Monday morning Scott Radloff and I braved 20-25 knot winds and thick overcast to try fishing in the Mosquito Lagoon. I got a redfish on my first cast. I would love to say "then it got better." That may be a bit of an exageration. We did get a half dozen each of reds and trout though, including some very solid fish. And the overcast broke up, and the sun came out! The wind just kept a-honking, though. My lure of choice… Read More

This may has started off a little on the strange side with a couple of cold fronts moving through, along with about four days of hard rain to top it off. Before all the crazy weather the fish seemed be moving into their summer time pattern but now they have been thrown for a loop with a large amount of water in the Lagoon system. I am still finding good numbers of redfish, just not balled up tight. Look in the areas that… Read More

Happy Mother's Day to moms everywhere! This week's Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report: -Sunday- Joe Bonk and his son Matt joined me for a day's Mosquito Lagoon fishing. I had some anxiety as I hadn't been out there in over a week and the weather system of the previous several days probably moved the fish. We were slow at first but we found some reds, including a couple of nice schools. Joe and Matt ended up getting four slot… Read More

The seatrout were on fire again this week. Tried to fly fish the Econ on Monday. The water was just a bit too high. Didn't get a bite, but didn't try very hard. Didn't fish Tuesday because of the weather, but did go out running along the FT. As I suspected, the chiggers are active. Ouchie. Wednesday Dee Kaminski joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. The weather was almost perfect. It was a little slow but fairly… Read More

The seatrout were on fire this week. Ordinarily my feeling is that lure color is way more important to the fisherman than to the fish. Sometimes though, the fish just completely shatter than notion. On Sunday Rick Schooler and his friend Dave joined me for a full day's fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. Rick was throwing a 5.5 inch DOA CAL jerkbait, new penny color. Dave was tossing the DOA CAL airhead, red with gold glitter.… Read More

It seems as though summer has arrived. It's almost like spring never showed up this year. Well, with that being said the water temps have risen into the low 70'S and the bait has started to show up in large numbers throughout the lagoon. The redfish and trout bite has been great - with not only quanity being caught - but also quality. There is still large schools of redfish throughout the lagoon system as the water is… Read More

We fished four days and took three fly fishing trips on the Mosquito Lagoon this week. Sunday Joe Wishcamper, fly fisher from Maine, joined me. We fished six hours, saw a mixed bag of large trout and slot reds. Changed flies a few times. Got a few decent shots. Did not get a bite. Monday Russell and Brenda Otis, fly casters from Virginia, chased fish around for six hours. In terms of number of fish seen it was by far the… Read More

On Monday Rodney Smith met me at Port Canaveral. He had a fishing rod and a dozen shrimp. That was eleven more than we needed. We searched for cobia and tripletail for six hours, finding exactly none. The lack of piscatorial activity gave us plenty of time to discuss our upcoming IRL Paddle Adventure, where we will paddle an Old Town canoe the length of the Indian River Lagoon. Click the link and check it out. Consider… Read More

We caught a few fish this week. On Monday three gentlemen, led by Mr. Peter Scribner, joined me for an eight hour kayak fishing extravaganza out of River Breeze. It was a beautiful day but windy and not at all warm. We had to do some searching, as fish were not concentrated anywhere we looked. I'd guess we paddled at least ten miles. Neither Peter nor Rich caught a fish. Chuck got seven redfish and a beautiful trout, all… Read More

It was an interesting week in a number of ways. The weather was unsettled, to say the least. Monday Tim Baker of East Coast Paddle took me paddleboard fishing for three hours on Mosquito Lagoon. I had never been on a paddleboard before. They are very cool. The wind was running between 10 and 15 mph though- not good for paddleboarding. Tim got a trout on a jerk bait. I saw six or eight fish as I whizzed by. I should have… Read More

The fishing this week won't go down as memorable. Monday I took a kayak trip out of River Breeze. The was a major water event- when I got to the boat ramp the water was up nearly a foot. That never bodes well for kayak fishing. It was overcast with some breze from the south. I saw eight redfish and had one cast at one that had already detected me. Redfish are spooking off kayaks now, something that never used to happen.… Read More

The start to spring is upon us and with that brings warmer days and a lot more bait scattering the flats. For the last couple of weeks we have had strong winds from the north pushing a lot of the water out of the north Lagoon making it extremely shallow, along with the cooler water temps has pushed a lot of the fish into schools. I have seen schools of redfish in the numbers of ten to a hundred and even more at times… Read More

