The Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River 

The snook bite in the Ponce Inlet area right now is red hot. 

In the Edgewater and New Smyrna area of the river, fish around hard structure like the docks and pilings on the last portion of the incoming tide with live baits like croaker or spots for slot and over size snook.

At nitght swimbaits like the R&R Flairhawk Jigs cast along the shadow lines are really effective or if the tide is not running too fast, live shrimp.   At the bridges in particular, the best time to fish a live shrimp is during change of tides when the water is not running too quickly or, you can go to Spruce Creek, Calalusia Creek, Brown's Bay or a couple other of those backwater bays and fish the oyster bars.

Most of the snook in the Ponce Inlet area are running between 22 and 30 inches with a lot of much larger fish in the mix.

The windy conditions we have been getting has made sight fishing for redfish and sea trout inshore really tough on most days, however, the opportunities for redfish right now are really good along the eastern shorelines of the Indian and Banana River.
​
All the east winds we have had for the past 8 or 9 days and another front that's coming in during the weekend has been pushing a lot of silver mullet, glass minnows, mojarras, and silver perch and stacking them up along the bank in really shallow areas; which is also where the reds are going.  

Although you will find some redfish up to the 30 inch range, most of these reds are running really small in the 12 to 18 inch category and are being caught in only 12 to 18 inches of water.

If you fish out only a stones throw from the shoreline, there are a couple of bull sharks that have been cruising the area, so you need to fish really tight to the shoreline to catch any redfish.

A really good lure to cast is the 4" Saltwater Assassin Sea Shad on a 1/8th or 1/16th oz jighead.  The silver mullet, momma's 14K, and gray ghost colors are really good imitators of the baitfish that the reds are feeding on right now.

Some slot redfish, quite a few sea trout, and nice sized ladyfish have been cruising around the leeward shorelines and the leeward side of the islands in the Mosquito Lagoon.

Depending on the water clarity, live shrimp rigged on a split shot rig or saltwater assassin paddle tail baits in the same silver mullet, gray ghost, and mama's 14K color patterns have been producing bites on a regular basis.

As the mullet become more prevalent in the lagoon system, the redfish and sea trout will complete their transition from eating shrimp and other crustaceans to mullet.  

When this occurs, many anglers will start tossing walk the dog style topwater baits like Skitterwalks, XPS Slim Dogs, BadonkAdonks, Zara Spooks, and Chug Bugs around the baitfish pods.    

The 5" saltwater shad Assassin  rigged on a 5/0 wide gap weedless worm hook or a D.O.A. Baitbuster fished around the bait pods are also deadly baits.   Remember to smear up your lures with some Pro-Cure Inshore Formula Gel to increase your chances of a hookup.  It makes a huge difference.

If you're interested in catching a bragging size sea trout; April, May, and June are the best months to fish for them in our area. 

Large egg laden females are in their spawning mode and can be found roaming the shallower flats following the baitfish pods.   During the early morning hours from first light until around 9:00 am, the big females don't seem to be as cautious and will hit almost any topwater bait that mimics a silver mullet. 

Although smaller size lures normally get more strikes, larger baits generally attract larger, quality fish.   

This month, if you are on the flats at first light anywhere on the Indian River Lagoon system where there are schools of mullet, you will find sea trout.   

Most of the sea trout in our area have been running in the 14 to 23 inch range, but females in the 28 inch and over category are not uncommon during the spawn in our area.

The black drum bite in the Mosquito Lagoon and northern Indian River is still going strong.  

Slot size drum have been roaming around on the flats foraging for crabs, shrimp, and other crustaceans.   The usual haunts like the spoil islands, bridges, deeper channels, and depths at Haulover Canal have also been producing some larger fish.

When you locate a school of tail wagging drum on the flats, toss a live shrimp or a jig head sweetened with a piece of peeled shrimp, sand flea, or a strip of Fishbites ahead of the fish, and slowly drag the bait along the bottom.  Dragging the bait covers more territory and creates little puffs of sediment that attracts feeding fish.

A 4 inch saltwater assassin sea shad tipped with Fishbites is a great lure to throw when you're on the deeper flats trying to locate some black drum.

Most of the black drum caught in our area right now have been running in the 20 to 30 pound category.
 

---

---

Playalinda and Area Beaches
 
As the spring run of pompano continues, surf fishermen have been catching keeper pomps in clusters of paired fish, mostly along the outer edges of the surf zone where the color change occurs.  

The outer sand bars also have less seaweed and red slime that has inundated our coastline in many areas of Brevard.   The red slime can definitely be a nuisance when you're trying to tend several rods.

Baits of choice for pompano during the past weeks were peeled shrimp, sand fleas (when you can get them), and Fishbites.

The best time to rake in some sand fleas seems to be during the mid tide, coming off of a high tide.  

