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!

Indian River Salt Marsh Fishing

Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River fishing picks up for shoreline fishermen as the weather begins to cool down during the fall and winter months.

This evening after a 6 1/2 hour drive, I had just enough energy left to head out to one of my favorite spots on the northern Indian River Lagoon.

My wife had her "ditty bag" packed along with a small cooler full of dead finger mullet and large frozen shrimp for bait.

I loaded my rods into the truck along with Elmo our famous "wonder dog" and proceeded out to our spot.

On the way into the marsh area, we saw some swirls along the bank that looked to be redfish chasing some bait fish.

I pulled off the side of the unimproved trail and started pitching a gold Johnson spoon that I use to locate redfish and sea trout, while my wife pitched out a dead shrimp to something that was chasing bait in the salt marsh area several yards up the trail from where I was fishing.

About 30 casts later with no hits for either of us, we picked up our stuff and moved to the spot I was originally going to fish before darkness set in.

When I pulled up to the spot, the water was almost dead calm on the river side and the culvert was open pushing water and bait fish into the marsh area.

There were fish swirls on both sides of the road. Some were obviously catfish with a few redfish mixed in with them.

I cut a finger mullet in half and pitched it just outside of the current on the salt marsh side of the road with my Okuma bait runner setup and started casting with my spoon to the swirls on the other side of the road.

My wife stayed with her green Cajun Thunder dead shrimp and bobber rig.

I missed a small redfish on the spoon and my wife immediately caught a small catfish. I unhooked the cat and before I could continue with my fishing, she caught a good sized croaker.

I took a couple of pics of the croaker and started fishing with a top water plug. Even though the water was dead calm, you can sometimes pick up nice trout and occasionally redfish with long casts and slow retrieves.

After several casts with some halfhearted hits by small sea trout and a ladyfish that jumped all over the place before shaking off; I decided to give up the lures and concentrate on bait fishing.

I caught a cat on the cut mullet bait and recast to a different area. About the time I finished my cast, Karen hooked into what she thought was a small redfish.

After a short battle, it turned out to be a nice eating size black drum of about 25" or so.

The fish inhaled the dead shrimp Karen was using, so I cut the line as close to the hook as I could and let the fish go to grow up a bit more.

Occasionally, especially this time of the year, I'll eat black drum.

They have a taste similar to redfish and the same texture, when they are caught during cooler water periods.

But today was the black drum's lucky day.

The mosquitoes were eating us alive, Elmo was whimpering because of the mosquitoes and I didn't rally feel like cleaning fish after driving 6 1/2 hours.

So we called it a day and headed home.

My wife out fished me again!

Till next time, Tight Lines!

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!