Summer is in full swing on the Spacecoast. The big bull reds are schooling up to spawn, lots of fish in the 20-25lb range and a few over 40 lb have been landed recently. The trout continue to stalk bait pods on the edges of the bars and the topwater bite has been great in the early morning hours. Slot redfish are scattered on the flooded shorelines. The other big thing has been our summer run of tarpon, fish ranging from 80-150lb can be found on the beaches shadowing bait pods, weve also had good numbers of spanish mackerel, bonito & a few cobia while waiting for our shots at passing tarpon.
This year we had a warm winter and has fired the spring bite early. The trout bite has been insane the past few weeks, lots of fish over 20" biggest so far has been 9 1/2 lbs. caught by Earl Hammond from VA. We've also been getting good numbers of redfish. early they are tailing and as the sun gets higher were seeing fish cruising the flats and busting bait on the shorelines with half their backs out of the water. We are starting to see the big fish 20-40lbs on the dropoffs, we hooked a few over 20lbs this week but they pulled the hook. I suspect the BIG fish bite will be starting very soon The bite has been on fire the last few weeks. Unusually warm weather has the fish feeding throughout the day . Redfish are schooled up on the open flats and lots of singles are in the back bays tailing and cruising shorelines. The trout bite has also been hot with lots of big trout schooling up to spawn. Were still getting the occasional cold front which will slow the bite down for a day or 2 but as soon as the temps come up the fish are on the feed. The temps have remained warmer than normal and the fish have been on a good feed. They haven't gotten into there true winter patterns yet but will with the first cold fronts. Best flies have been clousers and seaducers . Spin fisherman have been doing w Fall temps have arrived , water levels have risen over the past few weeks, letting the slot reds into the back country covering flooding into the flats that previously were dry. Lots of shots at tailers and fish crawling down the shorelines with there backs out of the water. The large breeder redfish continue to be schooled up and ready have been testing anglers as of late. Fish over 25lb have been quite common with a few over the 40lb mark being landed latley. Congrats to Lorna M who landed her first red this week, a fat 38 inch red that weighed about 40lb. Summer is in full swing, lots of bait has flooded onto area flats and the fish are chewing. Early has been best as the fish can be tough in the heat of the day. The big redfish are still grouping up for the spawn and will continue through the fall. The past few weeks we've been seeing more and more tarpon in the river and lagoon. Most of these fish are in the 30-50 lb range. Today we jumped 3 and landed 1 about 30lb of a seaducer. The first hurricane came and went and water levels came up a lot. The redfish have been as far back as they can get 'crawling' down shorelines with backs out water, making great targets for the sight fishing. Recently more and more bait has moved in and the topwater bite has been awesome. Big trout and redfish are crashing topwaters early. Weve also had outstanding catches with redifish over 30lb the past few weeks. The water levels still remain low but the fish dont care and have been inhaling clousers & shrimp patterns. Big cudos to Jeff from Maryland who landed a 35-40 lb red this week on Fly !! BOOK NOW TO SEE THE LAST SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCH EVER FROM THE INDIAN RIVER AT OUR ISLAND PARTY !! Temps have risen on the spacecoast and the bite is hot as well, early the trout are crashing topwater and poppers. Slot redfish & black drum are both schooled up and cruising in singles & pairs on open water flats and shorelines. And of course the big redfish have started there pre-spawn groups and are in schools from 40 to 100+ fish. Most have been in the 15-30lb range, big clousers have been deadly. Tarpon are on the baitpods on deeper flats 4-6ft of water, in the midday weve been getting a few shots at laid-up fish. Recent visitors to the Mosquito Lagoon have experienced schools of redfish numbering in the hundreds tailing and roaming the flats throughout the day. Small shrimp, crab & baitfish patterns have been scoring well for fly anglers. Anglers throwing spinning gear are scoring well on 3-4inch soft plastics. Both fly and spin anglers are having shots at well over 100 fish day and double digit catches have been the norm as of late, the majority of which were sight fished in water less than a foot. As well and the redfish we've had quite a few black drum landed in the 8-12 lb range and as the temps warm up were getting more and more big fish on the drop offs. Famous fly tyer Jeffrey “Bear” Andrews joined me for a day on the lagoon and scored big with a fat 25lb lagoon red, The biggest landed on fly this year so far and Bear's his redfish ever. Warmer temps means a hot bite and it will only get better in the future. Offshore Port Canaveral the cobia and thick and fish in the 50+ lb range have been getting caught all over this week. If you want that Cobia on fly NOW IS THE TIME !! I Still have a few dates open in March & April so book now The cooler weather has moved in & water levels have dropped bringing the normal winter time patterns into effect. Redfish in schools of hundreds are cruising the open flats of mosquito lagoon & Indian river as well as schools of trout over 6lbs. These fish can be very finicky requiring a stealthy approach & perfect presentations to hook up, BUT the smaller groups and singles found in the potholes have been chewing anything they see. In my first day back we had over 10 fish on fly and another 8 on plastics. For the next few months expect the water clarity & levels to give the best sight fishing opportunities possible. Even in windy conditions the fish were easy to locate and the bite was great. |
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