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Indian River Lagoon
Capt. Tom Van Horn
April 23, 2004
Indian River Lagoon - Saltwater Fishing Report
Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report, April 23, 2004
Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report, April 22, 2004
Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters
With the blinding speed of a puffer fish’s assault on your favorite soft plastic bait, spring has once again rambled in upon us without delay. Also without delay are nature’s eternal changes experienced on the Indian River Lagoon coast of Florida each spring, which together signals the approach of summer and increased fishing opportunities.
This past week, I observed a flurry of bright yellow dandelions reaching for the sun along the roadside leading to the lagoon. This bloom coincides with the hatch and development of mullet fry deep within the backwaters of the estuary. This hatch coincides with the dry season and low water levels, forcing the fry out of the protected waters into jaws of the egg laden sow trout and redfish staged for a prespawn banquet along the flat’s edge, which also marks the beginning of top water plug season. Such is the cycle of life for prey, predator, and angler on the lagoon, as similar scenarios are observed throughout the fishery both inshore and offshore.
Inshore this past week we found schools of redfish aggregated along the deeper edges of just about every flat we checked throughout the lagoon system, and calm and sunny weather conditions made them easy to locate. Some schools numbered in the hundreds, but continuous angler pressure made them reluctant to bite. Our tactics consisted of an early start and stealth approach with a top water presentation first. My plug of choice was a modified mirrolure 5M-18 with the front prop removed. As the school became pressured, we would switch to soft plastics like Rip-tides realistic shrimp with a Woodie’s Rattle insert, and when that failed, we would feed them bait. These tactics provided us with quality fish above the slot each day with numbers ranging from 2 to 11 fish from 28 to 40 inches.
These tactics will prevail as long as anglers refrain from using a trolling motor to approach these schools. Stealth approach means drift or poll into the fish. It is important to keep the school from stampeding. Another method to avoid a stampede is to refrain from lining fish by casting into the center of the pod. When targeting schooling reds, either cast ahead of the school, or work the edges. Once the school is pressured hard they will scatter or push off. One last tip to remember is that redfish schools are somewhat territorial, and once they are pushed away, they will usually work their way back to the place you initially found them. A few years ago, I was working a school alone with my clients, when one of these guides who think he owns the lagoon pushed the school off and chased them off with his trolling motor. My clients were extremely aggravated by his actions, until I explained how we could use his discourteous behavior to our advantage. By staking out my skiff in the original location, we simply let him push the school back and forth in front of us, and soon he became extremely aggravated when we would hook up fish off of the school he was chasing each time he passed.
On Wednesday, I fished in the Banana River Lagoon’s No Motor Zone accompanied by my good friend and long time lagoon angler Lyle Rolls. We fished strictly with artificial and were obliged by an outstanding sea trout bite, catching numerous fish with three between 22 and 26 inches. We also caught and released two oversized reds. My success came from the same lures mentioned above with the addition of a silver Johnson Sprite, and Lyle’s bait of choice was an Exude RT Slug, watermelon white.
The big story offshore this week is the clean water pushing in with the easterly winds. Along with the clean water are some nice weed lines peppered with tripletail, and reports of wahoo being taken in waters as shallow as 70 to 120 feet. The dolphin bite was slow, but it is anticipated to go off at anytime due to the clean water, improved weed structure, and the dolphin’s migratory habits. The same can be said for the kingfish, with some fish being taken off the inshore reefs, and an improved kingfish bite anticipated once the water cleans up. Additionally, there are still reports of nice cobia in the area from the buoy line north around the bight of the Cape all the way up to Ponce Inlet.
Last but not least, are the reports of glass minnows (bay anchovy) and pogies (Atlantic menhaden) moving north up the beach, bringing Spanish mackerel, large jacks, and tarpon with them. As the water warms up and these fish move north, look for their numbers to increase, and look for a green Maverick Master Angler flats boat to be chasing them up and down the beach. Also, I would like to thank Captains Kevin Mulligan and Bill Bright for their contributions to this report.
As always, if you have any questions or need information, please contact me.
Good luck and good fishing,
Captain Tom Van Horn
[email protected]
www.irl-fishing.com
407-366-8085 office
407-416-1187 on the water
866-790-8081 toll free
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