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Indian River Lagoon
Capt. Tom Van Horn
May 12, 2004
Indian River Lagoon - Saltwater Fishing Report
Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report
Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report, May 12, 2004
Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters
As many of you know, life’s successes are not measured by the value of your home or the size of your bank account, but rather by the rewards one receives through life’s accomplishments. We are not born with success, and it cannot be inherited. True success in life only comes through hard work, dedication, determination, devotion, and commitment. These qualities are essential to succeed in business, in life, and in love. This past week, I was drawn away from the water to celebrate my 49th birthday, my 23rd year of marriage to my lovely wife Sandi, the marriage of my close friends daughter, and the high school graduation of young friend. These endeavors were rewarded with love, enthusiasm, friendship, loyalty, and happiness, and they provided for a joyful week, but it’s good to be back on the water once more.
This morning I awoke at my usual time, 4am, to the sound of a chuck-wills-widow, southern whip-poor-will, calling from the darkness outside my window. Stepping out into my back yard to let the dog out, I took notice of the light southerly breeze, and the moon, which was just reaching across the eastern horizon. Abruptly, the thoughts of happy redfish tailing on the eastern shore of the north Lagoon flooded my mind, and the urge to wet a line overpowered me.
Shortly, I found myself throttling up Three Quarter Time, my trusty Maverick flats skiff, as I pulled away from the ramp in the darkness. There is something to be said about the feeling you receive skipping across the Lagoon in the dark, but that’s another story in itself.
After a short run, and a long idle through the manatee zone, I reached the shore and shut down my engine. From the top of my polling platform, I could just make out the silhouette of the shoreline when again I heard the cry of the chucks-wills-widow calling. My thought at the moment was that old Chucky might be trying to tell me something, so I moved in toward his general direction. In the darkness, you lose all visual clues normally used to locate fish, and you are forced to listen closely for the sounds of fish and bait activity. Slowly I worked my way in the darkness toward the distant sounds of feeding fish, and then out of nowhere, tails just started popping up. Not just one or two, but hundreds of them. I’ve fished the Lagoon for over 40 years, and I’ve only seen this magnitude of redfish tails on a few occasions.
With my heart trying to jump out of my chest, I struggled to get my bait in the water. Softly, I flipped a Rip/tide shrimp combined with a Woodie’s Rattle capsule into a group of about five tails, and as soon as the bait hit the water, and explosion ensued and the battle was on. Normally, a fight such as this will scatter the school, but in this case, it just drew distant tails closer. These fish were truly hungry and happy and I was alone with no one in site. In the time it took for the sun to clear the tops of the clouds lining the horizon, I managed to put eight reds to the boat ranging from 22 to 32 inches. After about an hour and a half of fishing bliss, the wind began to build. Slowly, the hoard of tails began to dissipate as they moved off the flat into deeper water, and with rain showers moving in, it was a fitting end to the perfect morning of catching.
On a side note, the Max Brewer bridge project has been extended, closing the primary road access to the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge and Mosquito Lagoon. It looks like the job could be extended as much as an additional month. Also, most importantly, our efforts to provide input into the draft permit renewal process for Florida Power & Lights Cape Canaveral Power Plant have been rewarded with the scheduling of a public meeting to be held at the North Brevard Library in Titusville on June 24th 4:00 and 9:00 PM. This is our only opportunity to try to bring about changes to lessen the impact of these power plants on the Lagoon ecosystem. Third, I would like to inform everyone of “The State of the Indian River Lagoon Conference” scheduled for Saturday May 15th, at Florida Tech’s Clemente Center in Melbourne from 9am to 3 pm. This conference will focus on the pressures applied to the estuary, and it is open to the public.
As always, if you have questions or need information, please contact me.
Good luck and good fishing,
Captain Tom Van Horn
www.irl-fishing.com
[email protected]
407-366-8085 office
407-416-1187 on the water
866-790-8081 toll free
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