Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Wind has been the dominant factor in our fishing for the past two weeks. Add in some clouds along with smoke from numerous fires and sight fishing has been nearly impossible on most days. The last two days, the winds have finally subsided but the clouds persist. On a positive note, the fish have been plentiful and bait is everywhere. As soon as the weather stabilizes, fishing should be as good as it gets.

Last week’s poor weather kept me off the water most days. We cancelled Monday’s trip due to wind. Wednesday, the forecast was for moderate winds but it blew 15-20 all day. The goal of my charter with Mike from North Carolina was to catch as many different types of fish as we could. Mike carves fish as a hobby and wanted photos of saltwater fish to use as a reference. We began the day looking for some small tarpon. Unfortunately, we did not find any. Our next stop produced a mangrove snapper and a toadfish. Spot three resulted in a flounder, a trout, and a nice redfish.

I had seminars Thursday and Saturday. Sunday, it was back to Mosquito Lagoon. From dawn until 8, I fished with Paul, the owner of Mosquito Creek Outdoors. I caught a redfish on a DOA Chughead/CAL combo and followed up with a trout on a Baitbuster. Paul had several bites on the Baitbuster as well but switched over to a greene back CAL and landed two nice trout.

We ran back to the ramp as the wind began to blow and I picked up Paul’s sister, Liz, and his son, Lee. We found several large schools of redfish on a shallow flat and Lee hooked up first.

A short while later, Liz had a redfish break off when another fish in the school hit the line. The next one made it to the boat for some photos and was her first ever redfish.

Thick clouds and the wind ruined our sight fishing so we decided to move out to some deeper water and blind cast for trout. After a couple moves, we found the hot spot and I spent the next hour unhooking one fish after the next. Liz used a DOA Deadly Combo and Lee threw various color 3 inch CAL tails. We caught too many to count but Lee had to take a break because his hand was tired from reeling in fish. Now that’s a good problem to have.Tuesday of this week, I had the pleasure of speaking to the Orlando Kayak Club. The following morning, I met Capt. Ron Presley in Cocoa Beach and we went in search of some early season tarpon. By mid morning, the winds were blowing over 20 and we did our best to hide in the canals. We found plenty of small tarpon as well as a few in the 20 pound range. We had a lot more strikes than we did hookups but I did land two tarpon using a holographic DOA shrimp. I switched over to the darker morning glory color and boated a snook as well.

Thursday was a fly fishing trip with Chad from Montana. It was a pleasant change to find slick calm water when we arrived. We never saw the sun all day but the water remained calm. We soon found ourselves surrounded by  dozens of schools of tailing and finning fish. It was a fly fisherman’s dream except for one thing. The fish would seem to let us get almost within Chad’s casting range and then they would take off. We would approach the next group and the same thing would happen. Each time, the fish were five feet farther than Chad could cast. This scenario went on for nearly five hours before we gave up on them. Chad is a long time fly fisherman but in his waters, there is rarely a need to cast over 30 feet. On this day, a 60-70 foot caster could have had double digit hookups. While travelling to our next stop, we came across a school of large reds tailing along the edge of a flat. As we got near, they dropped off into the deep water and vanished. I took Chad to the spot that produced the numerous trout last week and he used a clouser minnow and a 5wt rod to land ten small trout. It began to rain but we were determined to get a redfish on the fly. We tried one more spot and found some tailing singles. Chad finally hooked a redfish using a small black and chartreuse crab.

For the past two months, I have been diligently trying to fish in the No-Motor Zone with local angler Jim Rawnsley from the Oak Hill/Edgewater area, but windy conditions kept us off of the water until today.  Jim was the winner of the ISAA Raffle for the Captain Shawn Williams Family Charity charter I donated last spring, and I’m glad we waited.

