mosquito lagoon redfish

Mikey gets three small reds at the end of the day on a recent trip with Capt. Mark Wright!

I only managed two outings this past week. Trip one we scouted a large portion of the North Indian River Lagoon. Initially concentrating on the western shoreline locally known as the “Carbide Flat,” we found very few fish, though we did make a few presentations to a tailing black drum. Water clarity was actually pretty good and so was water temperature and the wind was near calm.

Even on days which seem perfect there is no guarantee of success. As the sun brightened we moved to the Black Point region where I quickly located a small group of breeder redfish in a “pocket” of slightly deeper water than the rest of the flat held. These fish went into stealth mode immediately and I only spotted one of the oversized critters that I’m sure laughed at us as my angler’s lure touched down an inch or two behind its tail.

Our second trip was Sunday and we were welcomed to nearly no wind, a bright and clear sunrise and forty-four degree air temps. These conditions were far from unexpected and I tried to convince my client on Saturday evening to start much later in the morning than the seven A.M. he preferred. After this morning’s extremely slow start I’m betting he’ll listen to the guide’s advice on his next charter and start when it’s time to start…

We fished several places over a four hour span with only five half-hearted bites and no fish caught. As I headed back to the boat launch I decided to give one more “spot” a try and we were all happy for this decision. The bite was not great, but three small reds were caught on live shrimp, effectively kicking the skunk out of the boat and saving the day. Sometime the best thing a guide can do is not give up even if it means donating a little extra time!