WEEKLY FORECAST
5.21.2019 – 5.27.2019
A CENTRAL FLORIDA FISHING FORECAST EVERY TUESDAY
ALGAE IS COMING…
A SONG OF DUNG AND WATER
Whether you’re a fan of HBO’s Game of Thrones or not, you’ve almost certainly heard about the recent conclusion of its final season. The story’s long-anticipated “Winter” finally came and, surprisingly, shared a major commonality with the winters experienced right here in Central Florida — it left people asking, “That was it???” While warming weather represented the end of the existential threat to the people of Westeros, for Central Florida, it now marks a heightened ecological threat to the lagoon system. Far from the peak temperatures of summer, the season has hardly begun, and already, the threat of toxic algae looms large.
There’s many contributing factors to the proliferation of toxic algae in the lagoon, but the underlying problem is clear: excess nitrogen and phosphorus in the water. One significant source of these nutrients is the runoff from fertilized lawns within our community.
In an effort to reduce nutrient runoff during the peak algae threat season, Brevard County enforces a ban on the application of fertilizer containing nitrogen or phosphorus during the blackout period of June 1st to September 30th. Problematically, many local residents go merrily about fertilizing their way to greener grass, unaware that this ban even exists. It’s hard to expect otherwise when these “banned” products remain fully stocked on the shelves of every major retailer with a home & garden department in the county. In effect, the ban does little to fulfill its purpose during this critical period of time.
The crisis facing the lagoon is too big and far too urgent to wait in reliance on legislatures and elected officials for solutions. Bold leadership and action is needed from individual private citizens within our community — and we’d like to proudly recognize one of our valued Spacefish sponsors as exemplifying such leadership: Bill Pastermack, owner of Ace Hardware Titusville.
Leading the way among local retailers to reduce nutrient runoff into the lagoon, Bill has committed to pulling banned fertilizers from the shelves of the two Ace Hardware locations he owns and operates in Titusville. We salute and thank Bill for taking this step to help save the lagoon. Show Bill that he has the support of the community by stopping by one of his two locations. If you’ve never before been, what’s inside may surprise you — these are NOT your average hardware stores. For instance, you’ll find a huge assortment of fishing gear, including rods, reels, tackle, kayaks, and more; the largest selection of Costa Sunglasses in Brevard County; and an unrivaled selection of grills and smokers at the Grilling HQ Garden Street location. Thank you for supporting local businesses like Bill’s!
IN THIS WEEK’S FORECAST…
SPACE B.O.I. FORECAST
OFFSHORE
TOP TARGETS
- Dolphin
- Grouper
- Kingfish
INSHORE
TOP TARGETS
- SHRIMP!
- Flounder
- Seatrout
- Tarpon
SURF/JETTY
TOP TARGETS
- Whiting
- Croaker
- Snook
WEATHER OVERVIEW: Get ready for a beautiful week of weather here in Central Florida. You should expect sunshine and blue skies throughout most of the week with fairly low winds. There will be an uptick in wind come Thursday but it should taper off throughout the day Friday. If you want to fish offshore, nearshore, inshore, lakes, surf or jetties, this week is shaping up to be a good one!
Click here to check out the forecast from the National Weather Service.
WEEKLY GIVEAWAY
Our weekly giveaway prize is back to $20 Gift Cards to Strike-Zone Fishing in Melbourne. Congrats to this week’s winner, Justin Winn of Cocoa — Justin, please email us within 7 days to claim your prize.
A new winner is drawn and announced in every weekly forecast. If you’re not already a subscriber, click here to enter the weekly giveaway!
GET SLAMMED
We’ve got 20,000 reasons why you don’t want to miss the FSFA’s 51st Annual Offshore Tournament, and the $175 entry fee ain’t one — or, it doesn’t have to be, at least. We’re giving away TWO boat entries for the June 1 tournament THIS WEEK with $20k in guaranteed cash payouts up for grabs. To enter the random drawing, fill out the entry form below. Two winners will be announced in the weekly forecast next Tuesday.
FULL MOUNTY GIVEAWAY
The FULL MOUNTY giveaway is back! One winner will be randomly drawn on June 3rd, 2019, to win a 33″ full mount dolphin replica from Mount This Fish Company. Enter the contest below!