The wind was light from the southwest as we polled out onto the flat, and we didn’t see any significant fish for the first few hours.  After covering a lot of ground and messing with small trout on top-water plugs, we located a nice school of redfish.  At first Jim made several nice top-water presentations, but the school lifted and began moving off.  At that point, we opted to leave them rest and catch us some bait and then return later.
 
As the day grew longer, the wind laid down even more, and on our return the redfish school was spread out across the flat happily tailing in every direction.   In addition to the redfish, there was also a good number of tailing black drum mixed in, which was an unexpected surprise.  For the next several hours we chunked cut bait, and Jim successfully land three over slot redfish with the larges being 43-inches.  The tails continued to pop-up everywhere, but a distant rumble of thunder sent us hightailing it back to the launch site as the rain set in.  Hopefully, this trip was a prelude to the summer and the wind has finally begun to subside, but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.
 
As always, if you need more information or have questions, please contact me.

Good luck and good fishing,

Captain Tom Van Horn
visit www.flyfishingfl.com guides page for contact info

My adventures this past week started last weekend when brothers Robby, Allen, and Dave Robertson joined me for a day on the water.  The trio has fished together for years in a number of locations, and I was honored have them aboard Three Quarter Time for a day of fishing. 

After studying the conditions and our options, I chose to launch early at Kennedy Point in Titusville to avoid encounters with tournament anglers fishing the Extreme Redfish Tour.  Of course, we faced strong west winds, so my first stop was on the west shoreline about a mile south of the ramp.  As the morning light began the wane and I polled in, the trio began working a Storm Chug Bug, three inch Rapala Skitterwalk, and a Mirodine, and the small sea trout and ladyfish were chewing.  The bite was consistent in three feet of water, but as I polled in shallow looking for redfish it shut down.

When exploring for fish on a flat, it is important to poll in a diagonal direction, crisscrossing from the deep edge in shallow and then back out again until you locate the depth the fish are holding at.  In this case, the action began to pick up once we returned to deeper water. Soon the west wind began to settle down, and I opted to give the east shore a shot, where we scored seven redfish and one respectable sea trout all caught on chunked ladyfish.

My next adventure was with repeat clients Don and April Christopher from the Jackson area as they celebrated their 33 wedding anniversary.  Two years ago we fished together and we scored several sizable fish, but this was not to be the case this time.  I spent the first several hours checking some of my favorite locations for big redfish, but the choppy conditions availed.  So we decided to target sea trout instead and the action was fast and furious.  The majority of the sea trout were dinks, but at one point we were seeing how many we could catch on consecutive cast, and the record was 8.  All together, at least fifty sea trout were caught, and the hot bait was a 3″ chartreuse RipTide Mullet on a ¼ ounce jig.  If you are interested in some real fun, fish anywhere along the west flat in the north Indian River Lagoon between the Carbide Flat and the Scottsmore ramp just off of the deep edge where the flat drops off into 2 to 3 feet of water. 

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

Good luck and good fishing,

Captain Tom Van Horn

Contact info - visit guides - www.flyfishingfl.com

Last week, I took a fishing holiday down to Biscayne Bay near Miami with friend and fellow guide, Capt. Keith Kalbfleisch. We had one day of nice weather but saw very few bonefish and only one permit. The next two days, we battled high winds and clouds. The bonefish were nowhere to be found but we did have some excellent action with the sharks catching them on fly and spin gear from 20 to over 100 pounds. We sight fished them in clear shallow water and they provided us with some spectacular drag creaming runs and jumps.The day after returning from the trip, it was back to Mosquito Lagoon with Jim and Mick from Britain. The father and son team began the day with a double hookup on redfish.

They caught several trout with the DOA Deadly Combo and landed two more redfish during our half day excursion.

Last Saturday, New Jersey residents John and Mike took their first trip to Mosquito Lagoon. We encountered multiple schools of spooky redfish and Mike was able to land one using a DOA CAL in watermelon seed color.

Mike used the same lure later in the day to fool a nice trout in an area with a mixture of sand and grass.

