Your September 2023🦈 Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing Forecasting Report
Published: Fri, 09/01/23
| Newsletter Issue # 170 Fishing Forecast | September 1, 2023 | ||
Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing |
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 Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Fishing Snook season reopens today and a lot of anglers targeting snook in the Indian River, Banana River, and Mosquito Lagoon have already found that the bite during the closed spawning season around the Space Coast was pretty much as good as it gets for slot and over slot fish. Nearshore 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. Local snook anglers prefer fishing the Mosquito Lagoon during the winter months and fishing at night during the remainder of the year. Snook in the lagoon's waterways around Titusville and New Smyrna Beach are plentiful and can be found holding tight to shoreline cover where they use overhanging trees, mangrove roots, sticks, and docks as ambush points for baitfish. One of the best ways to fish these snook is with a large mullet or pinfish tossed tight to the ambush point., Soft plastic D.O.A. Cal jerk baits, Saltwater Assassin 4" or 5" Sea Shad on a jig head, Gulp jerk shad, or any soft plastic bait skipped under a dock or tight to shoreline bushes will also produce bites. Covering your lure with Pro-Cure or other scent will dramatically improve your hookup ratio. 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 jig head skipped under the docks are absolutely killers.  When the colder weather hits us this fall, large Snook over 10 pounds can be found inhabiting these same waters. It’s not uncommon to find snook in double digits congregating together in their deeper water haunts. Before hurricane Idalia moved through our area, a lot of redfish were schooling throughout the Mosquito Lagoon. On calm days, you could see singles and schools tailing in the grass flats throughout the day. One of the best ways to catch them is to cast around the weedy areas with a live unweighted shrimp, a Saltwater Assassin Shrimp, or a 3 inch Shad Assassin straight tail jerkbait. The the salt-n-pepper and baby bass colors have been the most productive. The weedy areas have a lot of pinfish, croakers, pigfish, and glass minnows holding in them which brings in the reds. Most of the fish caught were in the 18 to 25 inch range but at any given time, you can hook into a 40 inch plus bull red. In the north Indian River, look for bull redfish in the 40 inch plus category schooling up for their spawning ritual in the deeper flats across from the Scottsmoor boat launch along with black drum and large sea trout that cruise the flats in that area. Tarpon fishing in our area from Ponce Inlet to Sebastian is the best we've seen in years. The lagoon is full of juvenile tarpon and adults up to 100 pounds that are hanging around the Haulover Canal, the edges of the ICW channel, and some of the spoil island drop offs in the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River. When the pumping station on Bio Lab Road along the Mosquito Lagoon is operating, tons of water is moved from the Mosquito Lagoon into the backwater marsh areas. When these operations are underway, the area around the discharge often looks like a fish hatchery. Juvenile tarpon and a few tarpon in the 100 pound plus category gorge on the chopped up baitfish that are pulled into the pump and discharged into the marsh area. Chunks of mullet, ladyfish, pinfish, or croakers are baits of choice for this type fishing, but a topwater bait like a Chug Bug or a slow sinking D.O.A. Bait Buster, Swimmin Mullet, or Terroreyz will also get hookups.  The Florida state record seatrout was caught in the Indian River and September is one of the best times of the year to catch "gator trout" over 8 pounds from the shallow grass flats. Residential docks in the Indian River Lagoon system are great places to target large gator sea trout, snook, redfish, and sheepshead. During the heat of the day the docks provide shade for the fish and attract bait fish and other small organisms that predatory species prey on. Large trout and snook hold tight under the docks, so accurate skip 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 present. At first light, during low light conditions, and at night; big sea trout will come off the structure they are holding on to feed and become easier to catch. Being on the water before daybreak is an absolute necessity this time of the year, and when you can find relatively clean water with grassy areas holding baitfish, the likelihood of catching a big 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, SkitterWalk, or Badonk-A-Donk fished around the bait pods can be productive during the early morning bite. When the bite slows down, soft plastic paddle tail or jerk baits work better in deeper water along the edges of the flats. Most trout caught on topwater baits in the Mosquito Lagoon average anywhere from 2 to 8 pounds. Offshore and Nearshore Fishing
For you bottom fishermen, the offshore mangrove snapper bite has been really outstanding in the 60 to 120 foot depths. Anglers have been chumming these fish up to the top to get them behind their boats where they can be hooked in 15 to 20 feet of water. This is a better way to get the bigger mangroves than dropping baits to the bottom. Chunks of sardines work well for mangrove snapper but live finger mullet, jumbo shrimp, and live pilchards are also great baits. Most of the mangrove snapper caught prior to Idalia were in the 4 to 8 pound range, but some of the fish in certain areas were topping 10 to 12 pounds.  The Party Grounds, East 11, and Site 12 out of Ponce; Chris Benson in between Ponce and Canaveral, 8A and Pelican Flats as you get closer to Canaveral, and the High Bar and Pines out of Sebastian are all good places to target Mangrove Snapper. The offshore bite for grouper has also been good on the deeper reefs and wrecks. Live grunts, croakers, blue runners, and pinfish are good baits to use for grouper in the 180 to 260 foot depths where lots of the fish are holding. More experienced anglers tend to use larger baits and large chunks of bonita or barracuda to catch bigger fish. Dropping smaller baits causes problems with red snapper and other species grabbing the bait before the groupers can get to them. More and more anglers have been catching some nice snapper, amberjack, blackfin tuna, and even scamp grouper by deep jigging. These 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 of the grouper caught in this area have been running 15 pounds or more, with some in the 25 to 35 pound range. As long as the weather holds up and our waters remain clean, offshore fishing for mahi, kingfish, cobia, and wahoo should be literally off the charts this month out of Port Canaveral. The guys pulling live baits on stinger rigs over the reefs are doing really good right now on Kingfish, sailfish, and some blackfin tuna. The King mackerel has been the staple for offshore anglers in our area for many years, and on most days they will strike live baits and lures on just about any of our 70 to 90 foot reefs out of Port Canaveral. Slow trolling live pogies, mullet, greenies, or pilchards on the 70 to 90 foot reefs and wrecks anywhere from Sebastian all the way up to Ponce Inlet will typically yield good numbers of king mackerel, especially this time of the year. Prior to the hurricane, the King Mackerel bite out of the Port last week in the 30 to 70 foot depths was good to excellent. Most anglers find slow trolling live baits on a wire stinger rig a hard to beat tactic. Some of the most productive areas right now are Chris Bensen, Pelican Flats, and farther down south, the Pines. This month is smoker season on the Space Coast. During the summer months around the new or full moons, the larger smoker kings in the 25 to 40 plus pound range move in closer to the beach and can be caught in less than 10 feet of water, especially when the bait fish are in tight to the
shoreline.
