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Mosquito Lagoon,Indian River and Banana River

The lack of rainfall this spring appears to be helping the health of our lagoon by limiting the amount of lawn fertilizer runoff into the system which will hopefully allow for some much needed sea grasses to start flourishing again.  The waters in the Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River, and Banana River are clear enough for sight fishing in many areas.

That being said, early June is one of the best months to sight fish for gator sea trout in East Central Florida, and this year is no exception. 

Big female speckled sea trout have been targeting the schools of mullet during the early morning hours, late in the evenings, and at night throughout the entire lagoon system. 

Right now baitfish are plentiful on the flats and big sea trout, redfish, and snook are mixed in with them.  

Anglers targeting the bait pods on the grass flats in the Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River, and Banana River during the early morning hours with large topwater plugs like Storm's Chug Bug, Rapala's Skitterwalk, Bass Pro Shop's XPS Slim Dog, Super Spook, Badonk-A-Donk, or Mirr-O-Lures can expect smashing strikes from big sea trout, especially when smeared up with some Pro-Cure Inshore Formula.   Adding the gel scent will often fool a wary fish enough to strike a lure that it would normally leave alone.

Although the entire length of our lagoon system from Georges Bar in the Mosquito Lagoon, all the way down to Vero Beach provides good fishing for big sea trout;  some of the best areas are around the bars.  

Cucumber bar on the Mosquito Lagoon side, the outer bars, the false channel bars, and any of the spoil islands in the Indian or Banana Rivers are great spots to catch big gator sea trout.  But the key is to find and target the mullet pods that hang around these areas.

In the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon, gator size sea trout in the 6 pound plus category used to be common on the vast grass flats, but with the recent die off of the sea grass beds, you have to target specific areas to hunt for sea trout of this size.   The south end of our region around spoil islands, and in the extreme shallows on the east side of the Mosquito Lagoon around congregations of mullet or pilchards are a couple of good areas where you can sight fish them.  

The best live baits to catch big sea trout with right now are live croakers, mullet, pinfish, or pilchards, either free lined or fished under a Cajun Thunder type float.  If you prefer fishing artificial baits; a large top water plug, a large 5 to 6 inch Saltwater Assassin paddletail swim bait in the Houdini or Silver Mullet color, or a DOA Jerk bait will do the job. 

Many anglers believe that a 5 or 6 inch bait is too big for sea trout, but keep in mind that a 20 inch or smaller sea trout will often try to eat a baitfish it's same size.  A gator sea trout of 30 inches will easily engulf a 6 inch or larger bait.

Anglers can find smaller "schoolie" size sea trout in the 12 to 15 inch category scattered throughout the flats, around the docks, and in the depressions on soft bottoms. 
D.O.A. Shrimp or 4 inch Saltwater Assassin Sea Shads have been the most consistent producers of sea trout in this size range.  

Fly fishermen after schoolie and larger sea trout have been targeting the dropoffs along the flats with 2 to 4 inch streamer patterns like lefty's deceiver, clouser minnows, etc. in the red and white, green and white, red and yellow, and yellow and white color patterns.

The black drum bite in our area is still going strong.  Slot size Black Drum are everywhere; Coco Beach, Thousand Islands, George's Bar, Honest Johns Canal, Snookery Creek, Catfish Creek, and on the flats and near mangrove covered shorelines in the Banana River Lagoon.   There are a few schools of black drum schooling on the flats on the west side of the Banana River.   Cut crab, sand fleas, and live shrimp are working best for these fish. 

A lot of slot and oversize drum are being caught in deeper water around the dropoffs in the ICW, and from the two fishing piers under the A. Max Brewer bridge and the railroad bridge in Titusville on live shrimp, dead shrimp, cut blue crabs, fiddler crabs, and sand fleas.   Fish caught in deeper water can run up to 40 pounds or more.

Most of the black drum caught near mangrove covered shorelines in our area are on a live shrimp on a jighead and are running in the 2 to 5 pound category.

