Mosquito Lagoon 12/15 &12/17 2011

Posted on December 18, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

Thursday I had Chris and Lance aboard the skiff for a day of Redfishing in the Mosquito lagoon. The water level has become a little higher than normal again and the clouds were in full effect this day. Fishing started out slow until later in the morning, then tails started to pop up all around us. After about a dozen shots at tailers Lance finally put one in the right spot and caught his first ever Redfish! Chris also sight fished several fish, both were using D.O.A. Shadtail CALS rigged weedless. They also had a chance to test out TFO’s new “Tactical Series” spinning rods designed by Gary Loomis. These rods are really light, well constructed, and the new guides that TFO came out with made of machined stainless steel inserts that are super hard chrome anodized then swaged into chromium impregnated stainless frame, which means they are more slick, harder, and lighter!


Saturday I was joined by Cory and his dad Clint aka “Iceman”. A cold front was expected to move in later this day which made the fishing pretty slow compared to how it has been the last couple weeks. We ran to the same spots where the whole flat was loaded with tailing Redfish just a couple days before to find nothing this day. It took a while but we found some fish that wanted to cooperate in another area.

Fishing can’t be great all the time, even the best of the best has their days. That’s when enjoying the outdoors and the company you are with come into play. Any day on the water is a good day if you ask me, catching fish is just a bonus!

-Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com

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December Mosquito Lagoon

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

Winter time is a great time for sight fishing in the Mosquito Lagoon. Although it does not quite feel like winter here in Florida yet, the Redfish are starting to act like it is. The water has cleaned up a lot since last month and the fish are starting to tail and mud rooting for crustaceans on the shallow flats.

This past Wednesday I fished with Adam Compton who is maintaining a skiff for his buddy that is stationed in Afghanistan. The skiff is a Maverick HPX-Micro which is very similar to my Maverick HPX-Tunnel but with slight differences. The Micro is the lightest skiff in the Maverick line with a max outboard rating of 50hp. The one we took out was powered with a Yamaha 40HP 4-Stroke, and performed extremely well. It has a soft ride running through chop, it ran in inches, and poled everywhere my Tunnel skiff can go. I was pretty impressed with what it can do, especially how light it felt while poling.

photos courtesy of www.maverickboats.com

Adam and i caught fish in skinny backwaters to windy open flats this day. All the fish caught were single tailers or mudding/tailing in groups of 6-10 fish. After catching a few on spinning gear and the fly rods, the wind picked up and we opted to fish with only spin gear. Adams soft plastic baits kept getting blown off the fish by the wind so I decided to tie on a D.O.A. Softshell Crab. This bait sinks straight to the bottom and buries in the grass like a real crab would do, it seemed to work great on the fish that had their face deep in the grass/mud and was easier to cast and control in the windier conditions. Once the D.O.A. Crab landed next to the fish, they engulfed it.

Since the fish were being so cooperative, I forced Adam to put his spin rod down and cast a fly to this fish…he said it has been about 3 years since he last caught a Redfish on fly.





The biggest fish of the day was caught using the D.O.A. Softshell Crab.

There are plenty of fish to catch in the Mosquito Lagoon right now, it will only get better as the water gets cleaner. Redfish will start to school in larger numbers and the Black Drum should be showing up in huge schools as well. Time to get on the vice and tie your favorite crustacean patterns!

Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com

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Mosquito Lagoon with da Skinny Water Culture crew

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

Skinny Water Culture, a fishing/street culture apparel company out of Tampa, FL. that has a creative vibe to every piece of clothing that they put out. I’ve been working with SWC for about a year or so and they have been very supportive on custom items that fit my needs. This past Saturday, Vince who is the man behind the brand and Chase who creates all of the designs for SWC met up with me for a day on the Mosquito Lagoon to do some fishing and to go over some new fabrics and designs for new products in the works. The winds were howling a good 10-15mph out of the East so we were limited to where we could fish and there was a Rocket launch scheduled that morning at 10am over at NASA so the South portion of Mosquito Lagoon was restricted. We were forced to tuck behind islands to get out of the wind at a spot I like to call “Escondido” only to find tails popping up and fish crawling the shorelines all around us. Well, you probably know what happened after that….






Each fish was celebrated with a beer break to share some laughs and talk about the future of the company. Skinny Water Culture has some good things to come in the future with great new fabrics, new designs, and new products for 2012. One of my favorites is the new SWC Tech Hooded jacket. Talk about a stylish, super comfortable, and well manufactured multifunctional product for the Winter! What’s cool about these guys is that they not only design clothes for the sport, they actually have a passion for it and are really good at it! Make sure you check out their stuff at www.skinnywaterculture.com.

-Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com

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Tripletail fishing with Capt. Scott Lum

Posted on November 19, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

My good friend Capt. Scott Lum of Outcast Sportfishing Charters invited me aboard his 23′ Contender in search of the hard fighting, prehistoric looking Tripletail. Scott knows his stuff when it comes to catching these tasty fish which by the way is my favorite fish to eat. Joining us was local fisherwoman, surfer, and surfboard shaper Jessica Stern. We headed out of Port Canaveral in search of floating debris that the rough seas and high winds pushed closer to our coast. If you find anything floating offshore from a 5 gallon bucket to a small broken piece of ply wood or even a small patch of Sargassum seaweed, most likely there will be a Tripletail lying underneath it. Scott was throwing a Hogy Swimbait called the bunny, I was throwing a D.O.A. Shrimp in gold glitter, and Jessica was tossing large live shrimp. While Scott and I caught a few using artificials, Jessica caught the most fish using a live shrimp with a small pinch weight. We saw over 50 Tripletail this day catching a bunch of undersize ones and a few nice ones to take home. Maybe if the seas lay down next week, I will be targeting these fish on a fly rod to see how they respond to some new patterns that I’ve been tying.










Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com

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Fish Eat Fish World

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

As soon as I thought the water was actually going to clean up enough for some good sight fishing in Mosquito lagoon and the Northern Indian River, we get another week of high winds that has been turning up the water and making it difficult to see fish again. What do you do when that happens? You go to where you think you know where the fish are and just blind cast like crazy while praying to the fish gods for a bite! It seemed to work for Danny Francis on this breezy day in the Mosquito Lagoon.

On Saturday I hopped on Eddie Oliveras’s skiff to do some exploring in some areas of the Indian River that we haven’t fished in years. Same story, the water was high and dirty but at least the winds were a little calmer for us this day. We poled along a flat that I used to catch some big Trout and started blind casting. Eddie was first to hook up with what we thought was a Redfish because of how hard he was pulling but once the fish was shaking it’s head out of the water, we saw huge fangs and a yellow mouth….Big Sea Trout!

Eddie and I switched positions after releasing the fish.(which by the way is out of season all thru November & December in the South Region.) Since the water was so dirty, I wanted to try something out with my lure. I was throwing a D.O.A. Cal in New Penny color rigged weedless, I then slide a glass bead and a 1/16oz. tungsten bullet weight on that I got from my bass fishing buddy. I tie about a 1 inch loop knot and slip the bead and the weight below the knot which cannot slip back up because the tag makes for a stopper. That rig creates a little rattle along with a brilliant sparkle from the diamond cut glass bead. It seemed to work better this day versus fishing with just a hook and plastic.

After catching some nice size trout, we left them still biting and decided to go find some Redfish. After a short run, we made a stop at a cove where I’ve had good luck with Redfish during higher water. Immediately after pushing up to the spot, we see multiple fish crashing bait on the shoreline. I make the cast with the same D.O.A. Cal/rattle set up and instantly hook up to a Redfish! This was a fat fish and we figured out why after getting it to the boat.

The fish had about a 12″ Mullet lodged into it’s throat and still managed to try and eat my lure!

I have found some big trout in the past with the same thing, but the trout were not so lucky to live thru it. I figured I would pull the mullet out of the redfish’s mouth so it can swim and eat like normal again, the fish was not harmed and swam away healthy!

While in the same area, Eddie gets himself a Redfish on spinning gear as well. We then pulled out the fly rods and poled along the sandy shoreline. You can barely make out a fish in the murky water but it was possible. I get my fish on fly, then shortly after Eddie gets a nice one on fly.



We ended the great day of fishing at Ms. Apples Crab Shack along the Indian River Lagoon for some cold ones and spicy steamed blue crabs! Inshore fishing is getting better and better each day, and it will only get even better as the water gradually clears up.

Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com

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Banana River Trout

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

The trout bite in the Banana River is hot right now! While running around in numerous areas, most of the deeper grassflats were holding good numbers of trout. D.O.A. Shrimp in lighter colors like the Glow color were working best today. Make sure you work these shrimp VERY slow, bouncing it off the bottom. Most fish were caught while on the drop including some monsters shown in the photo below. Redfish are also present along mangrove shorelines and they will gladly chomp on a D.O.A. Shrimp as well. Water clarity is still a little dirty but, it’s slowly cleaning up.

Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com

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Mosquito Lagoon getting back to normal

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

The past couple weeks we have been going through some stormy conditions here in the Central East Coast. With long periods of rain, the waters in all 3 lagoon systems have risen about 3 or 4 feet which made sight fishing nearly impossible. This past Saturday, I had my buddy Capt. Honson Lau(www.purpleisleflyfishing.com) come up to fish the Mosquito Lagoon with me and Dominic Agostini(www.dominicphoto.com). A cold front has past a couple days before which gave us a pleasant chill to the morning air. Once on the lagoon I’ve noticed the water has dropped about 2ft and you can actually see the bottom, which was a very good sign that sight fishing would be possible. After poling for a couple minutes at the first spot, small shrimp were flipping as I poled through some thick grass. Within minutes we see the first Redfish of the day and Honson makes a perfect cast to the single fish with his D.O.A. Cal and a Chughead attached to it. The Chughead(by D.O.A.)makes a completely weedless topwater presentation, and with the small “popping” noise it created, the fish slurps off the top after it but misses. After a couple more head out of water attempts, the Redfish finally finds the hook!

