Report...August 9, 2007

It’s August, and the dog days of summer are upon us!

July was an up and down month for fishing here in East-Central Florida, but August is off to a tremendous start! There’s a ton of fish here and on the move. Tarpon are everywhere, GIANT redfish on schooling up for their annual spawn cycle, trout are on the move at first light, slot reds are tailing like crazing in the backcountry. Instead of a break down this month of fish, I’ll give a recap and what to expect for certain areas.

Ponce Inlet and New Smyrna Beach

This is the peak time of the year for fishing these tidal areas, and there's a great reason for it. Nearly everyday I can guarantee you chances at tarpon, redfish, snook and trout. Not to mention the flounder, grouper, sharks, and mangrove snappers we are getting here and there. If conditions are right, I’m able to slip out Ponce Inlet in my skiff and run the nearshore waters looking for tarpon, kingfish, jacks, and sharks. Since most mornings are pretty calm and the ocean is flat, I’m ranging 20 or so miles up and down the coastline. It’s a great change of pace from the congested Lagoons, where everyone seems to be fishing this summer. Through the first week of August, we’ve jumped tarpon up to 125lbs, boated a few undersized grouper, caught some 5lb+ flounder, broke off a couple 20lb snook, and caught a few spinner and black tip sharks. And I didn’t mention the trout, slot reds, underslot snook, and juvie tarpon we’re getting. The GIANT redfish are beginning to pack in the inlet so it’s safe to say this is one of the better areas to fish from now into October. We’re doing a lot of live bait fishing for most of the fish involved, but we are doing a fair share of sight fishing in this area too.

Mosquito Lagoon

The backcountry of the Mosquito Lagoon is a great bet right now for early morning redfish and trout. Many flats are holding hundreds of redfish from 5-12lbs and they are tailing, cruising shorelines, and busting bait all around us. It’s generally a short-lived bite, with the best action over by 10am. Most fish are coming on assorted soft plastics, topwater plugs, and flies. It’s probably been the best sight fishing in the local area with most mornings yielding enough chances to make everyone happy. GIANT redfish are schooled up and on the move as they prepare for their annual spawn cycle. While most schools consist of a majority of 15-20lb fish, there are some occassional fish traveling with them upwards of 40lbs. Like the Indian River Lagoon though, I won't spend lots of time fishing them, so they can spawn with as little pressure as possible. Speckled trout are also biting really well at fight light, but they are quickly exiting the shallow water after the sun gets up. There's a bunch of tarpon in the Lagoon, and we've jumped fish recently on fly, live bait and plugs.

Indian River Lagoon

There’s a lot of GIANT redfish schooled up on the flats, and there’s just as many boats fishing them. The sheer number of people pounding these schools on a daily basis is making for a tougher bite. These fish are schooling up for their annual spawn cycle, so I don’t and won’t spend a lot of time fishing them, so they can attempt to spawn as best they can without constant angling pressure. Quite frankly any guide in this area should feel the same way, sadly there’s a bunch that don’t seem to care. The IRL did help me set a new boat record this past week as I landed a 50” redfish that weighed 40+ pounds. There’s also a red hot trout bite in the early morning with live bait and topwater plugs. There’s a bunch of tarpon in the IRL right now, and that should get better and better as we get later into the fall.

That’s a brief update on what’s happening and what you can expect in and around the waters that I guide. Think about what you really want to catch and give me a call. I’ll be happy to put you on just about anything that swims in the local area, and I look forward to fishing with you soon. Look forward to fishing with you soon. 386-212-4931

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