Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report
Capt. Tom Van Horn
February 22, 2017
Indian River Lagoon - Saltwater Fishing Report
Mid-February is a great time to sample some of what Central Florida has to offer in regards to fishing. Our diversity in both species of fish and type of fishing is apparent with this week's Orlando area fishing report. Enjoying all types and stiles of fishing, I do my best to meet the desires and expatiations of my clients, which was the case this week in both freshwater and saltwater arenas.
Due to extremely low water conditions in the lagoon systems and great Florida weather, I opted to take Stephanie Harris and her parents Joan and Don near-shore fishing where their request was simply catch a bunch of fish on light tackle. Fishing just off of the beach north of the Port turned out to be a great choice as we averaged over 20 fish per hour between the three anglers, catching eight different species of fish on Wacky Jigs tipped with shrimp. You can see from the photos the diversity in species caught, and they kept this Captain jumping keeping all anglers baited and fishing. Stephanie and her parents were a hoot to fish with, just wish all my charters were this much fun.
On my next adventure I was diverted to the St Johns River as my clients for the day, Anne and Glen, wanted to learn about catching largemouth and sunshine bass on the St Johns River. Again due to extremely low water levels I opted to fish the Mullet Lake stretch just west of Geneva, and again it was a great choice. My plan was to start out bass fishing and to target both American shad and channel catfish later, but the bass fishing was on fire and before we knew it, it was time to return to the dock. Again, it was a great day of catching with over thirty bass coming to the boat with several in the 6 to 8 pound range. Most of the bass caught were on a 4" DOA jerk bait rigged weedless with a Daiichi Bleeding Bait Copperhead hook, thank you TJ Stallings.
As mentioned throughout this report, water levels are extremely low, so hopefully the rainy weather forecasted for today and tomorrow will begin to elevate our water levels to our typical spring levels. Also for those cobia anglers out there, my azaleas are in full bloom and the near-shore water temperatures are ideal for the brown clown migration, so once this weather front passes and the seas settle down it is cobia time.
Lastly, if you like reading about Central Florida fishing, I encourage you to subscribe to my fishing blog and these reports will come directly to you email.
As always, if you have any questions, need information or would like to book a charter, please contact me.
Good luck and good fishing,
Captain Tom Van Horn
407-416-1187
www.irl-fishing.com
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