The Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River:

Snook season opens today, and a lot of anglers targeting snook around the Indian River, Banana River, and Mosquito Lagoon have already discovered that the bite during the closed spawning season was pretty good throughout the area for slot and over slot fish.

The fact is, inshore and nearshore Snook fishing around the Space Coast has been pretty much as good as it gets.  Local anglers have two recommendations for snook fishing in the Mosquito Lagoon; fish during the winter and fish at night.
Snook like to hang out around structure and along the jetties.  The best places to find them in the Mosquito Lagoon is in the deep holes, creeks, and channels of the ICW.

Snook in the lagoon's waterways around Titusville and New Smyrna Beach are especially plentiful and in our area have been holding tight to shoreline cover using mangrove roots, sticks, overhanging trees, and docks as ambush points for baitfish.   One of the best ways to fish these areas is with a large mullet or pinfish tossed tight to the shoreline.
 
Soft plastic D.O.A. Cal jerk baits, Saltwater Assassin 4" or 5" Sea Shad on a jig head, a Gulp jerk shad, or any soft plastic bait skipped under a dock or tight to shoreline bushes will also produce bites.   Smearing the lure with Pro-Cure or other scent will improve your hookup ratio dramatically. 

Night fishing around the docks in the Indian River from Sebastian to Titusville is extremely productive for snook.   R&R Flairhawk jigs and 5" to 6" Saltwater Assassin swimbaits on a jighead skipped under the docks are absolutely killers right now.  

Snook in our area have been running anywhere from 16 inches all the way up to over 36 inches, with a lot of fish in the slot.

Once colder weather sets in later in the fall, large Snook weighing over 10 pounds can be found inhabiting these waters.   It’s not uncommon to find them congregating together in deeper water haunts in double digits.

Farther South of us, in the Eau Gallie district of Melbourne, the recent rains have fired up the snook and juvenile tarpon bite.  The rains have moved lots of baitfish into the areas around Ballard Park along with a multitude of juvenile tarpon and mostly under size snook.  The fish have been hitting D.O.A. Cal Shad and Tsunami Soft Shad Swimbaits with gusto.

Tarpon fishing in our area has been the best we've seen in many years. 

Right now there are a couple of nice pods of tarpon in the lagoon system around the Edgewater area in the Mosqito Lagoon, around the Haulover Canal, and along the edges of the ICW channel edges and some of the spoil island drop offs in the Indian River.  

When the pumping station on Bio Lab Road is operating, tons of water is moved from the Mosquito Lagoon into the backwater marsh areas.  During these operations, the area around the discharge looks like a fish hatchery.  Juvenile tarpon and tarpon in the 100 pound plus category gorge on the chopped up baitfish pulled into the pump below (Click on pic).
Farther South of us, there are some nice schools of tarpon around the Pineda area where you can catch them using large live mullet.

One of the best thing to happen this summer is the resurgence of the grass flats in many areas of the Mosquito Lagoon.   After several years of decline with no grass growing, large areas are now covered in lush green grass beds where we can again see redfish and black drum tailing after crabs and shrimp.   

You can catch redfish, seatrout, and black drum in our lagoon system all year long, but the Indian River holds some of the largest inshore redfish that you will find anywhere.

These giant bull reds that can reach weights exceeding 40 pounds congregate during the fall for their pre-spawning ritual in schools sometimes exceeding several hundred fish.  Large schools can often be seen in the deeper water flats floating up towards the surface and and then sinking down again towards the bottom.   

The outside edges of the deeper flats often hold some of the largest reds.   When approached slowly and cast are made ahead of the school, sight fishermen almost always get a hookup. 

Artificial D.O.A. JerkBaits, 6" Bass Assassins, Gold Spoons, and suspended baits also work well, especially when smeared up with some Pro-Cure or other scent to make them more attractive.

A live pinfish or mullet on a circle hook is one of the best baits for bull redfish, but a fresh cut pinfish, ladyfish, mullet, or blue crab on a a 5/0 or 6/0 circle hook and a standard sliding sinker rig will also produce hookups; especially  when the water is too dirty to sight fish. 

The Florida state record seatrout came from the Indian River and this time of the year is a good time to catch "gator trout" over 8 pounds on the shallow grass flats. The residential docks in the Indian River Lagoon system are good places to target snook, redfish, sheepshead, and large gator sea trout.  