Fishing Reports
In every week’s Spacefish fishing report, we turn to both fishing pros and average joe’s for input on what’s happening in and around Brevard County’s many fisheries. Check out what people are saying about the bite in the Space Coast this week:
High Pressure System
We have had a high pressure sitting over Florida for the last week or so producing clear sunny days and lack of rain. The only down fall is it has also brought some strong winds these past few days. The wind has not affected the bite though, with several species like redfish, trout ,black drum and snook still chewing. The bait has worked its way up on to the shallow grass flats and oyster bars and the fish are not far away. When conditions allow plugs, spoons and soft plastics have been working well along with live and cut bait as well. These winds sure continue to decrease as the week moves on making for some great sight fishing.
Snook Holding Tight to Structure
Fishing has been pretty productive lately, and it looks like we can expect the same this upcoming week! As a kayak fisherman, the wind kept me off the water quite a bit last week, but I was able to pick up on a couple of trends.
Firstly, it seems many of the larger fish are starting to favor areas with a hard sandy bottom as opposed to soft mud. The second trend has been structure. I’ve been finding snook deep in mangrove pockets as well as on the outer edge of the root system, all day long. Trout can be found in deeper water close to the mangroves. I’ve been using Z-Man 4″ paddle tails rigged on 3/16 oz jigs and Mirrorlure 4″ jerk shad rigged on a 1/8 oz weedless hook.
Dinner Bells Ringing
It’s looking a lot like dinner time around here!! Man, we’ve had some great grocery shopping fishing lately. You anglers out there that like to eat good tasting fish need to give us a call and let’s go. Tripletail, black drum, whiting, pompano, snook, and giant margate are what we’ve been targeting most. I have a special offer for anyone wanting to book on 5/1, 5/2, or 5/3. The client that had these days booked, just had to cancel so you get to take advantage of their $100 per day deposit. That’s right — $100 off any 6 or 8 hour trip with us right now. Let’s go catch your next dinner and memory this week!
Mosquito Lagoon Kayak Fishing
Mosquito Lagoon
Happy Monday Spacefish!
What a wonderfully warm week we just had on the Space Coast, the wind machine was cranked up a little more than I would have preferred but with consistently warm temperatures over the past week or so; the fish seemed (at least from my perspective) to be happy, moving around and feeding.
This week I scratched an item off my Florida bucket list; and to be honest it’s one that should have been done much sooner, but better late than never. I caught my first ever Mosquito Lagoon Redfish. I then proceeded to catch 6 more, with a handful of Sea Trout mixed in, and for battling strong winds, I considered the day to be a success. Nothing of banner size was caught, but it was a fun day of fishing, and felt good to finally get up there and experience the magic of sunrise over this historically significant, and highly renowned body of water, and catch a few fish.
Mosquito Lagoon Sunrise
Launch Spot
So my original plan was to actually launch out of the Beacon 42 Boat Ramp, which is just north of Haulover Canal, but as I was entering the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge I saw they had a roadside sign that said the Haulover Bridge was closed from 4/22-6/17; so that immediately threw that plan out of the window; from my research into the area, and prior experience I knew that there were two boat ramps south of Haulover which would get me on Mosquito Lagoon, Biolab and Bairs Cove, since Bairs Cove is in the Haulover Canal, and closer to the spots I planned to fish in my original gameplan, I chose that one. My biggest concern for the Biolab ramp was on Saturday morning and through the day I was anticipating pretty strong East winds, and I would have been pinned down in the south west corner of Mosquito Lagoon. So I ended up launching from Bairs Cove – located at at the end of Bairs Cove Road; the Google Address is Bairs Cove Rd, Mims, FL 32754 – but if you click on it on Google Maps you will have GPS directions to the spot.
I used the kayak launch located just behind the boat ramp, once on the water I pedaled west along the canal and hit the Mosquito Lagoon right as the sun was starting to rise.
