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Mosquito Lagoon Report
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The past few weeks have been bringing out seasonal change into the wet season and a lot of very hot weather.
The redfish are plentiful, but challenging to get to eat with the hot water temps. Most fishing has to be done before 10am, so a 4 hour trip seems to be the best option latley.
As the summer continues, redfish, trout, tarpon and snook will be our continued targets. At the end of summer, Redfish and tarpon will be at their peak, and with the numbers around even now, we should have a really good season.
Kent and Mark fished with me the other morning, and found many schools of reds, with many opportunitys, but fish with locked jaws. Thanks for being persistent guys!
We also had a dolphin come right up to us, rare on the east coast.
Dan and his buddy Frank fished with me recently as well, and found many fish doing similar things, crawling around in shallow water, but with similar dispositions. It seems like flys have been the best lure latley because of the small size and quiet presentation.
After some great casts, Dan landed this 7 lber.
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Mosquito Lagoon report
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The past couple months have given us the change from winter to spring to summer, and the summer patterns are now upon us.
That means big redfish, tarpon are back, and slick, glassy calm mornings.
The other day I had a great trip with Daniel and Paul. Daneil is getting married so we had to get him on some nice fish, and Paul came all the way from Texas, so he needed the same.
We had a great spot with a really calm group of fish, which gave us plenty of great shots. The smallest fish of the day was around 8 lbs, and the largest was around 12 lbs, all in really shallow water.
Thanks again guys!
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March 2008
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I have been in the middle of moving inot a new house and several other things to keep me busy, so sorry for the lack of reports lately!
March has been a good month so far, with better than avarage weather, and some pretty good fishing!
Reds have been the main target for this month, but the snook bite has been improving as well. Next month the tarpon start to return and inlet fishing starts to heat up.
On the 18th I had the pleasure of fishing with Nick and Steve, and despite the 15+ mph winds, we made the best of the day with 9 fish! Thanks again guys!
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November 20th Mosquito Lagoon
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Today I had the pleasure of fishing with Jojo Yap and his son Timmy Yap. The bite was tough today! We saw many redfish, and had many great opportunitys, but the fish were reluctant to actually eat.
Timmy didnt let that hold him back! Two fish were right next to each other facing the shorline, obviously hunting. Timmy made a great cast and and the larger of the two fish ate right away. A quick battle ensued and Timmy landed a nice 6 1/2 lb redfish!
We landed a couple small reds after that, but the bite was beyond tought today.
Thanks to Timmy and Jojo for being troopers and casting at fish after fish, despite the constant rejections, even with live shrimp.
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October and early November Lagoon Report
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October and November have been busy months, so much so that I havent had much time to report.
In the past month, we finished the big redfish and tarpon seasons, and started our winter pattern here on the east coast. Redfish we target now will be slot fish crusing shorelines in the crystal clear winter waters of the Mosquito Lagoon.
The fish have switched to a crustacean bite and began to search for crabs and shrimp rather than mullet, meaning that they fish will be tailing more and tight to shorelines. Great for fly fishing!!!
As cooler temps and cold fronts come, the water will begin to drop and the fish will start to school, making fishing easy on even the windiest days!
Here are a few pics from recent weeks!
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8/17 Mosquito and Indian River Lagoon
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I have had the pleasure of fishing with some great people over the past few days, and the fishing has been just a good!
Saturday and Sunday I fished with a gentleman named Grahm from England. I love fishing with people from England, they always have great personalities and they are good fisherman!
Grahm caught many fish on saturday and sunday, with the highlight being sunday moring, catching 5 reds in less than 30 minutes...on topwater!
Thanks again Grahm!
On sunday afternoon after my charter with Grahm the weather was still great, so I took the chance to go fishing again with my fiance Christel and long time fishing buddy Kyle to target some big redfish. It seems afternoons are the best time to catch these fish in Mosquito Lagoon....with almost no other boats on the water, we can take advantage of the fish dropping their guards and coming out to feed.
We worked three different flats, and landed many bull redfish. The largest being a 45lb 50" fish that Kyle landed.
If you want to catch a big redfish, or even a couple big redfish, give me a shout.....This is the best time of year to target these fish
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8/12 Mosquito Lagoon with Ben Rush
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Here in east central Florida, we don't consider a redfish to be "big" unless it is over 15 lbs....Well, they are here now for the next couple months, this is the best time of year to catch a big, bull redfish!
Today I took one my my regular clients Ben Rush fishing for some big reds. He had landed a large fish with me about a month ago that was 37" long, a huge red by anyones standards, but I knew he wanted bigger!
We approached the fish, and Ben made a great cast and hooked up instantly. After a 20 minute battle, we landed huge red of 47" and 35lbs....What a monster!!!
