Banana River Fishing Forecast: May 2013

banana-river-fishing-forecast

Anglers fishing in the residential canals leading off of the Banana Lagoon should start to see a few snook and juvenile tarpon feeding on the ever increasing numbers of glass minnows that will accumulate there. Look for the tarpon rolling during morning or evening periods to give away a schools location. Running outflows and culvert pipes are good places to search if we have frequent afternoon rains. Small jigs or flies that imitate the glass minnows usually work best on these two types of fish.

Redfish and trout action should start to heat up with the influx of juvenile and adult mullet that will begin showing up on the flats here. Look for areas that have both finger-sized and adult sized mullet on them to hold the best numbers of predatory species. Crevalle Jack to 5 pounds, ladyfish to 3 pounds, and trout up to about 20 inches will be found in the deeper flats and along drop offs especially around New Found Harbor, Dragon Point, or the Thousand Islands area of Cocoa Beach. Redfish are generally found in the shallow grass flats.

Top water plugs like the Rapala X-Walk or Skitterwalk in the redfish or speckled trout colors usually work extremely well on them and just about any other species that feeds on mullet. These plugs are especially productive on the bigger trout prior to 8 am. Saltwater Assassin 4-inch sea shad tails rigged on an Assassin “Spring Lock” jig heads are perfect for locating schools of trout on the edges of the flats. Good spring time colors to use for the Assassin tails on these jig heads are “electric chicken”, “Space guppy”, “Houdini”, “Chicken on a chain”, “Silver Phantom”, “Bone Diamond”, and “Road kill”. These lures will work at just about any time of the day, but are most productive during the mid day period on the deeper flats and drop offs.

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