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Indian River Sightfishing 1-26-2012

2012-01-27T15:27:00.000-05:00

Central Florida Sight Fishing Charters
by Capt. Chris Myers
January 26, 2012

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report
The past several days the fishing in Mosquito Lagoon has been about as good as it gets. The month overall has been up and down with some fantastic sight fishing and some days when the fish were few and far between. The warm and calm weather as of late has certainly been to the angler's advantage as the fish have been happy and tailing. The dead calm days has made the fish easy to spot but they are also easily spooked by unnatural noises. I saw hundreds of fish spooked the last few weeks by squeaky shoes on the deck alone. Be extremely aware of your noise discipline as you approach tailing fish.

With water temperatures in the morning in the high 60's and near 75 by day's end, the fish are aggressive and will eat even large baits. Unfortunately, the water is still not crystal clear like it should be this time of year. It is clear enough to see the fish though. Most of the month, we experienced extremely low water levels. The water has risen this past week and with it came tons of floating grass that had been washed up on the shore. Weedless jerk baits are a necessity when the grass gets to be too thick. Color has not seemed to be too important as we have caught fish on a variety of shades. Presentation, however, is very important. Trying to catch tailing redfish means you are casting at a stationary target but your bait must get within a foot or less of them or they will not see it.

Ray had an excellent day on the Lagoon before he had to go to a job in Iraq. He landed double digit redfish, mostly on the 3" DOA CAL tail and a 1/8 ounce jighead.

Joe wanted to try his hand at fly fishing for redfish. A steady 10 mph wind was a bit much for him to overcome with the fly but he did manage several nice reds on the 3" CAL.

Jim fished Mosquito Lagoon with me the following day. He threw the fly all day long. We tried feeding some uncooperative black drum. We never got one to bite. Jim used a small tan shrimp imitation fly of his own creation to catch several redfish.

Mike was my next fly angler last week. We began the day throwing a bendback to some very shallow schools of redfish. While he came close a number of times, 10 feet more on his fly cast would have resulted in some hookups. Again we tried a multitude of flies on some black drum. The only bite he got ended when the leader broke on the hook set. Mike was able to get his first redfish to eat a fly he tied on a #4 hook with some orange/brown chenille, small lead eyes, and a tan wing. With shots at hundreds of fish throughout the day, we called it a success.

This Monday I took a trip to the St John's River for some fly fishing for shad. While others I spoke to reported catching 30-40 shad, I caught that many fish but only 8 or so were the target species. The rest were a mixture of crappie, bass, bluegill, sunfish, and redbreast. The shad are there, however, and it seems to be a good run of them this year.

Tuesday, I fished with Jeff and Jim on their first flats fishing trip. We found the black drum a bit more willing to cooperate and even got a double header.

Tailing redfish were our next target. The tails were easy to spot as the water was smooth as glass. Soon we had tail in every direction. With lots of floating grass to deal with, I elected to go with a weedless CAL in melonback color. A Woodies rattle inserted near the tail helped the fish find the bait. The next few hours were filled with shots at hundreds of reds and some bent rods resulted.

We ended the day completing a Mosquito Lagoon slam by using the DOA Deadly Combo to catch numerous seatrout off the outside edge of the flat.

Yesterday was nearly a carbon copy of the day before. The only improvement was we had much clearer skies making it even easier to spot the fish when the sun came up. Rick and Cynthia started off the day bringing a few black drum to the boat before we moved on to tailing redfish. The first red came on a DOA shrimp but the weedless CAL bait proved to be a better choice with the heavy floating grass still around.

In addition to landing numerous redfish, both caught a seatrout as well to complete a double slam for the second day in a row.

As long as the weather remains stable, the fishing will continue to be outstanding. Should a cold front blow through and drop the water temperatures significantly, the fish will drop off the flats for several days. If you must fish during those times, target the deeper edges of flats and sand troughs with jigs. As long as the water remains warm, however, the fish will be happy, schooling, and feeding.

Seminars and Classes
On February 4, Capt. Tom Van Horn and I will begin our Basic Flats Fishing Seminar Series at 10am at Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka. These classes are designed to teach students all aspects of flats fishing from choosing equipment and lures to how and when to target specific species. The class schedule is as follows:

Class #1 Introduction to Saltwater Flats Fishing, Feb 4th

Class #2 Tackle, March 31st, 2012

Class #3 Lines, Leaders and Knots, April 21st, 2012

Class #4 Saltwater Lure (Hard Baits) Applications, May 19

Class #5 Soft Plastic Applications, June 9th, 2012

Class #6 Natural Baits, July 21st, 2012

Class #7 Tackle, Storage, and Maintenance, Augus 11th,

Class #8 Successful Angling Tactics, September 22nd

All classes are free and begin at 10am at the Mosquito Creek Outdoors Outback.

