Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Fishing In December

Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River fishing in December is as good as it gets anywhere in Florida.

The cold fronts have started to clear up the algae blooms in both the lagoons which should improve the sight fishing on the flats as the month progresses.

I got in about an hours worth of "jump" fishing late this afternoon around the Indian River and noticed that the water has gotten much clearer.

I picked up a new spinning reel for Karen today and loaded it with 10# red Cajun line, a 4foot piece of 20# fluorocarbon and a Strike King gold hammered spoon to "break it in" for her.

I quickly noticed that I was getting more strikes on Karen's new outfit than I was on my own well worn gold Bagley spoon.

The tannin colored water at first glance looked dirty but as I fished my Bagley gold spoon this afternoon, I noticed that I could easily see my well worn fluorocarbon leader in the water.

I replaced the worn 20# flurocarbon and after a few casts picked up my first small sea trout in the marsh canal.

If I hadn't noticed the difference, I probably would have continued using my outfit wondering why the fish weren't hitting.

Little things like this make a difference, especially during winter fishing conditions.

Fishing extra slow with long casts, light lines and stealth approaches will catch you more fish from now on into the spring.

I fished as many "new" locations as possible this afternoon to see if I was passing up any "good" spots.

I had several hits on both outfits using gold spoons and managed to catch and release two slot redfish, one oversized redfish and one stupid out of season sea trout in just over an hour of fishing.

The oversize red was about 30" long.  I hooked it in the grass shown in the picture below but didn't actually land it.

After I hooked the fish, it made a couple of nice short runs and I thought I had the fish "in the bag".  I had the fish right at the bank and decided to take a short video of what was left of the fight.

I held the rod with the fish on in one hand and started to the truck to get my Nikon to take the shot when the redfish decided he didn't want his picture taken.

The red got it's second wind, broke off and left for parts unknown.

Undaunted I kept fishing and as I got close to "bobcat bay" I shot a cast in slightly in front of where I noticed a small ripple next to the bank.

The spoon must have hit the redfish in the head because it literally exploded on the lure, knocking it completely out of the water and then swam downstream.

The sunset was gorgeous but it was getting dark, the mosquitoes were starting to get vicious and the bite stopped dead, so I decided to head home. 

On the way home, I decided to stop at the fishing piers to see if the shrimpers were getting set up for the evening.

The restaurant had a huge outdoor TV screen set up with a football game being televised. The lights on the lower shrimping pier were not turned on, so I didn't even bother getting out of the truck.

Next week I'll spend some time on the pier and get a shrimping report.

Till then, Tight Lines!