I got to see an incredible sight last Wednesday. There were hundreds of bottlenose dolphin offshore they were jumping and playing right by the boat!
Fishing was tougher and slower than normal. The water temperature was in the low 60s all the way to well past 100 ft. There were not even threadfins on the buoys. Somewhere around 125 ft we hit blue, 70-73 degree water. There was a lot of life but there were not any pelagic fish excluding baby bonito and a few barracuda.
We tried for bottom fish other than red snapper, but they were everywhere and unavoidable. While trying to catch smaller fish, I accidentally hooked into what likely was a big grouper on spinning tackle.

Video: https://youtu.be/kKatV8AOapk

The first of many fish for Keith on this beautiful Mosquito Lagoon day!

Tuesday I scouted the Mosquito Lagoon with Rayzor Ray. Even if the fish don’t cooperate it’s still a great time with Ray on the bow. The good news was the fish did cooperate eventually. We both caught a redfish and trout or two or three before leaving the happy fish I needed for my Wednesday charter.

Wednesday morning I found the fish close to where Ray and I left them on Tuesday. They were still a bit reluctant to eat early in the morning. Keith did a good job of presenting his Z-Man Curly Tailz and Minnowz to several reds and trout with only one spotted seatrout caught and a few short strikes to show for his efforts.

Deciding to offer the fish a different shaped lure with a more aggressive retrieve was the right call. Keith now tossing a four inch Jerk Shadz in the Houdini color captured the attention of plenty of small reds and lower-slot trout.

The rod bent frequently over the next few hours for Keith as I pushed into backwater areas I haven’t been able to access in a month or more. The bite was pretty much over by eleven thirty or so.

While we did not catch any trophy trout on this day it was gratifying to see three huge hens laid-up in the super skinny backwaters. Now that I know where they’re hiding I’ll be back in low-light conditions to offer them a big top-water plug and invite them aboard the Banshee for a quick photo-op!

Sorry, the only photo we took was of his first fish of the morning… This beautiful weather won’t last long and now is the time to go!

Treasure Coast Marina is pleased to join the impressive list of contributors to Spacefish! We will provide the best information available for central and south Brevard County as shared with us from the expert anglers and guides who come to us with their stories. Many of these people are career anglers with decades of experience fishing the Indian River Lagoon, its tributaries and Sebastian Inlet.

This week we have finally got some offshore information and the news is good! Fish in close, inside the 90 ft bar, and the bite is good. Sailfish, Blackfin tuna, among others. Eighteen lane snapper and 9 trigger fish. Lots of grouper and snapper but those all out of season so released. Stay in close. If you cross the second bar, you ran over them!

Inshore is also cranking. Use big shrimp for trout and reds. Pinfish work best at the inlet during the tide change for snook. Go up Sebastian River if you want to try for tarpon. There are also pompano in the river. Use live or salted clams on pompano rigs for that. We are very impressed with NATIVE SALT CLAMS. We have just started our guys using them and they love the ease of using this well packaged, clean bait.

That’s it for this week! We’re glad to be here and will do our best to help you get on the fish!

So wife and I went to Wabasso for the first time yesterday. She caught a lot of snapper around the docks and one pomp. I just got cat fish and one snapper. We were using live shrimp. When we were done and got back to the launch we find out the pompano are biting over by the west side of the 510 bridge. We should have checked it out early but who knew. All and all a good time, we’re still learning everytime we go out and thanks to everyone here for that.
We’re looking forward to the next time out.

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Brad Helms from New Smyrna Beach landed on the jumbo shrimp in Oak Hill.

March is wake up month in the world of big shrimping. The run has started in Volusia County albeit 4 weeks late. Brevard is hit and miss, the hot spots are hovering at “Get ready, get set….” but not quite hit the “go.” They are just on the cusp, but all indications are they will have a season as well. Brevard lagged behind Volusia last year, so this is not of any concern. The place to be is Oak Hill the last couple of months, but perhaps March will be the month of consistency for Brevard. The sizes of the Oak Hill shrimp are impressive. January-March requires more skill then the Late March to May run when we are inundated with a bazillion dinks (under 4 inches). Typically you cannot pull a bucket without a high percentage of dinks and smalls. But January, the full pull bell has rung for several who employed proper light set techniques, and could blast the catfish off their lights using high tech MacDaddy lights.

The catfish and bait fish remain a big problem for the 3rd season, and this is as a result of warm waters. Nuisance fish hover over your lights choking the light into blackness. This problem interferes with your visibility and this interference is what is causing lower pulls for boaters. The sizes in Oak Hill are dependent on your skill level and ability to blow the big ones up into the upper water column using light. Personally, I am seeing Volusia County buckets of 5-7” inch, and seeing buckets 4-6 inches with high majority small to medium.

The tides decide where anglers choose their locations. If they want an earlier tide, go North towards Edgewater. The favorite place remains Oak Hill from the ramp area all the way down passed Lopez to CM 9a. FWC spent the entire weekend pulling boats over doing full inspections. We have not seen this in nearly a decade. They skipped very few boats. Titusville pier is off to a slow start but that can change any day, you have to go to know.

The Brevard hot spots like Rail Road Bridge are hit or miss but the locals are saying the run is still at its beginning stages. They predict the run will be fully developed this month, so monitor the intel daily. Reports from Melbourne indicate a lack of shrimp. Remember, Volusia County is boater country only and it is tide driven. Brevard is wind driven and is suited for boaters, trappers or plank warriors. Shrimp reports change daily as the amount of moon showing/winds changes daily. The currents go in 30 day cycles and daily they are either in a pattern of getting stronger for the week or getting weaker for the week. Shrimping in Volusia is an outgoing tide sport. I have computed the tides for you for 6 months at LeeNoga.com for Volusia, for all the hot spots. This month you will be able to catch shrimp in Volusia on the beginning of the incoming tide. March is normally where the sizes start to get smaller towards the end of the month, so get out there and fill your freezer.

I’m from Slidell, La.
I travel to KSC to work on another program for a month at a time. I was there from Dec -Feb. 1st, I’m currently home in NOLA and will be back down to KSC Feb 10th thru March 1st. I bring my travel rod n reel, tackle box with me but last month with the weather and government shutdown I couldn’t get out and fish. Can someone give me a spot I can pull off of the side of the road and catch a Trout, Snook or Tarpon? I have never caught a Snook or a Tarpon in my life and I’m dying to catch one.

Thanks

Went to Melbourne Beach yesterday , we caught a few whiting, one nice fat black drum and a small black tip. We were using frozen sand flees (yuck) and fish bites. The shark took the fish bites I had one really strong hit that was definitely something big and then the line was slack. Reeled in and the rig was gone and the line was full of abrasions about five foot up the line, so am thinking a shark maybe??
All and all a fun time! We’re learning more each time we go out, heading to Wabasso on Thursday with the kayaks and try for snook.
As they say tight lines everyone!

The past few weeks have been some extremely un-pleasant weather that has kept us off the ocean. With heavy winds from all different directions and cold front after cold front, it has definitely kept things interesting. Subsequently, the inshore bite has been pretty good! The few good weather days have been great sight fishing for large tailing black drum. These fish have been all over the Indian River in large schools tailing on small marine worms, crabs and any other organisms that might be living in the mud. These large drum can be picky at times but often don’t refuse a handpicked live shrimp on a light jig-head. As stealthy approach as possible and a long cast seems to do the trick.

We have also had plenty of action in the Mosquito Lagoon throwing small Gulp lures and D.O.A. paddle tails in pearl white, most fish are laying on the edge of small spoil islands and in deeper troughs which are both easy to fish even with a good breeze. Water temps are in the 50s and 60s so this is the time to slow your presentation way down, a slow bounce off the bottom is the way to go.

I sure hope everyone survived winter in Florida last week!

With surf fishing weather finally making its way around last week, I was able to hook up on a few fish but had to battle out the wind, rain and cold! We should have improving conditions as we move into the early week. Wind starts back up this weekend, then should get good again early next week! Anglers are still catching Pompano, Whiting, Spanish Mackerel, croakers, red fish and Big Black drum from the surf! Most species are being caught on live or blanched sand fleas as well as clam and shrimp! We will continue to catch Pompano off our beaches well into late April.