February 10-12 is the Old Florida Outdoor Festival in Apopka. I will be doing fly casting demos and there will be a host of other fishing guides and celebrities there during the weekend.

On Thursday February 16, at 6:30pm, Cat. Tom and I will be speaking about Winter Sight Fishing Tactics at Mosquito Creek Outdoors.

Saturday, February 25 will be the Shad and Crappie rally at CS Lee Park on the St. Johns River at SR 46. With a strong shad run so far this year, this should be a good event. There will be seminars and prizes.

Saturday, March 17 will be the next Fly Casting Class. This is a 4 hour class limited to 6 students that focuses entirely on fly casting. Pre-registration is required and the cost is $75. Call me at 321-229-2848 or Mosquito Creek to register.

Captain Chris Myers
321-229-2848
http://www.floridafishinglessons.com/
cmyers@floridafishinglessons.com

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report 1-23- 2012

2012-01-24T15:02:00.000-05:00

Mosquito Creek Outdoors Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report
January 21, 2012
By Captain Tom Van Horn

Upcoming Seminars and Events

Thursday, January 26th - 6:30 to 9:00 p.m., Free Shad and Crappie Fly Tying Event at Orlando Outfitters, 2814 Corrine Dr, Orlando, FL 32808, phone (407) 896-8220. Visit: www.orlandooutfitters.com. Fly tying instruction and seminar by Capt. Beau Osborne. Learn what you need to catch shad and crappie on fly in the Orlando area and see how easy it is to tie effective fly patterns for both species. These tying techniques can also be used to create your own shad and crappie jigs.

Saturday January 24th - 9 a.m. Free Rod Builders Class located in the Outback section of Mosquito Creek Outdoor, 170 South Washington Ave. Apopka Florida www.mosquitocreek.com

Wednesday February 1st - 7- 9 p.m. Apopka Bass Fishing Club meeting at Mosquito Creek Outdoors, 170 South Washington Ave, Apopka, www.mosquitocreek.com

Saturday & Sunday, February 9th, 10th and 11th - The Old Florida Outdoor Festival at the North East Recreational Complex in Apopka, Florida, http://oldfloridaoutdoorfestival.com

Thursday February 16th - 6:30 P.m. to 8:30 p.m. "Free Seminars" "Winter Lagoon Sight Fishing Tactics" instructed by Captains Tom Van Horn, Chris Myers, located in the Outback at Mosquito Creek Outdoors, 170 South Washington Ave., Apopka Florida, www.mosquitocreek.com.

Saturday, February 25th - 11:00 to 2:00 p.m., Free Shad Rally at the Jolly Gator Fish Camp, phone (407) 349-5554, on Hwy 46 adjacent to CS Lee Park in Geneva, Florida. Visit: www.thejollygator.com. "Free Seminars" instructed by Captains Tom Van Horn, Chris Myers and Charlie McCullough, "Shad Fishing Tactics" Event includes sponsor displays, giveaways and a raffle with all proceeds going to Anglers For Conservation (AFC), Hook Kids on Fishing Program.

This Weeks Fishing Report

Fishing this past week is as good as it gets and for those of you that follow my reports know when I get excited about fishing, it's time to call in sick, buy some flowers for your sweetie and take advantage of our gorgeous weather and hot catching.

On numerous trips to the St. Johns River this past week, we were rewarded with excellent catches of crappie and American shad. The bite has been hot from Lake Monroe in Sanford to Puzzle Lake with exciting reports coming from all of these areas. For me, my success has come from slow trolling 1/16 ounce white Road Runners, and fly fishing with chartreuse and orange Crazy Charles.

Fat American shad on fly.

Captain Tom's 17.5 inch shad caught on a orange Crazy Charlie fly.

Charlie McCullough's American Shad

Charlie's 17.25 American Shad

Charlie's Fat Sunshine Bass

On the saltwater scene, good reports of black drum and redfish have been coming from the Banana River Lagoon's No-Motor Zone where I good friend Captain John Kumiski busted two of his fly rods this week on large black drum.

