It has been an unusual winter so far here in central Florida. The year began with
a record breaking cold snap that lasted nearly a week. Water temperatures in
the Mosquito Lagoon plunged to the 40 degree mark and stayed there for
much longer than normal. As a result, some fish did not survive and thousands
of green sea turtles had to be rescued. The hardest hit species seem to have
been the snook and large seatrout. The snook population throughout the state
took quite a beating and the Florida Wildlife Commission imposed an
emergency closure to protect the remaining stocks. Many hundreds of trophy
sized seatrout were also killed in our area but, unfortunately, it does not look as
if they are going to impose any additional closures to help them.
On a more positive note, the weather returned to a more normal pattern during
the last week. As a result, the increasing water temperature has sent the
redfish flooding onto the shallow flats in search of a meal. It appears as if the
adult redfish and black drum survived the cold with very little damage. They key
to locating them recently has been to find the areas that are holding mullet. A
general rule of thumb during the last few trips is if there were no mullet around,
there were no redfish either. During several trips this weeks, we saw hundreds
of redfish each day and they became more aggressive and active as the week
progressed. The last several days, they have been tailing and feeding and will
strike a variety of lures and flies. The DOA shrimp, as well as both the 3 and 5
inch DOA CAL caught numerous redfish this week. Productive colors included
Arkansas Glow, Silver Mullet, Green Back, Watermelon Holographic, and
Red/Gold Glitter. For the fly anglers, a #4 crab or shrimp imitation in black,
brown has worked well recently along with a gold bendback.
There are some trophy trout still around and they will eat the same lures and
flies as the redfish. I would encourage all anglers to release any trout over 20
inches in an effort to help sustain a healthy population for the future.
Despite a rocky start to the new year, it looks like we are settling into the typical
winter pattern here in Mosquito Lagoon, lots of shallow water tailing redfish and
black drum. When the fish were cold, you could practically touch them with the
tip of your rod before they would move. Now that they have warmed up, they are
on high alert when feeding in the shallow water. The best approach is to pole or
wade up to them paying close attention to the shadow from both you and your
rod. The calmer the wind, the farther away your bait must land from the fish to
avoid spooking them.
Capt. Chris Myers
Central Florida Sight Fishing Charters
http://www.floridafishinglessons.com/
321-229-2848
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