Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report, January 11, 2007
Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters
I would like to tell you the fishing this past week along the Indian River Lagoon coast of Florida was exceptional, but the truth be known; it was the catching that varied. We are currently under the influence of an El Nino weather pattern, which has presented warmer and windier conditions and some tough days on the water. I fished four out of the past six days, and on each occasion the weather has held the upper hand.
My adventures this week started last Friday where I had the pleasure of fishing a half-day redfish charter with Marvin Fisher and his son Louis on the North Indian River Lagoon. If was a prefrontal morning with a strong south wind, but despite the tough conditions the father and son team managed to put five fish in the boat All fish were caught blind casting soft plastics in less than 18 inches of water.
On Saturday, my good friend Larry Carter joined me for a day of shad and crappie looking on the upper St. Johns River. The weather was actually not bad, but the catching was tough. We covered the river from the Econ Creek south of Lake Harney to the mouth of Lake Jussep and back, and our grand total for the day was one speck, one bluegill, one stump knocker, and one shad. So you could actually say that our crappie fishing was actually crappie. Now you might think the shad run hasn’t materialized, but hearsay has it that there are a good number of shad currently in the area of Highway 50, upstream from where we checked.
On Monday and Tuesday, I had the pleasure of once again fishing with Len and Jeff Holdorf from Sprit Lake Iowa. Len is a retired Pure Fishing scientist with an extensive background in the fishing industry, and he has a wealth of knowledge in the research and development of Gulp Baits. Both Len and his son Jeff fished with me last year, and both caught trophy fish, but on this occasion, the wind spoiled their prospects.
On Monday, we attempted to fish in the No-Motor Zone, but we were blown off of the water by a 15-knot plus wind from the south. Again the weatherman misled us by predicting a west wind. In an attempted to salvage the day, I suggested we give the beach a try, and believe it or not, small cut up pieces of white Gulp Shrimp on a pompano rig worked great. When it was all said and done, we caught a good number of whiting, bonnet head sharks, small black drum, croakers, and several large stingrays. Again, it was another prefrontal day and the surf was warm, so the day wasn’t a total loss.
On Tuesday we decided to give the Lagoon a try, but the passing of a cold front during the night dropped air temperatures into the low 50’s, and the wind howled from the north at 15 to 20 knots. Again, the flip-flop weather made fishing tough. We fished hard and spotted a lot of fish, but with the high winds and rough water, we were blowing out the fish before we could get a cast to them. All in all, we still caught two redfish, but it was a disappointing and frustrating day nonetheless.
Last but not least, some nice cobia and tripletail were caught out of Port Canaveral last weekend, so if the weather and the seas lay down a bit, the catching should improve.
As always, if you need information or have any questions, please contact me.
Good luck and good fishing,
Captain Tom Van Horn
http://www.irl-fishing.com
407-416-1187 on the water
407-366-8085 land line
886-790-8081 toll free
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