Central Florida Sight Fishing 8-1-2011

Central Florida Sight Fishing Charters
Capt. Chris Myers
July 31, 2011


Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

The redfish bite in Mosquito Lagoon is still extremely good. The water clarity is very poor in many places making it tougher to spot the fish. Most mornings, you can find tailing fish or see them blasting mullet pods. As the morning moves on, the tails are less frequent and it is still hard to see in the water. By midday, you can spot the fish moving across the flat as long as the sun is out. Most of the fish we have been spotting are ten pounds and up making them a bit easier to see.

A DOA Baitbuster worked along the surface will draw strikes all day long but is especially effective first thing in the morning. With floating grass very heavy throughout the Lagoon. This is one topwater bait that can still be used effectively. Other lures we used this week included the 5.5 inch CAL in holographic, a 3 inch CAL in watermelon holographic, a black redfish worm fly, and an EP pinfish fly.

Shawn started off the day by watching a redfish slam his Baitbuster. A few minutes later, he landed his biggest redfish to date.



The following day, Jeff had a redfish in the 30 pound range eat his Baitbuster only to have it break off on the hook set. He had lots of shots at fish throughout the day and managed to land a few.



Freelann and Jeff started off the morning landing some nice fish on the Baitbuster. We then switched to the holographic 5.5 inch CAL later in the day.





Jeff wanted to try some saltwater fly fishing in Mosquito Lagoon. Solid cloud cover made for some extremely difficult sight fishing conditions but he managed to put a black redfish worm in front of a nice redfish.



I went back out that afternoon for a bit of fun and exploring. The fish were happy to eat and I got three to eat the Baitbuster along with numerous other bites. I tried the EP pinfish fly and landed two more before storms chased me back to the ramp.

Jack and Debbie both landed redfish on their first trip to Mosquito Lagoon this week.





Allen and Chris were greeted by both tailing redfish and other pods crashing mullet schools as we pulled up to our spot at first light. They fired out the Baitbusters for a couple hookups and many more bites.





With the algae clouding the water, it is extremely important to have the proper glasses if you want to see the fish. Gray lenses prove to be very ineffective on a weekly basis. Choose copper, brown, or vermilion, for color enhancement and clarity on the flats. Cloudy water means your casts have to be accurate for the fish to see the lure. Most of the shots we are getting the past couple weeks are from 15-30 feet from the boat. When the fish are that close, you are normally going to get one shot before they see you. Short, quick, accurate casts will get bites.The redfish bite in Mosquito Lagoon is still extremely good. The water clarity is very poor in many places making it tougher to spot the fish. Most mornings, you can find tailing fish or see them blasting mullet pods. As the morning moves on, the tails are less frequent and it is still hard to see in the water. By midday, you can spot the fish moving across the flat as long as the sun is out. Most of the fish we have been spotting are ten pounds and up making them a bit easier to see.

Seminars and Classes
Introduction to Fly Fishing - August 13 & October 8 - Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka - 10am-12. Free class designed to intruduce students to fly fishing opportunities. try your hand at casting as well. Free class, registration not required.
Fly Casting - September 10 & November 12 - Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka -9am-1. Learn the fundamentals of fly casting or improve your exsisting skills. Class limited to 6 students, all equipment provided. Cost - $75, pre-registration required.
Snook Fishing Seminar - August 20 - Mosquito Creek Outdoors - 10-12
Learn snook fishing tactics from capt. Chris Myers and Capt. Tom Van Horn
Fall Mullet Run Tactics - September 3 - Mosquito Creek Outdoors - 10-12. How to fish the beachs and inshore waters during the fall mullet run.

