The weather the past couple weeks has been up and down with some high winds and some days of no wind. The fishing, like the weather, has been up and down with some great days, and some not so perfect days. The redfish, however are still schooled up and plentiful, The big seatrout have returned to the flats and are beginning to eat. The key to fishing has been to find the schools of mullet. They have been becoming more plentiful each week and the game fish are near the bait.During the last week of March, I fished several days. On Monday, I fished with my wife in the Melbourne area. Shortly after dawn, the winds were pushing twenty knots and the Indian River looked like a washing machine. We tried to salvage the day by hiding from the wind in Crane Creek and the Eau Gallie River. Using 3" CAL tails on jigheads and a rootbeer DOA shrimp, we caught a snapper, four small snook, and a bass.
Wednesday, I fished with George and Kyle. We started the day on some black drum but after a couple hours of effort, we could not get one of them to bite. We moved to some shallower flats and encountered several schools of redfish, some large seatrout, and quite a few tailing reds. George and Kyle both had strikes while throwing a 4" CAL tail in Arkansas Shiner but could not get the hook to stick for more than a couple seconds. A stiff wind in the afternoon made casting tough and we finished with only one trout to the boat.
The next day, my father and brother joined me for my brother's first trip to Mosquito Lagoon. Though he is a fishing novice, my brother managed to get a redfish and five trout to the boat and they had multiple shots at cruising reds throughout the day. All fish were caught on 4" CAL tails and DOA shrimp.
By Friday, the weather had turned sour and it was cool, cloudy, and windy when we began the day. Bernie and his son, Kevin, had hoped to get some shots at redfish. Although we saw a few schools of fish, the cloud cover made it almost impossible to see them until it was too late. The wind kept us from being able to keep up with the fish and we headed in early with only one trout caught.
The beginning of this week brought some improvement in the weather. Monday, I fished the Mosquito Lagoon with my friend Paul. We threw 5" CAL tails in green back color almost the entire day. Paul started off with a couple nice trout then it was my turn. I landed two redfish on the jerk bait and then a trout on a green baitfish pattern fly. We ended the day both having caught redfish and trout and landed eleven fish.
Tuesday, Jack and his son Curt, from Wisconsin, took their first trip to Mosquito Lagoon. They were both excellent fishermen and within ten minutes, Jack had the first trout of the day to the boat. Using a 4" DOA CAL tail in Arkansas glow with a Woodies rattle, the father and son team caught a total of ten redfish and trout on a beautiful spring day.
By Saturday, a cold front had moved through the area dropping both the water level and temperature. It will continue to remain cool through Monday and then climb steadily. Look for redfish to be tailing especially late in the day. They will take a well presented soft plastic bait but they may not see your lure while their head is in the grass. Cast past the tailing fish, bring your lure right in front of their nose and wait for them to raise their head. Give your bait the slightest twitch for an instant strike.
Capt. Chris Myers
Central Florida Sight Fishing Charters
http://www.floridafishinglessons.com