Son Maxx is on Spring Break from school. Monday he was able to squeeze enough time that we could go fishing. We took the Old Town out of River Breeze. It was cold, with significant breeze. The water was low and clear. The fish were plentiful but very spooky. There were reasonable numbers of tailers, lovely to see. Maxx, preparing to release a nice redfish. We managed six redfish, all in the slot, all on slider flies.… Read More

Having an hour to kill between charters last week, I eased Three Quarter Time back into the quite mangrove slough branching off to the south from Haulover Canal in the direction of Black Point. The water levels in the Lagoons are extremely low, so I polled my skiff back around the bend to the point where the creek opens up into the flat. Before me on the vast flats, hundreds of brown and white pelicans, cormorants, and… Read More

What a week! Sunday morning found me at Parrish Park holding a conversation with my potential fishermen as to whether to go out or not. Picture it- sun shining, no clouds, temperature of 39 degrees, wind howling along at 20-25, Indian River Lagoon covered in whitecaps- how could they fail to go? They wisely decided not to, and I lost the day's work. Monday fly fisher Chris McGoldrick joined me on a still chilly but… Read More

The weather has been excellent here in Central East Florida with highs in the mid seventies and lows in the upper fifties, and the fishing has not been to bad also with many double digit days. Redfish have been in schools from five to a hundred in some locations through out the the lagoon, and munching fairly well. I have been locating the majority of fish in the sand holes and holding on the shallow mud flats gathering… Read More

Monday Father Rick Voor and his friend Scott joined me for some kayak fishing out of River Breeze. My last trip there had been good so I was optimistic. The fish quickly crushed that optimism by not being there. We worked hard for over five hours. We got two rat reds and a micro-flounder between us. Near the end of the trip we spotted what I at first thought was a couple of tailing fish. Casting the "them" proved… Read More

As winter seasons go here in Central Florida, we certainly can't complain about the cards dealt to us thus far. With the exception of a few cold days, gorgeous fishing condition has prevailed and we experienced so excellent fishing as well. Brett Fay's 46-inch trophy redfish! On the flats, water levels are fallen in accord with our normal February conditions. These low water levels typically force redfish, black drum,… Read More

Tuesday's out-of-the-box thinking led to some excellent fishing. I left the house at close to three o'clock in the afternoon, heading to River Breeze, armed with a kayak and a three-weight. After paddling to the fishing spot I was happily surprised to see redfish tailing all over the place. It was cold and windy- I was not expecting this. The first two clumps of tailers refused the fly, which led to a change. Three fish… Read More

Monday- Tom Van Horn invited me to accompany him on a fishing trip to the St. Johns River. We launched at CS Lee Park. It was good. We used the 1.5 inch Creme Spoiler Shad to good success, catching shad, crappie, bluegills, and redbellies. I also used the bamboo to get a bunch of fish. Don't get to use that rod very often. We saw Ron Presley out there, they were doing well too. We had a good time. On Tuesday Walt and… Read More

Here we go to the start of a whole new year! I hope everyone had a safe entry into 2013. The fishing so far this new year has been outstanding with several double digit days catching both redfish and trout, with some nice flounder in the mix. With the water level and temps dropping the last couple of weeks, the fish have started going into their winter time patterns, but I have a feeling that may be changing with the… Read More

Besides the snotty and unpredictable weather we've experienced this past week, 2013 has started off with some great fishing both on the Lagoon and on the St. Johns River. I know many of my loyal blog followers and clients have been patiently waiting to hear the words, "The American Shad and Specks Have Arrived" in the headwaters of the St Johns River south of Lake Harney. On the St Johns River from Mullet lake Park south… Read More

On Tuesday Dr. Ken Unger, from Calgary, did some Mosquito Lagoon fly fishing with me from the Mitzi. Although the sky was overcast for much of the day, until about 1 PM the lagoon was slick calm. There were a lot of fish around, just lying around. I would have expected tailing everywhere but no, they wouldn't do that. We ran over a lot of fish. Ken did get a few reds on a crab pattern. We tried for trout. They had moved… Read More

Fishing only occupied a single day this week. On Friday David and Terrell Juth, from Virginia, joined me for a day's Mosquito Lagoon fishing. The day was gorgeous and everyone with a boat in central Florida was out. In spite of that we saw quite a few fish and managed to catch a few. David missed two strikes fly fishing, but got a decent trout on a DOA Shrimp at the end of the day. Terrell got several nice trout, also on… Read More

As everyone knows across America fishing conditions are tough in December, but thankfully we still have good fishing here in Central Florida. You just have to squeeze your play in between work and honey dos by dropping every to go fishing when the weather is nice. And at least we are still wearing our winter shorts and our T. Borski shirts. Water levels are falling in both the St. Johns River and the lagoons. These… Read More

