Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report

[Captain Tom Van Horn]

Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report, May 29th, 2006

 

Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters

 

The heat is on, and I wish I could say the same for the catching last week on the Lagoon. Don’t get me wrong, every client who fished with me last week caught quality fish, but getting the fish to eat was tough to say the least. It wasn’t difficult locating schools of large redfish, but getting they to eat required several hours of poling and casting before we could find one without lockjaw.

 

My first charter was with Walt and Dwayne Simpson from the Homosassa area, and our mission was to target sea trout on top-water plugs. A few days earlier, the trout bite was hot, but as we approached the new moon, it had shut down considerable. We started out working a submerged island at first light, and between Dwayne and Walt, we managed a half a dozen slot size trout each on a red and white Papa Dog and chartreuse Chug Bug. The bite was slow for the remainder of the day, so we opted for the big fish, and ended up catching a nice 20-pound redfish before calling it a day.

 

 

 

On my next adventure I was once again honored to fish with repeat customers Kent and Brent Roberts, a father and son team from Orlando, and on this occasion, Kent’s sister Kim joined us with hopes of catching her first jumbo redfish in celebration of her birthday. I always love fishing with anglers like Kent, Brent, and Kim. They were so excited about catching fish; they couldn’t sleep, and they beat me to the launch at 5:15 in the morning.

 

I knew from the day before that the bite was going to be tough, and our first stop proved my thoughts true yielded no fish. The weather conditions were perfect, baitfish were everywhere, but I couldn’t locate the school. Next, we moved the sunken island where we found a decent trout bite earlier in the week, but still no fish. Finally, our persistence paid off when I located a school of large redfish in about four feet of water.

 

Although we had finally located the fish, they were swimming deep and hard to see. The school turned their noses to our offerings, but after an hour of shadowing them, Kim got her wish when she hooked and landed a nice 30-pound class redfish. Brent was next, followed by his father, and we ended the day with a double hook-up by Kent and his sister Kim. All in all, four redfish 25 to 30 pound class were caught and released, and Kim’s birthday wishes were granted.

 

 

Kent and Kim Roberts with a Hefty IRL Copper Queen

 

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

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[Steve Coppolo]

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