Mid April Orlando Area and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, April 15, 2018
POSTED ON APRIL 15, 2018 IN FISHING REPORTS
Fishing conditions on the central east lagoon coast of Florida this past week covered the entire spectrum from very gorgeous to very challenging, but the catching was very rewarding for many anglers despite the adversity. The week started out with gorgeous conditions both inshore on the lagoons and offshore, and then it ended with stalled cold front and small craft warnings with the weekend of fishing being completely blown out. The water quality on the north IRL and in the Mosquito Lagoon is showing some improvement.

On Monday I decided to scout fish on my own in the Titusville section of the Indian River Lagoon. It was my first trip in that area since the fish kill south of there several week ago, and I wanted to see if I could still fine fish in that area. Although the water was still dirty, I did not see a single dead fish the entire morning. There was still plenty of mullet and other fish moving around on the flats, but I did not see a single redfish all morning.

On Tuesday I scouted on the Mosquito Lagoon. The morning started with a little fog about just before sunrise, but once the sun cleared the eastern shore line, flat and glassy conditions made sight fishing easy. At my first location I decided to give top-water plugs a try since it is the season for the return of the silver mullet and the top-water sea trout bite, which work out well as I landed three respectable sea trout in a matter of 20 minutes. At my second location I started moving in shallow looking for reds and started seeing tails in every direction. The only problem was the fish were working in extremely shallow water where reaching them was an issue, but they were everywhere and I manager a few on DOA Shad Tail Jigs. It was good seeing tailing fish again, especially in those numbers.

Returned to the Indian River Lagoon on Thursday and I decided to target black drum in some of the deeper channels and dredge areas and I found some big black drum and caught three in the 20 to 30 -pound range.

As always, if you need information and have any questions, please contact me.

Good luck and good fishing,

Captain Tom Van Horn

http://www.irl-fishing.com

Tom Van Horn
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