Capt. Chris Myers
Central Florida Sight Fishing Charters
http://www.floridafishinglessons.com/
321-229-2848

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report 8-1- 2011

Mosquito Creek Outdoors Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Forecast
August 2011
By Captain Tom Van Horn

Upcoming Seminars and Events

Saturday, August 13th Introduction to Fly Fishing
10:00 - 12 Noon, Free Introduction to Fly Fishing Class instructed by FFF Certified Instructor and veteran Mosquito lagoon Fishing Guide Captain Chris Myers. Located in the Outback section of Mosquito Creek Outdoor, 170 South Washington Ave. Apopka Florida www.mosquitocreek.com

August 13th Captain Rick Murphy and his tour will be at the Apopka Winn Dixie 9 am
to 4pm.

Saturday, August 20th  Snook Fishing
10: 00 - 12:00 Snook Fishing Tactics "Free Seminars" instructed by Captains Tom Van Horn, Chris Myers, "Snook Fishing Tactics ", located in the Outback at Mosquito Creek Outdoors, 170 South Washington Ave., Apopka Florida, www.mosquitocreek.com.

Nikon Digiscope and photography demo with Tom Dunkerton at the Viera

Wetlands near Melbourne 8 am to Noon

National Wild Turkey Fredration Banquet at the Apopka VFW 5 pm

September 3rd Fishing Seminar Mullet Run in the Outback at Mosquito Creek 10 am to 12pm.

September 10th 9 am Fly Casting class at Mosquito Creek Outdoors with Capt Chris Myers $75.00 per person limit of 6. www.mosquitocreek.com

August Fishing Outlook

The heat is on, as fishing opportunities kick in along the Indian River Lagoon Coast of Florida.  So far, the summer squalls have stayed away, and as long as they do, fishing along the beaches and in the inlets will remain equally as hot.

Along the beach, look for the silver kings (tarpon), smoker kings, blacktip sharks, jumbo jack crevalle, and redfish to be shadowing pods of Atlantic menhaden (pogies), threadfin herring (greenies), Spanish sardines, and bay anchovy (glass minnows) in close to the beach.  Also look for snook fishing in the surf to improve as we get closer to the commencement of the fall bait run.  Remember snook are out of season, so if you target them, please handle and release them with extreme care. In and around the inlets, look for Spanish mackerel, tarpon, jack cervalle, and bonita to be working schools of glass minnows on the outside, and snook, redfish, mangrove snapper, and flounder in the area of jetties and other structure.  If snook are of interest, Sebastian Inlet is the place to be.

Look for the blue water bite to improve along the inshore reefs and wrecks of Chris Benson, 8A Reef, and Pelican Flats, with kingfish, dolphin, black fin tuna, and cobia serving as the primary species, along with an occasional wahoo or sailfish.  This is also the time of year when cooler waters sometimes pushes the giant manta rays in close to the shoals off the Cape, bringing cobia with them. Further off shore, the Gulf Stream typically moves in closer making tuna a possibility for smaller boats working in the areas of anchored shrimp boats and thermals, and as long as the summer squalls (tropical storms) stay away, running to the other side of the stream isn't out of the question.

Angling on the in-shore lagoons will continue to show improvement, with fishing in the predawn and late evening hours being most productive.  Look for small groups of redfish in the skinny water holding in the vicinity of bait concentration, and target them utilizing smaller top-water plugs like the Storm Chug Bug.  Once the sun starts to grow hot and the top-water bite will slows down, bait becomes your better option.  For larger trout, fish live pigfish in close to docks and other structure adjacent to deeper water.  In deeper water, look for large schools of ladyfish, small trout, and tarpon pushing schools of glass minnows near the surface. When these schools move in, they are easy to locate by watching for concentrations of birds, terns and cormorants joining in on the frenzy, and they are perfect for fly anglers who are interested in the continuous fast and furious action provided by these speedsters.  Last but not least, look for pompano schools holding in the shadows of the causeway bridges.  Fish jigs tipped with shrimp or sand fleas (mole crabs) along the deeper edges and drop-offs.

