Mosquito Lagoon & 

Indian River

 Fishing

Newsletter Issue # 192                                                                                                                                                              July 1, 2025 

Port Canaveral Nearshore and Offshore:

The lane snapper bite offshore at Ponce Inlet has been lit up for the past few weeks.  Anglers have been targeting snapper in 120 feet of water or less with live and cut baits.  The fish haven't been really very picky.

The lane snapper bite on the Volusia county reef in 60 to 80 feet of water is really good for anglers using live shrimp and squid on a chicken rig.  Some of the better reefs to catch them are the ones with culverts or rock piles.  The fish are averaging around 3 pounds and  running 14 to 15 inches long with some in the 21 inch category.

Out of Port Canaveral, both the Mangrove and Lane snapper bite is hot on structure in the 70 to 130 foot depths.  The bigger mangrove snapper have started to school up on the reefs and wrecks offshore Port Canaveral for their annual spawn, mainly the wrecks in about 70 to 110 feet of water, .

Right now there are not large numbers of fish, but the ones being caught are quality fish in the 10 pound and over category.    Fingerling mullet, pinfish, and cut baits on a standard bottom rig are producing fish.

Offshore the flounder have been arriving late this year and can now be found in good numbers on sandy bottoms just off the near shore reefs.
 
The Flager, Sunglow, and site 5 and 6 reefs are great places to catch them either on knocker rigs with 3/0 circle hooks or a 1/2 oz jig tipped with live shrimp or mud minnows.

The easiest way to locate flounder is to drift along the sandy bottom until you locate them and then anchor off.  

Some of the flounder caught in these areas are in the 15 to 21 inch range.

June and July is when the king mackerel bite on all of the 70 to 90 foot reefs in our area begins to light up.    Last week the king mackerel bite on the 60 to 90 foot reefs out of Port Canaveral was hot with most anglers getting their limit of kingfish on frozen bait fish slow trolled on a wire stinger rig.  

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 larger fish.   A good number of anglers out of Port Canaveral prefer slow trolling large spoons and lipped diving plugs in the 5 to 7 inch category, especially during the early morning and evening hours.

Pulling baits, spoons, and diving plugs 40 to 50 feet down on a downrigger over the 70 to 90 foot ledges south of Ponce Inlet usually produces some really good results.   

In our region, you don't have to go far offshore to target kingfish.    We currently have a mullet run coming up the beach that is bringing in the kings, tarpon, and other predatory species close to the sand.   Pier and surf anglers have been catching them on live mullet when they shadow the baitfish closer to the beach.

A couple of weeks ago an angler fishing from the Jetty Park fishing pier made an incredible catch of a 30 pound king mackerel with a live mullet on a pin rig.

The offshore dolphin bite in our area begins to ramp up this month.  Dolphin normally start moving closer inshore this time of the year.  

They were in 200 feet of water, then 180 feet, and will get closer to the beach as the month progresses.  It all depends on water clarity, the amount of bait around, and other features that the fish normally gravitate to like thermoclines, current rips, sargassum lines, and other floating debris. 

Pelican, 8A, and the other nearshore reefs will be good spots for catching dolphin this month, especially during the early morning hours.

Typically instead of using heavier gear, offshore anglers targeting dolphin out of Port Canaveral will use 30 pound class Penn lever drag reels with 30 to 40 pound mono to pull their baits.  This setup makes catching smaller fish a lot more fun while still having the capability to catch larger fish when you get them on.  

Most anglers targeting dolphin and blackfin tunas on 30 pound class tackle like to pull smaller Islander lures with small ballyhoo or strip baits, chinned naked ballyhoo, or squid chains along the rips, thermoclines, weed lines and floating debris.   On bright sunny days yellow, pink, and bright blue colors work well.  On dark overcast days, go with the darker black, red, and purple colors.

Right now the dolphin are averaging about 5 to 10 pounds with a few larger fish in the mix.

Although snook season is closed, they will be thick in the jetties of all three of our Inlets this month.   

The daytime fishery at the inlets has been outstanding for anglers fishing with live croakers, pinfish, mullet, or pilchards.  The night time snook bite at all of our inlets has also been good for the past few weeks.  

Night fishing anglers at Sebastian Inlet are reporting good catches of snook up to 30 inches.  

Although anglers fishing large swim baits near the T-dock and cleaning table have been getting the most hookups, a lot of night fishermen along the docks and bridges use R&R Flair Hawk jigs, large 5 and 6 inch Assassin swim baits, and large lipped diving plugs for snook with great success.   

Most anglers believe that the incoming tides are the best times to fish swimbaits at Sebastian.

Playalinda and Area Beaches:

For the most part there has been little to no weeds in the surf in the Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach areas which makes for some decent surf fishing.   

Whiting, palometas, sharks and a few resident pompano will be the main catch this month.   The baits of choice in our area has been live sand fleas, fresh or frozen shrimp, and fishbites rigged on a bare or colored float pompano rig with a 3 to 6 oz. pyramid sinker to hold bottom.

Around Playalinda most anglers have been using live sand fleas or sand fleas tipped with fishbites, and small pieces of shrimp on double drop pompano rigs.

The key to finding pompano during the summer months is water clarity, depth changes, and bottom structure.   

Pompano and Whiting cruise up and down the beach in small schools constantly feeding on small crustaceans that they find in the troughs and runouts.  

The deeper troughs in between the sandbars farther out are where the larger whiting and pompano schools are usually holding and where most surf fishermen target their casts.  However, pompano and whiting are also found in the closest troughs to the beach where they can be caught with short casts and light tackle. 

When the fish are in the nearest trough, small jigs tipped with a sand flea, small piece of shrimp, a sand flea with fishbites to better hold it on the hook or just fishbites are excellent baits for pompano and whiting.  

Breaks, runoffs, and cuts in a sandbar are used by the fish use to swim between troughs.   These areas can be hot spots for both whiting and pompano.

On calm days when the ocean is clear enough to easily identify troughs and runouts; make a mental note of the structures and target these areas with sand fleas, shrimp, clam, or Fishbites on your pompano rigs.

Because the fish are constantly foraging along the beach, some areas will be hot one day and have zero bites the next day in the very same spot.    

When this happens, pick up your gear and move to another section of the beach or relocate to another entirely new area until you find where the fish are holding.  The fish are always feeding.  You just have to find out where.

Although the best bite is usually in the early morning hours during the last portion of an incoming tide; the outgoing and last portion of any incoming tide will usually produce fish.   Generally, fishing is good during any moving water condition, regardless of the tide.

Many novice surf fishermen get skunked and discouraged 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, and sloughs that form just past the shore breaks.   Pay attention to the sand in the surf for areas where small shells are piling up and where sections of the beach have small bubbles popping up as the water recedes.   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 will often stage just outside of the rips to snatch up crustaceans as they are being pulled out into the troughs.

Try not to fish the same spot where you caught fish the previous day.   Because the wave action constantly changes the structure of the beach, fish will seldom be in the same exact spot they were at the previous day.

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

Not paying attention to these basics is what caused me to get skunked on many a day surf fishing.   Now I catch fish.

Surf fishermen using live and cut mullet this month can expect to catch bluefish, Spanish mackerel, snook, jacks, tarpon and the usual variety of sharks off the beach.  

Small silver spoons, Gotcha plugs, Lhure Jensen spoons and Mirrolures fished past the breakers and in the troughs can often out fish live baits when the bite is on.