Big seatrout were the most consistent this week with the black drum coming in a close second. The trout have been holding in sand holes in 1-2 feet of water and have been aggressively eating 5 inch jerkbaits. Schools of big redfish have been holding along the edges of sandbars and the black drum can be found on both the inside and outer edges of sand bars. Water temperatures have been holding above 85 degrees meaning fight times must be kept to a minimum to ensure a successful release.
Monday, Bruce and his son Matt, from Georgia, joined me for the first of two days fishing the Mosquito Lagoon. We saw some huge seatrout but only managed to hook up with a few smaller fish throughout the morning. When the sun came up, we went in search of some big redfish. We were able to find them but could not convince them to eat. We went back to trout fishing and caught a few more small fish and a surprise bluefish.
Tuesday, I checked a few areas I had not fished in a while hoping to find redfish, I did not see many reds but did come across plenty of big trout. Using a green 5 inch DOA CAL tail with and without a chug head, I caught five trout over 24 inches. One black drum and a redfish competed the slam and I left early before the storms arrived.
Wednesday, I fished Bruce and Matt for their second day. This time, we went straight to the big reds. Although the bite was less than spectacular, Matt landed a 38 inch fish for his first ever red.
We left the reds and found some black drum that were much easier to please. Matt and his dad each caught two drum including fish of 18 and 15 pounds.
Friday, Dennis and Dede from Orlando spent their 22nd anniversary fishing the Lagoon. We spent several hours in the morning trying to catch tarpon. We found plenty of 5-20 pound fish but they refused our offering of both live and artificial baits. Dede caught the first two fish of the day. A five pound black drum followed by an 18 pound drum a few minutes later.
The rest of the day was spent throwing 5 inch CAL tails to sand holes and resulted in one jack crevalle and about eight trout including a couple big fish that shook free.
This week I saw a few large tarpon roll in deeper waters of the Lagoon raising hopes that the fish will show up in greater numbers soon. To have a chance to catch the bigger fish, keep a heavy rod rigged with 20 pound braid and a 60 pound leader on board. A sinking DOA Baitbuster will give you a shot to hook one the hundred pound brutes.
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