Friday, March 19, 2010

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report 3-19-10


Mosquito Creek Outdoor's Indian River Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report, March 19, 2010

By Captain Tom Van Horn

Up Coming Events
March 27th, Free Cobia and Tripletail seminar from 10 am to noon at Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka Florida, 170 South Washington Avenue. For more details visit www.mosquitocreek.com/fishing.

April 24th, Free Hook Kids on Fishing Program from 10 am to noon at the Apopka Foliage Festival. After completing the five learning stations, each child will receive a free fishing rod, reel and tackle box. To preregister your children, visit Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka Florida at 170 South Washington Avenue or contact them at (407) 464-2000.


This Weeks Report

Although the weather has shown some improvement this week, the winds of March and cloudy overcast conditions continue to make sight fishing tough. Despite the difficult conditions, we still managed to catch some substantial fish.

On the flats, the combination of wind, clouds, and cold made sight fishing a challenge. I can live with the wind as long as it's sunny, but when you combine the wind with the clouds your quality shots at fish are limited, and that's when you need to consider changing up your strategy.

As mentioned above, I had the pleasure of fishing with Gary Nyquits and his son Eric from Albert Lea Minnesota this past week. We had already postponed our trip once due to weather, so we opted to fish despite the conditions. We worked three different flats only seeing a few fish, so on the way back to the ramp I opted to chunk a few blue crabs I picked up at the bait shop for just this purpose, and we were rewarded by two quality fish. Eric hooked the first one, but the fish managed to cut him off on some structure about five minutes into the fight, very disappointing. Next, Gary hooked up to a big fish, and after a 20 minute battle we landed a 48 inch redfish. I know chunking bait isn't as sporting as sight fishing, but try telling Gary that.

Gary Nyquist's 48 inch redfish

Besides chunking bait, blind casting in the deeper canals and holes has produced some decent sea trout this week. Try fishing with DOA Shrimp, rootbeer and glow colors very slow. Target these fish by casting up against the shoreline and fish the DOA Shrimp extremely slow just bumping the bottom as you work in down the drop-off.

Near-shore, the water temperature off of Port Canaveral have begun to warm up, so we only need a few more warm days with southeast winds to reach the magic numbers of 68 - 72 degrees. The run is late this year, so when they do show up, maybe Sunday, you need to make sure your equipment is ready, so watch the weather and the seas. Also, if your not sure how to fish for cobia, but would like to learn, be sure to attend the free cobia and tripletail seminar Captain Chris Myers and I are giving at Mosquito Creek Outdoors on March 27th. For more details and directions on the seminar, please visit Mosquito Creek's website at www.mosquitocreek.com.

Also, be sure to check out the March addition of Coastal Angler Magazine Orlando in print and online for free at www.coastalanglermagazine.com.

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

Good luck and good fishing,

Captain Tom Van Horn
www.irl-fishing.com
mosquitocoast@cfl.rr.com
407-366-8085 office 407-416-1187 on the water

For all you outdoor shopping needs, visit Mosquito Creek Outdoors at www.mosquitocreek.com.

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