In the Banana River, live shrimp and small fingerling mullet have been the two best live baits to use for the snook, redfish and trout.   Fish the baits near the edges of mangrove covered shorelines and around the docks in the canal systems of Merritt Island, Cocoa Beach, and Satellite Beach.

During the early morning hours, Saltwater Assassin “Salty Snack” baits in the glow Chartreuse, Fried Chicken, and Chicken on a Chain colors have been working extremely well on sea trout and redfish holding on the flats near the mullet pods.

In the lagoon system farther south of us, anglers have been targeting redfish, snook, and sea trout that are feeding on glass minnows and finger mullet close to the mangroves in very shallow water where they can escape from marauding dolphin that cant swim that close to shore.  

Some concentrated schools of mullet and glass minnows are coming into the lagoon from the feeder creeks where you should be able to find snook, redfish, jacks, and big trout on Rapala Skitterwalks and Twitchin’ Mullet lures around the bait pods.    Good good “go to” baits for these fish are the X-Rap 10 fished along the mangroves along with D.O.A. C.A.L. paddletail and jerkbaits.

You can find pods of baitfish along the mangrove shorelines in Honest John’s canals, Hog Point, all the coves along the shorelines, and most of the spoil islands and some of the grassy flats.

In the Indian River, a few large bull reds are being caught along the deep water flats across from Scottsmoor Landing and in Haulover Canal on chunked baits.

All of our east coast inlets hold good numbers of bull redfish during the month of June.  Live or cut pilchards, Croakers, or Pogies rigged on a sliding sinker rig with just enough weight to hold bottom is a common setup if you plan on drifting in those inlets.

Ocean side fish are usually hanging right around the channel markers and the drop offs at the Canaveral shipping channel or at Ponce Inlet.   The early morning bite has been best for larger fish in the 40 inch and above category.

Canaveral Bite is where some of the largest bull redfish in East Central Florida are caught.    Live or cut croaker, mullet, ladyfish, pinfish, or a blue crab on a sliding sinker rig with a fluorocarbon leaders and 6/0 VMC circle hook is a common rig for this area.

The Atlantic Snook season closes June 1st and reopens Sept 1st, so it's a catch and release fishery right now.  However, Snook are holding in the jetties of all three of our Inlets.   Live baits like croakers, pinfish, or pilchards are top producers.   If you are fishing from a pier, stop casting as far away from the pier as you can.    The fish are holding right at your feet or 10 to 20 feet out from the pier. 

A Penn slammer 5500 or even a 6500 reel with 30 to 40 pound braid and a 50 pound leader is a good setup to use to minimize break offs when fishing the jetty or from a pier.  Baits of choice for evening and daytime fishing include live pigfish, croakers, pilchards, Mojarra, and pinfish rigged on a 5/0 VMC Circle hook.

Night fishermen have been using R&R Flair Hawk jigs, large 5 and 6 inch Assassin swim baits, and lipped diving plugs; especially around Sebastian Inlet.  The incoming tides have been reported as the best times to fish swimbaits in that area.

Our average snook is between 28 to 38 inches, but fish up to 40 inches or more are not uncommon.

June is generally considered the beginning of the summer rainy season in our area.  When the creeks, canals, mosquito control ditches, and backwaters collect the nutrient rich runoff, they become havens for juvenile tarpon, snook, and even freshwater bass. 

The cooler, forage rich runoff that collects in the upper reaches of the feeder creeks attracts tarpon, snook, ladyfish, and other species  where anglers in canoes, kayaks, technical flats boats, and wade fishermen have access to them.

Shiloh Road in the northernmost section of the Indian River lagoon and the section of the Tomoka River north of Daytona Beach between the US 1 and I-95 bridges are both good areas to target tarpon and snook this month.   The southernmost portion of the Mosquito Lagoon off of Bio Lab Road in the area south of Pelican Island is a good area to target juvenile tarpon and ladyfish around the mangroves, and in the ditches and Vistas along Playalinda Beach road.

