SPACEFISH REPORT

2.20.2018 – 2.26.2018

A BREVARD COUNTY FISHING REPORT EVERY TUESDAY

Space Coast Fishing Report: 2.20.2018 - 2.26.2018

Fired Up Charters has been cleaning up on the King Bite!

CRUSHING IT ON THE SPACE COAST

In last week’s report, we finally saw the streak end of six somewhat miserable consecutive weeks of winter winds and cold weather, and just like that, the bite went RED HOT all over the board — it was GAME ON in the lagoons, on the beach, and offshore up and down Brevard County. Lucky for us, the fair weather conditions stayed pat this past week, and the bite, too, remained HOT! If you had the opportunity to capitalize, you got yourself a sweet, sweet, taste of what it means to live the salt life on the Space Coast. Great fishing, period.

NO FOMO

Steve Crushing WahooSteve Goff of Sunstate Pest Management crushes it offshore!

If you didn’t get out fishing in prime time these past few weeks, the answer is “yes,” you should feel bad about it. Even Central Florida’s very own pest control magnate, Steve Goff, found time in his industrious schedule to get offshore and absolutely crush it (give Sunstate Pest Management a call at 1-800-781-PEST and Steve will similarly crush any pest problem, no matter how large or small).

In any event, don’t let the “fear of missing out” consume you — that ship has probably already sailed. The winds are picking back up offshore, so the opportunities to get out there may be pretty limited this next week. Fortunately, the bite remains hot and we’re hearing positive reports from the lagoon, beaches, and inlets. Get a line in the water when and where you’re able, and you might just have a big day like some of these happy anglers that got out last week:

WEEKLY GIVEAWAY

Spacefish Contest WinnersCongrats to last week’s giveaway winner, Jeff Blevins. If you didn’t win, don’t worry, you’re getting another crack at it. We’re giving away another $20 Gift Card to Strike-Zone Fishing this week. To enter the contest, either use the Facebook “like” or “share” buttons below to unlock the entry form, or alternatively, subscribe to our email list. The winner will be randomly drawn and announced in next week’s fishing report.

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CONTEST ENTRY FORM

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Word on the Bite

In every week’s fishing report, we look to both fishing pros and average joe’s for input on what’s happening in Space Coast fisheries. This information provides the crucial intel that fuels our report and keeps it fresh and up-to-date throughout the duration of the week. Check out what the word on the bite is this week:

Satellite Beach DELIVERS AGAIN!
February 21, 2018

Satellite Beach DELIVERS AGAIN!

Salty Sarge graciously offered to host a neighborhood fish fry at his home in Satellite Beach. The only issue was we had to first catch some fish. With the pressure on to feed a lot of hungry people, we hit the beach to do some surf fishing, and the results did not disappoint!

We put in a lot of time on the beach, from about 9am to 4pm, catching a boat load of black drum, sheepshead, along with a good number of slot-sized reds, with a lot of other species in the mix like permit, pompano, and mangrove snapper, among others. In recent weeks, it’s been all about the sand fleas, but today it was peeled shrimp that was going off. We had about 6 or 7 rods in the water at a time, mostly all equipped with pompano rigs. The money bite ran during outgoing tide and didn’t cool until low tide at 2:30 pm.

What a great day of fishing, catching, and eating — all right in our own backyard. SATELLITE BEACH, BABY!

by JC

FEATURED CONTRIBUTOR
Mosquito Lagoon Reds
February 19, 2018

Mosquito Lagoon Reds

Well, we are coming off the new moon and have extremely low tides in the north Mosquito lagoon. The schools of redfish have been on the edges of the flats in deeper water. The redfish have been focusing on large jumbo shrimp or finger size mullet tail hooked. As far as artificial lures go, EZ Man paddlers rigged weedless or jerk baits. Judging by the water temperature, cobia will probably be showing up on the beach in the next week or two.

