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Fishing Reports
Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report
November 23, 2005
Posted by Captain Tom Van Horn
Chuluota, FL 32766 USA
Email: captain@irl-fishing.com
Current Report
Indian River Lagoon Coast
Fishing Report, November 22,
2005
Mosquito Coast Fishing
Charters
For starters, I would like
to say happy Thanksgiving,
and I wish the best for you
and your family during the
holiday season.
Thanksgiving is a time for
all of us to spend some time
with family and friends,
count our many blessings,
and then go fishing.
As many of you know, angling
on the lagoon coast this
past few weeks has been
difficult to say the least.
Small craft advisory has
been the dominant theme over
the weather radio, and for
the first time in 24 years
straight, I was reluctantly
forced to cut my annual
Thanksgiving Sebastian
fishing vacation short.
Each time we pushed the
envelope, high winds, heavy
seas, or driving rain
frustrated us, or we were
driven ashore by threatening
conditions. To add insult
to injury, a strong cold
front finally managed to
push in on Monday night
bringing us clear skies,
only to slap us around with
gale force winds. All in
all, it still beat the heck
out of a week of work and
was enjoyable nonetheless.
When we first started going
to the city of Sebastian, it
was a quite little fishing
village rolling up its
streets at sundown.
Sebastian has evolved into a
booming island style seaside
resort, loaded with after
hour entertainment and fine
seafood dining. As usual,
we rented a boat slip from
Captain Hirams resort,
which features a beach bar,
restaurant, lodging, and
marina with boat rentals.
The weather was so bad,
Three Quarter Time stayed on
the trailer most of the
time, and the resort dock
master refunded my weeks
stall rent after being blown
out weather wise for the
week. The City of
Sebastian is located on the
mainland directly across
from the Sebastian Inlet,
and is also home to the
Sebastian River and the
Pelican Island Wildlife
Refuge.
November is the prime time,
weather permitting, for the
flounder migration. Good
catches of flounder were
reported in advance of the
bad weather, but we only
managed a few, fishing the
wrong tides under adverse
conditions. Once this cold
weather settles in and the
water cools, another heavy
wave of flatfish should pass
through the inlet. We also
manage to catch a good
number of ladyfish, jacks,
and large sailcats while
targeting flatfish, so we
did have some fun. All fish
were caught by drifting the
inlet bouncing RipTides new
Mud Minnow Jig on the
bottom, tipped with a tiny
chunk of fresh shrimp for
flavor.
On Saturday I had the
pleasure of fishing with
Captain Rodney Smith, my
good friend and Lagoon
mentor, and we did manage to
locate some respectable sea
trout in the area of the
clam lease near Black Point,
south of the inlet. In
spite of 15 to 20 knot
winds, we caught some
respectable trout drifting
across the flat jigging with
RipTide Realistic Shrimp on
a ¼ ounce jig, season with
shrimp flavored Lunker
Sauce. Remember, sea trout
are out of season in
November and December, so
all trout must be released,
but they are still fun to
catch.
Additionally, the inlet has
been loaded with snook, but
again the weather prohibited
us from any attempts during
the proper conditions. Good
reports of snook were
received from shore anglers
I talked to, but we selected
not to push the envelope of
a nighttime lagoon crossing
during difficult weather.
If the current weather
conditions settle down, the
moon is right for an
excellent snook bite this
weekend. I like to target
inlet snook at night,
starting about an hour
before tide change, and than
fish through the slack tide
until an hour or so after
the change. This window of
opportunity is wider during
the first quarter moon,
because the tidal flow is
weaker. For bait
selections, I like using
large artificial hard baits
like Bombers and Wind
cheaters, one ounce bucktail
jigs, and best of all, live
pigfish and pinfish. Snook
are ambush feeders, so you
want to cast up current and
let the bait swim natural
with the tide just bumping
the bottom every now and
then. There is an art to
catching snook at Sebastian
Inlet, so if you chose to
undertake this venture,
watch the locals closely and
be safe, because its an
intense style of fishing.
As always, if you need more
information or have any
questions, please contact me.
Happy Holidays and good luck
and good fishing,
Captain Tom Van Horn
www.irl-fishing.com
407-416-1187 on the water
407-366-8085 office
866-790-8081 toll free
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