Last week, I was forced to cancel three trips due to bad weather. I did manage to get in one charter and one day of fun fishing.
On Wednesday, I went to the Banana River no motor zone with my friend Paul. We were in the canoe less than ten minutes when we spotted some gigantic tails belonging to black drum waving in the distance. I was able to get off two casts with my crab fly before they vanished. We only saw a few more drum the rest of the day. They were all large but they were also all moving at a rapid pace when we spotted them. We also saw some big redfish which were all singles and all in the muddiest water around, making them difficult to see until we were too close. I managed to catch the smallest redfish I saw all day, about 26 inches, along with a nice trout, both on a 3 inch CAL tail.
Thursday, I took out Dennis and Jamie from northern Canada. We had great weather but the fishing was a bit slower than the action they experienced last year. The brothers had quite a few shots at redfish throughout the day. Only one redfish and one big trout made it to the boat.
This Wednesday, New Jersey residents Pam and Bob joined me for the second year in a row. Bob started the day off with a black drum.By the end of the day, the couple had landed nine redfish during a great day on the Mosquito Lagoon.
The following day, Virginia residents James and Sue made their first trip to Mosquito Lagoon. We started the day off fishing some large schools of shallow water redfish. The fish were very spooky, but James broke the ice by catching a redfish on a 4 inch DOA CAL in Morning Glory color. We spent the next couple hours playing hide and seek with a several schools of big redfish. We would see them for a short time, get off a couple casts, and then they would disappear. We finally gave up on them and moved on to look for more cooperative fish. Our final stop produced five more redfish. All were caught on a 3 inch CAL tail in the new watermelon seed color.
With the water levels still extremely low in the Mosquito Lagoon, the sight fishing will continue to be outstanding. Large seatrout are on the flats holding in the sand holes in anticipation of the spawn next month. Stealth is crucial when targeting big trout. If you can get to them while they are still lying in the sand holes, they will readily eat soft plastics. Once they begin to move, however, they almost never stop to eat.
Mark your calendars for the annual Coastal Angler Magazine Fishing and Boating Expo to be help April 18-20 in Melbourne. Capt. Tom Van Horn and I will be at the Mosquito Creek Outdoors booth holding hands-on workshops which will offer instruction on rigging, knots, lines, and tactics. There will also be seminars by local and celebrity guides on a variety of topics.
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