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Indian River Lagoon
Capt. Tom Van Horn
April 23, 2006
Indian River Lagoon - Saltwater Fishing Report
Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report
Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report
Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters
I wish I could tell you the catching has been as good as the fishing, but than I would be stretching the truth instead of the line. This past week was filled with magnificent weather, an abundance of wildlife, and loads of fish, but bring the fishing and catching together was challenging for the most part.
The week started out nice with a half-day redfish charter accompanied by Gene and Shane Sonnenfeld, a grandfather and grandson combination. Our plan was to warm up the morning at the south Port Saint John Power Plant. After staking out near the north discharge, we started out pitching RipTide swimming mullet jigs, the ladyfish and jacks were thick. For a good hour, we caught fish after fish, and yes, the bite was hot and the small tarpon have begun to show up. Next, we motored southeast, and found a flat good number of nice redfish, and Gene and Shane ended up catching six respectable fish, with four in the slot and two over. Not bad so far.
On my next three charters, I had the pleasure of fishing with world-class fly angler Jay Starrett from New Jersey, and we were faced with some tough conditions. The plan was to fish with Jay in three totally different areas of the Lagoon Coast, to give him a good taste of our fishery.
Day one carried us into the No-Motor Zone where we were greeted by a gentle west wind of 25 plus knots, and as long as we stuck tight to the west shoreline, it was fishable. In our earlier communications, Jay expressed a desire to test the waters of the Zone, and with a rocket launch scheduled for later in the week, we knew this would be our best shot, good or bad. Jay started out throwing a Chug Bug, and he had several nice blow-ups with no connection. He fished and I paddled, and we covering most of the western shoreline and never had a good shot at tailing redfish or black drum. The flat was loaded with pushing and showering schools of finger mullet, but we never had decent shots all day.
Day two was a little better as we were joined by Jay’s best friend and fishing buddy Peter Thatcher, another world-class fly angler from Savanna Georgia, and together we ventured into the Mosquito Lagoon in search of big redfish. The plan was to get an early start with hopes of getting some shots at big breeder redfish before the crowds showed up. We motored through the darkness, and quickly found a hefty school of large redfish just at twilight, and both Jay and Peter had at least forty good shoots at fish with no takers. As the sky grew brighter, the crowd moved in on us, and soon it was raining pinfish with their tails cut off. In the old days, the big redfish would jump all over a well-presented artificial bait, but know that these fish are pounded day after day with natural bait, they will hardly look at a lure. Soon we departed the mayhem, and we spent the remainder of the day looking instead of catching.
On day three, we departed Port Canaveral at sunrise in search of tripletail and cobia, but again the weather man was off the numbers by about 10 knots, and the choppy seas limited our range out of the Port. As we motored around, we found some scattered tripletail, but the strong west winds from earlier in the week had blown all of the flotsam offshore. At one point, we located a dead loggerhead turtle with a dozen or so nice tripletail underneath, and both Jay and Peter scored fish of fly. It was certainly not the kind of flotsam I like to see, but it held fish nonetheless. As the sea conditions worsened, we began working live shrimp around the buoys, then Peter hooked up on a big fish, and 45 minutes later, a fat 32-pound cobia found her way home for dinner and our three-day odyssey ended on an up beat. We also located a sizable school of Spanish mackerel on our way in, and Jay managed several on fly.
This morning I had the pleasure of fishing with Heather and Jeff Raheb from Fort Lauderdale for a half-day in the Banana River Lagoon, and once again, the weather guys missed the boat. We launched out of Kelly Park, and managed to catch a good number of fish, mostly ladyfish and jacks, on jigs and top-water plugs. Rough and cloudy conditions ruled out site fishing, and we only managed to catch one nice 20-inch sea trout.
In closing, I would like to remind everyone about the Coastal Angler Magazine Fishing and Boating Expo on May 19th, 20th, and 21st, in Melbourne, http://www.coastalanglermagazine.com Many of the Lagoon’s top guides will be speaking at the event, so come learn about fishing and the resource, and stop by the braided line tying clinic and visit for a while. Also check out the CAM Hook Kids on Fishing program on May 20 at the Melbourne Auditorium lake from 9 –11am.
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 cell
866-790-8081 toll free
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