Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report

[Captain Tom Van Horn]

Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report, May 9, 2006

 

Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters

 

In celebration of my birthday and my 25th wedding anniversary, my adventures this past week led me away from the water and into the streets of St. Augustine.. Although this short vacation drew me away from the water, I still managed to sneak away to squeeze in a few days of fishing.

 

On Wednesday, May 3rd, I celebrated my birthday, accompanied by my longtime friend Larry Peterson, with a day of fishing on the St. Johns River. You see Larry and I started celebrating our birthdays together 33 years ago, with a standing tradition of fishing during the day and partying at night.

 

Our day started as we launched before daylight at the Hwy 46 ramp south of Lake Haney. We first headed north to the mouth of the lake where we found several small pods of menhaden pushing up and down the shoreline shadowed by groups of small largemouth bass, and we ended up catching a dozen or so on top water plugs. After the morning bite slowed, we move upstream just south of the 46 Bridge, and found fish again holding along the steep banks. Both of us were throwing old standbys, Dalton Special, and Bango-Lure, and the bass were eager to play. Together we landed 32 largemouth bass up to three pounds. One important note, like all areas of Central Florida, the water levels were extremely low, so some caution is need when navigating south of Lake Harney.

 

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of fishing with my good friends Steve Chapman and Rodney Smith, and we started our day working jigs in the surf. Two day before our trip, Rodney fished the same area, and was successful in landing several snook up to 34-inches, a flounder, a redfish, a black drum, and several jacks. Although his success was noteworthy, the catching was not as good for us. The tide was low, and we ended up with only one sea trout each, with Steve’s being a nice 4 to 5 pound fish. We than moved to a small drainage creek, where we managed a large number of baby snook on fly and jigs.

 

Although I was off of the water most of the week, I did receive some good reports of large sea trout being taken on top-water plugs in the north Indian River Lagoon and the southern end of Mosquito Lagoon. The anglers I talked to, reported catching most of their fish working the larger plugs like the Top Dogs and Skitterwalks in the deeper areas of 3 to 4 feet. Also, I have good and bad news for you. The good news is the Max Brewer Bridge is scheduled reopening on May 15th, and the bad news is the FLW Redfish Tour will be back in town on the following weekend, May19th and 20th.

 

Offshore, good numbers of both kingfish and dolphin were reported between 95 to 150 feet of water, with some good weed lines present, but our typical May pattern of a hot bite one day and a slow bite the next is at hand. Also, many anglers are having difficulty catching live bait in the Port and along the beach this week, so be prepared to jig live bait off of the buoys and other hard bottom. In addition, there is another large tournament out of Port Canaveral this coming weekend, so please be patient and courteous when launching and fishing in these areas.

 

Last but not least, if the thought of fishing the lagoon with the FLW boys in town has you down, come visit me at the Coastal Angler Magazine Fishing and Boating Expo in Melbourne on May 19th, 29th, and 21st. I will be conducting a braided line clinic focusing on light tackle inshore applications and conducting seminars called New Tackle, New Applications. This event is a combination Boat Show and Tackle Show, with continuous seminars by prominent angling professionals, and the Get Kids Hooked On Fishing Clinic. For more information on the event, check out the following link: http://www.coastalanglermagazine.com/modul...ews&new_topic=8

 

As always, if you have any questions or need information, please contact me.

 

Good luck and good fishing,

 

Captain Tom Van Horn

www.irl-fishing.com

407-366-8085 office

407-416-1187 on the water

866-790-8081 toll free

[Dave Godwin]

Steve is away at the moment so is there any Roker showing yet?