W hen it comes to fishing the Mosquito Lagoon this month, the best advice I can give is to get on the water early. Launching before sunup is a good ploy throughout the summer months. This becomes especially important for me from July through September.
Except for actually fishing at night the first few hours of the day are our only escape from the seasonal heat. I’m fine with sacrificing a little sleep if it means I can have a shot at the redfish and gator trout while they are still actively feeding.
Throw a walking plug until it proves to be a poor choice. I like wooden walkers when the surface is flat and go to plastic plugs with rattles if the surface is rippled.
Soft plastics from three inches to five inches in length do a fine job of imitating the natural forage living within the ‘goon. Rig them weedless and experiment with retrieve, size and color until you find a working combination.
Start fishing where the mullet are abundant. Even if the predators are not actually feeding on the mullet themselves they’re happy to gobble up a shrimp, crab, clam or marine worm the mullet have exposed as they feed through the grass.
When mullet are too scattered to target focus on the sand patches scattered about. We’ve been having great results soaking cut mullet and other chunk baits on the sand lately. Sometimes we’re finding success in the very shallow waters near the shorelines and often farther out in the two foot depth.
Keep your natural bait rig simple. A length of quality leader (I use fluorocarbon) a 3/0 to 5/0 hook and a medium split shot. I never try to keep the line tight by pinning the bait to the bottom with a heavy weight. I’d rather the predator not feel a severe resistance when they pick up the bait. A heavy weight or tight line will not deter a hungry aggressive fish, but it certainly will put off a fish not eager to eat, but simply chooses to pick up a tasty morsel is in its path.
on a recent Mosquito Lagoon charter with Capt. Mark Wright.
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