Hooking, Fighting, Landing and Releasing Bull Redfish in Mosquito Lagoon

As a guide, I'm frequently told by clients and potential clients that they want to "Catch a big one". I find most of the time, they are unprepared for what all goes into catching a redfish over 20 lbs.

Capt. Jesse releasing a Mosquito Lagoon bull redfish caught by one of his clients.

When a client steps on the boat with the intentions of catching a bull redfish in Mosquito Lagoon, I begin the morning boat ride, typically before the sun is even up and with a live well full of bait. While it is possible to catch a redfish over 20 lbs on artificial or fly, it is incredibly tough and all the planets need to be aligned. As we idle through a no wake zone, and after pleasantries have been exchanged, we beginning talking about what to expect. When you have an idea of what to expect, especially when adrenaline is firing through your body, it makes things go a little easier.

A redfish over 20 lb's is at least 10 years old, if not older. It is safe to say a 10 or 20 year old fish has seen just about everything in the book. With that said, the most important element in fishing large, experienced fish is to ease into their habitat. If these large fish sense your presence, game over. You are not going to get one to eat. The next most important element in fishing bull redfish is your presentation. When you were 10 years old, had you ever seen a cheeseburger or a slice of pizza magically move towards you? The answer is no. The same is true for fish, fish know that everything they eat tries to get away from them. With that said, when you make a presentation to a fish, present your bait in a manner that is natural to the fish. If you are fishing active fish that are swimming around a flat, you need your presentation, whether it is live bait, cut bait or artificial to not spook the fish. Fish know things landing on top of them from the sky are not natural and if you land a bait directly on top of a fish, it is going to spook. So, pick out your target, identify which direction the fish is moving and lead the fish. Give the fish enough of a cushion with your bait that it is close enough to the fish that he will see it but not so close that the noise from the bait hitting the water spooks the fish.

Mike, from Orlando, with his first bull redfish on the flats.

Bait selection isn't as hard as one may think. You want to offer a bull redfish a bait that is natural to them. Pay attention to what is on the flat that you are fishing. Are you seeing crabs on the flats? Are you seeing pinfish or mullet on the flats? Determine what the prevalent food source is and match it. During the summer and fall, the Lagoon is loaded with mullet. I don't use a lot of live bait, it's just not a style of fishing that I particularly enjoy. With that said, it has its application. If I am going to fish live bait, I like to use live mullet. The predatory fish make the mullet nervous, typically the mullet swims up to the top of the water and the fish eating becomes visually engaging to the angler.

Fighting and landing big fish can be difficult. They are very strong and heavy. During the summer time, the oxygen levels in the water are low. You need to do your best to fight and land the fish as quickly as possible. This will put the least amount of stress on the fish's body as possible. Keeping in mind, these fish are mature breeders, their presence is critical to the conservation of our fishery. Play a game of angles on the fish, when the fish fights towards the left, angle and pull your rod to the right and vice versa. Once you have the fish boat side, put one had around the fish's tail and your other handle needs to come underneath the fish's shoulders (between the fish's head and stomach area) and cradle the fish up and into the boat. You want to support the fish's body weight as much as possible. Many anglers will never have an opportunity to land a breeder redfish, so when it happens for you, get a couple good pictures so you can brag to your buddies. Keep in mind, this fish has been fought and stressed for at least 10 minutes, this will give the other guy or girl on your boat plenty of time to find a camera and get it ready. Do your best to keep this fish out of the water for as short a period as possible.

Amanda with her biggest redfish with Flyin' High Charters.

When releasing a big redfish, take your time once you have the fish back in the water. Releasing the fish is the most important element of this whole process. This may be the fish of your lifetime. You want to insure that the fish is released no worse for the wear and healthily swims off to breed and provide another angler with the memory of a lifetime. I cant stress the importance of taking the necessary time to adequately revive a fish.

I hope these tips help you catch the redfish of a lifetime!

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

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report for April

Fishing in Mosquito Lagoon in the month of April has been really good. We've had our fair share of windy days though. While we all love getting to the ramp and seeing the Lagoon slicked out, some of my best days this April came with wind.

