The first cold front has made it through Florida giving us some beautiful weather for the months of October and November so far. That means blue bird skies and cool, crystal clear water in the Mosquito Lagoon which are the perfect elements for sight fishing.
The fishing in the Mosquito Lagoon has been really good. Redfish are starting to school up in big numbers, Sea Trout are laying up in sand holes and Black Drum are making their appearance onto the shallow flats.
Father and son Troy Deal Sr. and Troy Deal Jr. joined me at the beginning of October for some Redfish action. Troy Sr. is the brother of Scott Deal who is the President of Maverick Boat Company. Redfish were tailing and cruising shorelines with their backs exposed this day and they did not hesitate to pounce on a well placed D.O.A. Shadtail.
Panos, a regular from NYC came back down because he heard that the Redfishing in the Lagoon was superb. Well, he heard right and caught plenty on fly. I even shot a little video of one of his fish using my iphone while at the same time trying to position the boat on the poling platform.
A windy day for Mike and Nick this day but that didn’t stop them from catching some fish including Nick first Redfish that he was pretty happy about. They both caught plenty of Sea Trout, a few Reds and Mike got a nice flounder all on D.O.A. Shadtails.
Kevin Symes from Kansas has never fished in Florida or has never targeted Redfish before in his life. After a couple quick tips on how to cast to the fish and present the fly, Kevin landed multiple Redfish which he can now check off of his list.
Dustin Catrett who is a freelance outdoor writer, joined me this day to do an article for Gaff Magazine on me and who I am(coming out in Jan. issue 2013). We had a great day learning about each other while I answered all his questions and he tugged on some fish. By the end of the day, he said that this trip was the best fishing trip that he has ever been on.
Dave and Rick had a great day on the Mosquito Lagoon. They witnessed some big schools of Redfish that were easy pickings. Dave also sight fished a nice Trout laid up in a sand hole about 20ft from the boat.
Reid treated his dad Rudy to a Mosquito Lagoon trip with me for his birthday. Both have never fished these waters before but quickly adapted to the art of sight fishing for Reds with fly rods. They had shots at upper slot cruisers, tailers, and schools but the smaller fish were the ones that ate and came to the boat, but any Redfish on fly is a good fish in my book.
Yesterday was a great day on the water for Portland, Oregon angler John Barlett. A cold front has just passed which greeted us with breezy and chilly conditions in the morning. Once the sun warmed things up, the flats started to become alive. John had shots left and right at cruising and tailing fish. It took a while to get his first fish after he learned how far to lead the fish and how to strip the fly, but after the first one came to the boat, he became a pro and started feeding fish consistently with well placed flies and great presentations! John ended the day with 9 Redfish landed out of about 15 that he hooked. That is a very good day for any fly angler in the Lagoon! John is an avid carp angler back home in Oregon. Check out his blog and great photos at http://carponthefly.blogspot.com/.
In between charters, I did have time to go out and fish for myself and also scout areas with friends and fellow Mosquito Lagoon guides.
Here is Capt. Billy Rotne with a nice fish that fell for a crab pattern.
Capt. Justin Price with a healthy Lagoon fish
…and finally, I had my much needed bow time thanks to both Capt. Billy and Capt. Justin for pushing me around.
Mosquito Lagoon sight fishing is at it’s finest right now with clean water, clear skies, and plenty of fish that are willing to take a well placed fly or artificial lure. Still waiting for the Black Drum to show up in bigger numbers so we can specifically target them…soon, very soon.
-Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