This Monday, British anglers Russell and David wanted to fly fish for reds. Our first stop was holding 8-10 schools. Russell landed his first redfish with a green and gold bendback fly.

Throughout the day, both anglers had shots at redfish but visibility was less than ideal. We had a few more follows and bites but landed none. Tuesday, I fished Mosquito Lagoon with Brian and Ben. We began the day fishing schools of both redfish and black drum. In several hours, Brain had a redfish, trout, drum slam and Ben had caught both redfish and drum. They had consistent shots at tailing redfish and large trout throughout the day. Several fish came unhooked before reaching the boat with the final tally reading nine drum, four redfish and two trout.

Thursday, fly anglers Jim and Jack battled high winds and clouds throughout the day. We had a couple shots at schools of redfish but most of the day we encountered singles that were nearly under the boat before we saw them. The guys stuck with the fly despite the tough conditions but never got connected to a fish. Friday, local angler Kevin and his twelve year old son Bradley joined me on another cloudy and windy day. We had a slow start, but Bradley was finally able to land his first redfish.

Dad landed a second red and the two also caught several trout during the day. This Saturday, Steve and Rob had an excellent start to the day. We began by throwing melonback DOA CAL’s in an area that has been holding fish. Steve connect with a redfish and a few minutes later they had a double hookup with a 28 inch trout and another redfish.

A few more trout and another redfish were caught before the action slowed including this one at 24 inches.

As had been the case much of the week, clouds and high winds made sight fishing conditions tough. No more fish were landed but the pair had fun trying and learned some new fishing techniques to take home with them.

The Sound AdvantageGame fish locate food by sight, smell, and sound. When presenting artificial lures to fish, we are usually relying on the sight of the lure to attract their attention. Adding the element of sound to your soft plastics can help attract fish that may not have seen your lure. This could be due to low light, murky water, or an errant cast. Whatever the case, sound help the fish locate, and then see, your offering. The trout pictured above, were all caught on 5.5 inch DOA CAL lures with a Woodies Rattle inserted near the tail. I have found that a soft plastic with a rattle will usually draw more strikes than one without. On numerous occasions, I have watched fish turn around and eat a lure that was cast behind them that they would never had seen if the rattle had not drawn their attention. Try adding some to your soft plastics next time you fish.

FishStock 2008The annual event will be held Memorial Day Weekend May 24 &25 at Riverside Park in New Smyrna Beach. In addition to vendors, boats, and a tournament, there will be seminars from various local guides. I will be speaking about how to catch tarpon in east central Florida at 1 pm both Saturday and Sunday. Visit the FishStock website for more information.

Wind KnotsNot using braided line for flats fishing is like not having the Internet, you can get by without it but you don’t know what you’re missing. Braid has superior casting ability, resists twisting, and is much more abrasion resistant than monofilament. A common complaint is that braided line gets “wind knots”. These frustrating tangles can get expensive and often cause anglers to dislike braided line. Some anglers get knots constantly while others rarely do. For example, young angler Bradley, pictured above, cast continuously the entire day in a 15-20 mph wind. He did not get one knot the entire day. Other anglers, however, have problems with knots on calm days. While we would like to blame the knots on the wind or bad line, the simple facts are the knots are all caused by angler error.

There are two simple things you can do that will eliminate nearly all knots in braided line. First, learn to close the bail with your hand. Flipping it closed by turning the handle will lead to problems before the day is through. Second, always reel in the line under tension. Reeling up slack line can cause it to jump off the spool all at once on the next cast. Windy conditions can make slack line more difficult to control especially when casting directly into the wind thus the term, “wind knot”. The lighter the lure you use the more careful you need to be.

Visit www.flyfishingfl.com guides page for contact info

As the days grow longer, angling enthusiasts along Florida’s Space Coast take pleasure in spending their afternoons after work relaxing on the water.  Warming coastal waters draw streams of baitfish north followed by warm water predators, as our prevailing easterly winds give way to summers genially shifting sea breezes.