During the heat of the day, the docks provide shade for the fish and attract bait fish and many other organisms that the predators feed on.

The fish hold tight under the docks, so accurate casts are necessary to catch them.  A live bait, a pearl or white Bass Assassin, or a Gulp shrimp on a 1/8 oz. jig head pitched under a dock will usually get a hookup if the fish are there.  

At night, at first light, and sometimes during low light conditions, big sea trout will come off the structure they are holding on to feed and are easier to catch.  Being out on the water before daybreak is an absolute necessity this time of the year, and if you can find relatively clean water with grassy areas, the likelihood of catching fish increases dramatically.

Depending on cloud conditions, from first light until around 9:30 am is the best top water bite for spotted sea trout around the mangrove shorelines and pods of bait fish in the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River flats.   When the bite slows down, switch to subsurface soft baits or twitch baits and concentrate on deeper water along the drop offs to attract bites.

Topwater baits like the Chug Bug MadFlash, SkitterWalk, or Badonk-A-Donk fished around the bait pods are usually productive during the early morning bite.   When the bite slows down, soft plastic paddletail or jerk baits work better in deeper water along the edges of the flats.

Most of the trout caught on topwater baits in the Mosquito Lagoon have been averaging 2 to 5 pounds.   Indian River fish average a bit larger.

 

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Offshore and Nearshore Fishing:

Fall is right around the corner and small pods of thread minnows, pogies,and mullet are already showing up along our beaches.   The famous fall “mullet run” should be a good one this year and with the early signs of fingerling and full size mullet along our beaches, the fishing should be outstanding.

If you find an area where the baitfish are congregating, you will find game fish around them.  Right now there are literally tons of sharks, quite a few tarpon, and even some king mackerel nearshore and off the beach in less than 20 feet of water.

Nearshore anglers are getting plenty of action along the beaches and off the surf from a variety of species including Spanish mackerel, bluefish, snook, tarpon, big jacks, and a lot of sharks.

As long as the weather holds up and our waters remain clean, the offshore fishing for mahi, kingfish, cobia, and wahoo should be literally off the charts this month out of Port Canaveral.

Tarpon in the 70 to 100 pound plus range have been rolling in small schools up and down our beaches just offshore feeding on glass minnows.   
The area around Patrick SFB is a good area to target tarpon right now.  Use large plastic paddletail baits or live mullet, pilchards, and croakers on 80 pound test leaders with large circle hooks to get hookups. 
 
King mackerel has been the staple for offshore anglers in our area and on most days they will strike live baits and lures on just about any of our 70 to 90 foot reefs out of the Port.   The guys pulling live baits on stinger rigs over the reefs are doing really good right now on the Kingfish along with some blackfin tuna.  

Anglers targeting "smoker" king mackerel off the beach normally slow troll live baits on wire stinger rigs; but frozen baits with dusters added, Sea Witch and bait strip combos, spoons, and diving plugs also work well.  Rapala CD-14 or CD-18, and Williamson Speed Pros are some favorite lures.  

On the average our king mackerel run about 10 to 20 pounds, but a lot of fish caught along the beach this past month have been "smokers" running over 30 pounds and even a few into the 40s.  

For you bottom fishermen, the offshore bite for Mutton and Mangrove snapper is really good, but there are lots and lots of sharks out there.   The action for grouper has also been good on the deeper reefs and wrecks.  Live grunts, croakers, blue runners, and pinfish are working well for grouper in the 180 to 260 foot depths where a lot of the fish are holding.   Experienced anglers tend to use larger baits and large chunks of bonita or barracuda to catch bigger fish.  Using smaller baits causes problems with red snapper and other species grabbing the bait before the grouper can get to them.

A few anglers have been picking up some nice snapper, amberjack, blackfin tuna, and even scamp grouper by deep water jigging.   On a recent jigging trip aboard the Ocean Obsession II, the guys loaded up using deep jigs (below). 

Many anglers use 16 to 24 oz. vertical speed jigs, or any of the many types of slow pitch jigs when deep jigging if there is not a strong current running. 

 
The Oculina Bank from Port Canaveral to Ponce Inlet is anywhere from 240 to 260 feet deep and is a good area to target large Gag grouper, Scamp grouper, and Snowy grouper. Most grouper caught in this area have been running 15 pounds or more with some in the 25 to 35 pound range. 

