Understanding Mosquito Lagoon

Mosquito Lagoon has been called the most diverse estuary in the world. Whether or not that is true, I'm not sure. The Lagoon is definitely diverse between the plant life, various types of sea grass, the migratory birds (including the Scrub Jay), wildlife and fish populations. It's a beautiful piece of undeveloped shoreline along the east coast of Florida. Most of Mosquito Lagoon falls inside of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Canaveral National Seashore.

Arial Map of Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River.

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1963 and protects 140,000 acres of land surrounding Kennedy Space Center.  Over 1,500 species of plants and animals, including 15 threatened or endangered species, call this pristine stretch of land home.Of those 140,000 acres, Mosquito Lagoon makes up for about 21,000 acres. Up until recently, Mosquito Lagoon has been dubbed the redfish capital of the world. Louisiana has since over taken that title, that's not to say the Mosquito Lagoon doesn't rival the Louisiana Marsh. In other words, if you want to catch a redfish, the Mosquito Lagoon is a safe bet.

As you can tell, Mosquito Lagoon is very special place to a lot of us. Reading this, you may be saying "I don't understand what makes Mosquito Lagoon so special?" If you'd like to experience old Florida, the way our great state was before the hotels, condos, sky rises and traffic; come book a trip with a permitted fishing guide inside of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and fish Mosquito Lagoon. You will be amazed at the natural beauty and it will hit you how special Mosquito Lagoon is and how important it is that we all do our part to protect the natural resources we are blessed to have in our backyard's.

To find out more about Mosquito Lagoon or to book a fishing charter, give me a call!

Capt. Jesse
www.FlyinHighCharters.com

Fishing in Mosquito Lagoon

I'm lucky to call Mosquito Lagoon my home waters. Being that Mosquito Lagoon is so close in proximity to Orlando, New Smyrna Beach, Daytona Beach, and Cocoa Beach you can have all the luxuries of city life and in less than 1 hour be on the pristine coastal estuary waters of Mosquito Lagoon. With that brings along some negative impact to the Mosquito Lagoon. Since it is so close to these bigger cities, with large populations, fishing on Mosquito Lagoon can be tough due to all the fishing pressure it receives. With that being said, you can still fish Mosquito Lagoon and experience some of the best redfish and trout fishing in the world.

Being a fishing guide, its not uncommon in a social setting when employment comes up as a topic of conversation, that you get asked about fishing. It only makes sense, right. Right. One of the most common questions I get asked is "So, hows the fishing?" or "What do you catch?". The fishing on Mosquito Lagoon is really good. We are lucky in the fact that we don't really have to deal with our redfish populations migrating to spawn. Our redfish, for the most part, are born here, live here and spawn here year round. As far as I know, Mosquito Lagoon is the only ecosystem that can boast that. In addition to having a resident redfish population, we also have some of the largest sea trout you can find anywhere. During the winter months, on any given day when you're fishing Mosquito Lagoon, you are going to see a few 10 lb, maybe bigger, sea trout. For a flats fisherman, this is truly a sight to see. You've heard of gator trout, well Mosquito Lagoon has it's fair share of gators.

If you are interested in fishing and learning to fish Mosquito Lagoon, it's a good idea to hire a guide. While your guide most likely isn't going to give away all of his best fishing spots to you, they will get you started down the right path in understanding this diverse ecosystem. Mosquito Lagoon receives a lot of fishing pressure, so the fish can be very weary. When you come up to a flat you are going to fish, shut your big motor down well in advance of getting to the spot and ease in with your trolling motor, or even better the push pole. This will give you a better opportunity at not disrupting the fish and hopefully increase your chances of catching a trophy redfish or gator sea trout. Plus, if any other anglers are working that area, you will not disrupt their fishing.

I hope this improves your time fishing in Mosquito Lagoon.

Capt. Jesse

www.FlyinHighCharters.com

407-448-2017

February 2014 Fishing Report and Blog

February was an insanely busy month. Between a couple of out of state trips, taking delivery of my new East Cape Skiffs Vantage and running charters I haven't had much down time. I took a few days to spend some time with my son and family and catch up on some work. That gave me a few minutes to sit down and write this.

The first weekend of February, I headed up to Charleston, South Carolina with Kevin Fenn, one of the owners of East Cape Skiffs. The plan was to head up there, attend a Captain's meeting for the Low Country Redfish Cup Friday night, fun fish with a couple of the hardcore fly fishing guys from Charleston on Saturday and then on Sunday we were going to Scotty Davis' fly shop Lowcountry Fly Shop.

Photo credit: The Fiberglass Manifesto

We made it up there just in time for the Captains meeting Friday night, met some of the local tournament guys, had some dinner and a few drinks then went to crash at our buddy Wes' house. We woke up Saturday morning to nothing but wind, rain and cloud cover. Kevin and I decided we'd just chill in the city, meet up with a couple of the local guides and fly fishing guys. Sunday morning came early and we had to be a Scotty's shop at 9 a.m. The plan was to have a couple of East Cape Skiff's owners show up with their skiffs, deliver a new Vantage to a new customer and hang out with the South Carolina community. There was a great turnout for the event. We talked skiffs and fishing with a ton of people and had a great time.

Kevin Fenn of East Cape Skiffs talking skiff design and fishing.

Kevin Fenn discuss their newest skiff to hit the market. The East Cape Glide is a micro skiff designed for sight fishing 2 guys. This skiff is really fun skiff to fish. I enjoyed the time I spent on it.

After a long day couple of days in Charleston, it was time to get home and pick up my new skiff from the shop and get it my gear loaded and start fishing. 

Taking deliver of a 2014 East Cape Vantage. 

After picking up the new boat, I got it home and had 2 days before my next charter. I spent those days going through the engine break in. After putting a few hours on the motor, I ran my first charter out of the Vantage. Clifton and Nicole were up visiting from the Lakeland area and fished with me for two days. The first day of their two day charter, they had to deal with 15-20 knot winds and a front pushing through. The next day we had perfect Florida weather; sunshine and light wind. The weather was perfect, we saw lots of fish, had several takes but only managed to bring 2 the boat.

Clifton and Nicole with Mosquito Lagoon redfish released to be caught again.

After a few days in the Lagoon it was time to pack up and roll out to to the Louisiana marsh for a week. This was my second trip up to Louisiana in the past 3 months. There is so much water and so many areas to fish. If you enjoy redfishing, I would highly recommend taking a trip up there to fish. Keep in mind, the area is huge. If you end up going, spend some money, book a guide for at least a day. You cut down the learning curve drastically. There are several really good guides up there and most of them are really personable and friendly.

I'm going to do a separate blog to review my trip to Louisiana. Stay tuned for that.

March Fishing Forcast:
The trend of great fishing should continue through March, redfish will continue to school up on the flats. Hang off the school as much as possible, try to fish them without the fish sensing your presence. The trout bite in sand holes will continue to be good. The best way to fish the big trout is to blind cast quality bottom, focusing on the sandy potholes and edges of the grass.

The near shore bite should be firing now. With the Vantage, I plan on putting in some time off the beaches exploring the near shore bite.

Upcoming Events:
Wednesday March 5th- Flies and Lies at Orlando Outfitters starting at 5:30 p.m. Its a good time and you get to spend some time at the vice and hopefully learning something new or even better teach someone something new.
March 7th-9th- Salty Fly fishing tournament in Ruskin, FL

Thanks for reading.

Capt. Jesse
www.FlyinHighCharters.com
407-448-2017