With the recent stalled front that has sat on Central Florida for a couple of days we have made up for any drought conditions. With that being said there is now an influx of water throughout the waters of Daytona Beach , New Smyrna Beach and Mosquito Lagoon. With the influx of water and shifting wind directions it has made it a little difficult to locate the fish but they are still there. Focusing on the points and bars has been the trick as the bait has been pushed up on those locations and the fish have followed.

It looks as though we will continue an afternoon shower pattern into next week but the bite pattern should remain the same throughout the region.

Well, in last week’s report I said be ready and I hope that you did just that. Sand fleas have been hard to find so FishGum was the ticket. We fished our FishGum color match rigs (&FishGum) available at surffishflorida.com with dark colors (FleaClipse & PompSmash) while the sun was overhead, and we fished Fleasicle & Pomp Candy after the sun came out to play. The pompano are here but, in typical fashion they might move out quick. Get them while it lasts. Reports of pompano in the Melbourne Beach area all through Hutchinson Island. Above are some pictures of the fish we caught.

The bait is here, the fish are feeding, and the predators are happy!

The week started out great and ended even better. Live bait produced extremely well for me this week. I leaned more heavily on live pinfish instead of mullet, and it paid off with quite a few big snook and even a good sized tarpon thrown into the mix.

I’ve been seeing plenty of mullet schools along mangrove shorelines and around spoil islands, especially near the sandbars. Finding bait is always a good starting point because predators usually aren’t far behind. That doesn’t mean every school of bait is holding hungry fish, though. Some days you’ll still have to move around and cover some water before finding fish willing to eat.

All in all, fishing is very good right now, and I expect it to stay that way for at least the next couple of weeks. If you’d like to get out on the water and do some kayak fishing, give me a call at JP Kayak Fishing and Tours!

Good week fishing in shore a couple days and nearshore as well. There were a few mullet schools along the beach this week but mostly finger mullet. Some had tarpon and sharks in them and some seemed empty. Got quiet towards the end of the week. The mullet schools in the Lagoon are just about non existent. If this is our mullet run, it’s pretty weak again and from reports north of us, I had hopes for a good mullet run this year. Lets just hope its late. Plenty of areas inshore have good grass coming back. Along with the grass, the pinfish, pigfish, snapper and trout are rebounding in the lagoon very good in several areas. We have even been catching plenty of juvenile gag and red grouper on the flats on artificial as well.

Snook bite has been a little off for this time of year but we are still catching a few on both live bait and artificial. Beach fishing has been about the sharks. Despite the lack of mullet, the sharks are migrating south for the winter and they have been tough to get through when fishing for the tarpon off the beach. Theres also been plenty of jacks and some spanish, cero and king mackerel in the mix as well.

The Ocean Obsession which runs out of Sunrise Marina at Port Canaveral has done a great job of keeping their customers on the fish. There have been a number of different species caught like mangrove snapper, dolphin and cobia — to name a few. These are fun fish to catch and just as good to eat. The captain and crew work tirelessly to deliver good fishing and a fun time for everyone aboard. If you have been wanting to get offshore book your trip now.

It’s that time of year again where I start taking more anglers into the lagoon system rather than fish on the beach everyday. The reason is twofold. One, the river water levels have increased and dropped in temperature. This brings new life to the shallow grass flats and we start catching a lot more redfish, speckled trout and black drum than in the previous months of the year. Topwater plugs like the Rapala Skitterwalk do a lot of the morning work because the redfish and speckled trout really like the commotion that they make. Saltwater Assassin 4 and 5 inch soft plastics jerk baits are about as weedless as you can get and the trout and reds love them.

The northern Indians and Banana lagoons offer some areas of shelter as well if the winds kick up a little as they sometimes will at this time of the year. Over in the Mosquito Lagoon the reds are starting to school up and this makes finding them much easier than when they are scattered out across the flats. On windy days, we often use chunk baits to catch the fish here because it seems like they will move around more when the wind is blowing then when it’s calm. As they do, they hit the cent trails, coming off of the cut bait and usually slide up the cent trail and pick them up so you can create zones along wind driven points, where you are picking up reds consistently when the conditions are right.

