Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report, June 25, 2004

 

Mosquito Coast Fishing Charters

 

Summer doldrums have arrived early on Lake Atlantic; soon, tropical weather patterns will begin to push in, and the summer squalls will be upon us.  With inshore water temperatures rising, anglers should have their bait dragging the water in concurrence with the sun’s first light.  

 

 

This past week, the inshore bite on lagoon literally shut down once the sun cleared the horizon.  Hopefully, with the approaching full moon and shifting weather patterns, inshore fishing will start to show some improvement.  If you plan on hitting the lagoon this weekend, night fishing may be your best option.  Additionally, trout and ladyfish were concentrated on the edges of the flats in 2 to 3 feet of water, and they happily ate top-water plugs, jigs, and soft plastics, but once things warm up, you might as well head for the house for an early lunch.

 

Near-shore, the hot ticket has been the kingfish, cobia, jumbo Jacks (school busses), and tarpon, but even that bite has slowed.  The best catches have come from the near-shore reefs and wrecks in 70 to 90 feet of water. There were some kings along the beach and on the buoy line last week, but the fish seem to have moved off into deeper water.  If tarpon are of interest to you, try fishing just off the beach south of Patrick AFB, and if you plan on venturing out into deeper water this weekend, try fishing the areas of pelican flats, the lumps, and 8A reef.

 

One additional note is, the cold water upwelling has begun to move in pushing heavy concentrations of bait in close to the beach, so be sure to keep a eye on water temperature if an offshore bottom fishing is your plan.  Also, heavy aggregations of pre-spawning mangrove snapper have been reported on the inshore artificial reefs outside Ponce Inlet, and their numbers should increase as the full moon approaches.

 

 

As always, if you have questions, or need information, please contact me.

 

Good luck and good fishing,

Captain Tom Van Horn

captain@irl-fishing.com

www.irl-fishing.com

407-366-8085

866-790-8081 toll free