Indian River Lagoon November Forecast
Capt. Tom Van Horn
October 31, 2012
Indian River Lagoon - Saltwater Fishing Report
Mosquito Creek Outdoors Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Forecast, November 2012
By Captain Tom Van Horn
Up Coming Event and Seminars
Thursday, November 1, 6:30 - 8:30pm Fourth Annual Shad and Crappie Derby Kick-Off Meeting at the Lake Mary World of Beer, 1125 Townpark Avenue, Lake Mary, FL 32746 Contact Charlie McCullough at [email protected].
Saturday, November 3 - 9am - 1pm Captain C A Richardson Flats Class FCV2 at Mosquito Creek Outback, 203 W First St., Apopka, FL 32703. Go to www.capitaincarichardson.com or call Rory at Mosquito Creek Outdoors at 407-464-2000 for more info!
November 10, 2012 - 12 noon to 3pm Gumbopalooza at Fish on Fire 7937 Daetwyler Drive Orlando Fl 32812 The event benefits Give Kids the World Kids Fishing Experience, Anglers for Conservation and Castaway Against Cancer. Visit http://www.fishingfloridaradio.com for more details.
November 15th, 16th & 17th, Early Black Friday Sale at Mosquito Creek Outdoors, 170 S Washington Ave, Apopka, Florida 32703. It's time to do your holiday shopping done early!
November 17, 2012 - 2 to 4pm Backpacker Magazine's Central Florida Tour Stop is at Mosquito Creek Outdoors, 203 W First St., Apopka, FL 32703. Come join Randy and Sheri Propster for a fun afternoon with the latest hiking, camping and travel tips. Lot's of giveaways and great information. For more details visit http://www.mosquitocreek.com or call 407-464-2000
November Fishing Outlook
November on the Indian River Lagoon Coast of Florida sets the stage for some of the best fishing experienced all year by Florida east coast anglers. Our early cold snap will drop water temperatures into the seventies along the beach and offshore and falling water temperatures will increase the feeding activity of larger species. Shorter days, northeast swells, cooler waters, serve as a dinner bell for larger fish preparing for the onset of winter.
As water temperatures cool, look for cobia and tripletail to begin showing up on the Port Canaveral Buoy line and on flotsam, both near-shore and offshore. When you find weeds and other debris, look for tripletail to be hanging just below the floating structure. Live shrimp and small jigs tipped with shrimp work well when targeting these brim on steroids. It is also important to keep the sun to your back to improve your range of sight, and to keep a medium heavy rod rigged with a one-ounce chartreuse or white buck tail jig ready to throw to any cruising cobia. Also, look for the fall kingfish run to commence as well and an occasional sailfish or black fin tuna on the near-shore reefs and wrecks like 8A and Pelican Flats.
November is one of the best months to target snook at Sebastian Inlet. In addition, large flounder and oversized redfish have begun to show up on the Port Canaveral buoy line and in the inlets of Ponce De Leon and Sebastian, and their numbers will increase as the flounder begin their seaward migration out of the lagoon. Also, let's not forget the influx of Spanish mackerel, bluefish, and black tip sharks shadowing schools of finger mullet and glass minnows along the beach.
On the inside, look for pompano to begin to form up and move off of the lagoon flats thought the inlets, and invade the beach in search of mole crabs (sand fleas) their favorite winter food. Currently, reports of pompano skipping have been coming from anglers working the flats in various locations within the Lagoon. Also look for large schools of ladyfish, jacks, Spanish mackerel, and sea trout to be feeding on the migrating schools of glass minnows as they move south through the Lagoon.
Sight fishing this past month for redfish has was tough due to higher water levels brown alga blooms and tons of finger mullet, but water levels will begin to drop and the early arrival of cold air and cooling water has the redfish schooling up again, and the large sea trout showing up on the skinny flats. Additionally, a good numbers of quality black drum and some gag grouper will begin to occupy the deeper channels of the ICW and areas around bridges and power structures throughout the lagoon.
On the flats of the Banana River No-Motor Zone, the tailing black drum and redfish have shown up early If you have never experienced black drum tailing in a foot of water, it is worth the long paddle. When targeting black drum in the zone, concentrate your efforts on the deeper side on the sandbars that parallel the west shore.
Lastly, it's American shad and crappie season again. Water levels are currently high on the St. Johns River, so concentrate your efforts in the lakes of Harney Jessup and Monroe in water depths of 6 to 8 feet and look for the crappie to move in shallow on the next full moon. As for the American shad, they should be here around Christmas and if this year is half as good as last, we will have some fun.
As always, if you need more information or have questions please contact me.
Good luck and good fishing,
Captain Tom Van Horn
Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters
www.irl-fishing.com
407-416-1187 Cell
For all of your outdoor needs, visit Mosquito Creek Outdoors at www.mosquitocreek.com, it's where your adventure begin.
More Fishing Reports:
