Sat. May 18, 2013

Weather: 68 deg. at launch, 85 at landing Mostly clear to partly cloudy later in the day

wind: light east winds, 8-10mph +/- at noon

Target Fish: Redfish, Trout

Fish caught: (2) Trout- short, (13-14)  Redfish -upper slot

I have been looking forward to Saturday all week. I had found a new fishing spot at the Lagoon that looked extremely promising and my feeling was that it was going to be an outstanding day! The weather was cooperating and we had a very light breeze out of the east. At times, early, the flats were like a sheet of glass.

I fished with my friend Rick Edwards this morning.  We paddled over a mile and a quarter to get to a big grass flat that turned out to be basically dead! It was really skinny and the sand holes were not clean….they had a skim of dead grass or some kind of fungus that is growing on the grass there, covering the bottom. We paddled all the way to the far end and it was all the same. The worst part was that there was no bait and we did not even jump a red in all our travels there.

We tried to access another large flat through a maze of mosquito ditches only to end up in a ditch that was choked with mangroves that prevented passage. We had to back track and find another way in. This small shallow creek had a deep hole in a bend that we netted  some finger mullet, pin fish, menhaden and a small bait that I could not ID.

We had to drag the boats over a sand bar to get into the big flat but it would turn out to be worth the effort! My fishing partner Rick had never fished grass flats like this so he was depending on me to put us on the fish.

That’s a Redfish tail in the upper left corner of the picture

After another quarter mile of paddling, I found them! A pocket of tailing Reds. There were no sand holes to fish to speak of, the fish were just rooting in the grass. I waved Rick over and we went to work. In short order I had a 20″ fish yak side but all the comotion put the school on edge and the tailing ended after another 15 minutes or so.

We moved on in search of more action. From my research for this trip, I knew there were some big sand holes on the other side of a big island from us and I headed us that direction.

The sun was high in the sky and the sandy locations were pretty easy to spot. It was probably 10:30 AM at that point.

We eased up to within casting distance and I lobbed a 4 1/2″ finger mullet into the middle of the hole. The next thing I know he is showing signs of wanting back out of the water……My line starts to come tight and I set the hook. My reel immediately started to give up line at a rapid rate and I had to jamb my paddle into the bottom to keep the big red from draging me into the hole we were fishing.

It was time to finally kick some redfish butt!

We were just finishing up taking pictures of my fish when a series of aggressive strikes in the sand hole grabbed our attention…..”THROUGH YOUR TOP WATER AT HIM RICKY!” If you have never seen an aggressive fish striking a top water lure you are missing out on one of the most exciting aspects of fishing that there is to experience. This red struck at the lure four times before he hooked up. Ricky’s rod strained under the pull of the big Redfish. The drag of his reel screamed for relief but It was only a matter of time for the fish. After a number of screaming runs he was finally brought to hand. You should have seen the smile on that fisherman!

The action went on like this for several hours.  We caught them on everything we had top water, suspending twitch, live bait and gulp shrimp. I think the gulp in new penny caught as many as anything.  I we caught three doubles!

It was getting close to 1:00 and it was about time to start our journey back. I told Rick, lets make one more cast. 3-4 seconds after casting I see Rick set the hook and his rod double over. About 2 seconds later my last pin fish gets hammered and the battle was on. What a way to top off a fantastic day on the water.

We caught 13-14 upper slot reds and 2 short trout. All of the fish except the small trout were really quality fish.

The morning started off really slow with a lot of paddling and no fish. By mid-morning Rick had pretty much lost faith and was ready to head for the hill. HE’S A TRUE BELIEVER NOW!

Those redfish haven’t seen the last of us!

Best of luck,

Larry S.

Here’s some photo’s from the trip.

May 11,2013

Weather; Overcast & windy, SW winds 10-12 mph at the lagoon

Fished 8:00-11.00 AM

Location: El Dora, New Smyrna Beach,  Florida

Catch: (8-10) Trout (short) &  (12-15) Ladyfish

I had visions of fishing the flats this morning at Mosquito Lagoon and catching some trout and redfish with my fishing partner Rich Edwards. Unfortunately, when we arrived at our launch spot on the east side of the lagoon, there was a stiff, cold west wind coming across the open water and the water surface was just before white capping. The skies were overcast and the whole situation looked very uninviting. We decided to put in a little north at El Dora where it was a little more protected from the gale.

The Sailflow wind forecast was for south winds of 2-4 mph but they missed the mark on that one.

Right off the bat we paddled up beside a couple manatees that were apparently unaware of our stealthy approach! Next thing I know all hell breaks loose and the whole surface of the water erupts…..water shoots 8′ in the air!  I scooted forward but notice another monster sea cow glide up under my yak. I held my breath and sat quietly hoping not to be noticed. The broad mossy back glided out from under my yak and slipped away….catastrophe averted.

We left the Manatees to to do their thing undisturbed in favor of catching some fish. We pushed across to a point in about 3 feet of water and spotted some striking fish chasing bait. We jumped on em’ and I hooked up a trout on the first strike with a 17MR. Rick was throwing a top water plug and hooked up immediately also. The action was pretty hot with a strike coming from almost every cast. Most of the action was ladyfish but there were some trout mixed in with them. The only problem was that they were a little short of making the slot.

We stayed with them for a while until the action started to slow and decided to head west in search of some better action.

We pulled over to a small cut and caught some finger mullet, mud minnows  and various other little bait fish.

From there we proceeded to drift some baits and do some blind casting. We picked up some more ladyfish but that was about it. Dolphins moved in on us looking for a hand out and ran off all the fish so we had to move on. We ended up back at the same point after a while but the action was pretty much over and we decided to call it a day.

On the paddle back We stopped to watch a group of manatees that were apparently breeding. They really put on a show, rolling around, tails coming out of the water and climbing on each other. I can’t remember ever seeing the normally  docile manatees being to active.

Well, that’s pretty much the report, an interesting trip and we caught some fish but just not quite what we were there for.

Larry S.

Here’s some photo’s from the adventure: