Fall Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Fishing For Flounder

Fall Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Fishing for flounder really heats up during the annual mullet run.

As the water starts to cool down, the flounder start coming into the inlets to feast on the finger mullet that are flushed out of the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon systems.

In the East Central Florida area, we catch summer flounder and Atlantic founder that can run anywhere from 1 lb. to well over 10 lbs.

In the Port Canaveral area you can catch them near the jetty rocks and on sandy bottoms using live mud minnows, finger mullet, shrimp, cut squid strips, cut ladyfish or mullet, and artificial lures fished on the bottom.

When fishing live bait around rocks, use a very short 40# fluorocarbon leader with a swivel and either a kale or circle hook. A bank sinker heavy enough to keep the bait on the bottom above the swivel completes the rig.

In the rivers, fish around sea walls, bridge pilings, sandy bottoms and around docks using longer 30 or 40# leaders, with 3/8 oz rubber core sinkers, to get your baits to the bottom.

If you're using artificial lures, try fishing a 4" jerk bait with a jig head just heavy enough to stay on the bottom, hair jigs, or a combination jig head with shrimp or cut squid to sweeten up your offering a bit.

Regardless of where you decide to fish for flounder, the formula for success is to make sure that you keep your baits right on the bottom.

My wife and I haven't been able to get out and fish for the redfish that have been invading the shallows in this area, but hopefully this weekend we can break the trend and catch a few.

Last Saturday we managed to hit the Northern end of the Indian River Lagoon where my wife caught and released a nice slot redfish in the 27" category, but I only managed to capture the beautiful scenery on my Nikon.


I fish primarily artificial lures and the fish just weren't cooperating.


Maybe this weekend will be different. Enjoy the sunset, it was awesome!



Tight Lines and good fishing!