The Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River


This month during an early morning summer fishing trip, just about any inshore species can be caught in East Central Florida waters.

From Scottsmoore to Melbourne, its been a mixed bag of species in our backwaters.  Snook, redfish, speckled sea trout, and juvenile tarpon are all potential catches on the flats and around the mangrove covered islands and shorelines.   

Live pilchards or finger mullet have been the most reliable baits for all these species, but a 5" Artemis Sea Shad rigged on a 1/2 ounce jig head will get strikes in clear water early in the day.   The Chicken on a Chain, Houdini, and Green Hornet colors have been working best.    Later on during the middle of the day, chunked baits like pinfish, ladyfish, and mullet work better.

For the past couple of weeks along the Space Coast, the air temperatures have been in the low to upper 90s almost every day, with very little rain.

When air temperatures consistently remain in the low to mid 90s; early morning, late afternoon, and night are the best times to be on the water if you plan to catch fish.    

Just prior to daybreak during the wee early morning hours; look for redfish and big sea trout around the bait pods on the shallow flats close to deep water.  Target them with top water baits like  MirroLures,  Rapala Skitterwalks, Chug Bugs, Zara Spooks , or any lure that closely imitates a finger mullet.    Slow, steady retrieves will usually attract the fish.

Later on in the day, the long points around the spoil islands, the areas around deep cuts, and the deep waters adjacent to shallow flats are always good areas to target with sub walkers, plastic swimbaits, spoons, and cut baits.  

Around 9:00 in the morning, the topwater bite usually dies down and the fish move into cooler water areas like the residential docks in the canal systems, the deeper water around the bridge pilings, the channels adjacent to the shallow flats, and the deeper shorelines under the overhanging mangroves. 

For the past few weeks, the redfish, sea trout, and juvenile tarpon in the Mosquito Lagoon have been holding tight underneath the mangroves where they take advantage of the shade.   
 
On clear, sunny days, a  4" Sea Shad Saltwater Assassin in the "Chicken on a Chain" color rigged on a 1/4 oz jig head has been the bait of choice for these fish.    Skipping the bait under the overhanging mangroves as close as possible to the bank will often get an immediate strike if the fish are there.  On windy days, cut baits fished in these same areas seem to work better.

If you can find mullet, mud minnows, or glass minnows around overhanging mangroves for the next few weeks, your chances of hooking into a nice redfish or snook will significantly improve.   

Snook, redfish, and juvenile tarpon have also been holding around the shaded deep water docks in the thousand island area farther south of us in the Banana River.  Small soft plastic paddle tail jigs, gulp shrimp, and small Mirrolure Mirrodine lures are good baits to fish these areas.   
 
The snook bite throughout the Indian River and Banana River has been really good for the past couple of weeks, especially in the inlet and jetties at Ponce Inlet.   There are plenty of 25 to 30 inch snook holding close to the mangrove roots and under the docks in the backwaters and along the jetties.    Tossing a live jumbo shrimp, finger mullet, croaker, or silver perch tight to the shoreline will get them out from under the brush to strike.  When you find baitfish in clean water along the shoreline, you will generally find snook close by.
In the Ponce area, you can find smaller tarpon in the 20 to 60 pound category in the same areas as the snook.  The larger tarpon are roaming the beaches along the coast from Bethune Beach to the inlet following bait pods.  
When the sun rises higher on the horizon and the bite slows down, start tossing a small jig head with 5" Saltwater Assassin plastic jerk bait or a large Gulp Shrimp tail tight against the mangrove shorelines, deeper pockets, and shadowy areas where the fish tend to hide.   
Fishing a live finger mullet or Croaker under a clacking float is also a productive method for getting smashing strikes from big sea trout.  When artificial and other live baits are being refused by big sea trout; try "Oinking" a pigfish.

A freelined pigfish will immediately swim down to the bottom to shelter in the grass.  When you pull back and twitch the bait a few times, the pigfish will pop up off the bottom and make an audible "Oinking" sound as it tries to swim back into the grass.   The oinking sound that the bait makes drives sea trout absolutely crazy.

