The Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River

The windy fishing conditions we had last month should gradually taper off during the month of April to give us some decent sight fishing opportunities.

Despite the windy conditions and low water levels, March turned out to be another banner month for redfish and for giant gator sea trout in the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River lagoons.    

The waters have cleared up considerably in all three of our lagoon systems, and the sea grasses in many areas (especially the Banana River) appear to be gradually growing back. 

During March, the winds caused most days for sight fishing to turn into days for blind casting live baits into areas where the schools were known to be active. 

Right now a lot of the guides have been reporting nice catches of slot sized redfish along the eastern shoreline of the Mosquito Lagoon.  For the most part the fish have been scattered, but they are still worth targeting.  The redfish in the small schools and pods that have been roaming along the sandbars and dropoffs in the northern part of the lagoon have been eating weighted jerk baits, DOA Shrimp, and Paddle tail baits.  

During the next few weeks, as we head into spring, the water will begin to warm up and the  fishing should get even better as the schools of baitfish start to show up in the Lagoons in greater numbers.

Fishing for gator spotted sea trout is always good during the spring months in East Central Florida, and April has always been a prime month to hook into an oversize female.   
 

From Daytona to Port St. Lucie, the early morning and late evening sea trout bite has been phenomenal on a variety of live and artificial baits.

Although finger mullet, pigfish, Pinfish, glass minnows, mud minnows, and shrimp will all be on their menu throughout April, most of the larger sea trout and redfish will be actively feeding on bait fish.

A lot of gator trout in the 9 to 11 pound category were caught in March by anglers using live pigfish (Grunt) or Croaker under a DOA Deadly Combo but, as the weather patterns continue to stabilize during April and tons of baitfish move into the coastal areas, some of the best top water sea trout fishing of the year will soon be available to us.

As the schools of baitfish become more concentrated on the shallow flats, topwater Chug Bugs, Rapala Skitterwalks, MirroLures, Zara Spooks, Rapala X-RAP Twitchin' Minnow, DOA Baitbusters, and Bomber Badonk-A-Donks will all start producing fish when methodically worked around the outside of the bait pods.

The best times for targeting gator sea trout is in the early morning and late afternoon hours when the fish are most active.   You can expect some violent strikes that will often send your bait and occasionally even the fish completely out of the water. 

Big gator sea trout are super aggressive and will often smack a Chug Bug or SkitterWalk type lure completely out of the water.   Unless they actually get stung by the hooks, a hungry sea trout will often continue to strike at the lure all the way back to the boat for a second, third, or even a fourth hit.

Last week the Snook bite has been on fire from Daytona to Port St. Lucie and they haven't been too picky about what they are eating.  

Although artificial bait fishermen have been using  Spool Teks and Flare Hawk jigs with great success, the live bait fishermen working live Pilchards, Menhaden, and Mullet have been catching snook by the boatload.  
 

The sheepshead bite will also be ramping up this month along the structures in the ICW and the jetties.    In Titusville, the A. Max Brewer bridge pilings are a good place to drop a fiddler crab on a small wire hook.    As the month progresses, the bite is expected to improve.

During April, breeder black drum are also on the agenda for many fishermen in the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River lagoon systems and right now, the drum bite is hot from Daytona to Vero Beach. 

March and April is when the females begin their annual spawning ritual.   The really huge Drum in the 30 pound plus category hang around the deeper water pilings and around the bridges in the ICW and can be targeted with heavy tackle and fresh clam or half of a blue crab for bait.    

When targeting these fish, use heavy tackle with at least 50 pound braid and a long piece of 80 pound fluorocarbon leader on a sliding sinker rig, with a 5/0 or 6/0 circle hook.   The heavy braid and leader is needed to minimize break offs around the pilings.

Juvenile black drum can be found in various sized schools that forage on the shallow flats around the lee side of the islands, and can be targeted with lighter tackle and smaller hooks.  

The islands out from Peacocks Pocket boat launch and the deeper flats east of the Scotsmoor Boat Launch in the Indian River, are good areas to target during April.

Juvenile black drum in the 4 to 10 pound category are excellent eating, but the larger breeders are often riddled with worms and are not considered edible by most fishermen.

Most of the schooling black drum that are caught will weigh in at around 10 pounds.    Baits of choice vary from live or fresh dead shrimp, pieces of fresh clam, to a section of fresh blue crab.    White hair jigs dipped in some Pro-Cure Crab Oil and white ZMann jerk baits on a jig head also produce fish on the flats.

Most anglers fishing the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge have been catching slot redfish and nice sea trout in both the Mosquito Lagoon and northern Indian River on live shrimp, mud minnows, mullet,  and cut baits. 

One of my favorite areas to fish for gator sea trout during March and April is along Peacocks Pocket and Bio Lab Roads however, both roads have been closed for an indefinite period because of damage done to the roads by Hurricane Matthew.   Most bank fishing is now concentrated along the A. Max Brewer causeway, the Catfish Creek, and East Gator Creek areas.  

According to Layne L. Hamilton, the refuge manager, the MINWR has been suffering from severe funding problems, which is why the dike roads have not yet been repaired and may never be reopened for vehicle traffic.  

For those of you who care about the road closures as much as my wife and I do, I strongly suggest making a call, sending an email, or a writing a letter to your representative in Congress about the road closures and lack of funding for the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Florida's 8th District Congressman is Bill Posey -  CLICK HERE
email

Florida's 6th District Congressman is Ron Desantis -  CLICK HERE
email

Other public officials.
Historically, most politicians only pay attention to our issues when enough of us raise our voices to our representatives; they love keeping their seats.