It's a little hard to believe that 2013 is almost upon us. It seems as though 2012 just arrived, but I guess we all get a little older again. We have had some strange weather so far with early cold fronts to warm days in the mid 80's, but the fish seem to not complain. I have been finding alot of tailing fish across the whole Lagoon system. It seems with the warmer water conditions that the redfish and trout are holding… Read More

Cold fronts and clashing weather systems kept most anglers off of the water this past week due to high winds, but we still managed to catch a few nice redfish. Drew with his first redfish My week started out attempting to fish the Sebastian Inlet area on my annual Thanksgiving fishing week, but with 20 to 25 knot winds we only managed to get out twice and almost swamped the boat in the process. The lagoon was very rough… Read More

Upcoming Events- Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, January 23-28, 2013 Last week I was off on a rant about pretentious marketing for beer. A forum reader responded- "You mention the beer label being pretentious and say it would be so even if it was on a bottle of wine. Well dear sir, beer is MUCH more complicated than wine, both in production methods and in complexity of flavor. Beer takes on a much broader… Read More

Upcoming Events- Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, January 23-28, 2013 Last week I was off on a rant about how bad Keys inshore fishing was, and asked readers if they had anything good to say about it. With one exception, no one did, and a few folks emailed me to agree with my assessment. That having been said, here's the rest of the report from the second half of my week long Keys trip. Sunday morning Dalen… Read More

Fishing was a tailingfest this week. Sunday night Chris Myers emailed me, asking me if I wanted to fish with him on Monday. So Monday morning found me in Chris Myers' boat. We went down to the south end of the Mosquito Lagoon. There was nothing there. Chris Myers searching for fish Then he took me to where he'd been fishing as of late. There were redfish tailing everywhere. I was not particularly competent, but managed… Read More

Last week I wrote that I hoped fishing would be better this week. It was, not hugely better, but better. Monday fly fisher Jim Coraci joined me for a half day's fishing. When we got to Haulover an impressive cloud hovered over the Mosquito Lagoon. It would intermittently light up with brilliant lightning flashes. I don't mind the rain that much but lightning while boating is terrifying. The presence of a solid north wind… Read More

Monday found the Mitzi and I out along the beach in Canaveral Bight. There was a north wind and some wave action. The boat took a breaker over the bow which was the most exciting thing that happened. Quite a few mullet were there, not much eating them. A crevalle, a ladyfish, several small bluefish, and a few missed strikes, all on live mullet, is all I got. Did not see much activity, and the main target, tarpon, was not… Read More

After doing some telephone research, Monday morning found Scott Radloff and I launching the Mitzi at Kennedy Point Park in Titusville. The goal was to do some scouting and hopefully find some redfish and seatrout in the Indian River Lagoon. We poled and ran quite a distance from the Rinker Canal to Parrish Park. Having been in Alaska all summer and having heard about the algae bloom in the lagoons I was not expecting… Read More

Well it is hard to believe that we are already in Sept. It seems as though the summer has flown by. I know that the big talk lately has been the algea bloom developing in the Lagoon System. Well, I'm happy to say that it seems to be clearing out and should continue to do so throughout fall. The redfish bite has been good, along with some great numbers of trout being caught on a daily basis from New Smyrna south to Cocoa.… Read More

Well let's start with the water clarity in the lagoon system. Believe it or not it seems to be clearing up slowly and there is small pockets of clean water if you look hard enough. As far as the bite go's the fish are still there. Look for the bait and the structure whether it's bars or edges and you will find fish. I have been having great success on Red fish and Trout with top water plugs and ADL spoons as the sun gets… Read More

With the water conditions still looking like split pea soup, sight fishing is out of the question. You can still locate some tailing fish early in the morning on the shallow grass but they have been very spooky when presenting baits to them other than fly. Taking your time and working the edges of the flats has been producing fish. My choice of baits has been Aqua Dream spoons , twitch baits and good ole cut bait. Here's… Read More

With the temps rising in the mid 90's for the past three weeks, and the left over run off of tropical storm Debbie has left severe murky conditions in the Lagoon system. You can still find some clear pockets every now and then but for the most part it looks like split pea soup. So with that being said, sight fishing has not been easy but locating the bait is the key to your success. Target the bait pods early in the… Read More

Although Tropical Storm Debbie is producing squally weather across the southern states, the fishing has been first-rate for those adventurous souls willing to get their feathers wet. It's a bit more of a challenge finding fish with windy and cloudy conditions, but once located, they have been hungry and happy. Water levels in the Indian River Lagoon system a good foot above normal, allowing easy access to the edges of… Read More

