The flats fishing so far in the month of February has been like the weather, hot and cold. The month started off with a spectacular fly fishing trip in the No Motor Zone with Captains Tom Van Horn and John Kumiski. The weather near Cocoa Beach was perfect with no wind and pleasant temperatures as we set out in search of black drum and redfish. We found the black drum tailing on the flats after a short paddle and all three of us hooked up with flies. John's pulled but Tom and I both landed our first black drum on dark colored clouser minnows. Both fish were between 25 and 30 lbs. I tried the fly on several more tailing fish and was met with multiple refusals so I switched to a plastic crab. It didn't let me down and I scored a black drum and redfish both over 30 lbs. These fish were hooked within 15 feet of me while sight casting the crab. Right as Capt. Tom snapped the photo of the redfish, the fish decided to bite down on my thumb which resulted in the pained look on my face. Capt. John caught several redfish on the fly including a 30lb plus monster on a 5wt and Capt. Tom also scored a few more fish. Truly a spectacular day of flats fishing. The next day. I found some large redfish on the flats of the Indian River which were not as cooperative as the Banana River fish. I made several casts to them and they completely ignored my baits. The fish moved on and the wind kicked up making conditions less than pleasant. I moved over to the St. John's River and fished in the Marina Isle area for shad. The full shad run is still not on and I only managed two shad a two large specs on tiny terroreyz. This past week, I was back on the flats of Mosquito Lagoon. Monday, I found quite a few large trout which were very spooky and slow to feed. I caught two on a DOA shrimp along with several redfish before moving on. I removed the standard hook from the DOA shrimp and put the bait on a circle hook. This technique allowed the bait to work weedless and prevents the fish from being hooked deep in the mouth. In my second spot. I caught a couple more redfish on the circle hooked DOA shrimp and then switched to a bendback fly and went 3 for 4 on redfish. Thursday, the wind was again howling on the open Mosquito Lagoon Flats so I ran all the way to Oak Hill to fish the back country and try to avoid the wind. The fish were plentiful and feeding. I caught 13 redfish from several different schools with seven of them falling to a small tan crab fly. The rest of the fish were caught on the DOA shrimp or Capt. Joe's shredders. Despite the cold and wind, the fish seemed more than willing to cooperate. Friday, however, was another story. I returned to the same spot with a partner. The fish seemed to have vanished overnight and the amount of boats tripled. We rode all the way down to the south end of Mosquito Lagoon to look for the trout I had found earlier in the week. Upon arriving, we found the water had gone down so low, we could not get into the spot. I poled around searching more signs of life. We came across several redfish that totally ignored our baits. I am not sure if it was the result of the full moon or prolonged cold water, but every fish we found was sluggish and refused to feed. After much effort, we landed one redfish but that was it for the entire day. The cold weather this weekend will not do much to improve the flats fishing for the beginning of the week but the forecast is showing temperatures in the mid to upper 70's later in the week. This warm up should wake up the fish and trigger them to eat. |
| Central Florida Sight Fishing Charters Mosquito Lagoon Flats Fishing Charters Light Tackle and Fly Fishing Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River February 12. 2006 |
| You have reached an archived flats fishing report for Mosquito Lagoon and the flats of east central Florida. You can visit my Mosquito Lagoon Flats Fishing Report for the latest conditions. I offer guided light tackle and fly fishing charters in Mosquito Lagoon for redfish, seatrout, tarpon, and drum. Fishing here in Florida is excellent all year long, there is no "best season". If you are looking for a flats fishing charter near Orlando, Cocoa Beach or Daytona Beach, visit my Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Guide page. I can also be contacted at 321-229-2848. |
| Your Mosquito Lagoon Flats Fishing Guide Capt. Chris Myers 321-229-2848 |