Your February 2023 🐟 Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing Forecast
Published: Wed, 02/01/23
Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing |
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Newsletter Issue #163 Fishing Forecast February 1, 2023  The Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River One of the best times to go backcountry fishing in our lagoon system during February is just before and in between the cold fronts. Redfish, black drum, snook, and sea trout can sense the pending change in weather and will literally gorge themselves before the water temps go south. Redfish can be caught all year long in East Central Florida, but from December through February, they become super aggressive during the warming trends that we have in between the cold fronts. During each cold front, redfish, black drum, and sea trout move up onto the mudflats for warmth, making them perfect targets for sight fishing. A well placed live shrimp, crab, or artificial lure will usually result in an instant hookup. During the winter months, slow retrieves with baits that resemble small shrimp or crabs are most effective for reds, black drum, snook, and some surprisingly large sea trout. The fish are now in their winter feeding patterns and are primarily targeting shrimp and a variety of crabs. The best areas to target fish during February's cold weather conditions are the deeper creeks, troughs, drop offs along the shallow flats, channels along the ICW, deep water bridge pilings, and in the southern lagoon system around Cocoa; the residential canals. Sea trout and Snook in particular will occasionally stack up in these areas seeking protection from the cold, and can be caught using slow presentations of live shrimp or soft Creme Spoiler Shad type lures. A bit of Pro-Cure smeared on your lure will keep slow moving fish holding on to your baits. Black Drum, once regarded as a seasonal species, have increased in numbers and can be caught throughout the year on the shallow flats of the Mosquito and Indian River Lagoons. Black Drum prefer water temperatures between 50 to 75 degrees, which makes the winter months from December through March the best times to target them in our lagoon system. During February, anglers can often find large schools of Black Drum grouping together in schools of 250 to over 500 fish or more. The deeper flats of the Indian River is where anglers head to target larger drum in the 20 to over 60 pound category. Larger schools of black drum with some redfish mixed in are usually holding around the spoil islands, drop offs, and channel edges of the Indian River. Fresh sections of blue crab, and live or dead shrimp are baits of choice for these fish.  Small and medium to large schools of black drum mixed with redfish can often be found foraging on the shallow water flats during the afternoon hours for shrimp, crabs, and other crustaceans. These fish are easy targets for fly fishermen casting shrimp and a variety of crab patterns. Last week in the Merritt Island and Cocoa Beach areas, black drum in the 1 to 10 pound category were holding in the residential canals and creeks. Anglers fishing the deeper waters along the turn around at Patillo Creek in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, have been making good catches of slot and over size drum. This has always been a good area to soak a shrimp or a crab during the winter months. In the southern section of the Mosquito Lagoon around Bio Lab Road, several pods of black drum mixed with some redfish have been cruising the shallow flats and around the shorelines, during the late mornings and afternoon hours. On warm days, you can usually find a bevy of bank fishermen all along Bio Lab Road fishing for black drum and reds. Live or dead shrimp, sections of fresh blue crab, sand fleas, fiddler crabs and fresh cut chunks of ladyfish are baits of choice in this area. Although the cold weather fronts improve the fishing for black drum, redfish, and sea trout; extreme cold snaps can decimate the snook populations in the lagoon system. During the last cold snap in January; dead snook in the shallow flats of the Mosquito Lagoon were laying all over the banks. When the water temperature in the lagoon dropped down into the lower 60s and upper 50s; the black drum and redfish bite improved, but the snook bite slowed down to a crawl. Many anglers fish for snook along our inlets and from our beaches, but there is a substantial backcountry fishery in the Mosquito Lagoon on the shallow water grass beds and along the mangrove shorelines. The snook stage underneath the mangroves tight to the shoreline waiting to ambush shrimp and small baitfish. Tight, accurate casts to the mangrove roots with a variety of live baits, lures, and flies will get hookups if the fish are in the area. Snook in the Indian River can also be found holding close to the potholes in the grass flats, tight to the mangrove shorelines, and along the banks of the shallow creeks in the northern portion of the river around north Shiloh Road. You can often spot them laying up around the potholes in only a foot of water. Very slow presentations with little to no weight is necessary to hook up under these conditions. . Snook season reopens Feb 1st in our region with a 28" to 32" total length slot limit. February is one of the best months of the year to catch a trophy size sea trout in our area, especially between cold fronts. Catching a cooler full of sea trout is nothing to write home about, but catching just one "Gator Trout" is a completely different story; and if you want to catch them consistently, you need to target them. Most anglers call a sea trout a "Gator" when it grows to 5 or 6 pounds in weight, but anglers who specifically target big sea trout don't consider it a Gator until the fish is in the 28 to over 30 inch category. Remember that the IGFA All-Tackle World Record was caught in Fort Pierce, Fl. and weighed in at a whopping 17-pounds, 7-ounces. Once a sea trout grows large enough to feed mostly on finfish, they become more cautious, solitary, and lazy. They are ambush predators that feed mostly at night and during low light conditions. In tidal areas they like a good current to bring them their prey and will hold around structure near deeper water to escape from predators. In the spring and summer months, you can find them around the edges of sandy potholes on the flats. Drop offs, docks, bridges, structure, jetties and any areas that hold baitfish will also hold big trout. Lighted docks should never be passed up when targeting big sea trout. All large sea trout are naturally skittish. They will detect the slightest vibration from a boat hull, boat wake, canoe oar, wading angler, etc. and immediately develop a case of lockjaw. Big sea trout like the one below are noted for seeking areas that are tough to access and where fishing pressure is limited.  