The trout bite has been on fire in the Lagoon systems with double digit numbers being caught daily. look for the bait pods early in the morning and you will find the trout. The redfish have been holding on the shallow grass early and moving off the flat to the edges by afternoon. Both species can be caught on several different baits from soft plastics to Aqua Dream Spoons including a variety of live baits. Also look for… Read More

On Sunday, friend and neighbor Tom Van Horn and I made a trek to Jensen Beach to stay at River Palms http://www.riverpalmcottages.com/ , to do some fishing on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday Doug Pike and I went out with Capt. Squeeky Kelly. Fishing with Doug was awesome. He was once editor of Tide magazine. He was one of my favorite magazine editors when I was writing a lot, so it was a pleasure getting to spend the day… Read More

My angling adventures this past week carried me away from the central lagoon coast to an exotic location where I was privileged to attend the D.O.A. Outdoor Writers Conference held at the River Palms Cottages in Jensen Beach Florida. Hosted by Captain Mark Nichols and his DOA family, the event also included two days of fishing with members of the D.O.A. Pro Staff. This invitation only event provides an opportunity to rub… Read More

On Sunday, friend and neighbor Karl Dienst joined me for a quick strike. We launched at Kennedy Point at 6 AM. We got to the fishing spot and no one else was there! Amazing. The fish were not as thick as they were. We did not see a redfish. Karl got several nice trout on a white plastic worm, the kind you use for largemouth bass. I got a few on the Bait Buster. We also got a few nice ladyfish. Still looking for tarpon,… Read More

It seems the April showers have came a month or so late this year. We have received a influx of rain this past week. With the amount of rain we've been getting, the water levels in the lagoon system has risen opening the door for new feeding opportunities on the flats that had zero or very little water before. Look for redfish tailing in the shallow grass early in the morning mixed in with the mullet schools. Most of my… Read More

Yep, the heat and humidity are rising, and so are fishing opportunities along the Indian River Lagoon Coast of Florida. Hot summer days can be brutal, so the fish will take advantage of the cooler nights, early morning and late evening hours to feed and stock their prey, and then they often snooze in the shade and deeper areas once the heat turns up. So seasoned anglers will adjust their routines in June, July, and… Read More

Fishing this week, ah yes. A lady named Beryl came to town early in the week and dumped on us for a couple of days. I was going to go fishing on Wednesday but a minor domestic problem prevented anything more than a trip to the Econ. In last week's report I asked about bass flies. While no responses came in, I have been doing some research and tied up a few flies based on that. I went to the Econ hoping to test them.… Read More

It has been pretty busy the last week between charters and pre fishing for the Fish Stock Tournament in New Smyrna Beach Florida. The trout bite has been on fire lately and with the water rising in the lagoon system the redfish are pushing up on shallow flats for new feeding opportunities. Look for both to be feeding around the schools of bait. We did have a great time at the tournament this past weekend taking third… Read More

Sunday found fly fisherman Bill Schell (from Washington state) and I floating around in the Mitzi on the Mosquito Lagoon. The sky was unmarred by any clouds at all - pretty rare for this time of year. Bill could cast. For fly guides that's usually the kiss of death. As a general rule, good caster = no fish. And so it seemed at the first spot that I had just scouted three days earlier. Absolutely nothing there. Hit spot… Read More

Upcoming Event- Inaugural Space Coast International Surf Fishing Tournament, Memorial Day weekend, May 25-27. For more information click here: Sad News- Vic Dunaway passed away on Thursday. Vic was the original editor at Florida Sportsman magazine and guided that publication to a pre-eminent position among American fishing magazines. Vic bought the first article I ever wrote, a piece about fishing at Lostman's Key in… Read More

It's hard to believe that it's already the month of May, but with May brings change to the Lagoon system. The fish are starting to get into their summertime patterns with the warm temps and higher water. Look for the schools of redfish to start splitting up into smaller pods or singles. They will be holding on the shallow grass early, then moving to deeper water as the day goes on. The trout bite has been excellent for… Read More

The large bait pods have found their way to the Lagoon system; both Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon. Look for a strong trout bite early in the morning around the mullet schools. Redfish will be holding in schools early and breaking up into smaller pods as the day goes on, feeding on top of the grass. Both species have been feeding well on live bait and lures all day. My go-to bait has been the Aqua Dream Spoon as the… Read More

Monday- Maxx, Alex, and I drove to Pineland early, arriving at Tarpon Lodge a little after eight. After checking in we got the boat launched and headed out to the Gulf through Captiva Pass. Pine Island Sound was UGLY. Grey skies and east winds at 20 to 25 with strong gusts had the water all churned up. We pulled into protected water along the beach and rigged tackle. Just as I finished the first fly rod, a hundred… Read More