As always, Capt. Russ and I are available for trips in the northern Indian and Mosquito Lagoon so if you’re interested in jumping on board with one of us, please go to the website finelinefishingcharters.com and book your trip with us online. If you have any questions, you can also give us a call at 321-636-3728 and I’ll try to answer any that you may have.

Let’s go catch your next memory!

The spillway on Stick Marsh was closed this past week for me on the day I went out to fish it. So I did some exploration recon on other areas of the lake. It was a very slow bite but nonetheless, it was a great outing. I found an area with good Eelgrass and caught my first bass on a Wacky Rig but that was it. I covered a lot of areas with no more bites. As I am writing this, I am sitting in front of the spillway again but the water is raging through the structure bringing with it muddy water and lots of vegetation. The current is way too strong to try. Now we are moving on to search the lake once again.

Robert with a 33-inch snook he caught using live mullet.

Hello there all my Sebastian Inlet fishing report followers, I hope everyone had a great weekend! The weather was pretty nice, but the fishing wasn’t. With the brisk SSE winds we have had for the last 3 days, and the kicked up 2-3 ft surf, it has dirtied up the water to a muddy mess, and with all the rain over the center/south of the state, they have opened up the C54 canal spillway, and all the fresh water draining out into the ICW has also made for some nasty black water coming out of the inlet on the back of the outgoing tide. Our saltwater fish don’t like all the freshwater! Not enough oxygen and salinity for their comfort level, and they move out to cleaner water. It will get back to normal when we get some more ENE winds to blow the cleaner water back in, and all the nasty water flows south and outta here!

The coming week looks good for some lighter winds and smaller surf, but Wednesday the surf is picking back up again for 2 days, then dropping back down. The water temp is still holding in the low 80’s, so that’s good, and the baitfish, mullet and greenies are still around throghout the inlet. So without further ado, here we go into the action spots.

North Jetty

Out here the fishing has been mostly still about all the spanish mackerel being caught on both tides, ocean side of the jetty on live greenies, small jigs and spoons. Not as many being caught as the last 2 weeks, but still enough to keep folks busy. The muddy water is the problem, when it cleans back up, the fishing for them will pick back up too. The snook bite has taken a turn for the worse also with the muddy water on the incoming, and all the nasty tannin freshwater on the outgoing. Just a few fish have been caught at the tip on the outgoing, and just a slight few on the incoming tide as well. Pins, pigs, and mullet are the key baits. Other species being caught were some big jacks, catfish and ladyfish. I did see a couple of nice redfish caught on live shrimp along the wall up by the bait shop on the incoming tide, but they are still “catch and release”. That’s it for over here. It will get better.

South Jetty

Over here the fishing has taken a turn for the not so good as well, very dirty/muddy water is the culprit, looks like coffee with cream in it, the fish don’t like that, except for the catfish, stingrays, and puffers. Other fish being caught were some black margates, blue runners and jack crevalle on the outgoing at the tip. Pretty slow.

T-Dock

Back here, same deal, not much going on. The folks fishing the open section of the dock were catching some small snappers, spot tail pins, small sheepshead, and of course the pesky puffers! The snookers that I know fishing the area around there have only been able to find some undersized snook on live baits, incoming tide. No keepers. Not much else going on back here.

Surf Area, both sides

South side is still all blown out and very muddy, and nobody fishing that area due again to the lack of access from the parking lot. North side, over here since the winds have been SSE, the surf has been a bit quieter, and less muddy. Some anglers have been fishing the area just north of the jetty and report some small whiting, and a couple of small pompanos that weren’t big enough to keep, and along with those, plenty of kitty fish! For those fishing live mullet in the surf during the evening hours, a couple of decent snook have been taken.

Well my friends, that’s all I have for this week, sad it has gotten bad again, but this soon will pass! Lol. It always does, just need some ENE breezes to clean up the water again. It’s supposed to be an unsettled week weatherwise with the rain, but at least the winds and surf will be fishable all week. So if you go out, good luck, and catch some dinner!

