Fishing in Mosquito Lagoon has been very good the past couple weeks with plenty of large redfish along with trout, big ladyfish, voracious bluefish, and tarpon.
Sunday the 14th, New Jersey anglers Eric and Tom had shots at full grown redfish before the sun even broke the horizon. Before long, the fish took off for deeper water and we moved up shallow to look for tailing reds. Throughout the first few hours of the day, we consistently encountered singles and small pods of reds cruising the flat. It was their first time fishing for spooky Florida redfish and their casts never quite hit the mark. I decided to move out to the edges of the flats for some jigging and top water action. Trout, ladyfish, sail catfish, and bluefish were willing to eat and provided plenty of entertainment.
Tuesday, I fished with John, a fly angler from Britain. One of the best fly casters I have fished with, John was connected to his first Mosquito Lagoon redfish as soon as we could see the tails.
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After releasing the first fish, we tried several schools of 20-30 pound redfish. Despite some excellent casts, the fish were spooking before the fly line hit the water. We gave up on the big reds and moved up shallow. Unfortunately, the same thing happened throughout the morning. John had a few follows and bites but most fish spooked before seeing the fly. John threw a popper in deeper water and had several fish attack his fly landing one ladyfish.
Friday, I was joined by Carmello, his son Giancarlo, and his son's friend Brian. Withing thirty minutes, both boys has landed their largest redfish which weighed in at 18 and 26 pounds.
We tried two more schools of large redfish and Giancarlo hooked into a 27 pound fish which turned out to be the largest of the day.
The rest of the morning was spent enjoying some great topwater action on the outer edges of the flats which resulted in trout, bluefish, ladyfish, jack crevalle, and sail catfish.
Sunday, the objective was to catch large seatrout. I had my client Jerry start off throwing a DOA CAL/Chughead combo around some shallow mullet schools. He landed a few smaller trout and had a few more bites. At our second stop, we spotted some of the target species in the sand holes but caught only redfish. As the day wore on, the weather deteriorated and we encountered a stiff north wind and clouds. With sight fishing nearly impossible, we Jerry was forced to blind cast the rest of the day. While we saw some large trout as they saw away from us, the big one never made it to the boat.
Great fishing will continue throughout the summer. With the variety of fish available, you can always find something to bend a rod.
Mosquito Creek Angler Improvement Class
Thanks to all who attended our last class on soft plastic baits. It was the best attendance so far. The July class will be presented by Capt. Tom Van Horn and will cover hard baits such as topwater plugs, diving plugs, and spoons. The class will begin at 10am on July 25 at Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka.
Modified Topwater Plug
While I prefer to use a DOA Chug Head for my shallow water topwater offering to trout and redfish, the soft plastic does not hold up well to bluefish, large ladyfish, and sailfin catfish. Topwater plugs are more durable but the standard treble hooks constantly catch floating grass and are difficult to remove from the fish. Recently, I have been removing the treble hooks and replacing them with a single circle hook at the rear of the plug. Using a 6/0 circle hook has eliminate the grass issue and keeps toothy fish away from the leader. many of the fish strike so hard they set the hook themselves. While you may miss a few fish by not using trebles, the repeated strikes provide great entertainment and the fish you do hook stay connected.
This technique works well for all kinds of topwater plugs. Give it a try and I think you'll agree.
Capt. Chris Myers
Central Florida Sight Fishing Charters
http://www.floridafishinglessons.com/
321-229-2848
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