What Worked – What Did Not
So I woke up at 4:00 am to get on the water and be in my first spot, byt first light. I am not a morning person by natural disposition. The only thing that can get me sprung out of the bed at 4:00 is the thought of topwater blowups; and that time my wife woke up at 3:30 and said she was going into labor our second son. So that being said, I was salivating at the idea of catching a few Trout on topwater as the sun was rising, and then transitioning to finding Redfish as the morning went on. To my great disappointment I did not catch a fish on topwater. All I can say is, it be that way sometimes. I fished this for an hour and after not getting any blowups, I switched over to sub-surface presentations.
Mosquito Lagoon Redfish
What did work was 3.5 inch paddletails on a light jighead. The color I went with due to clean/clear water clarity was the Swampfox (Silver with Gold Flake) Minutemen from Fish, or Die. I rigged it on a ⅛ oz Chartruese Jighead. I tried to keep it on the bottom, short little bounces were effective for Redfish, that were keyed in on smaller shellfish on the bottom; and a few Trout were caught in deeper water of roughly 3-4 feet; in the Trout zone I would slowly retrieve it, and let it fall to the bottom; most Trout were caught on the fall.
The only downside of the jighead was that I was snagging some grass, but I the Redfish seemed to be much more responsive to the jigging of the bait, and letting it sit on it’s nose, with it’s tail up – a shrimp lure probably would have been money; but I didn’t have any. A ned rigged Gulp! Shrimp would probably kill it there. I also caught 2 smaller Reds, and a small Trout on the Clarity Lures Fluke in the “Glassy” color – I rigged this on a 3/0; ⅛ oz Mission Fishin’ Screwlock hook.
Mosquito Lagoon Trout
Good Spots
So perhaps more important that what baits worked well, I think is the information on where I caught fish. Knowing the wind was going to be strong, my gameplan was to fish the west side of several islanIds, but with openings between them I knew a lot of water and bait would be pushed through. So I planned to fish the northwest; and southwest points of these islands so I would gain protection from the wind, but oxygenated water, and sources of food would be getting pushed in around these points.
The wind ended up being more of an ESE wind, so my gameplanned had to be tweaked while out on the water. So instead of hanging out and fishing on the west side of these islands, I found wind protection on the north side of these islands, it ended up cutting down the total amount of water I could effectively fish, but being able to fish a smaller area well, rather than being pounded by the wind seemed to result in better success for Redfish, the calmer water allowed for a little bit of sight fishing when the sun was shining, and at the very least I was able to see fishing creating wakes in the skinny water when it was cloudy. The X’s on the picture below show the areas I sat in to methodically sit and target Reds; the longer squiggly line showed where the water was deeper and Trout were hanging out.
Productive Spots
In the areas between islands there was some grass growth; the water depth was very shallow, and as we near the end of the dry season the right combination of shallower water (easier for sun penetration) and cleaner water (lack of runoff) is usually a good time for seagrass, fingers crossed the grass survives after the summer rains! I have included two pictures below; one is of some grass, and another shows an area with grass patches, mixed in with sand bottom. It kind of reminded me of the Tennessee Vols iconic checkerboard endzone; these shallow flats, with some grass were productive areas to fish for me this past Saturday.
Grass & Sand
Skinny Water - Grass & Sand
History of Haulover Canal
On my way out from the launch spot, as I pedaled through Haulover Canal, I took a picture of the Historical Marker, which explained the history of Haulover Canal – which is pretty fascinating in, and of itself.
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=108012
“Native Americans, explorers and settlers hauled or carried canoes and small boats over this narrow strip of land between Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River. Eventually it became known as the ‘haulover.’ Connecting both bodies of water had long plagued early settlers of this area. Spaniards visited as early as 1605 and slid boats over the ground covered with mulberry tree bark. Early settlers used rollers and skids to drag schooners across. Fort Ann was established nearby in 1837, during the 2nd Seminole War (1835-1842), to protect the haulover from Indians and carry military supplies from the lagoon to the river. In 1852, contractor G.E. Hawes dug the first canal using slave labor. It was 3 ft. deep, 14 ft. wide, and completed in time for the 3rd Seminole War (1856-1858). Steamboat and cargo ships used the passage until the railroad arrived in 1885. By 1887, the Florida Coast Line Canal and Transportation Co. dug a new and deeper canal which you see now, a short distance from the original. The Intracoastal Waterway incorporated the Haulover Canal as a federal project in 1927 to be maintained by the U.S.”
