 The clouds and rain cleared by Wednesday of this week but behind the front there were
some strong winds. I ventured out into the Mosquito Lagoon with Travis and Jennifer from
Jacksonville who were enjoying their last day of vacation. We began the day by anchoring
and tossing out some cut bait while we waited for the last of the clouds to pass by. The
bite was slow but Jennifer landed her first ever redfish and had another shake the hook.
The clouds passed and the skies cleared but with the sun came a 20 knot wind from the
northwest leaving us few places to hide. We had the water to ourselves, however, and had
multiple shots at redfish and some big trout throughout the day. Travis had a few bites on
the gold Baitbuster but never got hooked up. Spotting the fish was easy but getting a bait
in front of them proved to be difficult with the windy conditions. Jennifer's red was the only fish that we caught all day.
Thursday, I received a call from Capt. Tom Van Horn that the big redfish were biting well in
Ponce Inlet. I joined him on board his Maverick. The bite was slow until the tide began
falling. In less than two hours, we landed ten redfish between 15 and 30 pounds using live
pigfish and pinfish drifted along the bottom. I received similar reports from Sebastian Inlet as well.
By Friday, the weather was perfect with calm winds and blue skies. I was joined by Bill and
Dave from Avon Park. These long time fishing friends had never fished the Mosquito
Lagoon and wanted to experience some of our great redfish action. Not long after we
started, we came upon a shallow bank that was filled with both tailing and cruising redfish.
Neither Bill nor Dave had sight fished before and were surprised at the wariness of these
fish and their small strike zone. They both had a couple bites on a gold DOA jerk bait but
the hook did not stick. We attempted to change our luck by deploying some cut ladyfish in
an area that was holding some oversize reds. After much waiting, we finally got one 29"red
to the boat.
After trying for a while longer with no action, we moved to an area holding mullet schools in 2-3 feet of water. Using a DOA Deadly Combo, the guys caught several trout each and
had a few more which shook free. Although the catching was slow, it was a perfect day to
be on the water.
Look for redfish and big seatrout to be consistent in very shallow grass flats and sand
holes. Small soft plastics will allow you to make a quiet presentation to these spooky fish.
Capt. Chris Myers
http://ww.floridafishinglessons.com
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