Black Drum And American Shad

Mosquito Creek Outdoors Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report

By Captain Tom Van Horn

As we brace for some of the coldest weather experienced in Central Florida in years, high winds and cold temperatures will keep most sensible anglers on shore for at least the next few days. Today we experienced west winds between 20 and 25 knots, and our low temperatures in the Orlando area tonight will be just below freezing. For those of you from up north who read my reports on a regular basis, this may seem like a spring day for you, but for us thin blooded southern anglers, these are extreme conditions. Fortunately, this blast of cold air is predicted to warm up by Saturday so we definitely have something to look forward to.

This past week, water levels on the lagoons and in the St. Johns River remain extremely low, so extreme caution is a requirement when under way, especially on the flats. So, please take your time working your way in and out of the shallow water to avoid damaging sea grass and you vessel.

David Peterson with a slot Black Drum caught on a
small live shrimp, and released to be caught again.

Jason Peterson with his IRL black drum caught on a small chunk of fresh blue crab.

Two species of fish were my primary focus last week, one in saltwater and one in freshwater. On the lagoon, sizable schools of slot size black drum have been abundant this winter, and the shallow water levels have them bunched up on the deeper edges of the shoals. These black drum will take well presented artificial bait like a D.O.A. Crab or Shrimp and a fly, but on most occasions they will pass up these offerings. So, be sure to pick up a couple dozen medium live shrimp or some fresh blue crab on your way to the lagoon.

Uncle Larry took first blood with his IRL Black Drum.
These schools of slot size black drum have been showing up in increasing numbers these past few winters, and although the daily allotment is five per person, please practice CPR, catch-photo-release, of only keep what you can eat fresh, so their numbers will continue to increase.

The second species I've been targeting is the American shad. The shad have moved up the St. Johns River in what seem to be better than average numbers. I've had good reports from several different anglers catching shad in the double digits, but I also received reports of anglers getting skunked, so as always, it's just a matter of finding hungry fish.
This up coming week, I will be working the Crappie Masters Tournament in Travares Florida on the Harris Chain of Lakes, and I'm glad I'm just covering the event for Coastal Angler Magazine and not fishing it. I will fill you in on my next report.

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

Good luck and good fishing,

Captain Tom Van Horn
Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters
www.irl-fishing.com
407-416-1187 on the water
407-366-8085 landline

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