On my way back in I saw many boats anchored up in the canal; soaking bait on the bottom. This deep water canal is a great place to target bigger drum – both of the Red, and Black variety; as well as sharks, and I’ve heard there are also large Tarpon that like to hang out in the deeper water of this canal. One of my students recently went with his dad and they anchored there boat and fished cut bait (blue crabs) on the bottom, and caught some massive Black Drum.
So depending on when you go there; if kayaking through the canal please be mindful of the boats anchored with lines in, also this is a popular spot for shore based anglers so please be respectful and don’t paddle over anyone’s lines — I actually saw a kayak tour group come through and run over people’s lines. It was a tense moment, and to the tour guide’s defense, he was talking and monitoring his group, so I don’t think he ever saw it.
Conclusion
I always pictured my inaugural trip to Mosquito Lagoon resulting in holding up a big Bull Red, a true marsh mule – that didn’t happen for me this past weekend, and that’s okay – I was able to get my feet wet, (literally & metaphorically) and catch more Reds in a singular trip than I’ve caught on any other inshore trip to this point since living in Brevard County, with a few Trout mixed in as well.I found some areas out of the harsh winds, my lines got tight, I got to see a breathtaking sunrise over one of Florida’s most iconic bodies of water, enjoy a beautiful day of fishing. All in all, it was a good day, and well worth the drive up there.
Thank you all, for taking the time to read this report. Thank you to our Paddle Partner, Kayaks By Bo, for helping to make thise weekly reports happen. I hope everyone has a fantastic week! Be healthy, be happy, and may your lines be ever tight. Until next time!
Winds Keeping Us Inshore
Frank, Ebby and Joe had a good catching snook including this 40” fish along with some jacks, a few bluefish and ladyfish mixed in.
Light winds most of the week made for some decent fishing inshore but it was still a bit rough to go nearshore. Weekend weather made fishing tough everywhere with heavy winds and rough seas offshore and in the lagoon. Fishing artificials we had some good action on small snook, bluefish jacks and ladyfish. Same with live pilchards but throw in some slot and over slot snook along the mangrove shorelines and docks. The Pompano are moving north now and there has ben a bit of action in the inlet as well as along the beaches and flats on jigs with some bluefish and jacks in the mix.
This upcoming week’s forecast looks like another windy one which won’t hurt the fishing in the lagoon too much but will still put a damper on the nearshore fishing.
Pretty Good Week Offshore
Not a bad week at all! The Captains all did a wonderful job making everyone happy once again. Sailfish, Kingfish and plenty of sharks to tug on. The weather was perfect. We had glass calm conditions pretty much everyday and that just makes it so much more fun. Not only for the customers but it lets the ocean clean up nicely and turns the fish on. We are also coming off the full moon and that’s even better.
Bait was still a hit or miss but for the most part worked out perfectly. Running to the reef or pelican is all we did. I will say that the reef was better this week. Captain Ricky had a few sails there, as well. Captain Joe had no problems limiting out on kings daily.
No secret spots or special tactics. Just get LIVE bait and send them out on a wire rig. No reports of any mahi being caught to make it worthwhile to troll up and down wasting gas all day. But please try and let me know, lol! There’s plenty of action on the reefs to have an awesome day. Bottom fishing opens up this week so have fun and be careful. I think it’s gonna be like red snapper day!
The weather looks good on opening day for the first time in many years. Stay Safe out there and God Bless.
Challenging Wind but Good Fishing
Well, with the wind we’ve had the last few days fishing has been challenging, but still very good with lots of black drum being caught and tarpon starting to show up too. The black drum have been eating live shrimp on a jig head. Tarpon have been eating live finger mullet, top water plugs and soft plastics. I’m expecting to have a great tarpon run this year judging by the amount of bait and water clarity. You can call and book a charter starting now through May and the bigger run going through the summer. You can reach me at 386-295-5991 or go to my website.
