Mosquito Lagoon Florida Report 11/10/08

[Capt Chris M]

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While the weather has been cool and breezy on most days, the fishing in Mosquito Lagoon has been red hot. The early season cold front of several weeks ago caused many of the baitfish to head south. This turned the focus of the redfish to crabs and shrimp. As a result, the reds have been tailing aggressively throughout the day. There have been numerous schools as well as plenty of singles which have been more than willing to eat a well placed fly or artificial.

On the first day of the month, I was joined by local resident Ben and his friend Jamie from Minnesota. We saw many fish throughout the day including redfish, black drum, and some big trout. Both guys caught a trout early and then Ben hooked up with a couple reds. Both the redfish had been tailing about ten feet in front of the boat. They ended the day landing four more reds. A 4" DOA CAL in Stark Naked was most productive.





Tuesday, the forecast was for winds of 10-15. I arrived to find whitecaps and a steady 20 knot breeze. I stuck it out for a couple hours landing 4 redfish on a 5" CAL but quickly grew tired of fighting the wind and went home.

The next day, California resident Tim was on board. When we fished last year, the water was high and dirty making it tough to see the fish. This time, we had clean water and blue skies. We saw tons of redfish, many of them tailing. Tim used a 4" CAL in Arkansas Glow all day. Nearly every fish he got it in front of ate. He landed five reds to 32" and had several more redfish and a big trout come off during an outstanding day of fishing the flats.



Friday, I headed back to the same spot to try and fool a few fish with some flies. The morning was nice with a slight breeze and plenty of tails. I landed a couple reds on my 5wt using an olive and white bendback fly. I then spent some time taking pictures of tailing reds before the sun disappeared behind the clouds.



While I waited for the sun to come back out, I made a short move and tied on a holographic DOA shrimp. I caught five snook to 27' and missed several more. I ended the day with a couple more hours of photography and managed to catch a few more redfish as well.

Sunday, Brad and Allen from Alabama wanted to experience some Mosquito Lagoon sight fishing. Despite having to fight a stiff wind all day, we found plenty of redfish in both schools and singles. The 4" Arkansas Glow was the color of the day and both guys enjoyed some success with redfish to 34".





The chance of finding tailing redfish will remain excellent throughout the rest of the year. The size and numbers of schools will increase as we head in to winter. Small soft plastic jerk baits, shrimp, and crabs will all be effective. For fly anglers, crab shrimp, and benback patterns work best.Take a close look in the shallow sand spots for both redfish and large trout.

Capt. Chris Myers
Central Florida Sight Fishing Charters
http://www.floridafishinglessons.com