We are seeing some BIG redfish being caught at Mathers Bridge. If you soak either a large piece of cut bait or a live pinfish or croaker, chances are you are in for quite a fight. Beef up your tackle because you want to land these big breeders quickly. Avoid tiring them out with a long, drawn out fight, to give them the best chance to swim off, happily and healthily. I would recommend a 7 foot medium heavy to heavy spinning combo with a 5000 series reel with 30lb. braid. If you need the gear, come by the shop at Man Overboard Bait & Tackle. We’ll get you set and ready to go tangle with one of these bucket list fish!

The canals around Satellite Beach are also holding some nice reds, sheepshead, trout and tarpon, along with a few small snook. The weather should be good for the majority of the week so don’t overlook the surf, either. We know it’s been blowing, but there were some nice fish coming out of the surf before the wind really picked up. I’d expect that bite to pick back up right where it left off.

Cooper fishing with dad put on a snook clinic, it’s always a good day when you get your tackle back too!

Anglers are still seeing — and catching — a lot of pompano in the Indian River Lagoon. Pompano jigging around the Eau Gallie Causeway has been really productive. Not far from here, there has been some pretty good snook action around the docks, too. The area’s canals are also holding small tarpon, snook, redfish, sheepshead and mangrove snapper. On the beach, we’re still seeing plenty of margate and whiting; and the big tarpon and snook remain out there, too.

Caption: Cooper fishing with dad put on a snook clinic, it’s always a good day when you get your tackle back too!

This week has been much of the same in the fisheries around Satellite Beach. The trout bite has remained solid around Mathers Bridge and Dragon Point. We are seeing some real quality fish, too, like the one featured above, caught by Tom who was fishing with his neighbor Dan. It was a new boat record and officially put these guys is the “30 Inch Club.” These fellas have been on the fish! There are decent numbers of mangrove snapper and a few redfish mixed in around here, too. Most of these fish have been caught using artificial lures, but a well-placed live shrimp is hard for these fish to resist as well.

The river has been much of the same from last week. We are seeing some really big reds around the bridges and docks and large schools have been seen tailing on the flats north of Pineda. Big pompano are also being caught around the bridges using live shrimp and pompano jigs. Mathers Bridge has been good at night for targeting some of these big redfish, too. Use a big chunk of cut bait of crabs will work too. Along the beach we are seeing a nice run of bluefish, so get out there and wet a line!

Mathers Bridge continues to produce some big reds!

The fishing in the river has been awesome. People are catching some really big Reds around the bridges and docks and large schools have been seen tailing north of Pineda in the flats. Big Pompano are also being caught around the bridges using live shrimp and Pompano jigs. Several people were able to fish the beach and have caught an array of fish from blue fish to margate and some nice whiting. I went offshore and we caught mutton snapper and nice large sea bass. Another boat reported big catches of cobia and dolphin.

On Friday night, the Salty Sarg and Matt had a pretty good outing at Mathers Bridge, with the highlight being this 42″ redfish.

I was hoping that conditions on the beach would finally open up for some nice surf fishing this weekend… Unfortunately, it remained pretty rough out there and weeds were also still being churned up in the shore break. Since the conditions were less than optimal, I settled for a trip to Mathers Bridge with my brother.

I heard from Mathers Bridge frequenter, the Salty Sergeant, on Saturday morning. He was all fired up because he and his buddy caught a nice 42″ redfish at Mathers on the night before (pictured above). I was hoping to follow his up with a red of my own, but it didn’t pan out.

We got out to the bridge just before sunset and there was a lot of activity in the water. We usually favor the north side of the bridge’s far end, but the crowd was pretty thick, so we settled for the south side along the mangroves. At first, our lines were seeing a lot of action, and we caught a handful of mangrove snappers and croakers. Shortly after it got dark, the bite cooled down. We stayed for a couple of hours but not long enough to see it pick back up again. On a positive note, it wasn’t catfish crazy, and we only caught one on the night.

A big school of mullet was hanging out the whole time around the bridge. They were all pretty large in size. We netted a few and tried some cut baits for a big red, but there were no takers.

In the IHB area, the lagoon and canals are producing good numbers of nice redfish, trout, pompano and mangrove snapper. It’s hard for most of these fish to resist a well-placed live shrimp. If you’re gunning for pompano, try using Doc’s Goofy jigs tipped with shrimp, which we hear is producing some really great results.

The canals have really taken off with a mixed bag of fish. We are seeing lots of small reds, trout, mangrove snapper, black drum and snook in the river. Early mornings and late evenings have been producing prime time action. There have been some really nice tarpon around Mather’s Bridge as well. One the beach there have been a lot of weeds this week but we are still catching a few whiting and a bunch of catfish.

Dan and his son, Cooper, has a pretty good day fishing in the lagoon around the Mathers Bridge area. Dan reported, “In the morning, the mullet were running hard and we were seeing huge tarpon everywhere! Our tally for the day included two big trout along with lots of small ones. Two huge ladyfish, and we also hooked up on two tarpon but didn’t land them. Coop left his bail open and didn’t realize he had a tarpon on until he saw the line tearing out. Closed the bail but it came off 50 yards away and gone! That’s fishing!”

We are seeing tarpon, reds and trout in the canals around Satellite Beach. Mather’s Bridge is still holding a good number of mangrove snapper as well. Live shrimp have been to go to bait for these little rascals. The beach has produced solid catches of whiting, margate, and black drum. Nearshore we are experiencing a solid run of cobia right now so get out there and get one!