I’m putting on a Surf Fishing Tournament hosted by Strike Zone, March 30 & 31st. And the weigh in will be held from 1-3pm at Strike Zone, Melbourne! There is (3) divisions to fish in and $30 gets you signed up for all of them! The divisions for the 1st Annual Pompano Surf Fishing Derby presented by Pompano Riggs by Couture will be Biggest Pompano, Biggest Whiting and Biggest Trash Fish, plus the Jr. Anglers Division ( 12 & U )! We’ll have great prizes as well as cash pay out for first place anglers! If you’re interested in more information about the tournament you can head to the official facebook page, or alternatively, head into Strike Zone and sign up! Remember, part of the proceeds of this event will go towards Maddie Goode and the Goode family and helping fight her battle with leukemia! I look forward to seeing everyone come out as a community and show support for such an amazing family!

Tight lines!

This week had okay weather and I managed to find a few fish. I caught a few small reds and trout in the Indian River Lagoon. Most fish were in or near deeper holes. Use live shrimp with light tackle for the best chance. Brown tide is really bad right now, so I honestly would avoid the area. Your inshore best bet would be the north Mosquito Lagoon near Ponce Inlet or near all the Treasure Coast inlets.
I got offshore Sunday afternoon. We wanted to test out our center console, so it wasn’t a serious trip. We were unsure of the increasing north winds. We went northeast from Port Canaveral so that if the winds and seas became bad, getting in wouldn’t be a problem. We got a bunch of red snapper, and had a great time testing gear out. There were a ton of weedlines in the 80-110 ft range, but nothing on them. The 61 degree green water was probably why. This makes me wonder how the gulf stream has been recently.

Videos

The warm weather lately has been a pleasant surprise. The bass are back to working beds and eating everything in sight in order to prepare for the spawning season. We have been landing bigger bass and higher fish numbers in the last few days. The bigger fish have been on swim baits in about 2-3 feet of water. The Gambler EZ-Swimmer in black and blue and also in lane toad colors are best.
We have also been hooking up on some real quality bass on top water using floating frogs. We get our best action with a “Top-Toad” or “Spro” frog. Both frogs have the pointed nose and work really well in the heavier cover where we are seeing bedding fish.

In the Ponce Inlet and New Smyrna area, the fishing has been great. The water has cleared up and the fish have really been chewing! Shrimp-tipped jig heads or a 1/8 ounce jig head with a Z-Man bad shad colored paddle-tail will get the job done well! Black drum have also been schooling in the deeper edges and have bene partial to 1/8 ounce jig heads rigged with live shrimp.

Well, I wish I had some great news to share but the truth is that the winds have been terrible and kept us landlocked. One day was fishable and we caught zero. The few Amberjack we hooked into were eaten by sandbar sharks. All in all, it was a total dump, as we say. Though this stinks it is a very predictable time of year with bad weather. I wish we had better news but this is the plain truth.

Last week was a tough one for those in the fishing business. As with everything you have some tough times and it wasn’t the best week of fishing as the water temps dropped to 56 degrees in the Indian River Lagoon near Sebastian. It slowed the bite down inshore for sure but we managed to get some trout, jacks and ladyfish. The seas were very rough so people couldn’t get offshore to fish for snook and reds. The jetty anglers did very well during the rough seas on the snook and reds as the season opened, though. Live pinfish were the bait of choice for live bait anglers and bucktails worked well at night.

Look for a much warmer weather pattern and warmer water this week as the temps were up over the weekend and during the week. The trout bite and pompano should improve and with the seas laying down a bit we can get out in the inlet for snook, reds, pompano and mackerel along the beach.

We are seeing scattered pompano on the beach with some nice bull whiting mixed in and lots of small bluefish. The river/lagoon is still holding just about everything. Black drum, redfish, trout, mangrove snapper and sheepshead are all being caught between Eau Gallie Causeway and Pineda Causeway. Port Canaveral is still the place to target tripletail. We are still seeing good numbers of fish being caught. Look for any floating debris and work the buoy line.

It’s that time of year, we are seeing lots and lots of sheepshead and drum being caught. The most consistent catches seem to be on dead shrimp using a light leader and small hooks. Also, the snook bite has been good at the jetty. Shrimp and pinfish have been the bait of choice. The water is clearing up in the river so you should expect the trout bite to pick up as well.