By Capt. Michael Savedow, Edgewater River Guide
Summer is in full bloom during July, the heat can dictate when, how, and where you want to fish in Edgewater Backcountry and Mosquito Lagoon. Most people will fish early morning, late afternoon, or at night. Start your morning fishing trips as early as possible to take advantage of the sunrise feeding pattern.
Cloudy water is the usual for the summer months, use baits a fish can find. Smell, sound, and vibrations in the water are key. Smell can be achieved with bait such as shrimp, cut bait, or scented soft plastics like Gulp. Sound can be made with top water lures with rattles or poppers, and baitfish like croakers and pigfish. Good vibrations come from live finger mullet, mud minnows, and lures like spoons. One of the best live baits right now are the tiny “mini mullet” which are widespread in the backcountry, lagoon, and ICW during early summer. They hatch here locally in early spring, now just big enough to stay put in a cast net, they usually hug close to sandbars and shorelines. Fish them free lined and tail hooked in shallow water or lip hooked with a small weight on the bottom of deeper holes and channels during summer heat. The small mullet are also great summer flats bait, freeline near shallow flats edges, oyster and shell bars.
Another option to fight the heat is to fish shade, some fish do take advantage of man made structures during middle day sun shine, under bridges, docks, and boats, plenty to pick from, there are many docks and moored boats in coastal Volusia County, main rule on these is to pick older structures and moorings. Old dock pilings that are covered with barnacles and plant growth, attract bait fish. Seldom used docks also hold game fish, docks with larger boats in residence usually have a deep hole to accommodate the boat. Fish sinking lures, shrimp, and live bait fish close to and under the docks, you will have to deal with snags around the structures, but comes with the territory. Long time moored or docked boats are great FAD’s (Fish Attracting Device), structured oriented fish will be caught in close and under, including Mangrove Snapper, Redfish, Snook, and Trout.
Open water game fish like Jacks and Ladyfish can be close by attracted by the shady spot and baitfish. Many docks also have a bonus of nearby old standing pilings, oyster bars, grass beds, and channel drop offs. One of the best choices for summer night fishing are dock lights and bridges, schools of bait fish and sometimes shrimp are attracted to the light and structure which in turn bring in the trout, snook, redfish, jacks, ladyfish, and snapper to name a few.
Match the hatch of which type of bait you are seeing, use a small size lure, swim bait, jig, twitch bait, or soft plastic shrimp for most species, for the most strikes, a free lined live shrimp can be the go to bait. Anchor just up the tide and cast out from the light, throw your bait up current from the circle of light on the water and allow it to “swim” naturally through the target area. Outgoing tide can be best, but a moving tide in either direction is a must for a good bite.
