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

February 25, 2016

Getting closer to spring now! Will be a couple remaining cold fronts to come, but for the most part, winter is over. Water levels continue to remain high. The north half of Mosquito Lagoon to Ponce Inlet and Daytona has crystal clear water and excellent sight fishing. The southern half of Mosquito Lagoon and all of the Indian River, however, has poor clarity in the deeper basins from an algae bloom, but fair-good clarity on the shallow grass flats. There’s good and bad to that…the fish are still there, just harder to see. They are also a lot less spooky than the fish schooled up in the gin clear water. Lately it’s been a steady dose of redfish and speckled trout with a lot of successful catching. There’s also some black drum schools around in a few places. This is the peak travel time for tourists and my calendar is close to full through March, so don’t wait till last minute to schedule a trip!

Best fishing for Redfish has been in Mosquito Lagoon. The northern half of Mosquito Lagoon has really clean water all the way to Ponce Inlet and beyond. Sight fishing remains excellent with some big winter schools of redfish early in the morning in creeks, sloughs, and channels. The water has remained high so redfish are scattering on the flats later in the morning. Most of the fish are in the 4-10 pound range. Although I’ve found a big school of 10-15 pound redfish recently that had hundreds of fish. Live shrimp, mud minnows, and mullet are bringing a lot of fish to the boat. Spoons, lipless crankbaits, and soft plastics are producing when we throw lures. Baitfish flies are scoring for fly anglers. While there are big bull reds in the Indian River Lagoon they aren’t schooling in any big numbers just yet with reduced water clarity. Hopefully things improve soon so we can match what we did last March, April, and May when we averaged 10-15 redfish per day in the 20-40 pound range.

There are lots of big Speckled Trout over 4 pounds laid up on the shallow flats throughout the Mosquito Lagoon. And in deeper sloughs, creeks, and channel edges there are tons of smaller 10-20 inch trout. Free lining mullet and mud minnows is the best bet to score on good numbers of speckled trout. Suspending plugs and soft plastic jerk baits will score when throwing lures. Having said all that, we are the cusp of the best big trout fishing of the year in April and May. It’s historically our best time to catch one over 10 pounds and my calendar fills each year with anglers here for that purpose. Don’t wait!

Several schools of big black drum have now schooled up in the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon. Some of these fish are in the 20-30 pound range. Most of them are in the 5-15 pound range. They can be relatively easy to catch when you find them and provide some good pulling action. Shrimp and cut crab provide guaranteed success for these bottom feeders.

Unfortunately haven’t done much in terms of Snook fishing this winter. Some of my better deep winter holes are full of dirty water which makes sight casting impossible. And even knowing they are there, it’s difficult for them to see baits/lures so it’s been slow. Normally we average 20-30 a day this time of year, so any break in water clarity could turn things around quick.

March is nearly full, only 5 days left open. April is getting full as well, only 10 days left open. So hopefully you aren’t waiting till the last minute to get in on the spring time fishing. 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…