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

March 17, 2022

Spring has arrived in Central Florida! We are in peak busy season again with lots of travelers in town for spring break vacations and Central Florida special events. It’s been an awesome start of fishing to the year…lots of redfish, snook, black drum and some speckled trout. We are doing a mix of sight casting on the flats in Mosquito Lagoon, blind casting in the creeks around New Smyrna Beach, live baiting around the docks throughout the intracoastal waterway…all of which means there’s something for everyone of all skills or abilities.

Special Note…I have no availability for March. I have three days remaining open in April. I have 14 days remaining open in May. Book as far in advance as possible!!!

Redfish has been our main target over the past month in Mosquito Lagoon with better numbers of redfish this year than the last few. Things are changing up in the Lagoon heading into mid-March though as the bigger schools have broken apart into singles and small pods. Most of these redfish are ranging 20-30 inches. We are targeting them mainly on live bait. Giant trophy redfish over 20 pounds are starting to congregate in bigger groups on the flats in the Indian River Lagoon and holes in the intracoastal waterway closer to Ponce Inlet. The big redfish are getting more active, but it’s long waits for just a couple bites …other things are really heating up so not spending much time if at all until we get closer to summer and the big reds start really firing good.

Snook fishing around the tidal areas of New Smyrna Beach and Ponce Inlet, even down into Mosquito Lagoon, is really ramping up over the past two weeks. Multiple trips lately with 10+ snook landed. Starting to see some better sizes as we get past winter and into the spring months. Most of the snook are 18-25 inches lately. We have a year round snook fishery now and it will be steady from now throughout the fall.

I’ve never seen so many black drum as we had the last couple months. Literally everywhere we went in Mosquito Lagoon had a big school of hundreds of 2 year old drum in the 18-22 inch range, which means they had a great spawn 2 yrs ago! As it’s warmed up most have moved off the flats and scattered into smaller pods. But we are still picking them up in the process of fishing for snook and redfish. Not much of a glamour species, but they pull hard on light tackle.

Not doing much to target speckled trout right now but they will change up once we get into late April, May and June. Those are historically the best times for a chance at a giant in the Mosquito Lagoon and upper end of the Indian River Lagoon. Those months are also the best time of year to catch a bunch of quality trout in the 18-24” range. Currently in Mosquito Lagoon most of the trout are up in the super shallow water chasing the early stages of the spring mullet run. Catching has been pretty limited to we’ll get back to them in a month or so.

Sorry, I have no dates remaining open in March. I have three open days available for April. I have 14 days left open in May. If you want to fish before the summer vacations start, you’re late on trying to book something, so don’t wait any longer! I take last second scheduling if time permits. Test me or call me at 386-212-4931 to 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.