June Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Fishing Report

With all the rain we have been getting lately, the water levels in both the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River are up, and the fish have been chewing well.

The redfish and sea trout bite in and around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge has been hot for the past couple of weeks, and anglers fishing early and late have been catching some nice fish on artificial baits, chunked up mullet, and live shrimp under Cajun Thunder rigs.

When I got back into town Friday evening, I made a quick run around Catfish Creek Loop to check out the water levels and to see if anybody was catching fish.

The areas that were completely dry three weeks ago had now filled with water, and I could see fish cruising in the deeper shallows.  I briefly flipped a DOA Baitbuster around the shallow drop offs at East Gator Creek and had a couple of nice hits as the sun was setting, but I couldn't get a hookup.

Several bank fishermen had caught slot redfish and two guys had some nice keeper sea trout that they caught on paddle tail baits.  Almost everyone else I spoke do was fishing live mullet, cut baits, and shrimp.

The Saltwater Assassin die dapper rigged weedless looks like a finger mullet and has been the bait of choice for a lot of anglers fishing the edges of the bars in the southern Mosquito Lagoon.

The False Channel bar, Cucumber Island bar, and Whale tail flats have been producing redfish in the 30 to 40 inch range, but some slot size reds have been coming up onto the flats to ambush baitfish, primarily in the early mornings and late afternoon.

The Tiger Shoal, Orbis Cove and Barracuda Bay areas are also good right now for slot size and larger redfish.

Once the early morning bite slows down and the sun comes up, switch over to a 4", Mud Bug colored Saltwater Assassin Shrimp Cocktail rigged on a 1/8th oz. jig head or offset worm hook and fish deeper for the reds.

Although Snook season is now closed, some nice snook are being caught throughout our area from Ponce Inlet all the way down to the Sebastian Inlet area.  

The "rocks" at the the Port Canaveral and other jetties are always productive, but snook are also being caught in the surf at Patrick AFB, Melbourne Beach, Satellite Beach, and with the increased rains we have been receiving, outside of the feeder creeks all around our area.

I've also received several reports of snook up to 30 pounds being caught around the spoil islands, bridge pilings, and docks in the Indian River.    The baits of choice are live mullet, live pilchards, and live Croaker.

Now that we have a full moon, I plan to take a few  kayak rides around the flats and try some top water night fishing this week for some gator trout.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.