All 3 of us rotated from the bow to pushpole catching slot Redfish after slot Redfish on both spin and flyrods. From all the lousy weather that we had and finally having a beautiful sunny day, it seemed to turn the fish on. We were seeing Redfish belly crawling in super skinny water and a few tailers. After landing around 12 Redfish, we had enough pictures and video to call it a great day!








Here is a short clip of one of Honsons Redfish on fly…

…and a clip of my fish.

Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com

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Crown Royal Photo contest winners

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

Crown Royal put on a fishing photo contest a couple months back and the winners won a full day fishing trip with Native Fly Charters, a new rod and reel combo, Crown Royal swag, and a tackle bag loaded with goodies inside. One of the winners was Tre from Stuart, FL. Tre was allowed to invite a guest with him and of course he wanted to share the great moment with his dad Russ. Also joining us was Crown Royals Pro Bass Angler Steve “Boogie” Brown. With 3 anglers plus myself, we took the 22ft Pathfinder and opted to fish the North Indian River. The water still remains high and dirty like it has been for the last month. Sightfishing has been tough for the most part so a lot of blind casting was done today. The Sea Trout bite still remains good around drop offs and grass flats in the 3-5ft depths. D.O.A shrimp under a popping cork seems to still work the best while the water is dirty. This method landed some nice Trout up to 26″! Some Tarpon were found in deep canals but did not want to play and a nice Redfish was put in the boat while flipping deep into the mangroves. It was great to see a father and son enjoying a day on the water with no worries…..just some good ol’ fishing!

-Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com



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Mosquito Lagoon, Banana River, & Indian River Report

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

Back from a week of lobstering/fishing in the Florida Keys and needed to get out and see what the 3 Lagoons were doing since I’ve been gone. Wednesday, my buddy Etienne Gele joined me for a quick scout trip in the Mosquito Lagoon. The water is really high and dirty from all the rain that we’ve been getting which means the redfish will be way in the back where it is normally dry. We hit all my high water spots to find unspooky redfish busting bait and happily grouped up and tailing. Trout and ladyfish were also in the mix in the deeper sand holes.

Thursday, Dominic Agostini and I decided to check out the Banana River armed with flyrods in search of Tarpon that usually show up this time of year in some areas. We didn’t find the Tarpon but not too far away were some hungry Redfish busting on bait. We took turns on the bow and got 1 Redfish each on the flyrod and called it a day since it was getting hot and the storms were moving in. With the water being so dirty, it was a good advantage for us giving us the ability to get a little closer to the fish and placing a well presented fly right in their face.


Friday, I had a trip set up with my neighbor Alden and his daughter Savannah. Alden and I have fished the Indian River a couple weeks back and found skinny water Redfish and a really good Trout bite. This day, the Redfishing was slow, but the Trout bite remained pretty good. Savannah haven’t fished in a while due to her going away to college at FSU so she was a bit rusty in the beginning, but later in the day she got the technique down and ended up catching more fish than her dad! I set them both up with D.O.A. shrimp and popping cork combos landing them a bunch of Trout including some nice ones that pulled some serious drag! It was a great day on the water and lots memories were made for Alden and Savannah!




Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com

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Inshore Report 7-30

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Capt. Willy Le

Inshore fishing remains good even on the hottest days of July. Alden Pitard joined me on the Indian River to stalk some Redfish and Trout. The Redfish that we got into were in extremely shallow water in the thick grass busting on Mud Minnows. Alden had lots of close shots having one fish eating his D.O.A. Cal on a unweighted worm hook right at his feet! A couple more fish blew up on Alden lure but they didn’t get hooked. After the sun came up a little higher the Redfish retreated to deeper waters so we went to a Trout spot that has been doing really good. With the water being so dirty lately, I’ve found out that the best way to catch more trout is to use D.O.A.’s Deadly Combo which is basically a popping cork with about 2.5-3ft of 20lb Seagaur Flourocarbon leader and a D.O.A. shrimp attached to the end. Alden proved that this method worked way better than just a bait on it’s own because of all the commotion and noise that the cork makes which attracts the Trout to come investigate then sees the bait fluttering down. Over 30 Trout came to the boat ranging from 13-26 inches within an hour or two. The Deadly Combo is also a great way to set up kids or beginners either using a lure or live shrimp, it’s easy and fun to use…..heck, I still have a great time using it just watching that cork go under!

-Capt. Willy Le
321-303-7805
nativeflycharters@gmail.com




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