Peacocks Pocket road, Shiloh Road, Pumphouse Road Loop, Long Pond Road, Granny's Cove, and Patillo Creek are all good areas to target Gator Trout for the next few months. In the above areas, wading or fishing from a kayak or canoe are good ways to sneak into the shallows where big trout live. Targeted casts from the bank also catch a good share of big trout when wading or fishing from a kayak is not possible. Big sea trout eat big baits. Although a gator sea trout can be caught with a live shrimp presented right in front of its nose; a live pinfish or finger mullet in the 5 to 6 inch category is more likely to gain it's interest. Long casts with artificial plastic 5 to 6 inch jerkbaits and large topwater plugs like the Skitterwalk or Badadonk are killer on big trout. Long blind casts will put the bait in front of the fish before the fish can sense you and slow presentations keep the bait in the strike zone longer. If you want to nail a Gator sea trout this month, get out just before dusk and start fishing the lighted docks in our area with a large topwater or plastic jerk bait. Playalinda and Area Beaches When conditions are favorable, January and February are always great months to fish the surf in our area. The previous weeks we’ve been blessed along the Space Coast with ideal surf fishing conditions, cooperating fish, and great weather. Surf fishermen have been getting plenty of action with pompano, whiting, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, black drum, and jacks and some bonnet head and black tip sharks. In the Cocoa Beach and Melbourne Beach areas, surf fishermen have been catching good numbers of keeper size pompano.  Anglers fishing the different troughs and run outs in our area with Clam and Crab scent Fishbites have also been picking up some nice keeper pompano. Fresh shrimp, sand fleas and clams in combination with Fishbites on a standard pompano rig has proven to be the ticket for pompano for the last couple of weeks. Anglers who custom tied their pompano rigs and used electric chicken Fishbites and fresh shrimp as bait seemed to get the most bites this past week. The black drum bite in our area has also been good on the same baits used for pompano. Puppy drum and adults up to 40 pounds are being landed along with an occasional bluefish. A simple Frisky Fins pompano rig or Pompano Rich rig with some fresh shrimp or clam tipped with fish gum or Fishbites has been the go to bait for many surf fishermen in the Coco
and Melbourne beach areas.
Pompano generally feed in the deep outer troughs just inshore of the sandbars.
Playalinda Beach, Apollo Beach south of New Smyrna Beach, and several other beach accesses between Melbourne Beach and Wabasso Beach have these conditions and are prime areas to fish for pompano. The beaches north around New Smyrna, and the beaches at Daytona and Cocoa also hold pompano in isolated areas around deeper holes. Although an early morning incoming or full high tide is considered to be the best time to fish the surf zone, any moving tide can be productive, especially just before and after a cold front. The key to consistently catching pompano is to locate clear water with heavy runouts. The surf fishermen who were catching the most Pompano were using a combination of electric chicken Fishbites and fresh shrimp.
Although live Sand fleas are considered by most surf fishermen to be the best all around bait for pompano; small pieces of shrimp, clam, and Fishbites or combinations of these baits can often out fish sand fleas.
There is little doubt that bluefish are the dominant predatory species during the winter months along our beaches.
Fishbites are tough, stay on the hook for extended periods, and will catch almost as many fish as live baits. Fishing a rough, heavy surf is always tough, especially during cold winter days. The pompano are out there if you can get past the breakers and hold bottom, but many anglers choose to stay at home. Often, these challenging conditions are when some nicest size pompano and whiting are caught. Long rods capable of tossing a 4 oz or 5 oz Sputnik type sinker to hold bottom during a rough surf, will get you past the breakers to the farthermost troughs, especially when spooled with a thin diameter braided line. Change out kahle style hooks on your droppers with small circle hooks for better hookups in the rough surf. Live sand fleas can be tough to locate on the beach during February, but local bait shops in the Titusville and Melbourne areas usually keep live and frozen fleas in stock. Use blanched sand fleas when live fleas are hard to find.  On any given day, surf anglers will be able to catch blues on small spoons or Gotcha lures using light to medium action river rods however, fresh shrimp, clams, and chunked baits have accounted for most of the bluefish catches these past weeks. The small silver spoons, Gotcha lures, and Rapala X-Rap lipped diving plugs that normally out produce live baits haven't been quite as hot. The bluefish that are being caught in the Melbourne and Cocoa area are running much larger than we have seen in past years. A lot of blues caught last week in the Melbourne area were caught on two or three hook dropper pompano rigs with sand fleas or shrimp and Fishbite combinations. Several surf fishermen in the Melbourne Beach area reported that the best bite has been on orange colored floats. Shark fishermen this month are still finding plenty of blacktip sharks in the 5 to 6 foot category along our beaches willing to bend a rod. Blacktips and bonnet head sharks are the most common species caught this time of the year and they have been eagerly eating live and fresh chunked baits almost everywhere along East Central Florida beaches. Heavy tackle with heavy mono or steel leaders is recommended when targeting sharks. Also remember to keep the free shark fishing permit on your person when targeting sharks from land. During February when the air temperatures drop and the weather is marginal, you can often find yourself alone on a long stretch of beach.
