New Smyrna Beach Area - Indian River Lagoon - Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

November 10, 2021

Happy early Thanksgiving to everyone and safe travel for the holidays. Fall transition is underway here in New Smyrna Beach as colder weather has become more frequent. Everything is on the move. Big redfish have largely winded down for the year around Ponce Inlet, snook are moving to their winter hangouts in the backwaters, tarpon are migrating south. Everything is chasing the the last of the baitfish before winter gets here.

Was a phenomenal couple months again this fall for big snook near Ponce Inlet and New Smyrna Beach. We caught plenty during the daytime but had some great night trips as well. We boated a bunch of snook this year in the 32-36” range, and numerous others in the 25-32” range. Easily the best year for big snook fishing around New Smyrna that I’ve experienced. While there are plenty still around, they are beginning to make their way to the backwaters and Mosquito Lagoon where they will school up for the winter. We’ll still catch plenty throughout the winter, in fact it’s when we catch the most per day. As the water rapidly cools down we’ll have some great days of 20+ snook caught.

Also wrapping up another great summer and fall for big jumbo redfish. The numbers of fish didn’t show up at Ponce Inlet quite like they should have this year. But we still had several great trips with 10+ redfish landed over 20 pounds. We are still catching some as of today, but things are rapidly slowing down and I’ve largely stopped targeting them. Instead, we are shifting focus to the backwaters in Mosquito Lagoon to begin sight casting smaller redfish schooling in the shallows. Water temps will be dropping fast and clearing up, looking forward to seeing how many schools are around this winter.

There was a lot of big tarpon around New Smyrna Beach last week, but a recent hard cold front pushed many of them out the door and south for the winter. A coming cold front this weekend will likely end the tarpon action for year. Lures and live bait are both working pretty well on these bigger fish ranging from 50-100 pounds.

Haven’t spent any time targeting speckled trout in Mosquito Lagoon during the past 2 months. We did catch some nice ones though when targeting snook in deeper water. In fact, we landed the biggest one of the year at 10.5 pounds last month. Caught a few others over 5 pounds. These bigger trout should start to move up into the extreme shallows over the next couple months as the cold settles in. Live mullet will be a preferred bait of choice for trout. Casting soft plastic lures will also find success.

Text me or call me at 386-212-4931 or even send me an email to secure a date. Read my fishing charter page to view the top reasons why you should book your trip with me today. I look forward to fishing with you soon…

Got 4 days open for November and about 15 days open for December. The last two weeks of December are extremely busy with holiday travelers. January is also typically pretty busy every year as well. So don’t wait till the last minute. Text me or call me at 386-212-4931 or even send me an email to secure a date. Read my fishing charter page to view the top reasons why you should book your trip with me today. I look forward to fishing with you soon…