Many anglers fish a live pigfish under a Cajun Thunder type float with just enough lead to keep the bait swimming above the sea grass.    The vibrations and oinking noise that the pigfish makes as it tries to hide in the grass and get back to the bottom attracts sea trout and redfish from surprisingly long distances.

If you're after big redfish, target the deep water flats and outside edges of the sand bars like those around Tiger Shoals, Georges Bar, the Whale Tail in the southern Mosquito Lagoon, and the False Channel Bar just outside of Haulover Canal.  

The deep water flats across from the shallow water boat launch in the north Indian River, and the flats directly across from the power plant near the flea market are also good spots to target for big bull reds.

Large Croakers up to 8", whole or cut blue crabs, a large whole mullet, and chunks of ladyfish are all good baits for big bull redfish.   

For the last couple of weeks, schools of smaller slot size redfish have been tailing on the shallow southern flats south of Pelican Island off of Bio Lab road.    Fiddler crabs or live shrimp on small hooks with a split shot are the best baits to use for these spooky fish.

Baits of choice for black drum are shrimp, cut or whole blue crab, and clams; in that order.   The drum in our area have been running in the 6 to 10 pound category with a few larger fish in the mix.

The shallow grass flats around East Gator Creek hold ladyfish, black drum, sea trout, and juvenile tarpon up to 50 pounds or so.  The best way to fish them is to walk the bank opposite to the unimproved road around the flats.   The brush along the banks have been cut down by the refuge managers leaving no way to successfully land any fish you might hook into from the road.

Although Peacocks Pocket road was supposed to be re opened in March or April of this year,  it is still being worked on.
 

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Nearshore and Offshore 

The trolling action out of Port Canaveral has gotten better this week for anglers targeting dolphin, tuna, and wahoo.  The weed lines are so prevalent out on the offshore grounds that finding an edge is extremely difficult on most days.    The scattered Sargasso weeds are just about everywhere.

Offshore anglers pulling baits this month should learn how to rig their ballyhoo in a weedless manner so they can slide through the Sargasso weeds a little easier.  You might miss a few strikes but in the long run, it will make your trip much less stressful. 

If you plan to run something over your ballyhoo; good skirt colors this past week are pink and white, blue and white, and green and yellow.

July is a peak month in East Central Florida waters for big Wahoo in the 50 pound plus category.  
 

In 140 to 180 feet of water all the way out to around the 500 foot depths, anglers pulling ballyhoo rigs with small skirts should be picking up plenty of fish this month.  Small, pink skirts usually seem to produce best.   

Every year a lot of huge Wahoo over 100 pounds are caught from the Oculina Bank; a deep water coral reef that parallels 130 miles of our coast from just South of St. Augustine all the way down to Fort Pierce. 

Local area fishermen refer to this sharply defined section of coral structure out of Port Canaveral as the "cones" or the "steeples".   

The corals rise up to 65 feet from the bottom and are rich in baitfish making it a feeding grounds for king mackerel, dolphin, wahoo, marlin, tunas, and other pelagic species.

Bottom fishing in deeper water has been good for AJs and grouper.  The grouper bite offshore on the 150 to 250 foot wrecks and reefs has been very good for the past few weeks.  The smaller pieces of bottom have been holding grouper, so you don't always need to go to the biggest section of the ledge to get bit.  The smaller pieces are also less likely to hold a lot of sharks on them.

Dropping large live baits is the trick to catching big grouper this month.  Live grunt, croakers, pogies, and blue runners are all good bait choices for grouper.

A lot of tripletail can be found feeding among the abundant amounts of Sargasso weeds that have moved inshore over the past weeks.  You can find small crabs, live shrimp, etc. in the Sargasso to use for bait.  Rigging them on a small 1/0 to 2/0 hook and free lined will usually get a strike.

Closer to the beach out to the 40 foot depths, the tarpon, jacks, and a variety of sharks are eating pogies and mullet all along our coastal waters.  

