Sight fishing for redfish on the flats of east central Florida continues to be excellent. Having shots at hundreds of redfish per day is the norm. Many of these fish are tailing throughout the day. There are a variety of small baitfish showing up in the lagoons but the small mullet have yet to arrive. As soon as they do, the trout fishing should improve dramatically. With water temperatures approaching the 80 degree mark, it should not be long before this happens.
Steve joined me on a cloudy buy calm Sunday morning recently. We arrived at our first spot to find redfish tailing in every direction. It didn't take long for him to hook up with one of them.
Monte spent several days fly fishing with me during that week. The winds were less than perfect but the redfish and drum were plentiful and feeding. An olive colored worm fly got the most bites.
Javier used a DOA shrimp in watermelon/clear holographic to fool several tailing redfish on his trip to Mosquito Lagoon.
Doug took shots at dozens of redfish with both the fly and DOA shrimp on his trip to Mosquito Lagoon. Unfortunately, neither landed in quite the right spot and he ended up getting shut out.
The following day, Steve had a couple fish eat the watermelon DOA shrimp but the came unbuttoned soon after. We spent most of the day working on fly casting and hit one more spot ahead of an approaching storm cloud. With no sun to help us see them, we ran over several dozen big trout lying in some shallow sand holes but Steve landed one of them on the DOA. It was nice to see some large trout that made it through the winter freeze.
With the winter cold fronts now behind us, we are looking forward to the calm winds of summer. As the schools of baitfish return, the trout, ladyfish and jack crevalle will provide plenty of action along the deeper edges of the flats. A 1/4 ounce jig head with a 3" DOA CAL tail worked in these areas can result in a variety of species.
Capt. Chris Myers
New Smyrna Beach Fishing Guide
Orlando Florida Report 4/27/10