Boy, the fishing has been great this winter and I fully expect the spring season to be great as well. With warmer than typical air and water temps and for the most part moderate winds; this winter has given us fishing opportunities we haven’t seen over the past two years. Except for the extremely low water levels conditions have near perfect.

For me April is the real kick-off to spring. Not just because the calendar proclaims it, but because in most years April is when our water levels rise and weather patterns improve.

Many people love the low waters because it forces the redfish out of the backwaters and into large schools easily found. The problem with this is if you’re not finding schools you’re not likely CATCHING much. Too, if you are fishing schools you’re likely sharing them with several other boats… not always fun!

Once water levels do rise well above the sea level stage the reds will scatter about. Large schools will break up into small groups and singles. If water levels climb near the two foot above sea level stage expect redfish and even gator trout to hug tight to vegetated and rip-rap shorelines. In both scenarios any shoreline mud-flat which holds fiddler crabs will become a frequently visited area for redfish!

High, warm water also means there is no truly bad choice of bait to catch our shallow water species. Anything imitating a small mullet, mud-minnow, pinfish, pigfish, needlefish, crab, shrimp or ??? can and will produce fine results.

Most of you already know I’ll be offering our flats fish an array of Exude soft plastic baits from the little Cajun Crab to the five inch RT Slug. I’ll also be tossing top-water plugs that closely match the fingerling mullet in a given area. Aqua Dream weedless spoons and hard plastic twitch baits covering the middle of the water column will round out my and hopefully your spring season arsenal.

Clients ask me all the time “when is the best time to come here for fishing”. It’s a tough question to answer because our fishing is good here all year; weather permitting. Still, if I must pin a time frame down to answer this question I am inclined to answer April through June.

Our “spring” season just so happens to offer the most stable and comfortable weather patterns of any typical year. We usually have warm (but not yet hot) air and water temps, both making fish and fishers happy. We usually experience a rise in water depths which allow the redfish and gator trout to venture into the back water areas many of us love to fish. The only possible set-back to the higher water levels is the large schools of redfish we’ve enjoyed all winter tend to disband and scatter across a wide expanse.

Another plus to the spring fishery is the return of the most important forage species our game fish depend on; the fingerling silver mullet. In addition to the mullet our local population of pinfish will become abundant and of usable size. Our water will often seem alive with clouds of “fry-fish”, the very young of many different species of fish which inhabit our waters. While we can’t always easily identify these fry the birds and game fish still see them as an abundant food source and consume them readily. The area will still be holding a fine population of shrimp too along with lots of crabs.

With all of these food choices Mother Nature is providing it is logical to assume our game fish will be able to gorge themselves when the mood strikes. It’s also logical that we anglers should be prepared to offer a range of different artificial lures imitating the myriad of natural foods out there. Of course, I’ll be rigging Exude Shrimp, Darts and RT Slugs as my go-to soft plastic options.

Anglers preferring to use the real thing will have no shortage of great choices to offer their favorite species.

March, often our windiest month of the year still has great fishing opportunities available. Anglers will do themselves a service by paying attention to the winds and finding sheltered shorelines to hide behind. There are lots of leeward shorelines to focus on depending on wind direction and of course water levels. Keep in mind a prominent open water sandbar may offer enough protection from the wind to gather catchable numbers of fish even if it doesn’t necessarily offer comfortable flat water for the angler.

Winter is prime time for schooling black drum in our area. We’ve been catching some monsters lately on soft plastics. Exude’s Cajun Crab in chartreuse has been doing a stellar job on both colors of drum, especially when the fish are tailing. Be patient with the tailing fish. Most of those I’ve cleaned have been feeding on clams and they are truly focused on digging these tasty morsels out of the bottom. Getting a redfish or black drum on lures in this instance is a numbers game of making enough accurate casts to enough fish to eventually elicit a bite.