Sharks of every shape and size are running thick along our nearshore and offshore reefs and wrecks as well as the beaches.   Sandbars and bull sharks are the worst for stealing your catch when you're out on the reefs.  

When you're closer inshore, you can target blacktips, spinners, sharpnose or fine tooths that are all around the tarpon pods.  

Most of the sharks offshore, around the inlets, and even in the lagoon system are in the 2 to 6 feet long category.  There have been a couple of reports of large sharks in Haulover Canal and up around the Edgewater area.

Deep dropping anywhere from 40 to 60 miles out of Port Canaveral in 600 to 700 feet of water is good throughout the year and September is no exception. 
 
Heavy rods and electric reels are used to drop squid baited rigs right on the bottom where a variety of deep water species can be caught.  Snowy Grouper, Golden Tile Fish, Queen Snapper, Rosefish, and Swordfish are all possible at depths from 400 to over 700 feet.  

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Surf  and Inlet Fishing:  

Most surf fishermen this month will be targeting whiting, croakers, juvenile black drum, and pompano along the surfline with sand fleas, shrimp, and Fishbites. 

Right now with water temperatures in the nearshore current still down from the recent upwelling; the bite for whiting, croaker, and an occasional Pompano has been steady with fresh or frozen sand fleas, shrimp, and clams as baits of choice. 

There are a few reports of pompano being caught along the beaches; look for clean cool blue water and you’ll have your best shot at catching some. The whiting and palometta are close to shore, right off the edge of the sand and are being caught mostly on fresh shrimp or sand fleas.

September and October are great months to target snook along our beaches and inlets as the fall mullet run continues to ramp up.  With the opening of snook season today, a lot of surf fishermen will be targeting them in the sloughs along our beaches and along the jetties and sea walls at Port Canaveral.

For a while now, snook and tarpon have been feeding in the first trough.  Beach anglers that are able to find clean water conditions in the surf have been catching them on live baits, Flair jigs, large 5 inch swimbaits, and Rapala X-Raps.   

Some of the tarpon are reported to be "leader shy" but because of the sharks that are following the fish, heavier leaders are needed and for the most part don't present too much of a problem.   

As the fall migration of mullet becomes thicker along our beaches; Ponce Inlet, Port Canaveral, and Sebastian Inlet will become ground zero for big snook and a variety of other predatory species.  

The jetties and sea walls at Port Canaveral, the causeway bridge fenders at New Smyrna Beach, and the bridge fenders at the A1A bridge leading to Sebastian Inlet will be great spots to target snook this month.
  Most anglers fishing the inlets tend to use live mullet, croaker, or pinfish on a standard sliding sinker rig to target snook and redfish; but large lipped plugs, suspended twitch baits, a variety of plastic swimbaits, and flair jigs also work well; especially during the evening hours and at night.

A lot of anglers who night fish around the inlet jetties, cat walks, pilings, and sea walls use large Rapala X-Rap 14 lures or large Saltwater Assassin 5" or 6" swim baits on big jig heads with 7/0 or 8/0 hooks to fish for snook.    Baits smeared up with some Pro-Cure gel or other scent seem to get more bites. 
 
The surf around Patrick Air Force Base is a good place for anglers targeting snook.  A large mullet on a sliding sinker rig cast out past the worm rocks will usually get you a hookup if the fish are in the area.  If the snook aren't hitting, you can count on getting a shark of some species.
 

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Haulover Canal:

Haulover Canal fishermen who have been targeting oversize black drum and redfish that are  now moving through the canal from the Mosquito Lagoon into the northern Indian River to spawn are getting more action for the past week or so.

The deep holes at both ends of Haulover are almost always occupied by boaters dunking live or cut baits in hopes of tying into an oversize redfish or drum.

Most experienced anglers fish with a whole or cut live blue crab, a live pinfish or mullet, or a large chunk of fresh cut mullet or pinfish.   Sliding sinker rigs with 30 to 60 pound Power Pro or other braid and a short 12" - 15" leader completes the setup.   

A few anglers have been using a jigheads tipped with crab or clam scented Fishbites with some success.

Stout tackle and braided lines are recommended to keep the fish from breaking off on the rocky bottom structure.
With Snook season opening up today, we will see more anglers drifting the canal tossing topwater plugs and suspended twitch baits along the shorelines early in the morning, close to dusk, and at night.  This technique is productive for snook, large sea trout, and tarpon when they are in the canal.
 

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Until next time,

Tight Lines and bent rods!