Banana River Lagoon

Capt. Jim Ross

Charlie “the fish slayer” and his dad Chuck, with a beautiful pair of black drum.
Charlie “the fish slayer” and his dad Chuck, with a beautiful pair of black drum.

Last month was fantastic for reds, black drum, and sheepshead in this lagoon, but it may not be the case during March. Huge amounts (hundreds of thousands of gallons) of raw sewage were dumped into the Banana lagoon again last month from the processing plant located in Satellite beach. Because of this, the “nitrogen overload” (poop) has created another huge algae bloom. Compound this problem with the overly-aggressive fertilizer applications being performed by many Satellite Beach, Merritt Island, and Cocoa Beach home owners, and many of the commercial lawn companies in this section of the county, and you have another “perfect storm” of toxins that are crushing the recovery efforts for sea grasses and fish stocks in this body of water. Before the bloom, fishing was on the rebound and anglers were catching a good variety of species using live shrimp or small crabs, near docks, mangrove covered shorelines, and the edges of residential channels between the 520 causeway and Mathers Bridge. Hopefully one day this type of rampant poisoning of the Banana River Lagoon will stop, but that doesn’t appear to be the case this day.

Capt. Jim Ross
W-321-636-3728
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