Shakedown Cruise And Fishing The Mosquito Lagoon Flats

My wife and I finally took out the Maverick out for a "shakedown cruise"; mainly because the barriers are up in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge for the Endeavor space shuttle launch.

We decided to put in at the new boat launch at the Titusville Marina and head through Haulover Canal to fish the Tiger Shoals flats.

Before even getting to the ICW channel, I noticed that the gas tank was showing almost empty. Since I wasn't sure about the gauge, I decided to top off the tank at the marina.

I gassed up and almost had a heart attack. The 30 gallons of gas cost me over $140.00 at the dock. Talk about sticker shock!

Anyway, we headed up the ICW through the canal with no problems except for the trim tabs. They were not working at all, so I chalked it up as a blown fuse until I could better troubleshoot the problem.

We got to the Mosquito Lagoon and fished the flats across from the entrance to Haulover. We got a few hits from trout, but no fish. A school of dolphin was feeding nearby so we headed north to the shoals.

The fishing here could have been better but we did manage to stir up and spook a couple of schools of redfish. The fish were wary and I couldn't get within casting range so we pulled up to a spot near a drop off and put down the Power Pole.

The flats are loaded with mullet schools right now and we could see big sea trout occasionally busting up on a school.

I tried fishing a top water skitterwalk but the weeds made a good presentation almost impossible, so I moved on to fishing various colored jerk baits.

For some reason I kept missing the sea trout. I must have had at least two dozen strikes but I never actually landed a fish.

I find it hard to believe that the fish were undersize with so many big ones hitting the mullet on the surface, so I'll just chalk it up to lack of practice on my part.

My wife wanted to fish shrimp under a cork and she also kept missing trout.

She finally caught a few nice sized catfish but I got skunked on this trip. Hard to believe with all the fish out there.

Since this was a shakedown cruise we decided to head back early. It was getting much more windy and I wasn't sure how much fuel I actually had in my tank.

On the ride back through Haulover Canal, I marked several nice schools of fish on my Lowrance LMS 350A. They were running 9 to 12 feet deep with some big singles (probably big redfish or drum) just off the bottom.

As we headed back to the Titusville Marina ramp, we crossed over a wake made by a nice sport fisherman and the instrument gauge warning signal went off.

I immediately shut off the motor and checked the oil and temperature to see what the problem was.

I couldn't find anything wrong so I cranked up the Yamaha 150 and continued on.

The motor ran fine at low to mid speeds but started sputtering at high r.p.m. and the warning signal kept sounding periodically all the way back to the launch.

The motor definitely was not overheating and the oil reservoir was 3/4 full, so I loaded the boat on the trailer and took it to Mosquito Lagoon Outfitters to see what the problem is all about.

Evidently we're not the only ones with boat problems. They have at least a two week backlog.

Well what the hell. I left the boat and asked him to give me a call when he figures out what happened.

For a shakedown cruise, I guess the trip was a success. I identified three things wrong with the boat. A bad gas tank sensor, trim tab problem and a possible oil mix or thermostat problem with the engine.

The new bridge over the Indian River at Titusville will be closed two hours before and two hours after the Endeavor launch on Monday.

I guess I'll go back to bank fishing for a while.

Till next time, Tight Lines.