This week the tarpon were in the 12 to 35 foot depths where anglers were getting multiple hookups with fish in excess of 100 pounds.  Drifting live baits through the pods of tarpon has been the best tactic for catching them and should remain so throughout the hot summer months.
 
The nearshore Pelican Flats and 8A reefs are usually good for an early morning kingfish bite for anglers pulling stinger rigs.  Blackfin tuna, mahi mahi, wahoo, and some cobia are generally found on the 70 to 90 foot reefs. 

The near shore bite for King Mackerel in the 30 to 60 foot depths out of Port Canaveral has also been relatively reliable on any type structure.  Sandy rocky bottoms, roll downs, and near shore wrecks that are holding bait will be holding king mackerel.  

The best bite for king mackerel has been early in the day, and later on in the afternoons.   In our area, slow trolling live baits on stinger rigs close to the beach during the early summer mornings before the sun gets too hot and the late afternoon thunderstorms come rolling through the area, is the route most small craft anglers pursue.   Slow trolling during the heat of the day has not been especially productive. 

Most of the king mackerel caught out of the port right now are running in the 10 to 25 pound range, with a few larger fish in the mix.  
 
This month the offshore snapper bite is usually very good throughout our region in the 70 to130 foot depths and if the cold thermocline doesn't infiltrate Space Coast reefs this summer, we will be able to catch snapper as shallow as 60 to 80 feet, or less.  +
Most of the mangrove snapper caught are running about 3 to 4 pounds, with plenty in the 5 and 6 pound range. 

As juvenile threadfins, pilchards, and sardines form dense schools in and around Sebastian and Port Canaveral this month, the mangrove snapper bite along the inlet and jetties will really get crazy.  

The basic setup for inlet snapper fishing is a light to medium weight spinning outfit with a sliding sinker or knocker rig of 15 to 30 pound fluorocarbon leader, and a sharp, light, 1/0 or 2/0 hook.  Hook the live bait through the nose when fishing in current or in the tail section if fishing in still water.  A sliding sinker rig will produce more and larger fish.

Because of the snappers feeding behavior; they prefer picking up the bait and leaving the area to keep the bait away from other snapper in the vicinity, before swallowing it headfirst.  This is why you need to let the fish run quite a bit before setting the hook.   To maximize on their feeding habits, try fishing a pilchard plug or fresh dead baitfish with the tail cut off on the bottom.

Mangrove snapper, and snappers in general prefer feeding with a moving tide, and inlets typically produce more fish around a high tide.

NOAA recently announced the 2023 recreational red snapper season opening date to be July 14 and 15 with a 1 fish per day bag limit. Deep dropping out of Port Canaveral in the 600 to 800 foot depths and deeper is good all year round. 

A variety of deep water species including Golden Tilefish, Snowy Grouper, Blueline Tilefish, Yellowedge Grouper, and Swordfish are caught on electric reels with heavy deep drop rigs using squid, bonito bellies, blue runners, etc. for bait.
The majority of keeper swordfish caught in our area weigh between 50 and 100 pounds, however a lot are caught that exceed that weight.
 

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Surf Fishing

During the month of July, anglers can expect to catch whiting, pompano, black drum, sharks, and even the possibility of a nearshore tarpon from the surf line.  The whiting bite in particular ramps up this month at Playalinda and other area beaches.
With air and water temperatures on the rise, surf anglers will do best during the early morning hours until about mid afternoon, and again later in the afternoon until evening.  Where permitted, fishing after dark can be outstanding for snook, shark, and other near shore species.

The majority of pompano that migrate along our beaches travel north during the summer months to follow their preferred water temperature range, but a lot of fish remain along our coast year round.    These "resident" pompano can be caught mostly during the summer months using conventional pompano rigs tipped with sand fleas, clams, small pieces of shrimp, and Fishbites.  Live sand fleas  are plentiful around low tide at most of our beaches and are the preferred bait of choice for surf fishermen in our area.