by Capt. Mike Mann
Fat Fish Guide Service | (386) 295-5991

FEATURED CONTRIBUTOR
Scattered Cobia, Tarpon, and Kings
February 19, 2018

Scattered Cobia, Tarpon, and Kings

We’ve had reports of scattered cobia from Cocoa Beach to Sebastian Inlet. Tons of rays and a few fish on them. There are also tarpon along the beach in Sebastian. The kingfish bite has been consistent in 90ft and a few wahoo have also been caught in the 160-200 depths. The bull reds and snook is solid at Sebastian Inlet.

by Strike-Zone Fishing
Strike-Zone Fishing | (321) 956-3474

FEATURED CONTRIBUTOR
Kings Keeping Steady
February 19, 2018

Kings Keeping Steady

Strong Kingfish bite remains steady off Port Canaveral

The kingfish bite has been steady from 8A Reef to the 750 line. Use frozen minnows or if you can find bunker, net them up, because they work really well. There have been some blackfin tuna, sailfish and cobia mixed in as well. Red snapper are all over every wreck and reef. They are easy to catch, just get a bait down to them. The big reds have slowed down along the beaches and sharks fishing has been okay.

by Capt. Chris Cameron
Fired Up Charters | (407) 222-3573

FEATURED CONTRIBUTOR
Black Drum Bite On The Beaches!
February 19, 2018

Black Drum Bite On The Beaches!

This has been one of the best seasons I’ve seen in a while as far as black drum go! These fish seem to be stacked up around all the beaches along the Space Coast! Fishing the end of high tide into low has been producing very well around rock beaches such as PAFB into Paradise Beach in Indialantic. Sheepshead and margate are also on the menu. Bank sinkers in 4oz will help hold bottom and better stack your odds on NOT losing your rig to the rocks. Pompano rigs with peeled shrimp or clam are gonna be choice bait!

There’s also still plenty of whiting and croakers being caught. Bright orange floats with sand flea scent Fishbites in white/orange are working great when inviting these fish to dinner!

The elusive pompano are still around. We’re not seeing as many numbers this week as most the migratory fish are gone, but if you find a beach holding them, they’re stacked up! We should see a great spring run for pompano as well, so get your gear ready for round two come March & April!

by Caleb Couture
Tradewinds Surf Fishing Charters, Pompano Riggs by Couture | (321) 271-1061

FEATURED CONTRIBUTOR
Big Uglies Still Biting
February 19, 2018

Big Uglies Still Biting

big, ugly, and fun to catch!

The black drum are still hitting live shrimp in the northern Indian River Lagoon. Schools are roaming around the edges of the flats and can move as much as two or three miles in one day, so if you do not find them where they were the day before, widen your search and don’t be surprised if they have moved great distances.

Cobia are starting to show up along the near shore waters between Sebastian and Canaveral. Look for bait pods and manta rays to concentrate these fish, because free swimming fish are few and far between. Swim baits, topwater plugs, and live baitfish like pogies and pilchards are your best offering for these hard fighting fish.

by Capt. Jim Ross
Fine Line Fishing Charters | (321) 636-3728

FEATURED CONTRIBUTOR
Great Week of Fishing
February 19, 2018

Great Week of Fishing

big sebastian inlet redfish caught with Going Coastal Charters

Had a great week of fishing. Tarpon, redfish and snook are plentiful off the beach from the Port all the way down to Sebastian. We are Still finding rays with cobia close to Sebastian but most of the cobia have been fished out due to the massive number of boats fishing the same few rays.

Inshore is still a little slow, but there are some trout, ladyfish, and jacks around the flats and along the islands.

by Capt. Glyn Austin
Going Coastal Charters | (321) 863-8085

FEATURED CONTRIBUTOR
Slamming Snook and Reds at the Inlet
February 19, 2018

Slamming Snook and Reds at the Inlet

Snook and redfish are slamming at Sebastian Inlet. Shrimp, pinfish and croakers seem to be the best baits. We are getting some decent trout on the east side of the river. The water is starting to slowly clear up. Jigs, shrimp and popping corks will get it done. Plenty of black drum still being caught along with some big 6-7 ft. sharks in the river.

by Masterbaiters Bait & Tackle
Masterbaiters Bait & Tackle | (321) 674-2060

FEATURED CONTRIBUTOR
Who’s HANGRY?
February 19, 2018

Who’s HANGRY?

