Mosquito Lagoon Report

Leah got herself a Gator on a recent charter with Capt. Mark Wright

What an unusual run of business for me this past week. One day I took part in a two boat charter that was originally slated as a four boat trip; another day I filled in for Capt. Jim on a supposedly nearshore trip, and finally finished off with a Mosquito Lagoon charter with a couple of guys from Ohio.

The two boat trip started later than we would have liked as the clients were unable to meet until 0700. That’s ninety minutes later than we should have launched given the Full-moon scenario we faced. Tossing top-water plugs and soft plastic lures around the mullet pods produced no fish for us.

Moving to a nearby bridge we quickly found groups of black drum and each boat hooked up only to break off. Of course the hardheads were more than eager to eat our live shrimp and jighead rigs if we could get them past the puffers!

Our nearshore trip was called off — not by weather — but by FWC turning boaters away from the Port Canaveral ramp as ALL of the available parking was filled. Silly me, while I knew the CFOA tournament was happening, I completely forgot about the boat races.

We switched fishing gear and headed inshore from Titusville. This trip started about 10 A.M., laughably late. Other than a couple of dozen catfish our only prize was Leah’s Gator trout!

Finally Mike and Chad joined me in the Mosquito Lagoon. Short-cast syndrome for one of the guys convinced me to anchor down and soak mullet chunks. The catfish were thick and hungry, though I eventually found some willing redfish and each angler got to experience tight strings and a few photo ops.