Indian River Lagoon
Capt. Tom Van Horn
February 26, 2005
Indian River Lagoon - Saltwater Fishing Report
Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report
Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report, February 25, 2005
Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters
With the cypress trees beginning to get fuzzy, and a strong spring weather system pushing west across the Gulf of Mexico, I feel it’s safe to say winter is behind us. In my formative years in Florida, I was fortunate to grow up within the hardwood swamps of the Wekiwa River basin, and budding cypress trees were a sure sign to the end of freezing weather. Soon we will be shifting to our spring fishing patterns, which I will cover in more detail in my March Fishing Forecast next week. With that said, I will move on to my report from last week.
Fishing on the Indian River Lagoon Coast this past week has been enjoyable but frustrating for the most part. Water conditions have been low and clear which is typical for this time of year, and both sea trout and redfish have been easy to find. The problem therefore lies with getting those fussy scale heads to eat during the full moon. Also, with clear water conditions the fish have been super spooky.
To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, on Monday I was privileged to have Ed and Akemi Heidel from Seattle for a day of fly-fishing on the Mosquito Lagoon. The wind was kicking from the southwest, but it was still manageable. Plan A, was to fish a sizable school of reds I worked the week before on the east shore, but dropping lagoon water levels left me knee deep in lagoon bottom and a hundred yards shy of my intended target. Next, I decided to stick to the shelter of the west shoreline where we had shots at several tailing fish, but the wind and overcast conditions proved too difficult, so we reverted to spin casting lures. When spin lures failed us, we switched to chunking live shrimp and cut mullet to no avail, and I hate to admit it, but we left a school of large fussy redfish stinking like a three day old road kill spotted skunk. All together, I polled for at least four hours, had to get out and push three times, and we didn’t put a single fish into the boat. I was happy to read in Captain John Kumiski’s report that Ed and Akemi had a very successful shad charter on the following day with him, so at least they did feel a pull on their lines before heading home.
My next trip was on Wednesday with Paul Finch of Merritt Island and his
Father Ken. Again we were facing a southwest wind of a lesser degree compounded by foggy overcast skies. We started out working the southwest end of the lagoon managing three nice trout up to 20 inches on a salt & pepper RT Slug. We also had shots at several scattered tailing redfish, but found no takers. At one point, Ken hooked up with a monster redfish on live shrimp, but he pulled hook after the fish cleared half the line from his spool. Around noon, I decided to check a spot on the east shore, and as I polled into the flat, tails started popping up everywhere. Determined to put Paul and Ken on fish, I set them up with live hand picked shrimp. Ken soon hooked up and landed a nice 28-inch redfish, but the commotion unsettled the remaining fish. Soon the flats were alive with at least four different pods of 20 to 30 redfish swimming in all directions, and we spent the remainder of the charter throwing everything in the box at them to no avail. We had at least 40 good shots at fish, but they just wouldn’t eat.
My Thursday charter was a whole different animal in itself, as I was honored by the presents of Scott Young and his two sons Mike and Jason from up state New York. The goal for the day was to put these two youngsters on fish, so I loaded up the bait well with live shrimp and we headed for the power plant at Port St John. When it was all said and done, they killed twelve dozed shrimp, managing seven different species of fish including a nice 30 pound blacktip shark caught by Scott on cut ladyfish.
All in all, it was a great week on the water, and as we move away from the full moon, catching can only get better.
As always, if you need information or have any questions, please contact me.
Good luck and good fishing,
Captain Tom Van Horn
www.irl-fishing.com
407-366-8085 office
407-416-1187 on the water
886-790-8081 toll free
If you would like to be added to my fishing report mailing list, contact me at [email protected].
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