As always, if you have any questions or need information, please contact me.

Good luck and good fishing,

Captain Tom Van Horn
mosquitocoast@cfl.rr.com
http://www.irl-fishing.com
(407) 416-1187

For all of your outdoor needs, visit www.mosquitocreek.com, it's where your adventure begins.

Ft Lauderdale Deep Sea Fishing 1-23 12

2012-01-23T10:42:00.000-05:00

Ft Lauderdale deep sea fishing has been good over the first two weeks of 2012. Anglers aboard the Reel Work deep sea fishing charter yacht have been catching kingfish, blackfin tuna, mahi-mahi, bonita, tilefish and sailfish. The sailfish run through our area was slightly delayed this year due to the beautiful warm weather we have been experiencing. A strong cold front a few days ago has now pushed the sailfish into our area. Fort Lauderdale offshore fishing should be excellent for the next several months. Here is what we have been catching for the last two weeks.

On January 6th, we caught some sailfish and tile fish. Heard reports of a few kingfish, a wahoo, and a mahi being caught.

Fishing was pretty good on the 9th. Our clients caught a lot of blackfin tuna and some kingmackerel. Heard of a few mahi and a couple of sailfish.

Our anglers had a good day of fishing on the 10th catching blackfin tuna, kingfish, and a couple of bonita in the afternoon.

We had an all day trip on the 14th. Our anglers were rewarded with kingmackerel and mahi-mahi.

On the 15th we had a great morning of fishing! Our Ft Lauderdale deep sea fishing clients caught a bunch of kingfish, a few bonito, and a nice wahoo.

Fish On!

Reel Work Sport Fishing Charters
301 Seabreeze Blvd.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
954-522-9399
1-877-524-9377
Email: lauderdalefishing@gmail.com
Website: lauderdalefishing.com
Fort Lauderdale Deep Sea Fishing

Ft Lauderdale Deep Sea Fishing 1-18-2012

2012-01-19T09:43:00.000-05:00

Sarasota Fishing Report 1-15-2012

2012-01-17T16:37:00.000-05:00

Sarasota, FL Fishing Report
1/15/2011
by Capt. Rick Grassett

Anglers fishing Sarasota Bay and Gasparilla Sound in Charlotte Harbor during the past week with me on my Action Craft flats skiff the Snook Fin-Addict, out of CB’s Saltwater Outfitters on Siesta Key, caught and released reds, trout and pompano on jigs and flies. Action was better later in the day due to cool water.

Nick Reding, from Longboat Key, FL, fished Sarasota Bay with me on Monday. We waded several bars in north Sarasota Bay and Nick caught and released 3 reds and several trout on my Grassett Flats Minnow fly. Longboat Key winter resident, Pat Decastro, fished Sarasota Bay and the coastal gulf with me on Tuesday. We spent a couple of hours hunting false albacore (little tunny) and tripletail in the coastal gulf. Despite good conditions and water temperature of 69 degrees we didn’t find anything. We fished several deep grass flats in Sarasota Bay and Pat caught a few trout up to 18” but the action was slow.

Wednesday was windy as a front blew through, but it didn’t change conditions drastically on Thursday. Keith McClintock and Victor Feldman, from IL, fished Gasparilla Sound in Charlotte Harbor with me on Thursday and had a good day. They caught 4 reds up to 4-pounds, a 3 ½-pound pompano and numerous trout on CAL jigs with shad and grub tails and DOA Deadly Combos.

Trout and reds should continue to be good options in skinny water in Sarasota Bay. In addition to trout, look for pompano, blues and Spanish mackerel on deep grass flats. Afternoons may fish better than mornings due to cool water.

Tight Lines,

Capt. Rick Grassett
Snook Fin-Addict Guide Service, Inc.
FFF Certified Fly Casting Instructor
(941) 923-7799
E-mail snookfin@aol.com
www.flyfishingflorida.net and www.snookfin-addict.com

Nick Reding, from Longboat Key, FL, waded a Sarasota Bay sandbar with Capt. Rick Grassett and caught and released this red on a Grassett Flats Minnow fly.

Pat Decastro, from OH, caught this upper slot Sarasota Bay trout on a Clouser fly while fishing with Capt. Rick Grassett.

Victor Feldman, from IL, caught and released this red out of a pothole on a CAL jig with a shad tail while fishing Gasparilla Sound with Capt. Rick Grassett.