolphin are taken off of Florida's Space Coast, and the early season dolphin bite has already yielded some big fish.  

Offshore, the dolphin bite is beginning to bust wide open, especially off of the April full moon and some of the biggest fish of the year should be showing up this month.

Anglers fishing the near side of the Gulf Stream trolling naked chin weighted ballyhoo and Islander ballyhoo combos have been catching a lot of dolphin and sails along the temperature breaks, color changes, weed lines, and floating debris. 

As a general rule, once the inshore waters clean up, anglers dragging naked ballyhoo or small Islander ballyhoo combos should look for dolphin, sailfish, and wahoo the 120 foot depths around the water temperature breaks, the weed lines, and the rips. 

Most of the time the average size dolphin caught when fishing out of any of our inlets, will be in the 8 to 15 pound category, however, you always have a chance of hooking into a 50 pound or larger bull when you pull a ballyhoo around any of the rips, weed lines, etc. 

A blue and white Islander ballyhoo combos pulled in 300 feet of water can get you a bull dolphin like the one to the right.

The tuna anglers who are making long trips to the "other side" for Yellowfin, blackfin, skipjack, and marlin have also been bringing back decent numbers of bull dolphin.

In many instances, bull dolphin are located the same way that the captains find the skipjack and yellowfins. 

Look for the flocks of sea birds diving on schools of baitfish, and you will find schools of bonita, skipjack, blackfin, or yellowfin tuna feeding on them.   In a lot of cases you will find skipjack and bonita feeding on the schools of baitfish 
with the larger yellowfins underneath the smaller fish.

Bottom fishing for most grouper species kicks off this month on May 1st.

If you  don't own your own boat, several "Party Boats" and a plethora of "Deep Sea" fishing boats at Port Canaveral offer Half Day, Full Day, and night shark fishing trips. 

In addition to most of the Grouper species; Black Sea Bass, many species of Snapper, Trigger Fish, Amberjack, King Mackerel, Cobia, Mahi Mahi, Sharks, and Sailfish will all be on the menu this month.
 

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Haulover Canal
  Anglers who have already fished in Haulover Canal know that that on any given day you can catch a redfish, black drum, snook, mangrove snapper, sea trout, whiting, bluefish, sail cat, hard head catfish, stingray, and a variety of other species throughout the year.

During the hot summer months, tarpon can be seen rolling through the canal and are occasionally are hooked.  Few are landed.

Right now the bank fishermen are still making good catches of black drum on a regular basis.   

Most of the black drum are being caught on live or fresh dead shrimp, but the larger fish are being caught on sections of blue crab, fresh clam, and even fiddler crabs.

Most of the fish caught have been around 18" to 30" or more, but larger fish have been caught at the mouth of Haulover Canal on the Mosquito Lagoon side by boat fishermen.

Oversize Redfish redfish are also being caught throughout the canal on a variety of baits with shrimp, blue crab, live pinfish, and fresh cut baits being baits of choice.

The night shrimping activity at the canal is also ramping up, but as of this date we have no reliable reports of pulls.  

Although bank fishing after dark is prohibited at Haulover Canal, night fishing and shrimping just off of the banks from a boat can often produce some some good fish and really large jumbo shrimp when they are "running". 

Many sport shrimpers are not aware of Haulover Canal's shrimping, but the shrimp are there all year round.   Although not as abundant as they are farther north at Oak Hill and Edgewater, they are substantially larger than those netted farther north in the lagoon system.

Shrimping

The latest buzz about Central Florida sport shrimping is that the season will be starting late, but it will eventually get here.

Oak Hill and Edgewater sport shrimpers have only been netting dozens of shrimp, at best.   This is because hundreds of catfish have been attracted to the shrimp lights and shutting down the shrimping.   It's hard to find a shrimp floating past the lights when hundreds of predators are feeding on them.

Shrimpers at the railroad bridge north of the Titusville fishing pier have been pulling up to a gallon or so of 5 to 7 inch shrimp during ideal conditions .

Just before a cold front, when the winds are blowing 5 mph or better out of the South or Southwest, break out your shrimp nets and head to the two fishing piers at Titusville.  The shrimping reports there have been getting better and better with good pulls reported when the conditions are right.

We have been getting occasional reports of bizarre looking shrimp with yellow, black, and orange colors being caught in our area.  These are most likely Asian Tiger shrimp or mutant mixes.   They are an invasive species that are fine to eat and present no danger to your health.
 
Despite the sewage spills we had a few months ago, the fish and shrimp in Brevard County are OK to eat.


Until next time,

Tight Lines and bent rods!