The waters of New Smyrna Beach and Daytona Beach are still thriving with life. From the large schools of bait fish to the redfish, snook, trout, tarpon and jacks just to mention a few that are feeding on the bait fish. This recent little cool front that had dipped into Central Florida this past week has been a blessing with some great weather to be on the water. The fish have been liking the change in weather as well with great numbers of trout, redfish and snook coming boatside this past week. It looks as though we are going to be back into an afternoon shower routine this up coming week so the morning bite is going to be key. Look for the pods of bait on the flats and bats and the fish will not be far. Live bait like pinfish, mullet and shrimp have been working well along with artificials like spoons and plugs.

The East Coast of Central Florida has had some great fishing weather, for both inshore and offshore activities. The bite has been hot in the Mosquito Lagoon and ICW, the mullet run has been going strong with lots of tarpon and bull redfish being caught in the channel and in the flats.

Offshore has been a little rough the last few days but looks like we may have some lighter winds over the next few days and into next week for the start of our October red snapper season. If live bait is not your thing, the topwater bite has been very good first thing in the morning then transferring over to using jerk baits as the sun rises and in the more heavily grassy areas. I have dates available this month. You can reach me at 386-295-5991 or go directly to my website.

On a gorgeous day in Melbourne Beach (Tuesday, Sept. 28), the Crush Station charter group went surf fishing and smashed into some serious pompano action. I lost count early on, but it sure felt like we reeled in +40 fish. That includes 4 double-ups. Of all those pompano, only 5 were big enough to take home. We also got a nice 13″ whiting. The mullet were running as thick as I’ve personally observed this season, but there wasn’t much to see as far as predator activity. I tried free-lining a few finger mullet and throwing some paddle tails, but couldn’t connect with any hungry customers. Sandfleas were pretty sparse out there. All fish were caught on @FISHGUM!

Fall Transition Underway on the Indian River Lagoon and Mosquito Lagoon

Knock, knock… who’s there? Fall fishing.

The seasonal transition is officially underway across the Space Coast, and anglers should be looking forward to some excellent inshore fishing as we move deeper into fall, particularly for redfish, spotted seatrout and, soon, black drum.

We have already had a few noticeably cooler mornings, including one recent start around 61 degrees. That was cool enough to make me reach for the fishing jacket before heading out. But don’t put the shorts away just yet. The transition is still very much underway. Once the sun comes up, temperatures are quickly climbing back into the low 80s, and the familiar afternoon thunderstorms continue to make their appearance.

Find the Bait, Find the Fish

Fishing around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge has been producing some good opportunities, while the Mosquito Lagoon side has been somewhat slower at times.

The biggest lesson from this week’s trips, however, has been a familiar one:

Find the bait and you will often find the fish.

There is always a chance of catching a fish by randomly covering water, but this week the difference was noticeable. Redfish and trout encountered away from bait schools were extremely spooky and difficult to approach. Several fish would scatter before I could even get a presentation in front of them.

After enough frustration, I changed tactics.

Instead of continuing to search randomly, I started concentrating on locating bait.

Sometimes finding bait is easy. Other times, you have to work for it. Birds, dolphins, boats working cast nets, surface disturbances and jumping baitfish can all provide clues.

One of my favorite methods is watching birds as they fly across the lagoon. Don’t just watch the birds themselves. Watch the water underneath them.

As birds pass over a school of mullet or other baitfish, the bait may become startled and erupt across the surface. Those small disturbances can reveal a concentration of bait that might otherwise be almost impossible to locate.

Once you find the bait, match the hatch.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you need to use the exact baitfish. Pay close attention to the size and profile of the forage. In many situations, I believe matching the bait’s profile and size is more important than trying to perfectly match its color.

I tend to keep lure colors simple, generally working with light or dark presentations.

Fish the Edges

Once you locate a bait school, don’t simply cast randomly through open water.

Work the edges of the bait and pay close attention to any signs of disturbance.

You may see individual baitfish suddenly jumping or scattering. Sometimes that is simply natural behavior, but other times there is a predator underneath them.

When I see bait suddenly erupt, that’s where I want my next cast to go.

One question I used to ask myself was, Why would a predator eat my lure when there are thousands of real baitfish swimming around?

