Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Lagoon June 2014

For fishing the mosquito lagoon & the indian river lagoon during the month of June; consistent weather patterns have finally settled in with warm temperatures  through the day, mild to light winds, and of coarse afternoon thunderstorms. With these patterns in place the fishing can be a bit more predictable. Targeting flats and edges with lots of mullet activity is crucial to finding good numbers of fish this time of the year. Starting the morning around the mullet schools throwing top water plugs can be very effective for red fish and trout unless there is a lot of floating grass present. The alternative for me has been either a DOA Lures Air Head rigged weedless on a 5/0 Owner Twist lock hook or DOA Lures 5.5" shad on an Owner 4/0 rigged weedless on an unweighted hook worked up on the surface or a slow pause to let it drop a bit but keeping it up will get you the surface strikes. For the live bait anglers I've been using live finger mullet,  pin fish, or cut mullet or lady fish around the mullet schools and sand holes.There has been no sign of an algae bloom yet this summer so the water clarity has been excellent making sight fishing late morning and early afternoon excellent.  A variety of artificial lures imitating small bait fish, finger mullet, and pin fish from soft plastics to Aqua Dream Spoons have been working great when sight fishing. Fly clients have been getting great responses from red fish and trout using Puglisi pin fish patterns for the cruising and laid up fish and shrimp and crab imitations for the shoreline and tailing red fish.Mike from NY  was the first trip for the month of June. Mike is fortunate to be able to travel and fish all over the world and this would be his first Mosquito Lagoon and red fish experience. We struggled with cloud cover all day but lucky enough we had shots at tailing reds early on shorelines and within minutes of the trip Mike was hooked up to his first red fish ever.

At one point we had trouble deciding on which fish to throw too. Between red fish Mike landed a nice flounder and a lady fish. But before long Mike had fed a nice red fish tailing in some shallow grass. We finished the day with plenty of shots without anymore hook ups.

Zach from GA joined me to target his first red fish on fly. He has tried before with no success so he decided to hire me to give it a shot. Although these fish are not big we did accomplish his goal with a first red fish on fly.

We found a school of red fish with about 75-100 fish in the group. Zach had some good shots into the school multiple times getting these fish charging the fly chomping then turning away. I said lets put the fly rod down and catch one real quick on a spinning rod throwing a DOA paddle tail just to relieve a little pressure.

After landing one on the spinning rod really quick I snatched it from him and told him to grab the fly rod again. Same thing good shots with fish charging and missing the fly. I eased the boat forward towards the school and started seeing singles scattered on the bottom. I told Zach back here about 9 o'clock he couldn't make out the fish so I had to tell him where to put the fly. He laid the cast out perfect "I said let it sink"  alright strip….strip….the red fish inhaled the fly and took off. I then noticed Zach had a death grip on the rod and the fly line not giving the fish any line to swim with and before I could say let go of the line it snapped. It was a bit upsetting because we worked hard for that fish all morning.  We finished the day trying to regain our loss with no such luck.  Zach will be back in October for his revenge!

Regular clients from FL Bob and his son Josh joined me for a day on Mosquito Lagoon. It turned into a trout fest losing count after 30 fish with the biggest being 20". DOA Lures were responsible for landing most of the trout but also caught a few on live baits. Here a double header from the end of the trip.

One of my regulars from the UK Steve joined me for a day of fly fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. We struggled to find hungry fish. We had some good shots with no interest from the fish. Steve did manage to feed one red fish but the fly pulled as Steve came tight due to the fish eating and swimming at the boat. We were not skunked though! Here's Steve with a nice flounder that pulled pretty good.

Between trips I'm either scouting or just fun fishing for myself or with friends. Schools out for the summer so my son Hayden jumped at the chance of fishing with. The last time we went out we fished a school of large red fish with Hayden hooking one to big to pull in himself. This time he said he wanted to try again for a big one. After a 20min ride south we made it to a spot that holds big fish. I jumped on the tower and within moments I spotted a few big fish swimming so I anchored off and got our rods ready. My rod got hit first and I handed it to Hayden. We both sat on the casting platform with me behind him to help coach him or grab the rod if need be. It was a big fish and he couldn't handle it by himself so we took turns reeling the beast in. I did not expect him to reel it in without help its more for the experience. But he worked hard enough for it and deserved to pose with our catch!