Two Days on Garcia
I only fished Garcia for two days last week. The first day it was the day after that small front came through. With the front came some strong northerly winds and high pressure barometer so my expectations were low. My first area we fished didn’t give us the love as the prior week. It was difficult keeping the boat maneuvered through the topped out hydrilla while trying to fish but having Power Poles on the boat kept us in an area to make multiple casts before moving on. Only a couple of fish so we made a move to the north to find similar waters and we managed to do just that. There were many beds present in this area so we took our time but the bite was still very slow.
My next trip we started in the area we finished the day prior. Winds were light and the hydrilla gnats were out in full force. The bite was much better for sure. I lost two really big fish throwing a prop bait topwater lure in a bone color. When that bite slowed, I chose to throw a stick-bait soft plastic Texas rigged with a 1/8 oz. weight to keep it close to the bottom. This technique kept the bite going as well. The water temperatures are now in the mid seventies to start our days. This last full moon is now behind us but we have been still catching bass that look full of eggs so we may have a later spawn this year as years before. The water level at Garcia seems to be lower this week also. I know we need some much needed rain but I feel that Fellsmere Farms may be a contributing factor by moving waters to take care of their crops as well.
Remote Waters
Fortune favors the angler who is willing to do what others won’t, the one who forgoes ease and convenience to reach places others are unwilling to go. At least that’s what I hoped and what had my anticipation running high as I strapped my old nine-foot Hobie Sport to the kayak cart.
I have much nicer kayaks, an Old Town Predator PDL and a Hobie Pro Angler 12, but dragging these behemoths, well over one hundred pounds each, over one and a half miles through dirt and grass was too much for this old angler. To ease the burden of the long trek, I packed light with my bare bones Hobie Sport and a minimal selection of rods and tackle.
The journey to the launch was a long one, but fortunately there were diversions to break up the monotony of dragging a kayak on a cart. At various locations a creek bordered the trail, and the wider and deeper portions of the creek were loaded with panfish and bass. There were no trophies in the creek, but sight casting a small Nikko Okiami Shrimp to these abundant, cooperative, and aggressive fish was too much of a temptation to resist. Perhaps I dawdled too long. I tallied over two dozen fish, and I hadn’t even reached my destination yet.
My destination was no secret. The bank was cleared in several spots along one end of the lake to provide easy shore fishing. I imagine adventurous anglers hike or ride bikes to reach this bass fishing oasis, although not today. I had the whole lake to myself on this beautiful, sunny Saturday.
I could see why someone was willing to hack out clearings along the shore. Every opening offered bass and panfish that were willing to eat. My kayak sat high and dry as I caught another dozen fish. It would’ve been a good day if I had just fished from shore, but dropping in a kayak to access all that fertile water beyond the reach of the bank had me thinking good could turn into epic.
Fishing indeed got better once I got the kayak in the water. I started with a Nikko Zaza Leech on a 1/16th ounce Ned style jig head. This was a good combination, perhaps too good. It was one of those blessed days where fishing gets too easy and certain techniques become boring. After hits on almost every cast and numerous bass caught, I switched to a Nikko Shakey Worm rigged Texas style with a 1/16th ounce bullet weight. After a while it too was swapped out, not due to lack of success but from a desire to catch fish on something different. Next up was A Band of Anglers Loader Minnow and then a Q8 Super Baits Bullet. I think you get the idea. Many more bass came to hand, and I was now wishing I had brought more tackle so I could try something different.
It was an epic day indeed. I lost count of all the one and two pound bass, and I had a scuffed-up thumb to show for it. Bigger fish were caught. I hooked four bass in the five to six pound range. Three threw the hook and one was landed. I’d also occasionally take a break from the bass and toss the Okiami Shrimp on my ultralight where hand size bluegill would oblige.
I should point out not all my fishing trips are home runs. This latest spot was the fourth remote fishing hole I had found by searching on Google Maps. I struck out on the previous three. When you fish a hard-to-reach area, you hope the fishing success is at least somewhat proportional to the level of effort it takes to get there. The first three spots failed miserably on that accord. Those past failures made this latest success so much sweeter.