                                                                                                  

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Playalinda Beach
    Surf fishing for bluefish, whiting, and pompano has been somewhat sporadic at Playalinda Beach this past month.

As the waters warm and the baitfish migration starts to rev up, we should see some decent surf fishing for bluefish, Spanish mackerel, whiting, and other predators that follow the schools.

Last week when I visited the beach, the water temperature at Lots #9 and #10 was 69 degrees F., which is about 3 degrees cooler than the mean water temperature for this time of the year.    This should normally make for some decent pompano fishing, but the guys I talked to said that the pompano were only hitting sporadically on live sand fleas when the surf was calm enough to fish for them.  

Hitting the beaches early in the morning, just after a low tide as it starts to come back in and tossing a fresh piece of clam or a live sand flea into the deeper troughs between the sandbars, is usually a productive tactic.

Although Pompano grow as large as 8 pounds, most of the fish caught in the surf in our area will weigh between 2 and 4 pounds.  

Almost all of the fishermen I talked with last week were fishing with dead shrimp and were catching a few small to medium sized whiting, however, I must mention that they were fishing on the end of an outgoing tide.  

When the baitfish start to show up in the surf again, we should start seeing bluefish in the 12" to 20" range, Spanish mackerel, and good numbers of shark in the surf again.

Try to fish early in the mornings on the last half of an incoming tide for the best bite.   The bigger blues usually run just outside of the second set of breakers and are suckers for a live finger mullet or the head part of half of a mullet.

At Playalinda Beach, the troughs at lots #9, #10, and #11 are deeper than in some of the other areas, but this is always subject to change.  Earlier last month, lots #2 and #3 were hot for pompano.

                                                                                              

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Port  Canaveral Offshore and Nearshore

Far Offshore

For the next three months, Yellowfin Tuna will be the topic of discussion for anglers in bigger boats out of Port Canaveral willing to make the 90 mile trek to the eastern edge on the "other side" of the Gulf Stream.

Although a good number of anglers who captain 30 foot vessels make the run every year, the fishery is primarily for the larger 40-50 foot sportfishermen.
 
The migrating schools of yellowfin are located by the captains using strong on board radar systems to find the large schools of birds that dip and dive above the baitfish schools that the big tuna target. 

Most of the early season yellowfins are less than 60 pounds but as the season progresses, fish in the 90 to over 100 pound class are routinely taken.


Offshore

Now that we are finally seeing some nicer weather offshore, the bite is beginning to improve for king mackerel and dolphin.

From Daytona to Port St. Lucie, the dolphin bite has been steady and anglers are targeting them anywhere from 150 feet of water out.  In some areas the 90 foot depths have been more productive.

For the past week, the kingfish have been the most prominent target for offshore anglers.

They continue to show up closer to shore scattered in with the Cobia.   Most anglers have been catching them slow trolling with naked or skirted live Ballyhoo or Cigar Minnows.

The bottom bite out of Port Canaveral and Sebastion Inlet has been producing nice catches of Amberjack and the usual Snapper species starting in at the 60 foot depths, on out to the deeper wrecks and reefs.

Cape Canaveral in particular has been hot.

Nearshore

Port Canaveral holds some of the biggest tripletail in the world and from April thru late summer, they are one of the most cooperative near shore species to target.

In general, the best time to fish for tripletail is from late April thru the summer, and in the fall around November .

Tripletail are delicious on the dinner table.  

They are fond of hanging around the channel marker buoys, crab trap anchor lines, surface debris, flotsam, and weed lines and can be caught on live shrimp, jigs, and other small lures. 

 The species is tailor made for small boaters venturing out of the Port.


 
 

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Haulover Canal
  The deeper waters of Haulover Canal are good fishing all year round for big bull Redfish, Black Drum, snook, speckled sea trout, and other predatory species.

The bridge has been closed for the past month and will remain closed for repairs for at least another couple of weeks, but the closure has not deterred fishermen or shrimpers from accessing the area.

Many of our area guides use the Bairs Cove boat launch as a starting point for their charters.  It provides easy access to both the northern portion of the Indian River as well as the Mosquito Lagoon, but many fishermen launch their boats and anchor at the mouth of the canal to fish for big black drum and bull redfish.

Preferred baits of choice are sections of fresh blue crab, fresh cut baits, and large shrimp.

Remove the legs and top half of the blue crab, section it or use it whole, and skewer it onto a 5/0 to 6/0 circle hook.   A two to three foot length of 30 or 40 pound fluorocarbon leader, and 30# - 60# Power Pro or other braid for the main line, will keep the fish from breaking off on the submerged Coquina rocks that line the canal.  
Most of the guys use a standard sliding sinker rig, but three way swivel rigs with a bank sinker to the bottom are also gaining in popularity.

Grouper also inhabit the depths of the canal under the ledges, and a live pinfish, croaker, or silver mullet on either of the above rigs will get you a hookup if they are interested.

Lastly, the shrimping from the fishing piers on the Indian River has been on fire for the past month.  What you may not know is that a small group of sport shrimpers have also quietly been lining the banks of Haulover Canal dipping up the jumbos that drift by their lights.

Although fishing from the bank after dark is prohibited at Haulover Canal, night fishing and shrimping just off of the banks from a boat can produce some some nice fish and a bucket of really large shrimp.

Until next time,


Tight Lines and bent rods!