I find that the big trout love the windy cloudy days. I don't know whether or not the relax more when its windy or if the bait just moves around more and the big trout have less time to decide whether or not to eat. Whatever it is, the trout seem to bite better with the wind blowing and clouds in the sky. This certainly makes sight fishing tough, so most of the time you have to blind cast to get results but if it results in 30 inch trout.... who cares?

I spent a lot of time this month looking for black drum but with inconsistent results. Ron, from Oviedo, came out and fished with me. We spent the morning fishing some of the flats in Mosquito Lagoon looking for tailing redfish but didn't have much luck until the sun got up high. We got onto a good trout bite, with most of the fish being in the 15 to 18 inch range with our biggest fish going 26 inches. I'm still bummed about this, I was holding the big trout and reaching for my camera, when the trout gave one last kick and I fumbled the fish over the gunnel of my skiff. Ron was a good sport about and we laughed it off. His good attitude was rewarded on his last cast of the day with this nice black drum on a live shrimp.

Ron, from Oviedo, with a nice Black Drum in Mosquito Lagoon.

My next charter was with Ian and his Dad, from Minnesota. Ian and his dad wanted to fly fish for redfish. The morning of their charter, they were greeted with 20 knot winds, so we broke out the spinning rods and got into some fish. Here is Ian with his first redfish, he didn't mind that the smallest fish out of the group ate his DOA 5.5 CAL.

Ian with his first Mosquito Lagoon redfish.

Shortly after hooking up to his first redfish, Ian sight fished his second Mosquito Lagoon redfish using the same DOA lure as before. Here he is with a better red.

Ian admiring his biggest redfish off the flats of Mosquito Lagoon.

Later in the month, I had Alec and Brendan, from Michigan out with me for what was only supposed to be a 6 hour trip. Alec's grandfather, Gary, wanted to tag along to watch the boys fish. Gary had not interest in fishing and wasn't going to be convinced otherwise. Our morning started out slow, catching some small trout while fishing some deeper edges looking for some bigger reds. We picked up and moved north and that changed our luck. Alec hooked into a 28 inch red that swam right across the bow of my skiff. Here he is with his biggest fish of the day.

Alec with his first overslot redfish.

After releasing this fish, I hoped back up on the poling platform and almost immediately, I see a much larger red cruising the flat. I positioned the boat and tried to get Brendan to see the fish, but he couldn't spot the fish. I had Alec make a cast to the fish, talked him through the presentation and BAM! we had another overslot fish on. This fish was easily pushing 20 lbs. I staked out the skiff and just as I was hoping down to begin getting ready to land this bruiser, I hear the line pop. Definitely disappointing but it was still early in the day and there were many more flats in the Lagoon we could hit.

We picked up and moved to the west side of Mosquito Lagoon, I had found some bigger fish hanging out in a particular spot a week ago. The plan was to go look over there and see if we could get into some more big redfish. After seeing some smaller redfish and catching a few trout, we decided to pick up and mover to another flat. By this time we were 6 hours into the trip and Brendan hadn't caught the redfish he came to Florida to catch. He had opportunities but the cast just wasn't there. Nerves had set in and rattled him, it was visible to all of us. Alec and Brendan decided to stay out a little bit longer in hopes of getting Brendan his redfish. Gary was on board too. The pressure was on.

We ran north to a flat that I have always done really well on. I shut down outside of the flat in about 6 feet of water and eased in with the pushpole. Once we got up on the flat, we immediately began seeing fish tailing hard. This is exactly what we needed, the only problem was that Brendan wasn't seeing them. As I poled along, I spotted a redfish tailing in front of us. I called the fish to Brendan but he couldn't see it. I tried to talk him through the cast but he made a presentation that the fish never saw. Alec saw the fish and made a prefect cast. he reeled in his lure, dropped it right in front of the fish and the red lit up and inhaled his jerkbait. Here is Alec with another nice redfish from our trip.

Brendan, Alec and Gary posing for a group shot with Alec's redfish.