In the Melbourne and Cocoa area, you can find tarpon in the 2 to 60 pound class around any of the outflows and residential canals around the glass minnow pods that invade the area.    As the month progresses, tarpon in the 30 to 80 pound plus category can be found feeding on the bait pods in the main ICW channel.  

In the Titusville area, tarpon can be found prowling the deep water flats across from the Scottsmoor boat ramp down past the railroad bridge in the ICW and in the depths of Haulover Canal, usually under the bridge.
 

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Playalinda and Surrounding Beaches 


The seaweed that was forecast to arrive in our area has finally made a big push making surf fishing conditions extremely difficult for the foreseeable future.  Areas south of Sebastian Inlet will have relatively clean water at times if you want to wet a line, but the seaweed conditions will cause a lot of re rigging and cleaning of lines.

Despite that, from New Smyrna Beach all the way down to Sebastian, surf fishermen should expect to catch good numbers of whiting, pompano, and sharks along our beaches this month.

 Because schools of whiting and pompano are always on the move, some area beaches will be hot one day and have few to no bites the next.  When this happens, it pays to pick up your gear and move to another section of the beach or to another beach until you find where the migrating fish are holding.

Although most of the larger schools of pompano migrating from South Florida waters up into Volusia County have already left the area or are scattered into small groups, there are plenty of residential pompano that stay in our local waters year round for surf casters to target.  

On Florida’s Space Coast, these pompano can be targeted throughout the summer months.   The key to finding these fish will be water clarity and depth changes.   On calm days when the ocean is clear enough to identify areas where there are troughs and runouts; make a note of the structure and target these areas with sandfleas, shrimp, clam, and Fishbites on your pompano rigs.

Tidal swings usually dictate the numbers of fish caught.  Normally the outgoing or last of the incoming tide will produce the best bite.    

Another trend that remains a factor during June is the afternoon to evening bite and whether the sun is overhead or setting.  The best bite is usually in the early morning hours during the last of an incoming tide.

Whiting and pompano travel up and down the beach in small schools feeding on small crustaceans that they find in the troughs and runouts.  They are often found in the closest trough to the beach and can be caught with short casts and light tackle with small jigs tipped with a small piece of shrimp or sand flea.

 The deeper troughs between the sandbars farther out are where the larger whiting and pompano schools are usually holding and where most surf fishermen target their casts.    Breaks or cuts in a sandbar are hot spots that the fish use to swim between the troughs. 

When the bite is really on, surf anglers can catch a mess of pompano or whiting in a very short time along any of our area beaches with a surf rod, a 2 or 3 hook pompano dropper rig, some sand fleas, fresh shrimp, or fishbites, and just enough lead to hold bottom.   

Sand fleas are by far the top bait of choice either naked or tipped with white clam Fishbites in our area.    Fresh clam or small pieces of shrimp will also catch pompano and whiting, especially when a strip of Fishbites is added.

A lot of surf fishermen get skunked because they set their sand spikes where there aren't any actively feeding fish.   Learn to read the beach before setting up your rods.

Watch how the waves are breaking and look for rip currents, wash outs, sloughs that form just past the shore breaks, and at the sand in the surf for areas where small shells are piling up.   All these are areas where sand fleas, small clams, and crabs are being pulled out into the deeper troughs where the fish are holding.

Pompano, bull whiting, black drum, and redfish often stage just outside of the rips to snatch up crustaceans as they are being pulled into the troughs.

Don't automatically fish the same spot that you caught fish the previous day and expect the same results.   The waves are constantly changing the structure of the beach and the fish are seldom in the same exact spot they were at the previous day.

When you locate a likely looking area where the fish may be feeding, stake out several rods at varying distances from the beach.   Keep your baits in the feeding zone and when you start catching fish set all your baits in that general area.

The resident pompano in our area right now are running 2 to 4 pounds.

