The past two weeks have offered some very good fishing opportunities except for a few days of windy weather caused by a passing tropical front. Nearly every day brings legitimate chances to catch multiple species such as redfish, black drum, seatrout, tarpon, snook, and jack crevalle.
Last Monday, Jim and his son-in-law Brian drove up from Melbourne to target large redfish in Mosquito Lagoon. Prior to spotting reds, we encountered a large school of black drum and Brian landed one before we found ourselves surrounded by other boats.For the next six hours, we fished multiple schools of large redfish by ourselves throughout the Lagoon. Unfortunately, they turned out to be easier to find than to catch. The most frustrating part of the day came when Jim made a perfect cast to a school of about 200 giant reds. Just as the fish were approaching his bait, a bird flew over the school. The water erupted as the shadow from the bird spook the entire group.
Wednesday, I went tarpon fishing with my friend, Capt. Drew. We did not see as many as I had found several days earlier but they were more willing to bite. Throwing a black and gold DOA Baitbuster, I got five bites, jumped three, and landed one.
The following day, I went back to Mosquito Lagoon to explore some areas for Friday's trip. I spent a couple hours looking for tarpon and finally found them in 8-10 feet of water. These fish were from 60-100 pounds but they were spread out over a large area making shots few and far between. After the tarpon quit rolling, I used a holographic DOA shrimp to catch redfish, snook, and trout.
Friday's trip was with Rob and Alan from Wales. Once they saw their first 100 pound tarpon rolling, they were intent on hooking one. Again, the fish were spread out and they saw many that were just out of reach. They both had several good shots but did not get a bite. They caught a couple jacks and ladyfish and then we tried for some snook. We saw a few but did not hook up. The flats offered multiple shots at redfish throughout the day and both guys caught trout on CAL jigs along the edge of the flats. At our final stop of the day, we found a hungry school of reds. They landed five all over 30 inches.
Saturday was a crab trap cleanup coordinated by the wildlife refuge. Over 75 abandoned crabs traps were recovered by volunteers.
Sunday, I traveled to Stuart in advance of the DOA Outdoor Writers Festival. I once again had the honor of being invited to participate as a guide in this annual event. A front had kicked up the winds and I was forced to hide in the backwater bays of the St. Lucie River. I saw none of the hundreds of tarpon that were there a couple weeks ago. I spent the day skipping a holographic DOA shrimp along the mangrove shorelines and caught 16 snook.
Monday brought more wind and limited our fishing opportunities. Stephanie, from Sport Fishing Magazine, and John, from Seaguar Fluorocarbon, were my guests for the day. The company was great but the fishing was tough. We Stayed near the shoreline in the Indian River most of the day. We ended up with only a few trout and a snook caught and released.
Tuesday, I hosted Blair Wiggins, of the TV show Addictive Fishing, and Will, from Frogg Toggs products. Facing another windy day, we decided to fish for snook and tarpon around the bridges of the St. Lucie River. Using the DOA Baitbuster and Terror Eyz, we all landed some large snook and lost several others.
This Thursday, Doug and his 11 year old son Chase hired me to show them how to catch more fish in Mosquito Lagoon. We saw hundreds of redfish and black drum roaming the flats. Chase, who fishes as good as many adults, fired off a cast with a silver mullet DOA CAL and hooked into his biggest redfish to date.
Friday's trip, Neal began by throwing a shallow running Baitbuster to some large redfish. He had several fish blow up on his lure as he worked it along the surface and even had a large red hooked up for a few seconds. Before he could land one, several boats drove by spooking the fish. We tried looking for tarpon but saw only a few. The flats, however, we alive with redfish and black drum. Neal had shots at hundreds of both and landed a red on a four inch CAL.
Visit my website for photos of this week's catches
Capt. Chris Myers
Central Florida Sight Fishing Charters
http://www.floridafishinglessons.com