And after a few quick pictures Hayden learned the importance of a healthy release.

After that battle he was ready for something he could handle without my help so we went to target trout. Last year we fished together and found a sweet little spot that produced some nice trout so we went there to see what we could find.  Hayden's casting skills impress me more and more each time we go out. Only out our secret spot a few minutes and he was hooked up with a nice trout.

After a few more trout he was ready to head in.My next trip was new clients from FL Dave and his two boys. For the most part we had a pretty tough day but did manage a few nice trout and a few small red fish. Here's one of the boys with a healthy Mosquito Lagoon trout.

The next day Kyle and Zach from MT joined for a day of fly fishing. With their expectations high they were let down quick when they realized how tough it was to get the proper distance and to place the fly accurately in front of a fish. We switched to spinning rods throwing soft plastics the rest of the day landing a few nice trout. Here's Zach with one of his trout.

The next day I had some regulars Jeff, Lucas ,and William from FL, and KY join me for a day of fishing in Mosquito Lagoon. The day started strong and ended strong with everyone catching a few quality fish. For the first hour or so rods were bending in each direction with small red fish and trout up to 3lbs. Jeff then hooked into a nice red fish worth taking a photo of.

After that fish we decided to take advantage of the sun getting higher and try to find some larger red fish in the southern lagoon. We were in the north lagoon and had to make a 25min run to get to the bigger fish and I told them it would be a gamble running there hoping there isn't another boat fishing in the spots we needed to fish. The first spot I wanted to check already had a boat working the flat so I moved on not far to another spot and low and behold no boats. We fished it for a few minutes and it this point the clouds had really moved in and the winds picked up. We made a few moves and finally located the school and they were tailing and happy as can be. Lucas got the first hook up.

It took a few minutes for the school to calm down and start tailing again but they did and this time it was Williams turn. Except this fish looked to be a lot larger and was not going to give up easy.

This red fish would not give up and neither would William. After fighting this fish for nearly 45mins we finally got the fish boat side and realized why it would not come in easy it was huge.

The estimated weight of this fish was just over 42lbs. Just two years ago William landed a trout that to this day another kid has not beat on my boat which was around 9lbs and now this red fish which is the largest caught by a kid on my boat. We made a run back closer to the dock and fished one other spot before heading in and Lucas caught a nice trout to complete the trip.

  A friend that I grew up with that I had not seen in years had contacted me to book a charter.  I felt uncomfortable about even charging him for the trip but he insisted. Justin lives locally and fishes from a Gheenoe and wanted to get some insight on how to fish the lagoon and be successful. At our first stop we were greeted with very large red fish tails. I'm sure you know what happened next!

Justin was pretty pumped up to land his biggest red fish to date in the first few minutes of the trip. We worked that school for a bit longer only connected with one other fish.

We decided to check out a spot for juvenile tarpon and we lucked out finding a few rolling and willing to eat. We were throwing DOA paddle tails to them just swimming the baits in front as they rolled. We had two eats before coming tight to Justin's first tarpon ever and the eat was cool in just under 2ft of water.

The tarpon were on to us after that and the wind picked up too so it was time to move. In my mind its time to make a slam happen. I shut down at a spot that has been holding some nice trout and just as I ease into position a school of 75+ red fish start to swim across the bow out about 50'. Already rigged with DOA paddle tails Justin made a cast and hooked up.

He caught a few more on live baits before landing his trout to complete his slam!

It was a good day to say the least and as we returned I told Justin to never call me again for a charter just to call to go fishing and he was fine with that.The fishing has been heating up and so are the days! Make sure to drink plenty of water and stay covered with the proper clothing and sun screen. Thanks for reading and visiting my website!Capt. Justin Price
Right In Sight Charters
Fly Fishing & Light Tackle
Mosquito Lagoon-Indian River Lagoon-New Smyrna Beach
www.rightinsightcharters.com
[email protected]
386-566-4687