Fishing in the Mosquito Lagoon the past two weeks has been about as good as it
gets. Winds have been calm, the water clear and low, and both air and water
temps have been in the mid 70's. The best part is that there have been plenty of
fish each day. Schooling fish, tailing fish, and fish in the sand holes. Some days
they have been less aggressive than others, but the numbers of fish have been
excellent.

Last week brought catches of black drum and redfish on DOA crabs along with
other reds caught on fly. On Friday, I fished Mosquito Lagoon with Capt. Ron
Presley of Cocoa Beach. We spent most of the day targeting the numerous black
drum in 1-2 feet of water. We both caught black drum on soft plastic crabs and
spooked a ton of big trout. The black drum normally do not eat the wide range of
artificial lures that redfish will. The most effective technique was to slowly drag the
crab along the bottom in front of the fish. If you are not getting bites, slow down
even more.












































The drum were in schools of 10-200 and could be seen crossing the sandy
patches.












































This Monday, Al from Orlando returned for his second trip. This time he brought
his friend Danny from England. Within ten minutes, Al had the first redfish of the
day to the boat that he caught casting a 4 inch DOA CAL to a group of tailing fish.























We spent the next couple hours casting to redfish with not much success. When
the sun got up, the drum appeared. Danny scored first with a drum of about ten
pounds. A short while later, both guys we hooked up to some smaller drum.






















Al caught a trout to complete his Mosquito Lagoon slam and we moved on to look
for some bigger fish. We found several schools finning and tailing and both Al and
Danny caught some nice drum.












































We spent the end of the day trying to get Danny his red for the slam. We saw
some reds and had some shots but it just didn't work out. Still, it was an excellent
day.

The next day, I had two fly fishermen from  New York. The skies were clear and
the winds light. We probably did not go for five minutes the entire day without
having fish near the boat. It was their first time sight fishing for redfish and my
anglers could not quite get the fly to the fish. Shallow water sight fishing requires
stealth and quick accurate casts. If you are missing any one of these elements, the
level of success diminishes. Although my anglers were questioning whether or not
the fish were willing to eat, the fact that they were tailing aggressively, proves they
were. The guys were dedicated to the fly, though, and stuck with it to the end.
Even though we had at least 100 shots at fish, none came to the boat.

Thursday, I took my flyrods and friend Capt. Tom Van Horn back to see if the
redfish were still tailing. Capt. Tom let me go first and I landed three redfish and
pulled the hook on five more within twenty minutes on an olive #2 crab pattern. We
saw some black drum but could not get any shots at them and we both spooked
quite a few redfish that were tailing and finning. Tom and I caught six or seven
redfish and a few trout including a beauty of about 28 inches that Tom landed
along the edge of a shallow flat.
























Friday, I was joined by two ladies from Orlando, Debbie and Connie. Although the
weather was still warm, the leading edge of a front had moved in bringing clouds
and wind. The redfish that had been so plentiful all week, were few and far
between. We saw only three tailing reds the entire day. Fortunately, the trout and
drum were much more cooperative. The women started the day catching around a
dozen trout on four inch CAL tails in Arkansas Glow and Stark Naked. Next,
Connie landed back to back black drum around fifteen pounds and Debbie caught
her first drum also.












































We left the drum biting to make one more attempt at some redfish to complete the
slam.  I spotted several reds moving away in front of the boat. Debbie cast here
CAL tail towards them and her line came tight with what we thought was the first
red of the day. Instead, it turned out to be here largest trout to date.  We never did
catch a redfish but it was still another excellent winter day in Florida.
Central Florida Sight Fishing Charters
Guided Fishing Trips Near Orlando
Light Tackle and Fly
Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River
Capt Chris Myers offers light tackle and fly fishing charters in the Mosquito
Lagoon and Indian River for redfish, trout, and tarpon. Fishing is excellent year
round. To book your fishing charter, call the captain at 321-229-2848