The answer is opportunity.

Predators don’t necessarily need another baitfish. They’re looking for an easy meal.

Predatory fish will often follow bait schools and hold along the edges, waiting for an injured, stunned, separated or otherwise vulnerable baitfish to become available.

That’s where your presentation becomes important.

With live bait, this happens naturally. A hooked baitfish already behaves differently from the rest of the school, making it stand out.

With artificial lures, I try to create that same opportunity. A couple of pops followed by a good pause can make a paddle-tail, fluke or other soft plastic appear separated from the school and vulnerable.

Sometimes that pause is when the bite comes.

This Week on the Lagoon

This week’s fishing video was essentially a real-world demonstration of that strategy.

I made the mistake on two separate trips of leaving productive bait schools to explore other areas. Both times, the fishing became slower and more frustrating, with spooky fish that simply weren’t interested.

Eventually, I made the decision to go back to the bait.

Once I relocated the schools and stayed with them quietly, the fishing changed.

The trout bite became steady, and some very healthy redfish were working the edges of the bait.

That’s also where you can run into some of the Space Coast’s larger predators. Jack crevalle, snook, tarpon and other predatory species will occasionally move into bait schools to feed, creating opportunities beyond the redfish and trout you’re targeting.

Spotted Seatrout

The Indian River side of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge continues to produce a solid spotted seatrout bite.

Most of the trout I’ve encountered recently have been in the low-to-mid 20-inch range, with fish appearing thick, healthy and in excellent condition.

The key has again been locating concentrations of bait and approaching them carefully. When trout are actively feeding around bait, they can provide consistent action, but when they’re encountered randomly away from forage, they can become much more difficult to approach.

Redfish

The redfish have also been looking extremely healthy.

I’ve been seeing and catching plenty of fish in the mid-20s through lower 30-inch range, with some very thick fish mixed in.

I haven’t encountered any particularly large schools this week. Most of the groups I’ve seen have consisted of only three or four fish.

One encounter, however, definitely got my attention.

A group of four redfish, all in the mid-to-upper 30-inch range, cruised right past me.

Let’s just say my heart rate went up a little. 😆

Those are the encounters that keep you staring at the water long after the fish disappear.

Black Drum

I haven’t personally encountered any black drum during the past week.

There have been reports of a few being caught, although the fish reported so far have generally been on the smaller side.

As we move farther into fall, I’m expecting black drum activity and sightings to continue increasing.

Tarpon Still Around

Tarpon are still being seen throughout the canals, bridges and culvert areas.

They’re definitely still around, and once again, bait appears to be one of the best clues for locating them.

I’ve had multiple tarpon make brief stops at bait schools I was drifting near. They would move in, make several runs through the school, pick off a few baitfish and then disappear.

Those encounters can happen quickly, so staying alert around active bait can pay off.

Lures Producing This Week

I had most of my success this week using two primary presentations:

Salt Strong Wake Mullet

and

4-5 inch fluke-style soft plastics, particularly Houdini or white-colored presentations, rigged on a Hoss Helix Screw Lock weighted weedless hook in the 3/0 to 4/0 range.

Both presentations allowed me to work around the bait schools while maintaining a natural-looking profile.

The Takeaway

If there is one thing I would emphasize heading into this fall transition, it’s simple:

Find the bait. Find the fish.

Don’t be afraid to change your game plan if the fish you’re seeing are spooky and unwilling to cooperate. Sometimes the answer isn’t a different lure or a different color. Sometimes you simply aren’t around the right forage.

Look for birds.

Watch for bait breaking the surface.

Pay attention to dolphins.

Watch where other anglers are throwing cast nets.

And once you find a productive bait school, don’t immediately leave it just because you want to see what else is around.

Stay with it.

Fish the edges.

Watch for predators pushing bait.

And be ready for that one cast when something big decides your lure looks easier to eat than everything else swimming around it.

Fall is coming, and the Space Coast inshore bite is transitioning with it.

Good luck to everyone heading out this week. Take care of the lagoon, pick up after yourself and, whenever possible, pack out more than you pack in.

Tight lines, everyone.

Get Thumped.