Indian River Flats

The Indian River flats are good during April, May, and June for some excellent sea trout fishing.

This past week, I had several chances to scout for a fishing spot that wasn't already occupied with anglers dunking shrimp or mullet for reds and black drum.

The guys on the fishing pier seemed to be practicing social distancing as I passed them going over the bridge.

I found a spot on the north Indian River that I usually bypass and was surprised to find some great, clear shallow water flats to fish off of a previously closed dyke road.

My original trip was during the afternoon, so I didn't bother wearing out my casting arm trying to catch any fish.  I took a bunch of pics of likely looking spots and came back later on in the evening to toss some lures.

When I waded the flats below, I started tossing a gold, weedless, Johnson's Silver Minnow to cover some ground and see if I could find some fish.

I walked the shallow flats looking for fish and spooked a couple of single redfish before hooking up and releasing a rat red.

After a ton of casting, I finally hooked into a nice sea trout that I also released.

I didn't take my cell phone along to get any pics, but I did pull it out of my truck when I caught the sea trout below at a pond that ran along the other side of the path.

I plan on getting out earlier in the morning to toss a topwater Chug Bug around and see if I can pick up one of those big gator trout that some of the guides have been getting.

I didn't have to worry about social distancing for a change.  Feels great.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Mayday Fishing Report for 2020

Below is the latest Mayday 2020 fishing report that we could compile since the opening of grouper season on May 1st.

AJ

The bottom fishing bite on the deeper 200 to 250 foot wrecks and reefs has been producing some large Amberjack.  The larger AJ's prefer eating large live baits, the bigger the better.

The bottom bite in 100 to 150 feet of water has been producing a mixed bag of lane, red, and mangrove snapper along with AJ's and triggerfish on a variety of live and cut baits.   In general, the bottom fishing has been great this month.

Grouper:

Grouper season opened Friday and most of the reports from Cape Marina say that the best grouper action has been occurring on the reefs and wrecks in about 120 to 160 feet of water out of Port Canaveral.

Most of the guys after the larger have been using deep jigs tipped with a belly strip or large ballyhoo, but live croakers, grunts, pinfish, menhaden, or mullet are also bringing in some nice fish.

Mangrove Snapper:

Right now, mangrove snapper are being caught along the seawalls from Ponce Inlet down to the Edgewater area. Most anglers are using live shrimp or finger mullet on knocker rigs to catch them.

Snook:

Mid May to Mid June is absolutely the best time to catch snook in the East Central Florida area.

If the Covid 19 virus has kept you from fishing for snook lately, you need to get out now.

Our local guides have been getting 6 to 13 trophy size snook per trip on pinfish, mullet, croakers, pilchards, or just about any live bait during the daytime hours. Most have been catching them on standard sliding sinker rigs.

The fish have been averaging 34 to 42 inches.

The guys fishing the inlets at night have been catching snook on 5 to 6 inch R&R Flair Hawks, lipped diving plugs, and 5 to 6 inch plastic swim baits. Most of the fish are in the 34 inch and over category.

Spotted Sea Trout:

The spotted sea trout bite has been really good for the past couple of weeks. Fish live mullet around mangrove covered shorelines, docks, pilings, or any type of structure for the bigger fish.

When fishing around the mullet pods on the flats, a lot of guys have been tossing 4" Saltwater Assassin Sea Shad in the Purple Moon or Northern Minnow color with good results.

In stained water, switch over to the Avocado Green with red flake or the Chicken on a Chain color. Most of the trout caught on the flats will be in the 1 to 3 pound category, but a lot of fish in the 7 to 9 pound category are also being caught.

The early dawn to about 9:00 am topwater bite in the north Indian River flats above the railroad bridge in Titusville has been off the charts for big gator trout.

Topwater "walk the dog" baits like the Zara Spook, Super Spooks, MirrOLures, Skitter Walks, etc. all produce when fished around the bait pods.

Wahoo:

The Wahoo have been all over our area for the past couple of weeks. Some of the guys are going 60 to 80 miles when they're running over to the other side looking for the yellowfin tuna, and they're finding them on the eastern side of the Gulfstream, and some of the guys are catching them on the 27 fathom ridge on the cones or steeples in 240 to 250 feet of water on this side of the Gulfstream.

High speed lures are the key to catching wahoo in both of those areas but recently the guys fishing out of Port Canaveral have been catching wahoo up to 70 pounds while fishing for King Mackerel on the 70 to 90 foot reefs.

That usually doesn't happen until later in the summer around August.

Fishing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge these days is more like attending a New Years Eve party. Tons of people are on the water and along the banks fishing from every conceivable spot.