Lately the pompano bite has been pretty "iffy", with most fish being caught in the early morning hours until about 10:00 am.   Surf fishermen who read the surf and scan the beach to find that "perfect" hot spot must be willing to move to a new location when they don't get a bite within a reasonable period of time.   

Right now, long rods and super long casts past the first set of breakers are required to get to the keeper pompano when they are cruising through the area.

Closer to the surf line, the bite for smaller whiting, blue runners, croaker, snook, and some small sharks has been good.
 
 

In general, the summertime pompano bite in East Central Florida is not as good as the late fall and winter bite.  Water clarity and weeds along our beaches will often determine the success or failure of an outing for species that feed primarily by sight.  Areas with shades of blue or green water are preferred to "muddy" silty water unless you like catching a lot of catfish.   

The seaweed along our beaches has diminished substantially compared to the Sargasso we had been experiencing.

Sharks are always in the surf, especially when there are pods of baitfish running along our beaches and summertime surf anglers should always expect to hook up with a variety of sharks this month.   At any given time a black tip, sharp nose, bull, nurse, and even an occasional hammerhead can be hooked along the surf zone. 

Live mullet, Croaker, ladyfish, or large chunk of bonito, etc. on a large 7/0 to 8/0 VMC circle hook crimped on a wire leader with 60 pound or heavier Power Pro as the main line is a good setup for targeting larger fish.

Although most sharks caught in the surf have been running in the 5 to 40 pound category, some species run well over 100 pounds.

When fishing for shark from the beach, make sure you have a free shore fishing shark permit and have completed the educational course offered by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.  The free add on to your sport fishing license must be on your person while fishing from the surf.
 

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Haulover Canal
Although it's somewhat inconvenient, the net effect is fewer bank fishermen.

Regardless of the fence, there were still a lot of bank fishermen along the southern banks at Haulover Canal this past week fishing for  Mangrove Snapper, black drum, bull redfish, and the usual by catch of catfish and stingrays.   

The guys after mangrove snapper were using live and dead shrimp.   The anglers targeting black drum and redfish were using live blue crab, sections of blue crab, and crab knuckles.   

A couple of guys were fishing with live finger mullet on sliding sinker rigs.

Although the northwest bank of Haulover was not as crowded as I expected, there were still a good number of bank fishermen dunking a variety of live and dead baits at the best spots. 

I never saw any fish caught while I was scouting out the fishing in the canal but a couple of anglers said they were catching slot size drum, and one fellow said he caught and released a redfish around 36 inches long.

The baits you choose to fish with at Haulover can definitely make a big difference on how many and the quality of the fish you catch.  Fresh live or fresh dead baits will catch more and better fish than old baits that have been sitting around for a while.  Unless you like catching catfish.
                                                                                             

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2023 Lobster Season

The July 26-27 Spiny Lobster sport season this year is just around the corner and some of the best spiny lobstering outside of the Florida Keys is available to our residents right outside of Port Canaveral.  Divers will be allowed to harvest 12 lobsters per person during the two day season.

Although a lot of East Central Florida residents flock down to the keys; the waters out of Ponce, Canaveral, and Sebastian Inlets produce some of the best lobstering in the entire state of Florida, with "bugs" in the 6 to 10 pound plus category taken regularly .

During the July 26th to 27th sport season, and the regular season that begins August 6th and ends March 31st, divers out of all three inlets will be scouring the 50 to 55 foot reefs in search of the tasty "bugs".  

More experienced professional divers that regularly descend to depths of 90 feet or more usually fill their quotas with much larger bugs.

In our area, the largest lobsters are found in the 50 to 90 foot depths.    Small craft unable to access these depths can still hunt them on the shallower water artificial reefs like those out of Ponce Inlet.

The stretch of beach between Wabasso Beach and Ft. Pierce Inlet is a popular area for beach divers who routinely snorkel out into 15 or 20 feet of water where some big spiny lobsters are often found.   The Wabasso and Disney Beach areas annually produce "bugs" up to 15 pounds.

For additional information on the 2023 Florida Spiny Lobster Season, click on the icon below.

                                                                      

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Until next time,

Tight Lines and bent rods!