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Fishing Reports
Indian River Lagoon Coast Fishing Report
May 10, 2006
Posted by Captain Tom Van Horn
Chuluota, FL 32766 USA
Email: captain@irl-fishing.com
Current Report
Indian River Lagoon Coast
Fishing Report, May 9, 2006
Mosquito Coast Fishing
Charters
In celebration of my
birthday and my 25th wedding
anniversary, my adventures
this past week led me away
from the water and into the
streets of St. Augustine..
Although this short vacation
drew me away from the water,
I still managed to sneak
away to squeeze in a few
days of fishing.
On Wednesday, May 3rd, I
celebrated my birthday,
accompanied by my longtime
friend Larry Peterson, with
a day of fishing on the St.
Johns River. You see Larry
and I started celebrating
our birthdays together 33
years ago, with a standing
tradition of fishing during
the day and partying at
night.
Our day started as we
launched before daylight at
the Hwy 46 ramp south of
Lake Haney. We first headed
north to the mouth of the
lake where we found several
small pods of menhaden
pushing up and down the
shoreline shadowed by groups
of small largemouth bass,
and we ended up catching a
dozen or so on top water
plugs. After the morning
bite slowed, we move
upstream just south of the
46 Bridge, and found fish
again holding along the
steep banks. Both of us were
throwing old standbys,
Dalton Special, and Bango-
Lure, and the bass were
eager to play. Together we
landed 32 largemouth bass up
to three pounds. One
important note, like all
areas of Central Florida,
the water levels were
extremely low, so some
caution is need when
navigating south of Lake
Harney.
Yesterday, I had the
pleasure of fishing with my
good friends Steve Chapman
and Rodney Smith, and we
started our day working jigs
in the surf. Two day
before our trip, Rodney
fished the same area, and
was successful in landing
several snook up to 34-
inches, a flounder, a
redfish, a black drum, and
several jacks. Although his
success was noteworthy, the
catching was not as good for
us. The tide was low, and
we ended up with only one
sea trout each, with Steves
being a nice 4 to 5 pound
fish. We than moved to a
small drainage creek, where
we managed a large number of
baby snook on fly and jigs.
Although I was off of the
water most of the week, I
did receive some good
reports of large sea trout
being taken on top-water
plugs in the north Indian
River Lagoon and the
southern end of Mosquito
Lagoon. The anglers I talked
to, reported catching most
of their fish working the
larger plugs like the Top
Dogs and Skitterwalks in the
deeper areas of 3 to 4 feet.
Also, I have good and bad
news for you. The good news
is the Max Brewer Bridge is
scheduled reopening on May
15th, and the bad news is
the FLW Redfish Tour will be
back in town on the
following weekend, May19th
and 20th.
Offshore, good numbers of
both kingfish and dolphin
were reported between 95 to
150 feet of water, with some
good weed lines present, but
our typical May pattern of a
hot bite one day and a slow
bite the next is at hand.
Also, many anglers are
having difficulty catching
live bait in the Port and
along the beach this week,
so be prepared to jig live
bait off of the buoys and
other hard bottom. In
addition, there is another
large tournament out of Port
Canaveral this coming
weekend, so please be
patient and courteous when
launching and fishing in
these areas.
Last but not least, if the
thought of fishing the
lagoon with the FLW boys in
town has you down, come
visit me at the Coastal
Angler Magazine Fishing and
Boating Expo in Melbourne on
May 19th, 29th, and 21st. I
will be conducting a braided
line clinic focusing on
light tackle inshore
applications and conducting
seminars called New Tackle,
New Applications. This
event is a combination Boat
Show and Tackle Show, with
continuous seminars by
prominent angling
professionals, and the Get
Kids Hooked On Fishing
Clinic. For more
information on the event,
check out the following
link:
http://www.coastalanglermagaz
ine.com/modules.php?
name=News&new_topic=8
As always, if you have any
questions or need
information, please contact
me.
Good luck and good fishing,
Captain Tom Van Horn
www.irl-fishing.com
407-366-8085 office
407-416-1187 on the water
866-790-8081 toll free
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