Offshore, dolphin fishing will be the focus of blue water anglers this month. April and May are the time of year when the larger bulls are taken off the Florida Space Coast.  The early season dolphin bite has already yielded fish in excess of 60 pounds.  Also, as a bonus, the potential of taking a blue marlin or sailfish are good. Near-shore, the kingfish bite has heated up on the near-shore reefs and wrecks and some cobia are around. As the seas settle down and the bait schools move in close to the beach, look for the kingfish action to move in also.

Spanish mackerel, snook, redfish, jack crevalle, bluefish, flounder, sheepshead and black drum are just some of the species available in the Lagoon inlets and beaches this month.  As the baitfish migration moves north, this type of fishing will only get better. 

Inshore, the bait pods, Atlantic menhaden (pogies), have shown up along the beach, and now is the best time to target the ocean predator shadowing these schools.  It’s not uncommon to catch large redfish, large jack crevalle, blacktip sharks, cobia, and tarpon from within these pods of bait. To locate bait pods, simply look for feeding birds, flipping and jumping bait, muddy water along the beach, and busting fish.

On the Lagoon flats, redfish and spotted sea trout will provide the majority of action for light tackle and fly anglers.  The water has warmed up to the point where jack crevalle, ladyfish, snook, and tarpon are showing up in good numbers.  I like to target redfish and sea trout at first light or at dusk, with top water plugs like the High Roller Florida Special, Rapala Skitterwalk, or Storm Chug Bug.  As the day heats up, change your focus to the deeper edges of the flats (2 to 3 feet deep) jigging with a RipTide 4” mullet on a ¼ ounce RipTide Screw Jig.
As always, if you have any questions or need more information, please contact me.

Good luck and good fishing,

Captain Tom Van Horn
Contact Info - See guide section at FlyFishingFL.com

This week, I was joined on Tuesday by Joe and his two sons. We saw a lot of redfish but most of the fish never saw the lures. After striking out with the reds, we tried trout fishing for a while but only landed four. The last hour was spent casting to some more redfish but the guys were blanked again.

Wednesday, honeymooners Rusty and Becky joined me for a day of some poor weather but great fishing. We began the morning trying to catch some early season tarpon. We saw a few but did not get a bite. The rest of the morning, we endured some extremely high winds but managed to land nine drum and two redfish. Becky shows off her first drum while Rusty is busy fighting one of his own.

Thursday, Wayne, a central Florida resident, treated British angler Shawn to his first trip to Mosquito Lagoon. Shawn landed the first two redfish of the day and then hooked up with a nice trout on a 4 inch DOA CAL in Arkansas Glow.

The guys hooked up with three more trout even larger but each one managed to throw the hook before we landed them. We saw hundreds of redfish throughout the day but they refused to eat unless the presentation was perfect. Wayne finally fooled this redfish that was following a large stingray.

Friday, I went searching for tarpon and snook. I found plenty of both. The tarpon were a bit smaller than I had hoped for but most of the snook I saw were much larger than I expected. The tarpon, which are notoriously finicky, were feeding well. Using a 3 inch DOA holographic shrimp, I jumped five and landed three. I had bites from more than a dozen others that did not get hooked. On the other hand, many of the snook showed little interest in eating. I caught two, missed a few other bites, and had one in the 15-20 pound range weave my line through a maze of tree branches before breaking off. All of the bites came on the holographic shrimp.

Contact Info - http://www.flyfishingfl.com/fly-fishing-guides.html

Compliments of Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka Florida

First, let me apologize for the tardiness of this report.  This past weekend I was off of the water attending the Coastal Angler Magazine Fishing and Boating Expo in Melbourne, Florida.   Although the weather was nice, we still had great turnout, great speakers, and a great show.  Yes, nice weather on the same weekend of a fishing show typically draws attendees away, but in this case, our attendance was good. We also conducted another Hook Kids on Fishing event on Saturday, which was a ton of fun and a tremendous success.

