Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report
Sat. May 21, 2011
Moon - 4days past Full
M.F.= 2:15 am +/- (moon at 2:00 position+/- at daylight)
Temp.: mid 60's to low 80's in afternoon
wind: SW @ 5-7 mph early, built to 10+ and died about noon then switched out of E at 10 mph
pressure: 29.75
humidity: 55%avg.(41-83)
rain: 0
sunny
I know what everybody's thinking........Larry, where's all the fish, you lost your touch or what? I've been thinking the same thing. I have just recently started fishing for this year since Spring Gobbler season has ended and have not really been able to get on any fish to speak of.
I 've mostly been trying new places but today I decided to go back to a spot I fished a few times last year that seemed to always have a good number of fish on the east side of Mosquito Lagoon. I dubbed the spot the "Sink Hole" after my friend Lou flipped his yak there on its maiden voyage last summer. He would have got a kick out of seeing me go over today. I was polling with the paddle standing when I thought I saw fish lying in a sand hole. I grabbed a rod and made a cast but the wind pushed me on. I twisted around and next thing I know I'm in the water. Good thing it was real shallow or I would have got real wet. As it was I was only half wet and was back in the boat before anyone saw it!
As far as the report, I should have just taken a picture of my shirt at the end of the day. I was covered in fish blood and poop. That would have told the whole story and I could have forgone all the rest. I thought my professional fishing shirt was ruined! A wash in cold water followed by a liberal amount of hydrogen peroxide with a follow up wash, pretty much got all the stains out. It's a good thing half the lady fish get off before you have to handle them. Man those things get nasty. I had them hooked every way possible, even had one hooked in the mouth and tail at the same time! That was was wantin' some relief!
There were some Redfish there but not in the numbers I expected. What was there in numbers were Ladyfish!! I fished some sand pot holes where every cast brought a strike. I know I caught over 45 of them before the day was over. As for the redfish I caught 4 or 5 fish in the low end of the slot, 18-19" range.
I had four rods on the boat, (2) plug rods and to spinning outfits. I had a Mirrolure "Top Pup" on one and a "MirrOdine twitch bait on the other. On the spinners had an Assassin Jerk Shad in pearl and the other had a "Tsunami bucktail flats jig." Nothing would touch the top water plug. The MirrOdine however, killed the ladyfish, they loved that thing. Watch the hooks on these things, they are the sharpest treble hooks I have ever seen. I
had ladyfish hooked every way possible, even had one hooked in the mouth and tail at the same time! That was was wantin' some relief! I caught one of the reds on the soft jerk bait and the others on the jig. The ladyfish loved the jerk bait but had trouble getting it in their mouth so I couldn't hardly hook one on it but I could see them knocking the crap out of it. I have had no luck at all in this clear water with a top water plug.
had ladyfish hooked every way possible, even had one hooked in the mouth and tail at the same time! That was was wantin' some relief! I caught one of the reds on the soft jerk bait and the others on the jig. The ladyfish loved the jerk bait but had trouble getting it in their mouth so I couldn't hardly hook one on it but I could see them knocking the crap out of it. I have had no luck at all in this clear water with a top water plug.
Well, I pushed off from the hill before sun up but I wanted to have actually made the mile plus paddle to the flat I wanted to fish, in the dark. I couldn't get into the park before 6 AM however.
I stopped on the way at a little point that looked fishy. It had a few dead mangrove stumps and some slick water next to some 2-3 feet deep stuff. The first cast with the jerk bait drew a strike from a ladyfish. Just after that I noticed a redfish tail pop up between me and the bank. I pitched to him but nothing. That one and another fish were moving down the bank and disappeared. I moved around the point and saw them again. I made a cast at the one I could see. As the bait got to him he spooked off but instantly I felt a hard thump and my Okuma started giving up line. Apparently, the second fish saw the bait and rushed it, spooking the first fish as it was right beside him. He was a nice 19" fish.
Since I was only a few casts into the trip and I was fixin' to really spank'um I decided to turn that red back and hold out for a bigger fish that was sure to come. A couple hours later with no big redfish on the stringer I was question that decision.
I finally caught a replacement for him on a little bucktail flats jig tipped with a piece of ladyfish in one of my favorite sand holes. I had paddled over a mile to get to this spot and there was a boat anchored, fishing the very hole I wanted to fish, out of all the others around! I never saw him catch a fish out of it but I felt there had to be something there. A while after they poled off, I paddled over and caught that red on the first cast! That was some pretty good justice!
The wind was a little troublesome. It was around 10 mph on up in the morning but died around noon and the water slicked off. In about a half hour it changed directions and started coming off the ocean. I mostly used the stake pole to hold my position but that made for a few poor pictures with the sun at my back. It was just to much trouble to re-position the boat so I just did the best I could.
I had my camera remote quit on me when I caught that first red and ended up paddling back to the truck for a spare since I was not that far away. There were 3 other yaks putting in as I paddled away. They headed south behind me but stayed further out. I kept to shallower water looking for a tailing fish. I got into a decent group of reds tailing past that same point I had caught the first at. They were filtering by a few at a time so I staked down and casted to them as they came by. I could not get one of them to eat anything I offered though they were actively feeding.
I did see one more small school of reds at mid day that were moving south and I could see some tails but They were not really feeding they had just pushed up into some shallow grass. They were moving along pretty good actually. I couldn't do anything with them either.
Later, when I got back to the launch, two of the trio of yak fishermen showed up and one of the guys came over and said "what were you catchin', ladyfish? Every time I looked over at you, you were fight another one!"
They had not caught no where the numbers I had but each had caught a red or two that were 24-26" and one had caught about 5 or 6 trout that were all short except one 15"er. I had not seen a trout all morning myself. They had caught the trout in deeper water.
There's probably more ladyfish pictures here than necessary but you get the idea a pile of fish!
Larry S.
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