I have been fishing more than writing, so I know a fishing report is long overdue. This week I did fish inshore a few times. The water in the lagoon is high again. This also allows for more boats than normal to enter shallows that are normally limited to tiny skiffs and gheenoes. During the week I found the usual pods of redfish tailing on grass beds. Catching those fish on fly is about as much fun as you can have fishing. If you don’t fly fish, start. If you are hard headed and won’t, a finger mullet hooked through the mouth with its tail cut off should entice one for you. These fish are obviously extremely spooky, so be aware of every noise you can possibly make. Any little tic can set these fish off but if you are patient and quiet, you can usually get right on top of them. My buddy got me so close we needed to back up. If you can’t find any tailing redfish, work a paddle tail up and down the flat covering ground. You should be able to pick up a trout or redfish here and there. Later in the morning, redfish will cruise the banks. We were able to get a snook to to steal a fly from a redfish, and it was one of the coolest things I have seen back there. We came across 30-50 lb tarpon rolling in 3-4 feet of water, which is a sight I rarely see in the lagoon. It was a fun week in the shallows.
Offshore the bite was hot, but BVO had a frustrating week. Multiple good fish were lost, and one trophy fish that still burns as I type this report. We found multiple rips in all different depths. A sailfish was caught in 100 feet of water, trolling open water in between reefs. We found mahi here and there on rip lines, in anywhere from 100 feet of water, up to 1500ft. The bigger one that was lost was in about 600-700 ft, but the transducer failed on that trip, so we do not know the depth for sure. Small black bart lures saw some action, but the usual ballyhoo/chugger head combo seemed to be the most popular. Fish don’t give a damn about color while trolling, it is the action, so pick a pretty color that you like and that you can see while trolling. There is a certain iland lure that makes ballyhoo swim like a snake, but you can experiment on your own. We did a little snapper fishing, and we had good luck on cut bait. We had to chum to get them to come up to us. Sea bass were also caught on squid and smoker kings were seen busting bait balls throughout the week. Seas look to remain in the 2-3 ft range, and winds will continue out of the southwest between 5-15 knots depending upon time of day/week. The west wall of the gulf stream is 40nm east of Ponce Inlet. Be careful with summer storms in the afternoon. Good luck out there and feel free to call and ask questions anytime.
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New Smyrna Beach & Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Reports
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April 2021
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