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Mosquito Creek Outdoors Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report
Capt. Tom Van Horn
May 25, 2012
Indian River Lagoon - Saltwater Fishing Report
Mosquito Creek Outdoors Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report, May 23, 2012
By Captain Tom Van Horn
Upcoming Seminars and Events
Thursday May 24th - 6:30 P.m. to 8:30 p.m. "Free Seminars" "Summer Near-shore Opportunities" instructed by Captains Tom Van Horn, Chris Myers, located in the Outback at Mosquito Creek Outdoors, 170 South Washington Ave., Apopka Florida, www.mosquitocreek.com.
This Weeks Fishing Report
Several days of measurable rainfall received last week have increased water levels in both the Lagoons and the St Johns River just a bit. Although we received 4 to 6 inches in three days, it was still not enough rainfall to fill the ditches and relieve us from our current drought conditions. Additionally, water clarity remains good, so sight fishing was excellent this past week.
As mentioned above, water levels have increased some on the Lagoon making access to the shoreline a little easier for anglers, and that's where we found redfish feeding this week. As Lagoon water levels rise, redfish love to feed on shoreline crabs and minnows. Another noticeable change this week was the return of bay anchovies (glass minnow schools) with ladyfish, gafftop catfish and spotted sea trout pushing them up to the surface and terns, pelicans and gulls working them from above. These schools are great fun fishing with top water plugs, but gang hooks make releasing these fish uninjured a challenge. When fishing these schools, I've found it easier to switch to a 3" DOA CAL paddle tail on a ¼ ounce jig. These jigs are effective and will catch just as many fish, but the single hook dose less damage to the released fish and will allow for more lure time in the water.
This past week I had the pleasure of spending several days fishing with David Knox and his son David on the IRL, and we caught quantity and quality fish on both days. Our first trip was an afternoon charter where we found a very large school of glass minnows and we spent our first hour warming up on fast and furious ladyfish and sea trout action. Although, the sea trout feeding on these schools are normally small, I was surprised at the number of slot size trout brought to the boat. David and his son are from North Carolina, and they were impressed by both the numbers and size of our sea trout. Next, we moved into shallow water where we finished the evening catching larger sea trout on top water plugs.
On our second day, we launch at 3am, just in time to see history being made with the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket. After viewing the launch, we road to the eastern shore of the lagoon and commenced to wearing out the sea trout on top water plugs in the darkness of the morning, returning to the dock by 7am with 18 sea trout and a 30 redfish under our belts. Fishing in the darkness of early morning during the summer is something most anglers have not experienced, and they don't know what they are missing. Dawn is the most enjoyable and coolest time of the day, and there's something to be said about ending a great day of fishing with breakfast and a cup of coffee.
On the St Johns River, water levels are raising some. I bass fished this week with my good friends John and Mark, and we found that the menhaden schools have begun to spread out, but still managed to catch some nice bass of top-water plugs. After the bass bite slowed down, we switched gears focusing on catfish. For the next several hours we soaked bait, managing 11 nice catfish with John catching the largest channel cat in the 8 to 10 pound range. As water levels increase and current returns to the river, the larger catfish will begin moving up the river to spawn.
All in all it was a great week on the water, and the weather is shaping up for the holiday weekend, so please be safe on the water and let's go fishing.
As always, if you have any questions or need more information, please contact me.
Good luck and good fishing,
Captain Tom Van Horn
Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters
www.irl-fishing.com
(407) 416-1187
Mosquito Creek, it's were your adventure begins, www.mosquitocreek.com
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