During several trips recently we achieved as many as twenty bites using artificial crabs and shrimp. Given the sheer number of fish in the schools we were pursuing one might expect a bite on every cast, reality proved to be entirely different. Strangely, offering a perfectly sized live shrimp did not add significantly to our success when the fish were focusing on the clams. For me it’s far easier and expedient to fire away with the plastic imitations than re-bait a live shrimp every few casts. A live shrimp cannot take the casting abuse and literally flies off the hook when overpowering a cast!

Don’t overlook the “gators” in the shallows. We are having an incredible season for big seatrout this winter. They are using a foot or less of water depth and they love the sand holes. Make the longest casts you are capable of making and cover lots of bottom. These fish are eating most everything, but for us the five inch jerk shad shapes (RT Slugs) are producing better than the small lures!

Wow! Fishing has been great lately with eager seatrout and voracious redfish. Fishing shallow as in a foot or less of water depth over a nicely mottled bottom is the pattern to follow. March should be a fine fishing month too as long as our Winter stays on the mild side.

Sight fishing on the calm mornings has been excellent while using soft plastic lures rigged weedless. You might need to experiment with size and color a bit as some days the big trout are preferring four inch baits like the Exude Dart and other days they want a bigger meal like Exude’s five inch RT Slug. Color selection has been pretty simple with white or something dark like Golden Bream filling the bill. Add something with sparkle if the sun is out in a dark color like Mangrove Red or a light neutral color like Natural Shrimp.

Most of our redfish lately have less picky than the trout; at least the shallow water oriented fish. We’ve been having great luck using Darts for moving reds and Cajun Crabs for the tailer’s. Keep in mind the Darts is the most adaptable soft plastic I know. In the hands of a savvy angler this bait catches all of our typical flats fish whether they are on the move, tailing or setting idle.

Experiment with your retrieve if you are seeing fish and not catching. A recent bite of trout and reds was improved upon exponentially when we realized a series of rapid twitches to get their attention than letting the bait fall to the bottom and remain motionless was the answer. This is NOT UNCOMMON! Many if not most fishers simply do not realize the advantage of a motionless lure. Help yourself out a bit more by choosing soft plastics with scent built into the product. This is why I use the product you read about monthly. Of course you can add an aftermarket spray, paste or oil to any artificial lure and I occasionally do even to my Exudes on a tough bite day.

NIRL February, 2012
Finally, the weather is improving and the wind relaxing. We’ve even had a few days of “flat-calm” water recently. The good news is we should continue with relatively good weather between the imminent cold fronts which will move through the area.

Extremely low water levels have concentrated our local population of both redfish and black drum. Both species are readily eating live shrimp as well as soft-plastic shrimp. The Exude Shrimp in Golden Bream has been a killer recently as has the Mangrove Red Dart, also by Exude.

The Dart can be manipulated to imitate an injured minnow or a shrimp by the angler’s style of retrieve. Inching the lure slowly through the grass on the Lagoon’s floor will get the shrimp eating drum’s (both red and black) interest piqued. Adopting a snappy twitch – twitch – pause cadence will attract the mud minnow/small mullet eating gamesters, including the feisty seatrout!

Many of our usual shallow “flats” areas are all but dry. Do not despair as many fish are holding on the slightly deeper edges of their normal areas. Focusing on edges with a foot or two of depth adjacent to the too-shallow flat will up the savvy angler’s odds for success!

Anglers with the ability to make truly long casts will enjoy opportunity after opportunity on gator trout! This is the best time of year to catch that trophy. Double digit seatrout are prowling the spotted bottom flats with barely enough depth to float a flats skiff. A stealthy approach with your push-pole is a must or if the wind is right a slow drift will accomplish a quiet movement across a fishy expanse.

Soft plastic lures like my favorite, the Dart by Mr. Twister/Exude is a fine choice here. Mangrove Red, Natural Shrimp and Golden Bream colors will excel as choices which produce awesome results. The Dart casts like a… well, a dart! While casting at the trout you’ve already seen and probably spooked will catch a few fish you’ll notice an increase in the catch rate by simply blind casting and covering lots of water. Also, casting past any of the visible sand spots at the extreme end of your vision will pay off with fantastic results.

