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

July 17, 2015

Hard to believe how quickly summer is flying by. Kids will be going back to school in just over a month from now! June and July have been super busy and we’ve been catching a lot of fish. There has been a huge influx of tarpon that moved into the inshore waters during the past 2 weeks. In addition to tarpon, we’ve been catching dozens of trout each day to go along with several redfish. Everything is eating well with the big run of menhaden and mullet that have moved into the area. Provided we don’t have any major weather changes, things should stay pretty consistent till the end of August.

Gonna lead off with Tarpon because that’s been the biggest news lately. Very strong numbers of big adult fish have moved in through Ponce Inlet and pushed into New Smyrna Beach, Mosquito Lagoon, and North Indian River Lagoon. Most are in the 50-80 pound range. Haven’t seen this many around in a few years. The key is staying with their movements from day to day (and staying one step ahead of the people looking for them). This past week was great, with at least 2 fish hooked each morning we tried. I jumped one on fly tackle, the rest we got on lures. We got several great videos, maybe I’ll share after they’re gone for the year. The can move quite a bit from day to day, but if the weather stays consistent this should last till the end of August when they move back to the Atlantic Ocean.

The Redfish bite in the Mosquito Lagoon area has been pretty good lately. Super low water has the fish finning and waking on shallow grass flats near bait pods early in the morning before retreating to deeper holes when the sun gets high. We’ve been averaging 5-10 redfish each day. Pinfish, pigfish, shrimp and cut mullet have all been great producers. Topwater plugs, spoons, and jerk baits are working for lures. In the Indian River Lagoon it has been all about the big bull redfish getting ready to spawn the next two months. About the same average with 5-10 landed each day in the 20-40 pound range. Same baits are working and at times you can get them to eat a topwater plug.

In terms of fishing for Speckled Trout it’s been mostly smaller keeper size fish out on deeper edges. We’ve been catching 15-20 trout a day in the 12-22” range, with a few scattered big ones here and there over 5lbs. Had a good week during mid June where we caught a dozen fish in the 6-8 pound range. Maybe we just haven’t spent enough time targeting them with tarpon and big redfish biting well. Pigfish are the hot ticket for quality catching. Plugs and popping corks will get it done when throwing lures.

Picking up a Snook here and there lately but it’s they are so spread out it’s tough to predict or target. Can’t wait to see what this fall holds in terms of numbers of big slot fish. Still a couple big schools of Black Drum around as well in New Smyrna Beach and down in the Mosquito Lagoon. Don’t really put much time in them unless everything else is slow or we’ve got shrimp to burn for bait.

I’ve got 6 days left open in July. Only have about 12 days scheduled in August so I’ve got more flexibility on the calendar. I take last second scheduling if I have open days. Call me at 386-212-4931 or 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…