Your August 2021🦈 Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing Report
Published: Sun, 08/01/21
| Newsletter Issue # 145 Fishing Forecast | August 1, 2021 | ||
Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing |
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 Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Fishing The Dog Days of August are upon us and on most days, the air temperatures in our area have been hovering around the 90 degree mark. This means that if you're planning to catch fish instead of just going fishing, you need to have your line in the water before dawn. There has been plenty of activity lately in the Mosquito Lagoon centered mainly around the large glass minnow pods. Although we have been getting lots of small finger mullet throughout the entire lagoon, the glass minnow pods seem to be holding the majority of the fish. The spoil islands, shorelines with sandy edges, sharp drop offs, and minnow pods are definitely the best go to locations. Small baits like the Mirrolure Mirrodines and Mirro Minnow, and small D.O.A. paddle tails have been getting the best results during the early morning hours. As the sun rises and the temperatures climb, the fish will be pushing tighter to the trees and in some cases may be unreachable with artificial baits. This is when dead shrimp and cut baits are most effective. The predawn early morning hours up until about 9:00 am is when you will find the best shallow water sight fishing opportunities for spotted sea trout and redfish in the lagoon system. The speckled sea trout bite for the past weeks in the Mosquito Lagoon and north Indian River has been good, with most of the big fish being caught during the predawn hours and during the magic half hour or so at dusk. Night fishing is also productive this time of the year, especially if you own a kayak and like to toss topwater baits around the mangrove shorelines. A lot of the large trout are being caught by live bait fishermen "oinking" pigfish just off the bottom under Cajun Thunder type floats on the grass flats and by topwater fishermen tossing the larger sized BadonkADonk, SkitterWalks, Zara Spooks, XPS Slim Dogs, or Chug Bugs around the bait pods during the early morning hours.  Your hookup ratio can be dramatically improved your by smearing your hard baits with some Pro-Cure gel after every 7 or 8 casts. The stuff works great, especially in stained water. The trout bite in the Mosquito Lagoon around George's Bar has been reported as being pretty consistent by anglers "oinking" pigfish in that area. The fish have been running in the slot and slightly over. This weekend, the waters of the lagoon will be slick clam and sight casting possibilities should be at their peak. For speckled trout, target spots along the shorelines in super shallow water where the fish will be cruising looking for prey. Three inch jerk baits or small topwater plugs smeared with some Pro-Cure gel will help get bites. Slot size and oversize redfish will be in 2 to 3 feet of water. Try tossing a gold Johnson Sprite spoon or an artificial shrimp smeared with Pro-Cure. Live blue crabs and cut baits also work well on reds and black drum. With the summer weather conditions we are having, the best bite will be tarpon and snook. Although both species are catch and release right now, they are great fun. Slams of snook, trout, and redfish or tarpon up to 45 inches or so are also being reported throughout our area. From late August to mid October, the larger bull redfish in our area will begin to group up into large schools in preparation for the spawn. The bite for bull reds right now is getting better by the day up around Ponce Inlet, the Edgewater area, and in Haulover Canal. Most anglers have been using cut mullet, live pinfish, croaker, crab, and cut ladyfish on fish finder rigs to catch them. The "bull" reds being caught are running anywhere from 39 to 45 inches in length. Around the mangrove shorelines in the Indian River at Merritt Island; a lot of juvenile tarpon are being caught on light tackle with suspending type lures and small swim baits. In the same area, anglers have been catching slot reds and black drum in the channels and canals on cut baits. In the Indian River around the Black Point Wildlife refuge, Dummitt Cove, and the flats north of the railroad bridge up to Scotsmoor, anglers have been reporting good catches of sea trout and oversize redfish. The deep water flats directly across the river from the Scotsmoor shallow water boat launch is also a good area to target oversize redfish, black drum, tarpon, and ladyfish. Live or cut baits are the best baits for this area. August is when tarpon become most abundant in the Mosquito Lagoon, the Indian River, and the Banana River. You can spot schools of fish rolling in the ICW channels, Haulover Canal, and some of the deeper basins of the Mosquito Lagoon, like Tiger Basin. The deeper flats of the Mosquito Lagoon and northern Indian River, the north and south side of the NASA Causeway, the power lines right outside of the Port Malibar area, and the area from the Indian Mound Fish Camp north to Dick's Cut up in the Oak Hill and Edgewater areas are also good places to look for tarpon this month. Live pigfish, pilchards, and croakers usually work the best on rolling fish during the middle of the day. Artificial baits are more effective earlier and later in the day. Our average tarpon are running anywhere from 60 to well over 100 pounds right now. Juvenile tarpon and ladyfish of all sizes can be found in the backwaters and provide some great action on 7 wt to 9 wt fly tackle. Deceivers, crab patterns, Tarpon Bunny type flies, and anything that resembles a small baitfish or crab will catch them. The Vistas in the Canaveral National Seashore along the road heading to Playalinda Beach and farther south, the deep flats along the Pineda Causeway leading into Patrick AFB can also be productive areas to look for tarpon during the summer months. You can spot them almost any time of the day rolling in the residential canals, the mouths of the feeder creeks, and around the dredge holes during the summer.