The guys were getting a lot of shots at some nice upper slot fish, but Brendan hadn't been able to connect. I was determined to get him a fish but at the end of the day sometimes it just isn't going to happen, whether its the fish or the angler.... Everything has to come together. Brendan was beginning to look defeated, we were down to the last 10 minutes of the trip (in my mind, I was going to keep him out there as long as I could to get him hooked up). Suddenly, we poled up on fish with his face buried deep in the grass with the tip of his tail slowly waiving at us. I called the fish to Brendan, "Ok Brendan, look at 11 o'clock!" Brendan excitedly spots the fish and instinctively makes a great presentation. The fish feels the bait, looks up and crushes his DOA paddle tail and it was on! After a couple nice runs, Brendan brings his first legit redfish to the boat, I get my hands on the fish and bring him into the boat. After a quick couple of pictures, the fish was released and swam off strong. The guys ended up having a great day and both guys caught their first redfish after multiple trips to Florida and also set personal bests for themselves. It was an epic day!

Brendan with his bottom of the 9th, bases loaded redfish.

Upcoming Events:
May 7th at 5:30 PM - Flies and Lies at Orlando Outfitters. Visit www.OrlandoOutfitters.com for more details
May 15th at 6 PM - Fly Fishing Film Tour showing at the Orlando Science Center.You can purchase your tickets from Orlando Outfitters directly or online here. Doors open at 6 PM and the show starts at 7 PM.

December 2013 Fishing Report

I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday season with their families and friends. December is always a hectic month and never disappoints. I got the invite from Kevin Fenn, of East Cape Skiffs, to go up to Louisiana for five days to fish giant redfish in the marsh. It was an incredible trip, check out my blog for a full report of the trip. After getting home from Louisiana, I was eager to get back on out on the lagoon.

Paul, of VMarine, with a sight fished gator trout.

During the month of December we dealt with some dramatic weather fluctuations. There were days I was wearing board shorts and was bare foot on the skiff and there were days you had to wear multiple layers. The temperatures and winds were all over the place.

Chilly morning and a trout in need of a tummy-tuck.

I spent most of the month targeting gator trout the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River are known for.I love going after big trout, it's probably my favorite fish to target in the Mosquito Lagoon. Imagine poling a flat, easing along, doing your best not to let the fish know you are there. As you pole along, you see three or four large shadows in a sandy pot hole on your flat. Even better, poling along and seeing 10 pound trout "backing", with it's back and tail out of the water, and getting to sight fish her.

An average Mosquito Lagoon trout.

Targeting the big trout, you need to employ a stealth approach. These fish are as spooky as any particular species of fish I've targeted. The majority of the time, the fish has sensed your presence long before you see them. Trout are incredibly well camouflaged, a bird's eye view of a trout laying in turtle grass is almost impossible to see. A tactic I employ a lot during the winter is to concentrate on sand holes, there are two reasons for this... You stand a much better chance of spotting a fish over a white sand hole (which they like to frequent) and number 2, if they aren't laying in the sand hole, then there is a good chance they are laying in the grass near the edge of the sand hole waiting to ambush prey.

Paul with another large trout.

I spent a couple days on the water with Paul Volkerson of VMarine. It seems every time I fish with Paul we get into some big fish. each day we fished together we dealt with high winds and low temperatures. We went to one of Paul's spots and it was loaded. Within mintues of shutting down the motor and getting on the push pole we blew out 10-15 big trout out of one sand hole. For some reason, whenever I go to somebody's favorite spot, it usually a little less than described. After spooking that many fish, that quickly, I knew it was going to be a good day. We were on the water for three hours and caught seven big trout, all over six pounds. We had shots at them laid up, shots at them tailing and ,a first for me, doubled up on two gator trout.

This is a great time of year for fishing in Mosquito Lagoon. If you'd like to get out on the water and target some big fish in shallow water, give me a call.

Capt. Jesse
407.448.2017
Flyin' High Charters

Releasing a big trout to create another memory for another angler.

"See ya!"