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

June 11, 2014

Summer has arrived in the Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River Lagoon, and around the New Smyrna Beach and Ponce Inlet area. Typically there’s no shortage of things to fish for...lately we’ve been catching loads of redfish and speckled trout in the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon. We’ve also seen a couple schools of black drum, fair numbers of juvenile tarpon from 10-50lbs, and several triple tail. Snook have scattered with the onset of summer, but there are some shorelines and docks in New Smyrna Beach that are still holding fair numbers. My charters are experiencing consistent catching using live bait...we’ve been averaging 5-10 redfish per day and 15-25 speckled trout. Folks wishing to throw lures and flies have had more of a challenge, but are also catching a few too. Only 5 days left open in June. July is a little more open with around 15 openings as of today, but with school now out, July will fill fast.

Trophy Speckled Trout fishing over the past month was nothing short of phenomenal. The Indian River was the place to be for a while, now the Mosquito Lagoon has kicked into high gear. It had to be the best trout fishing I’ve seen in the past 5 years. I say it every year, May is the month to go for a trophy trout and in the past 5 weeks we landed 16 trout over 28”, with the biggest being a 32” that was a little shy of 11lbs! That doesn’t count the dozens we landed in the 4-6lb range. It simply can’t get much better than that. Catching remains solid and consistent with most charters seeing 15-25 trout caught per day. Many are 15-20” keepers, with a few big ones mixed in. It won’t slow down either with the onset of summer conditions, the trout bite will last all day long on deeper edges and sloughs. Live bait like pigfish, croakers, and live mullet are a ticket for guaranteed success. We’ll also get bites on topwater plugs, crankbaits, and soft plastics.

Fishing for Redfish has been great early on shallow flats in the Mosquito Lagoon. When the sun gets up high and things warm up, the action has moved to deeper edges along creeks, sloughs, and sand areas. If the winds are light we’ve been finding good schools of trophy bull redfish in the 20-40lb range on deeper flats in the Indian River Lagoon. As the summer wears on we’ll start fishing the creeks and oyster areas near Ponce Inlet for redfish. Catching has been consistent. We’re averaging 5-10 redfish per day. We could catch more if we stayed on them all day instead of trying for other stuff.

We’re seeing loads of juvenile Tarpon in the Indian River Lagoon and a few places in the Mosquito Lagoon. These fish range from 10-50lbs. We’re also seeing big adult tarpon approaching 100lbs in the ICW around New Smyrna Beach and Ponce Inlet. As usual, Snook typically fan out far and wide once summer comes around. But on deeper shorelines we’re still finding some from 15-25”. Live shrimp, DOA shrimp and small paddle tail soft plastics all are working. There were decent numbers of Triple Tail that passed through the Lagoons during the past few weeks. We caught several up to 6lbs. Black drum showed up again lately and I’ve found a couple schools that have 50-100 fish in the 5-10lb range.

Only have 5 openings left late in June. Have around 15 days left open in July. Don’t wait till last minute, although I take short notice trips if I have the date open. Call 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…386-212-4931.