If you can't purchase or find some, you can still catch a variety of fish using fresh peeled shrimp and Fishbites rigged solo on a 2 or 3 dropper pompano rig with enough weight to hold bottom.    Casting just outside the breakers has been producing larger pompano and whiting in most areas. A few surf fishermen have been using fiddler crabs and fresh clam strips with good results.

During a few days last week, croakers literally invaded the surf making it next to impossible to hook into a whiting or pompano.    It's fun catching 2 and sometime 3 fish at one time but after a while it gets annoying when you're trying to hook into a keeper pompano for dinner.
Most pompano and whiting in our area have been running around 1 to 2 pounds with a few heavier fish in the mix.

Surf fishermen targeting sharks are still having a bonanza fishery all along our East Central area beaches.   For the past couple of weeks, blacktips and lemon sharks made up the majority of catches with some bonnet heads in the mix.  Fresh chunked baits  tossed into the first and second troughs were where most bites occurred.

Any fresh cut piece of bluefish, ladyfish, or mullet cast just into the first two troughs or even beyond the surf break won't last long before a shark picks it up.

If you're specifically targeting shark, use appropriate tackle.  Heavyweight rods, high capacity reels, braided line in the 60 pound class, and 100 pound or better mono or wire leaders with large circle hooks are considered the norm for the heavyweights.

Also, make sure you have the free shore fishing shark permit with you when fishing from the beach.
 
Blacktip and lemon sharks in our area have been running anywhere from 20 to 80 pounds, with a few heavier ones like the one above in the mix. 
 

---

---

Port  Canaveral Offshore and Nearshore

May is here and summer is just around the corner.    As the waters warm, the beaches and inlets become hot spots for snook, tarpon, bull redfish, Jack Crevalle and other inshore species.

Offshore, the east winds normally mean lots of weeds blowing onto the beach and that's exactly what is happening right now.   The winds are creating lots of rips, eddies, weed lines, and temperature breaks along the west end of the Gulfstream from Ponce all the way down to Sebastian Inlet.

Trolling skirted ballyhoo near the weed lines, rips, and color changes is producing dolphin, king mackerel, and an occasional sailfish.

The dolphin that are being caught right now are pushing 20 to 25 pounds with some of them over the 50 pound class, so you don't have to go all the way to the other side of the Gulfstream to catch these bigger fish after this recent blow.

Light colored trolling skirts over your ballyhoo like green and yellow, blue and white, zucchini, and pink and white have been working better than the darker ones on dolphin.

The King Mackerel bite our of Port Canaveral is hot one day and deader than Fred the next.   The key to catching them in the East Central region right now is to "run and gun".  

Stop on those 70 to 90 foot reefs and if you're not catching any fish, move farther inshore where a lot of the bigger fish have been moving in the Sebastian and Canaveral area.  

With this next blow, the bigger kingfish will also be moving into the Ponce area, closer to the beach.   Find those patches of weeds closer to the beach where the baitfish are hiding and you will find king mackerel underneath them after them.

Right now live baits like greenies, pilchards, blue runners, and pogies (if you can find them) are working best on kingfish.  

Most of the kingfish farther out on the reefs are running in the 8 to 15 pound category.  The bigger fish inside the 40 foot depths are pushing up to 50 pounds in weight.

When the winds die down enough for nearshore anglers to get back on the beaches to chase bull reds, snook, and tarpon; fishing with live baits like croakers, mullet, and any type of white bait will increase your chance of catching one of these species.

Snook in particular will begin their spawn this month, so make sure you’re careful when handling the big female breeders. 

Throughout the month of May, the kingfish bite on most of the reefs and wrecks in the 60 to 90 foot depths out of Port Canaveral should be good for anglers slow trolling live or frozen baits on wire stinger rigs.    Strip baits behind a planer also work well when the fish are down deep.  

A good number of anglers catch plenty of King Mackerel by dragging lipped diving plugs around first thing in the morning and later on in the afternoon during low light periods.  Pulling a large spoon or King Getter also works if you don't like fooling with live baits.

Generally, the kingfish in our area will run anywhere from 8 to 15 pounds, with some fish tipping over 20 pounds.   Many of the larger King Mackerel are caught on the shallower 35 to 55 foot depths throughout our region.  In additions to kingfish, the inshore reefs also hold some cobia, snapper, and sharks.

This month, the 8A and Chris Benson Reefs our of Port Canaveral, Pelican Flats to the east and southeast in 70 to 80 feet of water, and the artificial reefs out of Ponce Inlet should all be hotspots for kingfish.

When the weather is favorable, the bottom bite our of Port Canaveral is good for black sea bass, triggerfish, mangrove, mutton, vermillion, and lane snapper over the deeper wrecks and reefs.   Two drop chicken rigs with small hooks and pieces of squid or cut baits are all that is needed to bring in a mess of tasty fish.

Grouper season opens up today and it looks like the weather is going to cooperate, which is why a lot of the party boats out of the port are pretty well booked up until mid week.    Everybody, dust off your bottom rigs and make it happen!

 
Until Next Time,
Tight Lines, and Bent Rods!