Fishing Report – El Dora (Mosquito Lagoon) 5-11-13

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: