Gamefish are on the flats and all along the backcountry

I think the roller coasters at the theme parks of Central Florida have hit our fishing in the Lagoons! Calm winds and tailing fish one day, windy the next. If you do hit a calmer day (5-8 mph winds or less) your bound to see redfish and black drum put on quite a show tailing so hard litterly half of the fishes body will be out of the water. A few days in the past 2 weeks I've been out on calmer days, you will see groups of 4-6 reds/black drum tailing away.

Jimmy and myself fished a local tournament last weekend and I knew exactaly where we were heading. I was a little concerned about the wind in the north end of Mosquito Lagoon but I've learned over the years to go with my first instinct. We headed south where I've been on tailing reds and sure enough when we arrived, not a boat in sight. As I moved towards the "hole" low and behold....tails everywhere I looked! After a half hour we were done. First red was a 31" oversize and all the tails waiving at us looked beautiful. Next fish 5 minutes later was a sweet 26 3/4 inch red...into the livewell.(catch and release) Within another 10 minutes Jimmy put another 26" in the boat. Done. 30 minutes of fishing and done! Got's to love that! We ended up being beat out getting 2nd place by less than 2 ounces.

This time of the year, SLOW DOWN YOUR PRESENTATION, PERIOD. Live shrimp or a finely placed Rip Tide artificial will get their attention. Trout are popping live finger mullet. Black drum are a bit spooky but will also take live or dead shrimp, even when they are on the move. Sheepshead are all over the backcountry eating cut clams and fiddler crabs with 6-7 pounders not uncommon.

One last thing, after this cold winter please try to practice catch and release. Mosquito Lagoon is a sport fishery and with all the fish kills as of late we need to really let these game fish make a recovery. It's not about keeping these fine fish. Your much better off going to a seafood market or your local grocery store to get some fresh fish as our future depends on this.

- Captain Jeff

www.ReelShallowCharters.net

Mosquito and Indian River Lagoon Fishing Charters