Compliments of Mosquito Creek Outdoors, Apopka Florida
Twelve days before Christmas and it feels like March outside, you've got to love living and fishing in the sunshine state. Speaking about March weather, without the wind of course, this past week we've experienced outstanding conditions and some quality fishing from the deep blue to the inland lakes and rivers.
My adventures this past week have covered the entire spectrum of Florida angling with good catches coming from each arena.
My first adventure began with a paddle fishing trip into the Banana River No-Motor Zone. The wind was light from the east so we elected to paddle in of the east side, and when all was said and done, we caught a good number of sea trout up to 20-inchs and several redfish in the slot size, but the big redfish and black drum alluded us.
Captain Rodney Smith with a Beach Snook, Photo by Willie Howard
Next, it was off to the deep blue with my good friends Captains Rodney Smith and Keith Kalbfleisch of MTC Charters. We departed out of Sebastian Inlet in Captain Keith's new 22' Angler, what a sweet ride, and we headed east until we located fishy conditions. The winds were very light and the seas were less than two feet so it was easy to see fish activity, and as soon we spooked a huge school of 2-inch flying fish in about 110 feet of water, we slowed down and started looking closer. At first we started sight fishing a pod of dolphin using a run and gun tactic resulting in three nice gaffer sized fish on ice. We would ride on a slow plane, and when we would see the dolphin harassing the flying fish we would run to them and throw small jigs on light spinning tackle. After a while we decided to attempt trolling, and quickly picked up several kingfish in the 10 to 15 pound range. The most exciting part of the trip was near the end, when we located a large school of black fin tuna skyrocketing out of the water chasing small flying fish. At one point they were all around us flying through the air, and despite our unsuccessful efforts to hook one up, it was quit a sight to see. I also had a nice tripletail hooked up, only to become unbuttoned near the boat, and we also sighted a nice sailfish working in with the tuna.
December Dolphin, Photo by Rodney Smith
Yesterday in preparation for an upcoming charter in the Mosquito Lagoon, I decided to do some scouting. The water levels have dropped considerable, which makes for some good sight fishing, but it also means a lot of time on the polling platform pushing through skinny water.
I started out in the north end just before sunrise, and quickly found a good number of tailing and pushing redfish. The reds were not bunched up but instead were scattered across the flat. It was tough poling, and since I didn't have clients, I decided to look for fish with easy access and soon located a school of black drum, managing two black drum and a slot redfish on a black and green clouser minnow fly.
Around noon, I decided to leave the lagoon and check out the St. John's River to see if the American shad have arrived yet. Well, I have good news and bad news about my findings. The bad news is I didn't see any signs of shad yet. The good news is the bass, speckled perch and bluegill were going off on the surface feeding on very small minnows, and in two hours I caught 14 bass in the one to two pound range, 4 nice specks, and several other pan fish. All of the fish were caught on fly rod throwing a small blue half-inch soft plastic minnow fly.
St. John's River Bass
In closing, the weather looks good through Saturday, so I would fish while the fishing is good. Also, there is still a considerable amount of red tide off of the beach, so keep that in mind if you are planning to surf fish.
As always, if you have any questions or just need information, please contact me.
Happy Holidays, and good luck and good fishing,
Captain Tom Van Horn
Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters
http://www.irl-fishing.com/
407-416-1187 on the water
407-366-8085 office
866-790-8081 toll free
Visit www.mosquitocreekoutdoors.com for your outdoor adventure needs, its Where the Adventure Begins!
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