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

Good luck and good fishing,

Captain Tom Van Horn
Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters
(407) 416-1187 on the water

Collecting Keys Tarpon DNA

Friday, July 29, 2011
Florida Keys Tarpon fishing, Islamorada, FL



Students fish and retrieve DNA samples of Tarpon for a class project with Capt. Ted Benbow of SKINS and FINS Charters.  At 2:04 in this video, one of the Anglers uses an abrasive scrub pad to come up with scale particles for the DNA sampling collected by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission.

<*)))))><

FISH ON!!!

Tampa Bay Fishing Charters

Red Grouper Fishing with Tampa Fishing Charters
07-26-2011


I headed out late in the afternoon to catch the evening grouper bite. We left out of Tarpon Springs Sponge Dock. I had my lap top hocked up to navigate from, just knowing that we were going to get our limits of mangrove snapper and red grouper. Gag grouper and red snapper are now closed so we were going for what we would be able to keep.

We passed the sea buoy around 4:30pm, and headed due west. Half way there my laptop with all our numbers on it crashes and we start to scramble to pull the trip together. We decide to head out to some flat bottom in 85’ of water. After looking around for an hour, we find some fish holding on the hard bottom.

I am a die hard anchoring captain. I hate drifting. I will motor or power fish when the situation is right. That being said, red grouper tend to be spread out on flat bottom so anchoring is not always ideal. We decided to power/ drift fish, and it paid of well. The current was not running too strong and the wind was about 10 knots out of the south. We set up a slow drift and on the first pass we caught a few short red groupers and one keeper. We did it again and landed another red grouper. Within one and a half hours of finding this spot, we had our limit four man limit of red grouper.

Offshore fishing has been very good. There are more fish out there than I have seen in my lifetime. If you can get out there and get your red grouper and mangrove snapper—do it.

Captain Rick Reddick
www.captainrickreddick.com
info@captainrickreddick.com
813-787-0249

Tampa Fishing Guides | Tampa Fishing Charters

Amelia Island Fishing Report 7-26-2011

Monday, July 25, 2011

Smorgasbord of Fish



 I've had a handful of trips the last couple of weeks that have started out slow but picked up with fish beginning to bite right up to the end.   A lot of it has to do with how much the patience the anglers have and if they  "endeavor to persevere"!  Today was one of those days.  I met Sam and Molly Pearson and their two kids Cassidy and Clay at the Big Talbot Island boat ramp, 7am, and we headed up the Nassau River for a morning of backcountry fishing on The Anglers Mark.  Our first stop was at Leon's Drop with the tide going out and the oysters not showing yet - perfect tide for the spot, but no bites.  We headed around through Jackstaff and fished the bank and Clay did pick up a feisty Redfish with a live shrimp under float. We crossed the creek where Sam had a good battle with a Bonnethead Shark, but the Shark won and move on!  Our next stop was at Bubblegum Reef and this time we broke out some bait casting bottom rigs.  Cassidy had a rod bending, drag ripping hookup and, FISH ON!  She and I battle the fish briefly then Sam jumped in and took over for a long battle which he won this time, and he brought to the boat a huge Stingray for pictures.  That must have gotten things going because Sam started having good hookups on a jig/shrimp combos.  He had a good strong bite, and played the fish perfectly, then handed the rod off to Clay who brought in a slot sized Redfish.  Then Sam hooked up with another and this time handed it off to Cassidy, who brought in an even bigger slot Redfish. 



Sam was on a roll because he eventually boated a "Smorgasbord" of fish including a Sheepshead, Sea Bass, and Black Drum.  Molly joined in and expertly reeled in the Sea Bass. Cassidy added one more Stingray to the mix.  The sun was up and it was time to head in, so we called it a day,  another great one to be on the water!

Capt. Lawrence Piper
The Anglers Mark
Amelia Island, Florida
904-557-1027
lwpiper@comcast.net
theanglersmark.com

Posted by Cpt. Lawrence Piper at 6:14 PM