Welcome to this months Mosquito Lagoon, Indian River Lagoon and Banana River Lagoon fishing report. HOT is one word to describe the month of August, not just the temperatures but the Tarpon fishing all throughout the Central East region of FL. I’ve notice a huge comeback with the Snook and Tarpon since the freeze back in 2010 that wiped out almost every tarpon and snook in the estuaries state wide. I’m seeing good numbers of them almost everywhere that I’ve been looking and that is a great sign for the future!
The Redfish and Sea Trout are also happy and spread out in all 3 Lagoons. Redfish can be found tailing super early in the morning at first light in shallow grass flats waiting for a well placed fly or D.O.A. Shrimp or 3″ Shadtail. You can find Sea Trout around the mullet pods and are happy to take topwater plugs like MirrOLures Top Dog or Top Dog Jr.
Here are the stories and photos of this months anglers:
Carlos and Jennifer from South Carolina came down to fish for 5 days. It was a pleasure having them on the boat and they will fish non stop sun up to sun down rain or shine! Within the week, we ventured off to 3 different bodies of water doing everything from sight fishing tailing redfish, casting mangrove shorelines for snook, chasing tarpon big and small, and chasing Jacks when they would bust bait on the surface. Lots of fish were caught during the week, but the most memorable ones were Jennifer’s big Sea Trout that ate right next to the boat and Carlos’s 1st Tarpon on fly. We even witnessed an Alligator sneaking up to a laid up Sea Trout in shallow water that was pushing 10lbs and snatching it right from the grass. Like National Geographic style!
Brad from Colorodo has only fly fished for 10 months now, he went 2 for 6 on Juvenile Tarpon with me this day.
Walt from Pennsylvania got his first taste of saltwater fly fishing this day, he also went 2 for 6 on juvenile Tarpon making the Tarpon his first saltwater species on fly. Not a bad way to start the addiction!
As always, I like to sneak out with friends as much as possible on my down time. Exploring new areas and finding new fish is a never ending hunt for me.
And a video of myself and buddy Capt. Rick Worman in the search of untouched Tarpon.
The search for Tarpon on the fly from Willy Le on Vimeo.
Even though the fishing is hot, don’t forget about the temperatures so take some breaks and drink some water or Gatoraid if you are gonna be out all day, there have been a couple times where I almost got to the point of feeling very light headed and passing out while poling the boat mid day these past couple weeks, heat stroke can happen to anyone so be safe!