 The Canaveral sipping channel and bait pods in less than 40 feet of water are great places to troll your live baits for kingfish this month. Anglers targeting larger kings have been slow trolling ribbonfish right in the prop wash or on a downrigger over the bait pods, near reef structures, and along the drop-offs coming in and out of the channels and along the tidelines. Although anglers targeting "smoker" king mackerel off the beach normally slow troll live baits on wire stinger rigs; frozen baits with dusters added, Sea Witch and bait strip combos, spoons, and diving plugs also work well. The Rapala CD-14 or CD-18, and Williamson Speed Pros are a couple of favorite lures used in our area. On the average our king mackerel have been running around 15 to 25 pounds, but a lot of fish caught along the beach classified as "smokers" run well over 30 pounds, with a few into the 40s. Our fall mullet run has already commenced with fingerling and full size mullet running along our beaches. This month, nearshore anglers will be able to find cobia, mackerel, bluefish, snook, tarpon, big jack Crevelle, and several species of sharks around the pods of baitfish off the beach in less than 20 feet of water. Tarpon up to and over 100 pounds have been rolling in small pods up and down our beaches just offshore and feeding on glass minnows, mullet, croakers, and almost anything they come across. Slow trolling or drifting live baits on an R&R float through the bait pods first thing in the morning close to the surf break can hook you up with a 150 pound class tarpon this month. Another good area for tarpon and big snook this month is the nearshore areas around Patrick SFB. Live mullet, pilchards, or croakers slow trolled on 80 pound test leaders with large circle hooks are needed for these fish. Large plastic paddletail baits also work well, especially on the snook. The wrecks and reefs in the 60 to 90 foot depths out of Port Canaveral have been holding some smaller size cobia. Targeting Pelican Flats and the 8A out of Port Canaveral, the 9 and 12 mile reefs out of Ponce Inlet, and the Pines and High Bar out of Sebastian is still a good idea for cobia this month. Surf and Inlet Fishing: 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. With the opening of snook season today, a lot of surf fishermen will also be targeting snook in the sloughs along our beaches as well as the jetties and sea walls at Port Canaveral.  The fall mullet run has started and this has the snook feeding like crazy. The snook bite has been on fire at the inlets and along the beaches, with the best bite occurring in the days preceding hurricane Idalia. For a while now, snook and pods of 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. Right now we have a lot of menhaden, croakers, glass minnows, and mullet hanging around the structure close to the jetties that are attracting snook as well as redfish, flounder, mangrove snapper, sharks, and other predatory species. During daytime periods, successful anglers have been using live finger mullet on a jig head or knocker rig around the piers, sea walls, docks, and jetties. At dawn, dusk, and during night time periods, anglers have been getting solid bites on a Rapala X-Rap and X-Rap Long Cast baits around the same piers, sea walls, docks, and jetties. Night time anglers targeting snook along the same structure have been favoring saltwater assassin Artemis Shad and R&R swimbaits. These baits look like a mullet but the hooks pull away from the plastic bait when a fish is hooked. This minimizes the fish throwing the baits. A lot of anglers who night fish 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 will normally get more bites. The surf around Patrick Space 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. Once hurricane Idalia passes on Wednesday, we expect the snook bite to get much better. During the summer months, whiting is the main species targeted by surf fishermen along Space Coast beaches. Although there are a few reports of pompano being caught along our beaches; the bite for whiting, croaker, bluefish, and an occasional juvenile black drum has been steady with fresh or frozen sand fleas, shrimp, and clams as baits of choice. Look for clean blue water for your best shot at catching these fish. The whiting and palometta are usually close to shore, right off the edge of the sand and are mostly being caught using fresh shrimp and sand fleas as bait. Haulover Canal
 Haulover Canal fishermen this month will be targeting oversize black drum and bull redfish that are now moving through the canal from the Mosquito Lagoon into the northern Indian River to spawn.The deep holes at both ends of Haulover are usually occupied by anchored boaters dunking live or cut baits for oversize redfish or drum.
Most experienced anglers fish 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" to 15" leader completes the setup.
Some anglers use jigheads tipped with a crab knuckle or clam scented Fishbites with varying degrees of success. Stout tackle and braided lines are recommended to keep the fish from breaking off on the rocky bottom structure. A couple of pods of tarpon in the 100 pound range were in the canal before hurricane Idalia passed by but no anglers were fishing for them. The fish are usually seen rolling close to the bridge pilings after the glass minnow schools. This past week, several bank fishermen were catching keeper size mangrove snapper from the bank around the kayak launch area. The guys I talked with were using live shrimp for bait under a clacking float. With Snook season opening up today, we can expect to 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. Till Next Month, Good Fishing & Tight Lines To You All! |
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