SML February, 2012
Lagoon water levels are fluctuating between a few inches above sea level to a few inches below sea level, meaning it is extremely dry out there. Yes, I’m saying to you lagoon boaters to be careful in areas you are not familiar with. The good news is that nearly every prominent sand bar in the south region is sticking out of the water and easily seen!

Due to this extreme low water our redfish and black drum are schooling and sometimes in large numbers. I’m happy to report fishing has been quite good in the South Mosquito Lagoon lately. I’ll go out on a limb here and state that fishing will remain good for the foreseeable future as long as our weather remains stable.

Keep in mind the imminent cold fronts which will pass through our state will affect the bite. Depending on each fronts severity the bite may be affected in a small way or shut down altogether. Try timing your trips to the water two days after a major front or later in the day giving the water time to warm several degrees.

While we still have a fair amount of mullet in the area at the time of my writing this report they are thinning and will soon be all but gone. Crustaceans are becoming the key to good catches in the form of live shrimp and shrimp imitations. We have been having success on Golden Bream Exude Shrimp and Mangrove red Darts lately. Rigging them weedless and very slowly working them on the bottom has resulted in decent redfish and seatrout catches. I will be reintroducing the Exude Cajun Crab to the mix of soft plastic lures very soon as we’re beginning to see more “tailing” activity!

Happy New Year, my fellow anglers: May your fishing dreams become reality in 2012!

Even though we are still saddled with dirty water in the North Indian River at the time of my writing this forecast fishing has been quite good, at least on some days!

Redfish and large seatrout are using their typical areas and feeding well when the wind stays light. Black drum are also starting to show in small groups and medium sized schools. Often the pods of fish you are following in the shallows you believe to be redfish are in fact black drum. This will soon become evident as cleaner water becomes the norm once again.

For the next several months I’ll be thinking “live Shrimp” and will be picking up a dozen or three from my friends at Hooch’s. While I don’t exactly feel the need to toss a jumbo shrimp at anything other than gator trout or monster redfish right now, I do like my shrimp to be large enough to easily cast without added weight. Tail hooking a live shrimp with a 2/0 circle hook and placing it in front of all of our flats loving game fish will results in great catches until the pinfish return to create havoc with us next spring.

Of course soft plastic shrimp imitations will do the job too. Exude DARTs can be crawled along the bottom at a snail’s pace and achieve awesome results. Then again the Exude Fan Tailed Shrimp looks like a small shrimp already. By adding a magnum rattle to the hollow chamber of the Fan Tail an enticing clicking sound will get the attention of redfish, black drum and more. Both of these soft plastic lures are wonderful for blind-casting on the flats, but truly excel as sight-casting “baits” to tailing fish or slow cruisers.

Happy New Year, my fellow anglers: May your fishing dreams become reality in 2012!

As of the time of writing this forecast our early winter weather conditions have been rather windy, but also fairly warm. Warm especially when compared to our last two winters. These warmer temperatures are still a double edged sword as our local water continues to be all too dirty from what looks and smells like summer algae blooms.

I’m hopeful and expectant of cleaner water in the very near future, though I’m not going to make any promises: wink. Until our waters do clear we anglers will be well advised to keep some type of natural bait on hand for the tough-bite days we will be encountering. I’m seeing evidence of good numbers of live shrimp in the ‘goon right now. Keep your eyes open for them leaping out of the water, especially where the big roe mullet are feeding. Remember, the slot redfish and trout that shadow these groups of huge mullet are not feeding on them, but the shrimp, crabs and minnows the mullet disturb as they root through the grass!