 The short video above was taken last Saturday afternoon at Playalinda Beach during the outgoing tide. Although lots #8, 9, and 10 were closed for repairs, the remaining open lots had absolutely no fishermen in the vicinity. (Click on pic) Port Canaveral Offshore and Nearshore Bluewater anglers will find mahi mahi, sailfish, and blackfin tuna in the current eddies of the Gulf Stream if you have a big enough boat to safely make the run to the other side.  The guys who made the run to the gulfstream are also doing pretty good with wahoo on the high speed troll during the afternoon bite. Darker colored high speed lures and swimming plugs have been producing better than bright colored lures. Purple and black, black and blue, and red and black have been the most productive colors. Closer to shore, the king mackerel bite has started to pick up along with some scattered dolphin here and there. Kingfish are on the 70 to 90 foot reefs and are being caught by anglers pulling spoons and strip baits behind a planer with a sea witch skirt in front. Live baits on a stinger rig normally work better but live baits are harder to find this time of the year. Although Pelican and 8A have had some big king mackerel on them, most of the kingfish are typical winter fish in the 6 to 10 pound category. High speed trollers running 5 to 10 knots with multiple lines were reporting Wahoo catches in the same general areas of Pelican, 8A, and other 70 to 150 foot reefs where anglers were slow trolling for Kingfish. Although there are specific tactics used to target both species, small Islander lures with a ballyhoo will generally work on most species. The guys that target Wahoo, just ramp up their trolling speed a bit. When anglers pulling stinger rigs limit out on the troll, many move on to try out the bottom bite for snapper, grouper, amberjack, and an occasional cobia. Right now the bottom fishing for mangrove, lane, and vermillion snapper has been pretty decent in the 90 to 160 foot depths. Frozen sardines, squid, and other live or chunked reef species is all you need to catch some mangrove snapper, lane snapper, amberjack, grouper, etc. There are still some cobia on a few of the wrecks in the Canaveral and Sebastian area. For boats equipped with electric reels, deep dropping for Golden Tilefish, Yellow edge grouper, and a variety of other deep water species that are open to harvest is extremely productive and popular with many anglers running out of Port Canaveral. Most deep water species are great table fare and well worth a special trip. Because of the extreme depths and current, electric reels are a "must" for this type fishing. Closer inshore in the 20 to 35 foot depths, the shark bite is still strong. Plenty of small sharks up to 6 foot are being caught, mostly blacktips, but there are also a lot of big ones in the area.  Tripletail and a few scattered cobia have been seen hanging around the marker buoys, weed lines, and other floating structure throughout our region. Use small bucktail jigs tipped with a piece of live shrimp or squid for tripletail and a large bucktail with a whole squid or a live bait for cobia. When the water temperatures hit the 68 degree mark, start looking for Cobia tracking the Manta rays in the 50 to 90 foot depths offshore. Closer to shore we've had some good weakfish action out of Ponce Inlet and in the river. The sheepshead and black drum bite along the jetties has also been on fire for the past couple of weeks. Shrimp, fiddlers, and crab knuckles are baits of choice along the jetties. The sheepshead and black drum bite along the jetties at Port Canaveral has also been good this past month and should continue for a few weeks. Haulover Canal Any day you visit Haulover Canal, you will usually find a number of bank fisherman soaking a variety of baits for black drum, redfish, mangrove snapper, and sheepshead.
Bull redfish and big black drum are usually the primary targets for bank fishermen along the banks of the canal and February is a good month to hook into one. As of last week a few bull reds were reported being caught on blue crabs and cut ladyfish. The two fishermen I spoke with recently were using a whole blue crab for bait with the legs removed. They were targeting big black drum that they said were biting well throughout the week. Both anglers said they had been catching drum in the 10 to 20 pound category around the bridge pilings.  There was little to no current in the canal when I visited the area which is probably why most anglers were fishing for sheepshead or mangrove snapper around the coquina ledges. Just about everybody was using live shrimp for bait. The pilings around Haulover Canal and both of the fishing piers at the A. Max Brewer Causeway Bridge at Parrish Park hold good numbers of sheepshead this time of the year. Anglers at Haulover also target them around the coquina outcroppings generally use fiddler crabs and small pieces of shrimp for bait. Until next time,
Tight Lines and bent rods!
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