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

October 25, 2022

So many thing since my last report! The core of Hurricane Ian moved over Volusia County a few weeks ago after making landfall in SW Florida. Here locally we saw winds 50-75 mph winds, some storm surge, and a punishing record rainfall. I measured 20” of rain at my house in New Smyrna Beach and the bucket was overflowing! Great news is I was back to fishing within a 4 days after it passed. Since the storm we’ve had a great bite on redfish and snook with some big tarpon still hanging around. Two days ago we just had really good cold snap that dropped into Central Florida. Water temps have dropped 10 degrees as we saw the first nights of 40’s. This will be sure to start a fall transition for fish to move back towards the shallow backwaters.

Over the next month we can expect to still be finding big bull redfish and snook closer to Ponce Inlet and New Smyrna Beach. I think we’ll even have some tarpon hanging around for a few weeks. In the Mosquito Lagoon area we should find redfish and snook on flats and shorelines. Black drum and speckled trout should be moving back up shallow. Water is pretty dark tannin stained, but clarity is improving since the storm and sight casting is an option. No days open for October…about a dozen days open in the early to mid part of November.

Almost every trip lately we’ve spent most of our time targeting bull redfish near Ponce Inlet. Catching has been pretty amazing. Double digit days of landed 40” redfish are possible. Time is really running out on targeting them though…Got about 3-4 more weeks then it’s time to switch things up as the weather lends itself to start targeting other things after Thanksgiving. In Mosquito Lagoon high water has the fish up on shorelines. Water is cleaning up since the storm but pretty tannin stained. Sightfishing is possible with lures and bait. Other times it posting up and swimming mullet around. As water levels drop out after this year we’ll start to see some schools of redfish forming. But with the rebound in grass flats this year in the Lagoon, maybe we’ll see a rebound to he classic fall tailing redfish set ups.

Snook fishing was just epic the last two months in areas near Ponce Inlet. We caught a bunch of 30-38” snook out of some huge schools of them. This recent cold snap should get them schooling a little and starting to move to warmer water in Mosquito Lagoon. They’ll be some in New Smyrna Beach and Ponce Inlet for another month or two. Snook are a blast on live bait or lures. As water continues to clear up, we’ll be sight casting snook all winter. Some days are 25+ a day boated.

Black Drum are gonna be rising on the target list as we get into these cooler months ahead. They move up onto shallow flats in Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River Lagoon in huge schools of hundreds of fish. We sight cast them primarily using live bait. My fly anglers also get them sending flies to them. Also start finding some absolute donkeys over 50lbs in slightly deeper water as we get towards winter months.

Haven’t been doing much for speckled trout fishing. Really won’t be targeting them specifically in the Mosquito Lagoon or Indian River Lagoon until late winter and spring. We catch fair numbers of them in the fall and winter when we are fishing for mixed bag fishing for redfish, trout, and snook around docks and shorelines with live bait and lures. When water levels really drop and it gets cold it will force them to the shallows of the Lagoons and we’ll catch some big ones posting up and swimming mullet around.

Nothing open for remainder of October. Have about a dozen dates open for November. Text message or call me at 386-212-4931 or 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.