By now, some of you are asking where I was fishing. I’m not going to tell you. I’ll just say it is somewhere in central Florida, probably within an hour drive for most Spacefish Report readers. I recommend you follow the same steps I did. Scour the online maps, visit new places and embrace the grind. When you eventually find your own honey hole, bask in the glory of the moment knowing you earned every fish through diligence and hard work.
With adventurous trips like this, there is always the agonizing time when you must pack it in and start the long journey back to the truck. A descending sun and the impending emergence of swarms of mosquitoes help hasten that decision. At least I had fond memories of the day dancing through my mind to ease the drudgery of the long trek home.
Warmth Bringing in New Pattern
Spring time seems to be upon us here in Central Florida. The weather has been starting to warm and bringing on a new pattern for our fish. The bait has started to move out of the deeper channels and onto the shallow grass flats and the fish have followed. Look for the redfish and trout to be milling around in the shallow grass looking for an easy meal. The black drum have been holding on the mud and sand bottoms looking for crustaceans like shrimp and crabs.
North in the New Smyrna area there has been a variety of fish holding in and around the mangroves like snook, redfish, trout, jacks and flounder to mention a few. They have all been chewing well on both artificials and live bait and as the weather continues to warm, the bite will only get better!
Top Baits this Week
Top baits this week for me were the Zman Jackhammers, Chug Bugs, Whopper Ploppers and the Mike Bucca 5” Bull Gill Bone color.
Zman Jackhammers
I’m fishing the half ounce green pumpkin Jackhammer in areas with scattered hydrilla and in ditches. I use a 4.5” Hogfarmer Spunk Shad in green pumpkin magic. Fishing these on flats with scattered hydrilla.
***I’ve been trying the new Zman EVO chatterbait and had some success but I’ve had 5 of the blades separate from the bait and it just falls off while retrieving the bait. Needless to say, I’m sending the remaining ones I have that are still in the package back to TW and buying Jackhammers. I wrote Zman and I’ll let you folks know what they say.
Chug Bugs
I’m fishing my Chug Bugs (bone or Shad), Whopper Ploppers (bone or Shad colors) and popping baits around Shad schools along canal edges and cut throughs that have loads of bait in them right now.
Mike Bucca Bullshad
The Mike Bucca Bullshad 5” Bull Gill in bone color is my go to swimbait. I’m fishing these along thick grass edges near deep sharp drops. Get on the Bullshad email mailing list so you can get the bait drop info. The only way to get the Trick Shad and Glides are go to a bait show that Bullshad attends or through the bait drops. Sign up at Bullshad.com
The live bait bite was great this week. The fish are moving into deeper water so the deeper canals and pits are my focus areas.
Tight lines!
Weekend Report
Get the latest word on the bite with Damon from Spacefish on the Mark Moses Show. We talk local fishing every Friday on the air at 4pm.
Share your latest fishing trip with the Spacefish community! Login or create an account to participate!
TOURNEY CENTRAL
Spacefish will be covering many awesome tournaments this season, some brand new, others as old as time. The coolest thing is that there’s a tournament for everybody, regardless of skill level, boat ownership (or lack thereof), or fishing style. Whether you’re a gunner vying for a big pay day, or just a casual angler looking for some friendly competition, get ready to slap on the war paint to battle some fish and have some fun! Check out the full run of tourney events that we’re covering on our 2019 TOURNAMENT CENTRAL page.
NEXT UP
CFOA Offshore Tournament May 18
ON DECK
FSFA Offshore Slam May 31 – June 1
MORE UPCOMING TOURNEYS
FISHING CLUB MEETINGS
The FSFA North Chapter meeting on May 28 at Brevard Veterans Center will feature Charlie Levine, who will be speaking on how to read sea surface temperature and chloorophyll charts. Charlie is a lifelong angler and is currently the editor and publisher of Fishtrack.com and buoyweather.com, as well as a contributing writer to several publications.
Share your photo with Spacefish! Login or create an account to share!
THANKS FOR READING!
Thanks for reading another weekly fishing report from Spacefish. Don’t forget to listen to Spacefish ON THE RADIO every Friday at 4pm as we talk fishing with Mark Moses on SPORTS RADIO 1560 THE FAN.
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.