For those of us who simply prefer to use artificial lures the highly scented soft plastic baits by Exude, Gulp and others will help tremendously. When non-scented plastics are put into play a healthy dab of attractant will up the odds for successful results. Hard baits like spoons and spinners are fine choices as their flash and vibration allow our game-fish to see and feel their presence. These hard bait offerings are fantastic search tools that receive savage strikes from the most receptive fish in a given area. I often have one angler throwing a spoon or spinner while a second angler is using a soft plastic lure to see which “bait” the redfish, trout or black drum prefer. The Exude Dart in Pearl White has been killing both redfish and trout in the cloudy water. Remember, the DART can resemble a baitfish or a shrimp depending on how it is retrieved!

Once our waters do clear a live shrimp will likely be the best choice for redfish, black drum and trout on the flats. Of course soft plastic shrimp like the Exude Shrimp in Natural Shrimp or Golden Bream colors will catch any of the aforementioned species above. Think shrimp for the next several months!

In all likelihood December will kick our winter fishing patterns into full-swing. We can expect cold fronts to slide through the state at regular intervals. With luck, these fronts will be spaced far enough apart to allow our flats fishing to excel in the warm-ups between them. Winter is the sight-fishing enthusiast’s favorite time of year simply because the waters tend to be quite clear and water levels tend to be very low.

December means my boat will be carrying live shrimp to toss at the “spooky” redfish, trout and black drum that will be abundant on our shallows. Yes, these fish will certainly be spookier than our fish have been over the past six months or so. Gin clear water means “they” can see us as well as we see them; probably better than we can see them if truth be told!

The savvy flats angler knows it’s time to downsize things for the season. Down-sizing our artificial lures into the two and a half to four inch range. Down-size our leader from twenty pound test to twelve or fifteen pound test and increase the leaders length to as much as five or more feet using fluorocarbon. Clear water means changes, often subtle changes to be sure, but business as usual is gone for the winter season.

You’ll be seeing at least one rod rigged with a lengthy fluorocarbon leader and sporting a 3/0 circle hook on my Banshee this season. This rig will be used to toss a live shrimp, live mullet/mud minnow or small chunk of cut mullet or ladyfish to laid-up or tailing reds and black drum. This versatile rig (the “stoopid rig”) can also be employed to nose hook and quickly throw an Exude Fan Tailed Shrimp or Cajun Crab to schooling or tailing fish if we’re out of livies or simply enjoy fooling our quarry rather than feeding them. You might be surprised at how weedless and effective the “stooped rig” can be. Give it a try!

If we don’t experience harsh winter conditions this year as we have in the past two Decembers we South Mosquito Lagoon anglers can expect great fishing. The early winter season usually means near perfect water temperatures and clear or nearly clear water conditions. Our toughest factor to overcome right now is dealing with massive amounts of dead grass which has accumulated across our shallows. Only strong winds to blow this mess onto shorelines where it can rot or time itself to allow it to decay on the bottom will rid us of this condition.

Rigging our soft plastic lures weedless and weightless will help us keep our offerings above the matted grass and help them not to sink into the mess when we allow the lures to drop to the bottom. Keeping things rigged extra light and small will be necessary and since our redfish and black drum will be feeding on live shrimp and smaller crabs now a smaller lure or bait is in order anyway.

As mentioned above our local waters will now be holding more crustaceans than fin fish as forage. Yes, there will still be a few fingerling mullet and a fair number of mud minnows for our fish to eat. However, shrimp will become their most abundant food source along with many species of swimming and crawling crabs.

Obviously, anglers should consider using live shrimp or cut blue crab or maybe fiddler crabs as their primary offerings. For those anglers who prefer artificial lures any of the popular shrimp imitations are great choices. I’ll be using Exude shrimp in Natural Shrimp and Golden Bream colors. When a smaller choice is needed I’ll switch to the Exude Fan Tailed Shrimp, often adding a magnum rattle to the chamber designed to hold one. The Fan Tail Shrimp is a deadly winter bait and worth searching for!