Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report - January 2007 - Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Guide Capt. Chris Myers

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Guide Capt. Chris Myers - Mosquito Lagoon Fishing
Report

January 10, 2007

The weather for the first week of 2007 has been unseasonably warm until yesterday, when the mercury
dropped 25 degrees overnight. Air temperatures in the 80's and water temperatures in the mid to upper
70's combined with high water levels have the fish spread out. The passage of the last cold front not
only produced plummeting air temperatures but it also dropped the water levels about 8 inches
overnight. This should concentrate the fish and hopefully improve the catching.

Last Wednesday, I scouted some areas in the Mosquito Lagoon I had not visited in a while. High water
gave me easy access to places I normally could not get to in January. High water also means the fish
have more places to go and it took quite a bit of searching to find some. I located several schools of
redfish along with a few places holding some nice seatrout, one of which I coaxed into eating a rootbeer
DOA shrimp.

Thursday, Kyle and his father Bob, from Canada, joined me in the Lagoon. Kyle is a fly fisherman and
this was his first attempt at saltwater fly fishing. We discovered a few tailing redfish at daybreak but only
got one follow. A few minutes later, we saw a school of about 100 reds. Kyle made an excellent cast
and was immediately hooked up to his first redfish. He used a brown and gold #4 bendback pattern on
his 5wt rod.

After Kyle landed that fish, we tried to catch up to the school again but could only watch as they swam
off the flat into deep water. The next few spots produced only one more redfish before the winds began
to pick up. We moved over to a shoreline in the Indian River in an attempt to escape the wind but saw
only a couple reds. Kyle and Bob finished the day using a DOA deadly combo to catch ten or so
seatrout around the spoil islands.

Sunday, John and his son Mike joined me for an instructional charter. We took advantage of some calm
winds at daybreak to check a shallow flat where we found no less than a dozen schools of reds. The
heavy boat traffic during the past couple weeks had these fish even more wary than normal. They
would allow you to get one or two casts at them before they were out of range and moving at a speed
that would not allow us to catch up to them. John was able to get a 4" DOA CAL tail in front of one of
the schools and landed a feisty slot sized fish.

As the wind began to increase, we were confined to a protected shoreline but saw reds and trout
consistently throughout the day. Mark caught the next two fish, one a trout, and the other a red.

Although we saw plenty of reds throughout the day including some in the 10-15 pound range, the bite
was just not what we were hoping for. We tried a variety of lures in different sizes and colors but could
not convince the fish to eat.

The next day, Mike and Rick from Orlando decided to give the Mosquito Lagoon try despite less than
favorable wind conditions. Mike fooled four reds, including this fish we spotted tailing, with his 4" DOA
CAL in Arkansas Glow.

Rick, on the other hand, was not as fortunate and got skunked. It was not, however, for lack of effort on
his part. Near day's end, the winds died down and we discovered a few more tailing fish. About that
same time, we also saw a wall of black clouds rapidly approaching from the north. We raced back to the
ramp, barely beating the rain.

The abnormal weather and water levels have kept the fish from getting into their normal winter habits
and locations. Instead of settling down in the shallow sand holes seeking warmth, the fish are roaming
the flats throughout the day. To find the fish, you need to cover a lot of water and be prepared to make
quick accurate casts when they appear.