The bite is hot in our area. As I like to say, the fish are hangry! The big reds are starting to show up in good numbers in the north Indian River Lagoon. Black drum have remainded on fire with big schools of fish being found in both the N. Indian River and Mosquito lagoons. Haulover is producing some nice black drum as well.

The surf bite at Playalinda Beach is off the hook! Anglers are getting their limit of pompano. Also, many are catching black drum, slot redfish, big bull whiting up to 18″ and many different species of sharks such as blacktip, spinner, and sandbar. Cut bait seems to be best for the sharks but the other species are being caught on a little bit of everything. Sand fleas, clams & shrimp seem to be working best.

by Capt. Hooks Bait & Tackle
Capt. Hooks Bait & Tackle | (321) 268-4646

FEATURED CONTRIBUTOR
Solid Fishing!
February 19, 2018

Solid Fishing!

The snook bite has been strong at Sebastian Inlet with large live shrimp have been the bait of choice. Black drum are still being caught in decent numbers and the sheepshead bite has been solid fishing sand fleas on the outgoing tide. The pompano bite is still strong along the south beaches. Sand fleas, clams and shrimp are the go to bait.

by Black Dog Bait & Tackle
Black Dog Bait & Tackle | (321) 725-1200

FEATURED CONTRIBUTOR
Good Bite Inshore and Off
February 19, 2018

Good Bite Inshore and Off

The weekend fishing report, it looks like the river fishing has picked up around Mathers Bridge, with plenty of sheepshead, trout, and mangrove snapper to go around.

Meanwhile, at the beach, people are catching a lot of pompano, whiting, black drum, margate, and blue fish.

As for the offshore bite, there was a few dolphin caught in the 260 ft range. The bottom fishing bite has also been really good. A lot of Cobia are being caught, although there are quite a few shorts mixed in, there are plenty of keepers out there. Additionally, triggerfish and multiple species of snapper are being caught in good numbers.

Have a great week and good luck on the Big Catch!

by Man Overboard Bait & Tackle
Man Overboard Bait & Tackle | (321) 777-8860

Bowfishing Action
February 18, 2018

Bowfishing Action

Springtime means the tilapia are protecting their nests. This can make for some exciting bowfishing action. Tilapia can be found along the shorelines of just about every freshwater source in Brevard County. As a non-native species, it is good to “cull the herd” as they occupy important habitat of our native Bass, Crappie, and Bluegill.

If you have never tried bowfishing, it is a lot of fun and very challenging. When conditions are right there is no shortage of nonstop action!

-Ryan Wood
RWood Outdoors

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Snook Photo Competition!

Speaking of snook, we haven’t bagged our first of the season yet, but maybe you’ve had better luck. If so, submit your photo below! The owner of the best snook photo submitted through February will be awarded a $20 gift card to Strike-Zone Fishing. The winner will be selected by popular vote in a poll conducted next month.

snook photo contest

WEEKLY WEATHER

Our weather this week will consist of mostly sunny skies throughout the week and into the weekend. The high temperature will be around 81 degrees. Look for the wind to be consistent out of the east and southeast so if you are planning to fish offshore use caution, double check the weather and monitor the seas closely. The winds will fluctuate between 10 and 20 knots building towards the later part of the week and into the weekend. There should be opportunity to explore our nearshore, lagoon and inlet fisheries.

Strike-Zone Fishing, Melbourne FL

Thanks for Reading!

Thank you again for reading the Spacefish Weekly fishing report. We’re now 7 weeks in and we couldn’t be happier with the turnout so far. Keep reading, and if you are looking to catch some serious fish, give one of our many contributing captains a call. They will no doubt put you on the fish!

Stay in the Loop!
Our weekly fishing report is published EVERY TUESDAY morning, bright and early. If you want a quick email alerting you when the report is published each week, we welcome you to subscribe to our mailing list. Note that we value the privacy of our subscribers above all else, and will NEVER spam you or share your information with third parties.