My adventures last week started out with the pleasure of sharing a three-day charter with father and son team Rico Panilo and Rico Jr. from New Jersey.  Our plan was to mix it up a bit by targeting a different style of fishing each day. 

On our first day we launched out of Kennedy Point in Titusville for some sight fishing for redfish and sea trout, and the catching was tough.  We had some shots at tailing redfish early out, but after a hard day of fishing we ended up with a good number of ladyfish and small sea trout.  The schools of ladyfish have moved into the north IRL and they are working schools of glass minnows under terns and seagulls.

On our next day we opted to fish near-shore out of Port Canaveral in search of tripletail and cobia, and again we had a tough day managing only one tripletail, a spadefish, one flounder, and a sheepshead. 

On day three we ventured into the freshwater arena targeting schooling bass on the St Johns River near Lake Harney and again the fish weren’t jumping into the boat, but Rico Jr. did manage some decent size largemouth bass and a 5 pound southern flounder of all things caught on a live menhaden.  Oh by the way, we ended up taking the flounder to lunch at the Jolly Gator Fish Camp, where the nice folks whipped up some tasty blackened flounder sandwiches, yum. 

On Monday I guided a group of three into the Banana River No-Motor Zone where we caught a good number of sea trout and ladyfish on top water plugs.  The bite was fast and furious at first light with our best results coming from Storm Chug Bugs and Rapala Skitterwalks fished in 2 to 3 feet of water. As the day grew longer and the wind picked up, we decided to chunk out a few ladyfish, and managed a 36-inch and a 47-inch redfish.  The larger redfish was 47-inches long with a girth of 28-inches, and using the standard fish weight calculator measured out to be 46.06 pounds

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

Good luck and good fishing,

Captain Tom Van Horn

Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters
Contact Info - http://www.flyfishingfl.com/fly-fishing-guides.html

Reflecting back on past fishing adventures, April stand out as one of the finest months to experience the true diversity of the fishery existing along the Indian River Lagoon coast of Florida.  April serves as a transitional period where the winds of March give way to the heat and humidity of summer.  As spring progresses and water temperatures rise, fishing opportunities abound with the influx of bait moving north within the lagoon and closer to the shoreline along the beaches. 

April marks the beginning of the fishing season for many blue water anglers, representing the start of the northern migration of dolphin in deeper water, 120’ and beyond. This first wave of dolphin is usually credited with some of the largest bulls taken all year.  It also marks the beginning of the spring kingfish run on the near-shore reefs and wrecks off of Port Canaveral.  Traditionally, April is the time of year when the larger kingfish, 30 to 50 pounds, are caught off of 8A Reef, and Pelican Flats.

As we move into the near-shore waters, we can only hope the cobia are still around.  The cobia run was going on last month with some great catches reported in between passing fronts. On flotsam and along the Canaveral buoy line, tripletail should become more dependable throughout the month.  Along the beaches, pods of Atlantic menhaden (pogies) have been showing up south of the Cocoa Beach Pier, and the arrival of these bait pods is a sure sign of predators lurking in their shadows.  Look for tarpon, jumbo redfish and jack crevalle, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, blacktip sharks, cobia, and smoker kingfish to begin showing up in the vicinity of these bait pods.

Inside Port Canaveral and Sebastian Inlet, look for a good number of sheepshead and black drum to be holding around structure such as jetties and docks and look for Spanish mackerel, bluefish, and jack crevalle in deeper water areas.  Also look for nighttime snook and tarpon action to begin heating up in both the Port and in Sebastian Inlet as we move deeper into the month.