Brevard county has a world class snook fishery and although the season is currently closed, snook fishing for surf anglers really heats up during the summer months from June through September.   Because of the huge raft of seaweed offshore, there will be challenges for surf fishermen from large amounts of seaweed in the water.

The high tides will generally provide opportunities for a break in the seaweed and for a shot at some decent snook fishing in the first trough.   Live mullet, croakers, and pinfish fished with or without a weight are extremely productive, as are swimbaits and lipped diving plugs.

Depending on the presence of bait and predatory fish, we can expect the shark fishing to be outstanding for at least the next couple of months.   Early mornings and evenings when the temperatures cool down will have a great effect on the bite.
 
The blacktip migration pattern is peaking and you can still occasionally see airborne spinner sharks clearing the surface just outside the breakers.   The fish come into the first and second troughs to snatch up whiting and blue runners.

Fish large chunked or live baits on shark casting rigs with the ability to get beyond the second trough and beyond but don't be surprised if you get a bite from a shark patrolling the first trough for an easy meal.

Although blacktips are the species most frequently targeted in the surf; Bonnet Heads, Nurse Shark, Atlantic sharp nose, Spinners, Sandbars, Lemon, and Bull shark are also caught along our coast.  

Baits of choice for shark fishermen are chunks of Bonita, stingray, mackerel, ladyfish, or mullet; but any bloody or oily fleshed fish can be used.  A fresh cut bait rigged on a steel leader with a 12/0 circle hook is the rig of choice.

When fishing for shark from shore in Florida waters, you must complete the Shark-Smart Fishing educational course at MyFWC.com/SharkCourse and obtain a free Shore-based Shark Fishing permit.  Both are now required when fishing from shore.  Learn more HERE.

Most of the shark caught from the beaches in our area are under 100 pounds, but much larger fish are not uncommon.
 

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Port  Canaveral Offshore and Nearshore

May and June are typically great months to get out of Port Canaveral and head to the Otherside of the Gulf Stream to chase yellowfin tuna.

Weather is always a challenge when running this far out, but as we head into June we should get more days with calmer weather that allow anglers to make this trip.
Right now offshore anglers drifting live baits or trolling ballyhoo are catching good numbers of small dolphin, blackfin tuna, red snapper, sharks, wahoo, and a few sailfish.   

Look for edges of formed up weed lines, rips, current changes, color changes, and temperature breaks as a good place to start fishing.  A lot of anglers think that you have to run out to 300 feet to start fishing but unless somebody is telling you to start really shallow off the beach; its a good idea to start fishing in the 90 to 120 foot depths and work your way out.   

Dragging skirted ballyhoo, mullet, and flying fish around the rips and temperature breaks over the 140 to 300 feet depths usually results in bigger fish.   
  Most anglers targeting dolphin and blackfin tunas like to use smaller islander lures with small ballyhoo or strip baits.   On bright sunny days go with yellow, pink, and bright blue colors and on dark overcast days, go with the black, red, and purple colors.

If you are fishing for dolphin in the middle to northern region from Cape Canaveral up into the Ponce Inlet area this month, you have an above average chance to hook into a sailfish.   Like blackfin tunas and dolphin, sailfish like to eat smaller baits.  A small split billed or chin weighted ballyhoo trolled naked at 4 to 5 knots is one of the best ways to catch them.  During choppy conditions, a lot of guys put a small skirt over the bait.  Our average sailfish right now is running anywhere from 30 to 40 pounds.
The steady northeast breeze we have been experiencing is making the cobia bite better along our coastline.  There are a lot of cobia in the shallower waters off the beach right now around the rays.   Some good areas to follow the manta rays are from Cape Canaveral up to the New Smyrna beach area and around the Playalinda Beach parking lots.

Farther south, in the Vero area, up through the Bethel Shoals,and south Pelican Flats, the cobia are free swimming on the 70 to 90 foot reefs.   Most of the fish are small, around 36 inches or so, with a few larger fish in the mix.   Use a net to land them before putting a hole in them with a gaff.

