March News and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

The month of February has been a busy month for me, not just with charters but with the Miami Boat Show followed by the Salty Fly Tournament in Ruskin, FL. over on the west coast. I’ll begin with the fishing report in the Mosquito lagoon.

The fishing in the Lagoon has been very good! Large schools of redfish along with black drum are pretty much spread out throughout the Lagoon system. Some days they will be mellow and happily eat flies and artificials, some days they will be moving so fast you can’t even get close to them. Some nice Trout can be found laid up in shallow sandy areas during the mid day sunning themselves, you gotta be stealthy to sneak up to these fish before they see or hear you approaching, otherwise they will be long gone before you can get a cast at them. After these last couple cold snaps that we will have and as Spring approaches, the fishing will get much better.

Scouting for my upcoming trips, I found hungry schools of upper slot redfish that were taking D.O.A. Shadtails in the “pink ice” color reeled on the surface. Watching them strike a lure or fly on top is an amazing sight.


Kyle and his dad Kevin joined me on a windy and chilly day which made it tough to sight fish. Blind casting to fishy looking areas paid off for the two and both landed plenty of good sized sea trout and some slot sized redfish on soft plastic lures.



Anthony from Texas got his biggest redfish on fly out of a school of about 20-30 fish. Windy conditions made it tough to stay on top and make casts to the schools but one perfect cast was all that was needed to get the bite.

Dave Mcleod from D.O.A. Lures and his buddy Seth came up from Stuart, FL. to test out D.O.A.’s new Airhead Lures in the Mosquito Lagoon. We found out that big Trout love them!  For more info on D.O.A. Lures new Airhead baits and others, visit: www.doalures.com




Of course the trusty ole D.O.A. 3″ Shrimp did the trick as well on bigger Redfish and Black Drum.


My buddy Billy Rotne invited me to hop aboard his skiff to search for some larger redfish that should be showing up around Spring time. We found schools of all sizes, the bigger ones were hard to feed but I managed to get a decent fish to eat first thing in the morning.

Maverick Boat Company revealed the new and improved HPX-17V flats skiff at the Miami Boat Show this year. They were generous enough to let Capt. Honson Lau and myself use it to fish the Salty Fly Tournament in Ruskin, FL. put on by Sam Root of SaltyShores.com. The HPX-17V II performed perfectly in the rough chop and some shallow water areas. This is one of the best technical poling skiffs on the market with it’s smooth ride, shallow draft, and great poling capabilities. The Salty Fly Tournament was the 3rd year that I have fished the event and every year it keeps getting better and bigger. Big sponsors were involved including Hells Bay Boatworks, G.Loomis, Simms Fishing Products, Yeti Coolers, RCI Optics and much more. To learn more about the tournament and to see the results and photos of the events visit: www.saltyflytournament.com.  To learn more about the new Maverick HPX-17V II visit: www.maverickboats.com


Hells Bay/G.Loomis poling and casting challenge at the Salty Fly Tournament.



One last thing. Pick up the latest issue(March/April) of Florida Sport Fishing Magazine and check out the article I wrote on tailing redfish. I reveal some of my secrets on how to approach and catch them.

Also, I am proud to announce that I am the newest addition of Simms Fishing Products Ambassador Team. I’ve been a big fan of Simms Products for a while and am honored to be on the same team as some of the best guides in the world! Visit the site and check out their great gear from waders, rain gear, sun protective clothing, shoes, back packs, and more at www.simmsfishing.com. If you go to the search for guides section, you can search for a Simms Pro Guide in any area you plan to travel or by any species you want to catch. Here is my profile.

Thanks for visiting my blog/reports…until next time!

-Capt. Willy Le
nativeflycharters@gmail.com

This entry was posted in Fishing reports and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.