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Indian River Lagoon
Capt. Tom Van Horn
June 10, 2006
Indian River Lagoon - Saltwater Fishing Report
Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report
Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Charters, May 9, 2006
Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters
I always enjoy writing about my notable fishing adventures. I enjoy sharing my experiences, and I enjoy reading and hearing about the significant catches others talk and write about. There is much one can learn from these yarns, good and bad. For the most part, fishing stories are about the pleasant days on the water not tough ones. Well, if you are wondering where I’m going with this lead into my report, you can suffice to say that the fishing was great this past week; it was the catching that varied.
My week consisted of two charters in the Mosquito and Indian River Lagoons, and a two day adventure to the other side, (Florida’s west coast) on a quest to add Megalops cyprinoids, (big eyed fish or silver king) to my fly catching conquest. Out of the four days, all were magnificent days of fishing, but only one significant fish was caught.
Out of the two days on the lagoon, the first was a challenge due to windy conditions, and after hours of polling into the wind and casting at schooling redfish, we returned to the dock stinking to high heavens. Don’t get me wrong, we were on fish, but between poor visibility and difficult conditions, our shots were limited. On several occasions, we had schooling redfish swim directly over both live shrimp and fresh blue crab, but apparently they were on a seafood diet. I once heard a wise angler say that any guide can but his clients on fish, but a good guide always puts his anglers on hungry and stupid fish. Well, I guess I fall into the any guide category, because these fish were anything but stupid or hungry.
Our luck was a little better on my second lagoon charter, but heavy weekend angling pressure closed the door on the bite shortly after it started. We were on the tailing fish at dawns first light and we landed and released a nice 25 pound redfish before the sun cleared the horizon, but before we could get a second shot at the fish, several enthusiastic anglers moved in and chased the fish from the flat with their electric trolling motors.
In my last report, I mentioned targeting and putting my clients on several of the larger trophy redfish for which the northern Indian River Lagoon is famous. Several readers questioned why I pursue these larger breeders. Well, in my defense, I am a fishing guide, and many of my clients book me specifically to catch a trophy redfish. In the name of customer service, I’m obliged to do so. You will never see me catch and release more than a few trophy fish from a school on any given day. My question to my critics is how do you catch trophy redfish (breeding size, 28-inches and larger) during the summer without targeting the schools? I see it as my job to meet the request of my clients to the best of my ability, and many of them travel a considerable distance at a considerable expense to catch a trophy. The tactics I utilize are to quietly poll into areas known to hold fish, catch a trophy for each of my clients, and then leave the fish for another day. I refuse to pound the breeder schools like many anglers do, and the vast majority of my clientele understand and agree with my tactics and my return business is testimony to that.
On my next two days of fishing, I was more than excited by the invitation to venture to the Pine Island Sound area to fly fish for monster tarpon by one of my fishing mentors and veteran fly guide Captain John Kumiski. Captain John normally guides anglers on the lagoon coast, but for the last seven years, he has shifted the mode of operation to the Pine Island and Captivia Island area during May and June to target the tarpon run. I was also fortunate to have the company of Captain Chris Myers, and together, you would thing that three professional guides fishing from the same boat would equal fish, not!!!
This was the first time I’ve ever targeted tarpon on the west coast, and the sight of 30 or more 100 plus pound fish just swimming in lazy circles in clear shallow water was breath taking. We fished both Tuesday and Wednesday, and on both days Captain John put us on one school of chaining tarpon after another, and we cast to hundreds of fish and still couldn’t get one fish to eat. We trough almost every fly in Captain John’s arsenal, and we couldn’t raise a fish. The highlight of the trip was when Captain Chris was casting into a large school not less than 30 feet from the boat, when he strip set what he thought was a substantial fish, and to his surprise and disappointment, a ladyfish tail walked across the water and the poons just kept chaining in front of us like nothing happened. Even though I was unsuccessful in accomplishing my goal this year, I was more than satisfied in just seeing those fish, learning from both John and Chris, and at least now I have something to look forward to next year. If any of you are interested in catching a giant tarpon, contact Captain John Kumiski at www.spottedtails.com
As always, if you have any questions of need more information, please contact me.
Good luck and good fishing,
Captain Tom Van Horn
www.irl-fishing.com
407-416-1187 on the water
407-366-8085 office
866-790-8081 toll free
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