Offshore and Nearshore Fishing
We have a lot of Cobia right now on the reefs and wrecks in 60 to 90 feet of water outside of Port Canaveral. Places like the 8A reef and Pelican Flats out of Canaveral, the 9 mile and 12 mile reefs out of Ponce Inlet, and the Pines and High Bar out of Sebastian are all really good places to look for Cobia this month.  Anglers have been finding Cobia on any of the structures that have bull sharks over them, so if it's shallower or deeper than that and there are bull sharks hanging around, there is a good chance there will be cobia following them around just like they do with Manta Rays. Because a lot of the cobia are only running 32 to 35 inches, try to net them instead of gaffing them. Because of the large amount of baitfish close to shore right now, big smoker kings are starting to show up in the near shore waters throughout our entire region and right now you can see them skyrocketing in the shallows after the baitfish in less than 10 feet of water. You can also find kings in the midway depths between 20 and 45 feet as well as the 80 to 90 foot reefs farther out. Our average beach king is running between 15 to 20 pounds but many anglers have been getting fish in the 38 to 45 pound range. Slow trolling with live baits at 1 to 2 knots is the best way to catch king mackerel but make sure you have a separate rod ready with a pitch bait or hair jig for an opportunity at cobia. Although a slow trolled live bluefish, blue runner, pogie, or ribbonfish will give you the best opportunity to catch one of these behemoths, lipped diving plugs and spoons are also used by anglers fishing out of the port. Tarpon are also shallow along our beaches right now and have been eating mullet, croakers, pigfish, pogies and just about anything they come across. You can catch 150 pound class fish slow trolling or by drifting a bait through the bait pods first thing in the morning right at the surf break. As you get farther offshore, you will find them hanging deeper on the bait pods. Right now and for the next few weeks you will have an opportunity to catch a tarpon anywhere inside of the 50 foot depths in our area. Although Snook are out of season right now, they can be on the menu this month for catch and release. Big snook are schooling at Port Canaveral, Ponce Inlet, and Sebastian and should continue this activity for the next couple of weeks at least. The best way to find them is to drop a live croaker down on the bottom on a slip sinker rig or a knocker rig. Keep the bait away from the rocks if possible to minimize cutoffs. You can also use a jig head with a pilchard or other herring type bait fish to catch snook around the rocks by hooking the bait through the top of the mouth and letting it swim around the rocks. This method gives the angler more control of the bait. Most of the snook being caught right now are running in the 34 to 36 inch category, and there are a lot of them out there. The key to catching them in the daytime is to use live baits like croakers or pogies. At night when fishing around the inlets and bridge pilings, artificial lipped plugs or hair jigs will work almost as well.  Although Kingfish are the staple species for near shore fishermen this month on the near shore wrecks and reefs out of Port Canaveral; dolphin, wahoo, and sailfish are also targeted during the summer months. The 70-90 foot Chris Benson, Pelican Flats, and 8A areas are always hammered during August, but sometimes good numbers of kingfish are also found just east of Playalinda Beach north of Cape Canaveral, in the turning basins inside of the Port, and inside the main shipping channel. As long as there is no cold water upwelling (a late July phenomenon that occurs along the eastern coast every summer) the offshore fishing for mangrove, mutton, and lane snapper should continue to hold up offshore in the 70 to 90 feet depths. The cold water can shut down the snapper bite, but the grouper and Amberjack may still be biting in the deeper 120 to 180 foot depths. Use dead sardines or grunt plugs for the best bite. ______________________________________________ Surf Fishing Although surf fishing during is normally tied to the baitfish run; during the summer months, whiting is normally the main species targeted along our beaches. As the summer temperatures heat up so does the surf bite. Whiting, croakers, and sharks are now the hot bite, but as the currents start to flow more out of the south, the bait pods will be coming with it. And with them will come the tarpon, snook, and keeper mutton snapper. In lieu of using long surf rods, many anglers in our area use light tackle 7 1/2 foot "river rods" with a knocker or sliding sinker rig to fish for whiting in the near shore troughs. Sand fleas are the best bait, but fishbites and small pieces of live or fresh dead shrimp also work for whiting and croakers.  Along rocky shorelines like those at Patrick AFB and the rocks at the jetty at Port Canaveral, some nice snappers, snook, and flounder are being caught. Live mullet or fresh cut baits on a fish finder rig have been producing well around the bait pods. On light tackle, you can’t go wrong by targeting sharks. A short piece of wire or heavy mono on a 8/0 to 12/0 circle hook with fresh cut bait or live whiting or finger mullet will do the trick on a 8000 or larger reel. Most shark caught in the surf will be under 5 feet in length, but Bull Sharks, Nurse Sharks, Black Tips, Bonnetheads, and Hammerheads over 6 feet are also a possibility. Don't forget that if you plan to target sharks from land, you must take and complete the shark permit course through FWC. ______________________________________
Haulover Canal
 The bull redfish bite in Haulover Canal and the channels in the ICW has been getting better by the day as the temperature soar. Anglers have started catching some nice size bull redfish out of the canal on live blue crabs, cut ladyfish, live pinfish, and croakers on fish finder rigs fished flat on the bottom.  The redfish begin to form into schools in the lagoon and will travel from the Mosquito Lagoon through Haulover Canal into the northernmost deep water flats of the Indian River to conduct their spawning activity. This means that from this month to October it pays to target the deeper waters of Haulover Canal, the bridges along the ICW channel, and the deep water flats north of Titusville for redfish in the 40 inch plus category.
This past week, both banks of the canal were crowded with anglers dunking a variety of baits hoping to hook up with either a big black drum or a bull red.
 The canal is also known for holding huge black drum, tarpon, snook along the shorelines, sea trout, mangrove snapper, and sheepshead along the pilings.
Sliding sinker rigs with a large 6/0 or 7/0 VMC circle hook and half of a fresh blue crab is considered by far to be the bait of choice for big redfish but live mullet, Croakers, pinfish, and large chunks of fresh cut ladyfish also work well. ______________________________________ Spiny Lobster
For additional information on harvesting Spiny Lobster Click Here. Till Next Month, Good Fishing & Tight Lines To You All!
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