Mosquito Lagoon/Cocoa Beach Fly Fishing Guide – Capt. Willy Le

I have been taking Capt. Scott Lum on his offers lately to hop aboard his 23ft Contender the “Outcast” and fish the waters out of Port Canaveral, FL. the past couple weeks. For those who do not know Scott Lum, he runs a charter service out of Port Canaveral called Outcast Fishing Adventures. Scott definitely Knows his stuff when it come to fishing these waters. You probably have seen Scott on an episode of Addictive Fishing with Blair Wiggins cobia fishing out of Port Canaveral or you may have read a recent article in Florida Today about Scott and his “secrets” to tripletail fishing.

Our targets when we went were Southern Flounder, Tripletail, and a Cobia here and there, when the bite was slow for those species, we would go out and get some Kingfish. Each day was full of action and excitement. I definitely learned a lot more about fishing the deeper waters during my trips with Scott. If you would like to get on some fish with Capt. Scott Lum aboard the Outcast, call 321-266-4505 and visit his website at centralfloridacharters.com

Hit the Northern end of the Indian River Lagoon system with buddy Eddie and some brand new Temple Fork Outfitters rods to test out. An 8wt BVK designed by Lefty Kreh and a 7’6 GLoomis Signature series TFO Meduim Light spinning rod designed by Gary Loomis himself. I am very impressed with both rods. The BVK is a fast action rod that is super light…I had no problem adjusting to this rod being used to throwing a 9wt Crosscurrent GLX by GLoomis which by the way is a super stiff and fast. The spinning rod felt a little stiffer than most medium light rods with lots of back bone, but the feel of the rod is great, and it can cast a light weight lure or live shrimp a good distance. I’m 100% satisfied with the new rods from Temple Fork Outfitters, for the low price that these rods retail at, you are definitely getting alot more than what you are paying for!

As for the fishing…the day started out kinda slow, but the real fun started late afternoon with redfish and trout willing to eat anything that crosses its path. Few Black Drum were spotted but did not take any of our fly offerings. I will be out next week trying to target the Black Drum on the flyrods so check back to see how I did! See ya on the water!

-Capt. Willy Le

Temple Fork Outfitters spin rod Medium Light action

all photos taken by Eddie Oliveras

While the mullet run is in full swing, I’ve been hitting the surf in search of Snook. Some Snook have been seen but not caught, instead, lots of Flounder have been caught in the last week. Me and my neighbor have been hitting the surf between Port Canaveral and Patricks Air Force Base a few hours before dark almost every day this past week. Live finger mullet is the bait of choice on a 1/4 oz knocker rig slowly retrieved until the flounder grabs it. When you feel a hit, remember to give it about 10 seconds or more before you set the hook…if not, you will just rip the bait out of the flounders mouth. These flounder have been ranging from 17-20 inches and are holding in the deeper pockets along the surf, look for rips and deep drop offs for best results. Redfish have been caught in the surf as well using the same technique. Get out there while the fishing is hot!

The river fishing is also hot as well with Black Drum and Redfish schooled up on the flats. I plan on getting out there all next week to target these fish on some new rods that just came in from TFO Rods including the newest addition to their flyrod line…the “BVK”. Check out all the models at www.templeforkflyrods.com or for casting and spinning rods go to www.tforods.com.

-Capt. Willy Le

Ahh, gotta love the crisp morning air of the first signs of Fall after long days of blistering Summer heat! Following the weather is good fishing! I had Danny Francis aboard the Maverick this morning in search of the Big Bull Reds that roam the flats of the Indian River Lagoon around this time of year. They were exactly where I left them last year. Danny had multiple blow ups using the MirrOlure Top Dog but none connected until we saw a HUGE wake pushing from 50 yards or so. Once the fish pushed close enough for Danny to make the cast, he places the Top Dog 30 feet in front of the fishes path, once the fish got 10 feet from the lure he gave it one twitch and the water pushes toward the lure and explodes! One of the best eats that I’ve seen in my entire fishing career! This redfish turned out to be Danny’s biggest by far, and on a top water lure! After a couple hero shots and release, we start to see pushes from big reds all over us. Danny sticks with the topwater with more blow ups but no more hook ups. We also came across the Black Drum that I usually target on fly in November but it seems that they have shown up early! These Drum were packed in schools of 50-100 fish and were not shy. They ranged from 15-25lbs but the hard part was getting them to eat. We tried every lure in the box with only one hook up on a Black jig and multiple opportunities. These fish will be around for a couple months and they are a blast to catch on fly!! Sometimes I find it easier to get them to eat a fly than any bait on spin. If you feel like targeting these fish with me, I have plenty of days open, just give me a call or shoot me an email!

