New Smyrna Beach Area - Indian River Lagoon - Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

November 13, 2018

The past month of fishing around Ponce Inlet, New Smyrna Beach and the northern part of Mosquito Lagoon was nothing short of awesome! The fall bait run of mullet moving south for the winter was extra thick. Redfish piled up by the hundreds to spawn…and since the bite was so good, that’s pretty much what we did every day and every trip. We did a little speckled trout fishing and took a few tries for snook, but the past month was really all about putting people on the redfish of a lifetime.

Fishing for Redfish at Ponce Inlet and in the ICW around New Smyrna Beach, Edgewater, and Oak Hill was where the peak action has been during the past 4-6 weeks. Redfish have been grouped up by the hundreds to spawn and it yielded a ridiculous amount of bites for my anglers. Almost every day brought 5-10 bull reds to the boat. There were also plenty of missed bites that could have pushed our totals even higher. Having the right bait was the key to success, as evidence by the numerous other boats not catching very well. But all good things must come to an end and with that spawn largely over and more frequent cold fronts, this week was about the end for us to target bull reds for the rest of the winter. The good news is we having also been finding good numbers of smaller redfish moving up onto shallow grass flats. There’s been steady tailing action which makes for great sight casting. And this will continue through the end of the year.

As the cold fronts continue to become more frequent and water temps drop, snook are going to pile up in their winter holes near Ponce Inlet and Titusville. They are obviously on the move to these areas because we aren’t catching them anywhere else we would during the summer. Winter is my favorite time of the year to target snook because of the sheer numbers we can catch each day. When the wind blows hard, we can often take shelter in some of these protected areas and still have productive days catching good numbers of fish.

Speckled trout fishing in Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River Lagoon will fill out options for the rest of the year. With good numbers of mullet moving through the area we’ll find trout congregated around large areas of bait fish. Free-lining live mullet or working soft plastics and plugs will produce trout from 4-10 pounds as they fatten up for the winter months when they get more lethargic. In deeper areas popping corks with live shrimp will produce solid numbers of small keeper size trout.

Tarpon fishing is largely done from now until spring. We can still find some small baby ones on long stretches of warm weather, but it’s inconsistent at best.

Ony a couple days left open this month and December dates are really starting to fill quick.  The holidays are super busy for me so don’t wait till last minute. I take last second scheduling if I have open days. Call me at 386-212-4931 or email to secure a date. Read my fishing charter page to view the top reasons why you should book your trip with me today. I look forward to fishing with you soon…