On the Lagoon flats, it’s time to start fishing the early morning and late evening bite with your favorite top water plugs for extreme sea trout and redfish action.  During midday periods, work the deeper areas, 2 to 3 feet, with your favorite soft plastics, jerk baits, or jigs.  Remember, April is one of the months where the larger sea trout (all females) become egg laden for the spawn, so it’s very important to handle and release these larger fish with extreme care.  Sea trout have one of the highest mortality rates of catch and release game fish on the Lagoon.

Last but not least, look for the large mouth bass action to heat up on the St. Johns River.  Look for schooling bass at first light feeding on menhaden from the Osteen Bridge to the Econ Creek.  Some of my favorite places to look are the river bends between Lemmon Bluff and Lake Harney, and the south end of Lake Harney where the river dumps in.  To locate the areas of schooling fish, I simply look for congregations of white pelicans and other wading birds lined up along the riverbanks waiting for an easy meal when the hungry bass push the bait to the surface along the shore.  When in the feeding mood, these fish will eat just about anything, but the heavy bite usually only last from first light to the point where the sun crosses the eastern horizon, so an early start is essential. 

Seminars and Events

April 18^th, 19^th, 20^th, Coastal Angler Magazine Boating and Fishing Expo, Melbourne, Florida, Angler’s Improvement Clinics Sponsored by Mosquito Creek Outdoors, RipTide Soft Plastics, Woodie’s Rattles, TTI-Blakemore Fishing Group, and D.O.A. Lures

Future Hook Kids on Fishing! Program Dates

April 19 - Melbourne: To register contact the Melbourne Leisure Services 321-255-4608.

As always, if you have any questions or need more information, please contact me.Good luck and good fishing,

Captain Tom Van Horn

Mosquito Coast Fishing Charter

Contact Info

Wednesday, it was a bit warmer but the winds were still howling. It did not look like a good start for my two day charter with Dan, a fly angler from New Jersey . Dan is a certified casting instructor and elected to stick with the fly despite the challenging conditions. His excellent casting skills paid off and he landed his first two redfish on the fly. The first came on a tan and gold bendback, the second on a black crab pattern. Dan also had shots at some big trout that did not eat and had a few more redfish bite.

 The next day, Dan and I arrived to find slick calm water and mild temperatures. Our first stop was holding several schools of finning redfish. After casting several different flies to the schools with no bites, Dan finally hooked up on the first redfish of the day with an EP pinfish pattern.

Although the weather during the first week of April has been sunny, windy conditions have prevailed and the catching has been tough.   I have experienced some very enjoyable adventures this past week spending quality time with great clients and good friends, but the catching for the most part was challenging.

My week started on the 4^th where I had the privilege of spending a day on the No-Motor Zone with an outstanding lineup of notable outdoor journalist and veteran lagoon anglers.  The group consisted of three specially rigged NMZ canoes, with Captain Rodney Smith and Paul Macinnis in one boat, Aaron and Fred Wicks of Kaynoe Paddle products in the second boat, and myself and Rusty Chinnis in the third.

While catching fish was our primary objective, Rusty was working on a future article, and I was interested in putting my newly modified Indian River Canoe to the test.  Several months back, I was approached by the good folks at Kaynoe Paddle Products (www.kaynoe.com) in Orlando, Florida to test out their new canoe and kayak stabilizer system and casting and poling decks, and I must say I’m highly impressed.  The light weight system can be modified to fit most any canoe or kayak, and it can be retracted when paddling from spot to spot, and then deployed when you are ready to standup and fish.  Notwithstanding the extremely rough conditions we experienced on Friday the Kaynoe Stabilizer passed with flying colors.

Besides the Kaynoe Stabilizer, I was also eager to check out my new SAS Stick, invented by George Waters (www.eastwatersdesign.com).  The SAS Stick, Stealth Anchoring System, clamps to the side of your boat allowing you the manually stake it out with very little effort.  Both of these innovations will be on display at the New Products Showcase at the Coastal Angler Magazine Boating and Fishing Expo at the Melbourne Auditorium, April 18^th, 19^th, and 20^th.