Capt. Willy Le

As the winds continue to blow, I’ve been keeping the skiff covered up and walking across the street to the beach in Cocoa Beach and casting lures in the surf during high tide. Today, my lure of choice was one of MirrOlures new crankbaits, the “Mirrolip” series in silver with a black back. These crankbaits have GREAT action and are easy to use…just cast and reel it in while giving it a small twitch here and there. Defininitely one of my favorite lures for fishing in the surf and at inlets and jettys for Snook. Bluefish are thick in the troughs created by the recent big swells that we’ve been having lately. Mixed in should be some snook but today all I got were the blues. I did not see many finger mullet in the surf, but once in a while I would see a big pod of 12″ mullet cruising south beyond the breakers. I plan on hitting the river in the Maverick later this week in search of Big Redfish for some clients I have lined up that has been wanting to play tug-o-war with one of these big fish. Please check back for updates on the surf and on the river, I’m waiting for those Pompano to be moving in when the water temps drop a little more. Thanks for visiting my Reports page, new updates to the site are in the works including a Surf Report section for all of the surfers out there, a destinations page for all of my fishing adventures away from home, a product reviews page and alot more!! Hope to see you on the water!

-Capt. Willy Le

MirrOlures NEW Mirr-O-Lip Series.

Fished the Banana River this morning with Eddie Oliveras. Winds were supposed to be out of the west this morning but it was mainly hard out of the north until we were done with the trip, then it finally turned light west. The usual shallow flats where I find massive redfish are now deeper and dirtier, combine the wind and it makes for a tough day of fishing. The fish were there but were hard to see. Eddie slayed the trout using D.O.A. Cals & Baitbusters while I got one red to smash a MirrOlure Top Dog.

October is one the best months to catch redfish, I’m looking forward to spending alot of time on the water and feeling the cool fall air move in!

Went for an offshore trip today out of Port Canaveral. Seas were a little sporty for the 22′ Pathfinder but that didn’t keep us from running out over 20 miles East of Port Canaveral. Pogies are still south of the pier past the breakers, with mullet closer to the beach. Sharks and Barracudas kept our free-lined pogies busy at every stop we made. Bottom catches consisted of small Seabass, grunts, few porgies, some triggerfish, more sharks, and numerous red snapper. Trolling was slow today from the 110′ to 150′ depths but if you find the right bottom structure, you will have non stop action using cut squid, cut pogies or sardines, or live pinfish sent to the bottom. Red Snapper still remains closed until Dec. 5th 2010 until further notice due to “overfishing” of these species. Please remember to properly vent any fish that is going to be released with the proper venting tools.

I plan on fishing the Mosquito Lagoon and Banana/Indian Rivers this week so please check back for updated reports. Thanks!

-Capt. Willy Le

Here is a little mess around video filmed and edited by Etienne Gele. This was shot in 2 days and edited within a couple hours while having some cold ones. Enjoy!

Here I will post all of my fishing adventures whether it be on a charter, fishing with friends, or solo scouting missions. Please check back for the most up to date reports on the Mosquito Lagoon, Banana River, Indian River Lagoon, and the Atlantic waters North, South, and East of Port Canaveral. The winds have been howling for the most part due to the Tropical Storms which made it tough to get out on the water. I plan to get back out all next week so check in for updates. Thanks for visiting Native Fly Charters and hope to get on the water soon! In the mean time, here are some highlights of 2010.