The water temperature in the Indian River Lagoon remains very cold and it’s the coldest Ive seen since 2010 when we lost a lot of snook. Water temps have ranged from low 50s to mid 60s degrees. These cold temps have pushed a lot of shrimp in the channel and people are putting in a lot of time cast netting the shrimp for dinner. The lagoon bite has been slow for most, but if you put in the time with live shrimp and or baitfish you should be able to get plenty of sheephead, black drum, as well as some snook and redfish. The snook are schooled up in the Sebastian River around the docks and oyster bars, as well.

Guided surf fishing charters had clients reeling in steady numbers of pompano, whiting, bluefish and Spanish mackerel to start the week. The bite remained consistent throughout the majority of Brevard County beaches. Surf fishing Cocoa Beach brought catches of black drum, whiting and pompano, while Sebastian Inlet north to Indialantic saw higher numbers of pompano and mackerel caught. Water clarity proved key once again with the ideal surf fishing conditions being calm seas and preferable wind patterns. Many beaches held optimal conditions for the duration of the week with these factors in mind.

This week, the Space Coast has finally started to see a little change. Cooler water has brought quite a bit better looking water into most areas throughout the lagoon system. The slightly cleaner water we are now seeing has opened up some opportunities for sight fishing, which is what most anglers love about the lagoon.

Captain Justin and I started off this week with an incredible black drum bite in the Indian River. We found schools of 50 to 200 fish each roaming the flats during early morning periods. By mid morning these fish would drop off onto the deeper edges but continue feeding well into the day.

We snuck out one day last week to see what was going on in the backwaters nearest the Fort Pierce inlet. This area has a heavy tidal exchange, is well sheltered from most winds and offers both deep water and shallow flats.

This week the surf layed down and the water got nice and clean. In north Brevard and Volusia County, the whiting bite has been pretty steady with the best bite coming in the late afternoon with the tide change (incoming). Much like it has been, live sandfleas and fresh dead shrimp continue to be the bait of choice. Pompano are still in the area also but have been running deep, so 100+ yard casts have been the key. I did get word that there have been some large schools of pompano in the river and close to the inlet.

We have been trying to catch the calm between fronts for the last couple of months. Sunday looked like it was going to be our chance, but when we woke up the 20 mile buoy was still reading 3’ waves and 4 second period, so we decided to push to the afternoon so it could warm up and calm down. We life the Port at 11:30am and it was a smooth ride out to the Flats. We trolled cigar minnows and caught 5 small kingfish, 4 Little Tunny and a monster 6.3 pound Spanish Mac. Mark one down for the weekend warriors!

Fishing was awesome all week! The weather was not too bad, either. We got offshore a few days and the kings were fired up! AJs were chewing hard as well. Red snapper, well, you know the story on that… Just an awesome week to fish. Full boxes unloaded. Nearshore, red drum are doing great as well. We have a week of west winds out there so get your skiffs and yaks shined up for some schooling drum!

We finally have clean water and redfish starting to school up in the lagoon. On cooler mornings, look for the south east facing shorelines to be holding more fish. A great way to catch redfish and trout right now is using a 3 inch paddle tail rigged weedless or a 1/8 ounce jig head tipped with shrimp. Look for several weeks of great fishing with the cooler temperatures ahead.

The mangrove snapper bite is heating up. Fishing deep bridge pilings and rocks have held many snapper, sheepshead and grunts. Dropping knocker rigs or hog ball type jigs from 3/8 to 1 oz depending on current and tipped with medium sized shrimp or live greenbacks will fill a cooler fast. Snook, trout and redfish are still fun to play with as season remains closed. Contact me to book a trip.

The bottom bite out of Sebastian this past week was good. Big lane and mangrove snapper stole the show!

Pompano fishing Florida’s Central East Coast remains the hot topic for this week’s surf fishing report.