Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report, May 14, 2007
Complements of Mosquito Creek Outdoors, Apopka Florida
Has anyone bothered to enlighten Mother Nature on the premise that we are approaching the middle of May, because she seems to be a little confused? Like April, blustery breezes have dominated the weather this past week, and by the looks of the long-range forecast, we haven’t seen the end of nasty weather conditions yet. First, we had sub-tropical storm Andrea settle in on us Monday, with gale force winds and seas offshore up to 16 feet, and now a back door front has delivered some well-needed rain followed up by east winds up to 30 knots. Although this report is starting off on an ominous note, I did manage a few nice days of fishing in between systems, and it looks like Wednesday might be fishable as well.
My week started out great on Sunday the May 6th with perfect conditions, and I was privileged to have Mark and his son Matt onboard Three Quarter Time for a day of inshore fishing on the Indian River Lagoon. Both Mark and Matt have fished freshwater, but this was their first experience on the saltwater flats of the IRL, and the thought of redfish occupied their minds.
As usual, I arriver early around 5:30am and launched in Titusville, and instead of hanging around and blocking a busy ramp, I eased out into the Lagoon and tossed out a Chug Bug. Well believe or not, the fish were busting baitfish on the surface in the darkness, and I ended up landed three spotted sea trout and a gafftopsail catfish before returning to the dock to pick up Mark and Matt. Once we returned the previous location, both Mark and Matt experienced numerous strikes, but neither managed a solid hook-up. The bite quickly shouts down once the Sunday morning boat traffic picked up, so we moved on.
Our next stop was a flat on the east shore of the Lagoon, and again the ladyfish and sea trout were all over the Rip Roller and Chug Bug plugs. As we pushed deeper into the flat, I received a phone call from my good friend Mike Bridges, who was calling us in on several schools of nice redfish. Over the years, I have developed many great friendships with anglers on the Lagoon who are of the mind-set I refer to as the abundance mentality. We are all out there for the same reasons, and together we share information and catch more fish, which is what these fishing reports are all about, and in this case Mike made it easer for me to facilitate the desire of my clients, and yes Mike, we greatly appreciate your benevolence. As we poled up on Mike’s position, we started spotting tails, and both Mark and Matt scored handsome redfish with Matt catching the largest at 34-inches.
For the remainder of the week, dangerous conditions were experienced on the water, and I was forced to either postpone or cancel the remainder of my week’s charters.
On Friday, I loaded up my pick-up with three Freedom Hawk Kayaks, and it was off to Jacksonville to attend the Forth Annual Jacksonville Kayak Fishing Classic Tournament. The Classic is a catch, photograph, and release paddle fishing event organized and promoted by the Internet forum www.jaxkayakfishing.com, with all proceeds benefit the Daniel Foundation. This event is the largest CPR kayak-fishing tournament in the world and it included 282 registered anglers and over 60,000 in prizes. Although I didn’t make the board or win one of the 17 kayaks awarded, I have to admit this was the most fun I have ever experienced at any tournament, and some of the friendliest anglers I’ve had the honor to fish with, and I would like to thank Mike and Michelle Kogan and all of the other outstanding volunteers and sponsors who made the event such a great success.
John and Jeff Cameron from Freedom Hawk Kayaks in Michigan and I established Team Freedom Hawk, and although we have never fished in the Jacksonville area, the excellent weather and some great tips from other anglers set the stage for some assume fishing and a great angling experience.
As always, if you have any question or need more information, please contact me.
Good Luck and good fishing,
Captain Tom Van Horn