With the water levels rising and the increase of bait in the Mosquito Lagoon system, the bite has been on fire. If you target the bait pods you will catch fish. The redfish have been mixed in with the bait and the trout holding under or on the edge of the bait pods. These fish can be caught on several different baits from soft plastics to top water, but my go-to bait has to be a live finger mullet. Good luck and be safe… Read More

Cheryl, the official sister of Spotted Tail, was visiting from New Hampshire until Thursday of the week just past. While it was great seeing her, she cut into my fishing time. On Monday she and I floated the Econ (read the blog post here http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/a-float-down-the-econlockhatchee/). The redbellies are bedding. Although I didn't hit it hard I had a ball catching them, using a three weight and a foam… Read More

On Monday son Alex and I went to Port Canaveral. We had to pick up the Mitzi from the mechanic (annual service on the Yamaha), who had forgotten about me. So we got a late start. There was a school of menhaden over a mile long off Cocoa Beach. We fished there for a quite a while. Did not get a bite. Saw exactly one Spanish mackerel. Did not see any other fishermen. You don't have to hit me in the head with a brick. We… Read More

Here we are already in the month of April, this year seems to be flying by. The bait has moved into the ICW and Lagoon system with large schools of mullet moving across the flats.This is the start to the summertime pattern for our fishery with both trout and redfish being found mixed in with the schools of bait. Look for the trout to hold on the shallow grass flats early in the morning and move to the deeper edges as the… Read More

It has been a fairly windy March with many days gusting over 20mph but that doesn't stop us here at Spotntail Charters. We have been boating large numbers of redfish and trout through out the lagoon system. Both artificial and live bait have been very successful from soft plastics to Auqa Dream Spoons and for live bait the choice has been pinfish and shrimp. These are a couple of photos of some clients doubled up and one… Read More

Fishing this week - lots of fish, not many big ones. On Monday, Matt Williams of Winter Park joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. We did some searching for redfish and did not find very many. Matt caught three on a Johnson Minnow, all out of the slot- on the low end. He got a lot of trout on DOA Shrimp, but again many were short, with only a few in the slot. The weather was pretty nice too, a little breezy, but… Read More

Tuesday the Brothers Klepacki joined me for some paddling and fly fishing in the no motor zone. I had been on such a good run. Tuesday crushed it. All the redfish that have been in the same spot for months left- zilch, zero, nada. We found some nice seatrout but I don't do all that paddling for trout. On the other hand, a bunch of nice trout are way better than no redfish, which is how many reds we got. Got a last minute… Read More

It seems that we have gone straight from a wintertime pattern to a summertime pattern. Anotherwords, we have skipped spring. Here in the Mosquito Lagoon system, the large schools of redfish have started to split into smaller groups due to the rise in water temperatures. Look for redfish tailing and cruising in the shallow grass and also mixed in with the large schools of mullet. The trout bite has been very good with… Read More

First off I want to thank everyone who responded with kind words during my nightmare with the mailing list. There were way too many to respond to individually. I appreciate your patience and cooperation! Next, last Saturday 10 brave souls attended my Show and Tell Seminar on the Merritt Island NWR. Here's what a couple of them had to say: -"Thank you for a great outing Saturday. Super informative and I feel much better… Read More

Spring is breaking out in Central Florida! Azaleas are blooming, trees are leafing out, oranges perfume the air with their blossoms. Fishing has been fantastic. Monday's trip was a family affair. Pastor Louis Schulz, his son Chris and the pastor's brother Chris joined me for a day's fishing in the Mosquito Lagoon. It was overcast almost all day, and a soaking rain lasted for at least an hour. Fortunately, there was very… Read More

5/20 - First day on the water without a Client in quite a long time, and I was accompanied by my friend Susan who is visiting from NYC. We headed out onto a glassy Indian River with foggy/partly cloudy skies. Susan hasn't been fishing in quite sometime so after a quick kayak/fishing lesson, we proceeded on our way to throw top waters around the many of bait schools roaming the area. First cast out with the super spook jr… Read More

My client Bill From Texas and I headed out on the N IRL launching around 7am into 3-4mph SSE winds. Chose a nice location to stay out of the wind predicted for the morning and worked all the areas everyone blows right past. Water temps are warm, water is clear in most areas, average depth 1ft of H20. Most the reds i've been stalking have been within 20ft of the shoreline and after a quick lesson Bill got to work with the… Read More