The Mosquito Lagoon has come alive in the past couple weeks and bait is everywhere. Water temperatures have been reaching the mid 80's during the day as we have been enjoying plenty of sun.
Last week, I took advantage of the warm weather and made my first tarpon trip of the year. I headed south about 100 miles and was pleased to see hundreds of tarpon rolling throughout the day. Unfortunately, they had no interest in eating and I did not catch one the entire day. I did land a couple small snook but it was a long ride home.
Friday, my friend Dave joined me back in Mosquito Lagoon. We saw plenty of redfish and trout along with a few black drum. The reds and trout ate 3 and 4 inch CAL tails in Silver Rush color, but the drum eluded us.
Monday, Joel joined me for a fly fishing trip. The winds had been forecast for 5-10 but were 15-20 the entire day. We saw plenty of reds and trout but getting the fly to them was tough. Joel made a valiant effort in tough conditions but never hooked a fish.
The following day, I had the pleasure of fishing with Simons Welter, a fly fishing guide from South Carolina. The day started with favorable winds that steadily increased throughout the day. We started the day targeting some schools of redfish tailing in very shallow water. We found the fish to be extremely spooky and uncooperative. We moved out a bit deeper and found some black drum tailing and mudding. Using a tan shrimp pattern and a black crab fly, Simons hooked four drum and landed three.
The drum were still tailing when we left them to go back to hunting redfish. We encountered redfish from 5-25 pounds. Simons made some excellent casts that deserved a bite but never connected with a redfish. With the winds now pushing 20, we made one more stop where she landed a spotted seatrout.
Thursday, I fished Keith, a fellow Hewes owner from nearby Port St. John. We took advantage of targeting the big schools of mullet and threw a CAL/Chughead combo at first light. We each landed some nice trout and missed a few more. Redfish were willing to eat both a DOA shrimp and a Silver Rush CAL but the drum proved to be finicky. Keith hooked one drum that shook free and landed a nice trout out of a school of drum.
Nate and Becky were with me this Friday for their first trip to Mosquito Lagoon. We found some large schools of redfish and Nate hooked up first with a Silver Mullet DOA CAL.Both anglers had several more shots at the schools before they spooked off. I tied on some deadly Combos and moved out to deeper water. Fishing around the mullet schools resulted in several trout which were caught and released. With clear skies and the sun overhead, we went in search of some large reds. We saw several schools which would give us one or two shots and then move off. After numerous unsuccessful attempts, Nate finally hooked up with a nice redfish to finish the day.
As we enter the summer pattern, the fishing will be outstanding. While tailing fish will still eat a DOA shrimp or a small crab or shrimp fly, lures and flies that imitate mullet and pinfish will be very effective.
Capt. Chris Myers
Central Florida Sight Fishing Charters
http://www.floridafishinglessons.com
