North Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

The North Indian River Lagoon area north of Mims, Fl., is definitely the place to catch a heavyweight redfish this time of year.

The unusually shallow water levels of this past fall and winter are slowly disappearing and giving way to freshly covered grass and mud flats.

The dried mudflat areas are now covered with water deep enough for the large bull redfish in the area, to charge into for an easy meal of crabs, mud minnows and anything else they can get their maws around. The most active feeding time seems to be in the late afternoon and evenings.

Although the reds in the Mosquito Lagoon are longer, and are more within the slot limits, the bruisers in the north Indian River Lagoon are bulkier and weigh well over 40 pounds.

The Scottsmoor landing area is producing bull redfish as well as the 5 to 10 pound redfish that are seen tailing in medium to large sized schools, and an occasional single.

The start of the spring mullet run has made the redfish aggressive towards top water lures. My favorites are a silver and black "chug bug" and black and gold "skitter walk" plugs. A D.O.A. jerk bait rigged weedless, without a keel sinker on the hook, is also an all time favorite of mine.

My wife usually uses dead shrimp or mullet and does quite well, especially later on in the season.

The lush grass flats between Titusville, Fl. and the north end of the Indian River are famous for sight fishing for the tailing redfish as well as the gator trout that stake out their ambush spots around the sandy potholes.

I have gotten reports of sow gator trout that were caught on top water lures that weighed in at over 13 pounds this past week. Ten pounders are routinely caught in these waters and I believe the world record was also caught in the Indian River Lagoon.

For those of you not in the know, these fish can exceed 30 inches in length. It's no wonder that the Indian River Lagoon is noted as an exceptional area for these early spring tackle busters.

All this talk makes me want to go fishing. It is late Sunday afternoon; So, I think I will!

Tight lines.