When you're slow trolling for kings or dolphin, keep an eye out for cobia that may be trailing your boat.  The same applies if you are bottom fishing.  Keep an eye out for what follows your catch to the rail.  It may be a sand bar shark or a cobia.

The kingfish bite over the 70 to 90 foot reefs this June should continue to ramp up now that the water is warming and live baits are becoming more consistent.  Slow trolling live baits on a stinger rig is the preferred method for taking kings in our area, but a lot of anglers like to flat line a live bait on a stinger rig with #4 wire or with 60# mono for the larger fish.   

The average kingfish in our area is 10 to 25 pounds, but larger fish up to 30 pounds or more outside of the Port are not uncommon. 

As the month progresses, beach fishing will also start to heat up.   We’ve already seen some nice buoy-line kings and tarpon caught off the channel and as they continue to migrate north from the Sebastian area, the tarpon bite along the beach will definitely continue ramping up.  We already have tarpon and snook cruising the beaches and on some days, anglers can sight cast to them using live pogies and 4 to 5 inch swim baits.    

Most of our "beach" tarpon are running about 50 to 80 pounds, but some of those 120 pound fish are beginning to show up out of the Port.  Most of the snook are running in the 26 to 36 inch range.

All along our area beaches this month, we can expect to have tarpon, snook, king mackerel, Crevalle jacks, and sharks striking a variety of slow trolled live baits.

Live pogies, pilchards, and greenies are good baits to slow troll for tarpon.    Live croakers are also excellent baits, but they don't slow troll well.  However, croakers are great baits to pitch to schools of rolling tarpon.  

For tarpon and big jacks, rig the croaker on a VMC 7/0 or 8/0 circle hook with a 60 to 80 pound fluorocarbon leader.  For kingfish and sharks you will need to add a short piece of wire to the rig.

Shark fishing this year has been on fire and will continue throughout the upcoming months.  Blacktips in particular are great fun to catch and are great eating.  Ever wonder why the Grills always run out of shark kabobs???

Port Canaveral is one of the top grouper fishing destinations on the Eastern seaboard, with the best action occurring from late Fall through Spring. On the wrecks and reefs in the 160 to 260 foot depths, the amberjack and grouper bite has been consistently good for anglers dropping live baits, fresh cut croakers, grunts, or bluefish.   Although the bite is not as consistent on the northern 27 grounds; you can drop down a live bluefish, pogie, croaker, or other large live bait and get hooked up with a big Gag Grouper.   A lot of anglers use 16 to 24 oz deep jigs or vertical jigs to get down to the fish with a great deal of success.  A lot of red grouper and scamp are caught deep jigging. 

Throughout the month, bottom fishermen are likely to catch a variety of grouper species such as Gag, Scamp, Red, Black, Warsaw, and Snowy grouper.   Groupers out of Port Canaveral can range anywhere from 15-40 pounds with some species like the Goliath grouper exceeding 200 lbs.

Many anglers out of Port Canaveral have discovered the sport of deep dropping baits into the 500 to 600 foot plus depths for a variety of deep water species that include tile fish, yellow edge grouper, snowy grouper, barrelfish, and huge queen snapper like the one below.   
 
Electric reels with heavy weights are needed to hold bottom for this fishery with squid being the main bait of choice.   Almost every deep water species caught deep dropping are delicious eating.

Closer to the beach, around the floating weeds in the Canaveral area, anglers are catching some nice tripletail.   The huge push of Sargasso that is now floating in our nearshore waters harbors a plethora of small shrimp, crabs, and bait fish in it that tripletail love to eat.   A small jig head or single 2/0 hook and a shrimp are all you need to get these fish to strike once you find one floating among the weed mass.  Like their deep water cousins, tripletail are excellent on the dinner table.
 

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Until next time,

Tight Lines and bent rods!