Congrats Ben!
Yesterday I also had the chance to go scouting and do a little fishing myself. I poled onto the flat, looking for pushes, wakes, tails, or backs....anything to alert me to the presence of big redfish. It wasnt long before I spotted a tailer about 200 feet away, and I began to pole to it. Once in range, I tossed a small plug in front of it, and the water no sooner exploded. After several excellent runs, almost spooling me twice, I pulled him in the skiff.
This scenario will play out many times this month, as my clients will be targeting these fish for the remainder of fall.
Slot redfishing is not too bad either, with many smaller fish hugging shorelines, providing fly fisherman some of the best shots all year. The water will come up in the next couple weeks, allowing the fish to access shallower areas they couldnt get to before, and they will also switch to a crustacean bite as the bait run ends. Cooler, cleaner water will mean large schools and great opportunity's for good catches even on windy days and much harder fights as the fish take advantage of the higher oxygen levels in the cooler water.
Snook fishing will be good for the next few weeks as well, as the bait run continues! Lots of fish are holding in large groups around structure near the inlets and areas of high tidal flow. As fall progresses the water cools, the snook will start to move into the back country areas, some even into fresh water. This is another great area to target them, as they seem to become much more aggressive, making for some awesome top water action!
Fall is my favorite time to fish in this area....call me and lets make it your favorite as well!
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8/30 Mosquito Lagoon with Doug
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Today I fished it a gentlemen named Doug from Stuart Florida who was interested in getting a Hells Bay so he wanted to come check out my skiff, but we also had sightfishing some reds on our agenda.
As we approached the first flat, we were greeted with many single crawling fish milling around the flat. We poled along and got many shots and convinced a couple to eat.
As the heat starts to build, the fish leave the shallows and move into deeper water. We changed areas and started to work groups of fish that were holding in some deeper sand pockets. A few more came to the skiff, including one spectacular hook up on a 8 lb fish that we saw engulf the bait from 70 feet away, and we called it a day.
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8/12 Mosquito Lagoon with Ben Rush
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I had the pleasure of fishing with Ben Rush today, who told me he wanted to catch a big redfish, so thats what we did.
We approached the flat at first light, looking for the pack of sickle tails. Soon we spotted what we thought was a sea bird, but was actually a giant tail. We poled into casting range quietly, and Ben made a perfect cast in front of the group. Within seconds, he got inhaled, and the fight began.
After a few minutes and some long runs, we began to gain line. Soon we saw a copper shape emerge. As the fish made its last struggle, Ben turned him to me and I grabbed his tail. Bens first big redfish was in the boat, and it was a nice one at that.
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8/6 Mosquito Lagoon with John and Joey
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John and his brother Joey came down to Daytona on vacation from New Jersey. A day at the beach wasnt enough for these guys, they wanted to fish!
We approached the first flat to find it rather choppy, and a few reds scattered here and there. After a few good casts, these guys had 6 reds in the boat.
Joey struck first with a couple nice reds!
John wasnt to be outdone!
John with the big fish of the day, a 11lb over slot fish.
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8/3 Mosquito Lagoon with Josh and James
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Today was a great morning with Josh and his dad James. As we approached the first flat, we could see the backs of countless Redfish in water so shallow they could not tail, rather they were crawling around in 6 inches of water eating glass minnows. Josh is quite the angler for his age, and within 5 minutes of poling onto the first flat, he sightcasted to a nice red with a perfect shot. He was rewarded with a nice early morning slot fish.
Next up was James, and he soon followed suit with another nice fish. These fish were tough, and required perfect presentations just inches from their faces WITHOUT spooking them, and it was no big deal to these guys!
Josh was up again, and as the morning progressed and the sun continued to rise, the fish became less numerous and more weary. This was no problem for Josh, and after a few shots he was hooked up again!
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7/31 Mosquito Lagoon with Grady and Tom
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Today I had the pleasure of fishing with two trout fishermen from Jacksonville who had never fished Mosquito Lagoon. After a long run we poled onto the first flat to find a few fish tailing. Most of the fish are 3-8 lbs, but when they are in 6 inches of water they are fun no matter what the size. After landing a couple reds and a nice trout, we finished out the day on a small school of fish sightcasting a couple more.
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7/26 Flounder Gigging with Craig and Tracey
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Craig and Tracey Ramsey from Houston Tx called me and said they had never been flounder gigging and wanted to try it! Clean water and good tides gave us a great night with 6 fish in just a couple hours. For summer, this is great, usually gigging is a fall/winter activity. Thanks again guys!
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Captain
Billy Rotne
email: captbillyrotne@yahoo.com
phone: 386.290.9897
USCG Licened and Insured
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