01-14-2003, 01:41 AM
[
]Florida's Indian River Lagoon - America's most diverse estuary
Fishing in the Lagoon has been pretty good and especially good for Winter. The recent light west winds have made for very enjoyable conditions; calm near shore and mild temperatures. I just fished three days with Gary, a regular customer from Texas. Gary and I typically fish together several times a year. I always enjoy fishing with this guy because good things usually happen. From 40+ lb black drum to 30 lb redfish or classic sight fishing on the flats for slot sized reds. It is always a good time and this past trip was no exception.
On one of the days we fished, he caught a slot red right off and right after the red we found the snook chewing. We ended up catching 15 snook. Most were small fat snook and a few common snook mixed in. All these in water that was 57 degrees! These snook were caught on jigs and a green/white clouser minnow fly pattern. With a red and many snook caught, I suggested we go find a sea trout to complete the Indian River Slam. At the first stop, I caught two trout. We worked that area hard but still couldn’t produce a trout for Gary. I mentioned to him that if he caught a trout, I would call the boss and ask for a kitchen pass to stay out and try for a tarpon. Gary was all over that idea. We ran to another grass flat and came up empty on the trout. We moved to another area with dark soft bottom and Gary got his trout. With the cooler weather this bottom is typically more productive. I called the boss and secured the kitchen pass to stay out longer. It was time to think tarpon. Tarpon are not a common catch in the winter months on the Indian River. We rigged up for tarpon on the way closer to the Inlet. The rig for tarpon consisted of a 20# spinning outfit with 4’ of 80# leader and a break away style jig. After spending a lot of time experimenting with tarpon lures for this area, I found something that works fairly well. A break away jig similar to those used in Boca Grand only lighter. The jigs used for Boca Grand are required to be several ounces to make bottom in the deep pass and fast current. Take a 1-2 oz flair jig and cut the hook off. Tie the shank of a 12/0 circle hook to the eye the flair jig using 20# mono or very small tie wrap. Gary must be living right because just at sunset we found tarpon, nice sized tarpon too! The first hook up was with a large fish that threw the hook on the first jump. The second fish, equally as large also threw the hook. Third time is a charm. A nice tarpon slammed the jig and immediately took to the air only this time the hook stuck home. After the second, third and several more jumps, we were still attached to the fish. After a tough 40 minute battle the tarpon was at boat side with leader at the rod tip. The tarpon surged at the boat snapped the line. Never got a chance to touch the fish but we were close.
Thanks,
Capt. Tod Hagan
http://www.fishingcaptain.com[size 2]
[/size]
[signature]
]Florida's Indian River Lagoon - America's most diverse estuary Fishing in the Lagoon has been pretty good and especially good for Winter. The recent light west winds have made for very enjoyable conditions; calm near shore and mild temperatures. I just fished three days with Gary, a regular customer from Texas. Gary and I typically fish together several times a year. I always enjoy fishing with this guy because good things usually happen. From 40+ lb black drum to 30 lb redfish or classic sight fishing on the flats for slot sized reds. It is always a good time and this past trip was no exception.
On one of the days we fished, he caught a slot red right off and right after the red we found the snook chewing. We ended up catching 15 snook. Most were small fat snook and a few common snook mixed in. All these in water that was 57 degrees! These snook were caught on jigs and a green/white clouser minnow fly pattern. With a red and many snook caught, I suggested we go find a sea trout to complete the Indian River Slam. At the first stop, I caught two trout. We worked that area hard but still couldn’t produce a trout for Gary. I mentioned to him that if he caught a trout, I would call the boss and ask for a kitchen pass to stay out and try for a tarpon. Gary was all over that idea. We ran to another grass flat and came up empty on the trout. We moved to another area with dark soft bottom and Gary got his trout. With the cooler weather this bottom is typically more productive. I called the boss and secured the kitchen pass to stay out longer. It was time to think tarpon. Tarpon are not a common catch in the winter months on the Indian River. We rigged up for tarpon on the way closer to the Inlet. The rig for tarpon consisted of a 20# spinning outfit with 4’ of 80# leader and a break away style jig. After spending a lot of time experimenting with tarpon lures for this area, I found something that works fairly well. A break away jig similar to those used in Boca Grand only lighter. The jigs used for Boca Grand are required to be several ounces to make bottom in the deep pass and fast current. Take a 1-2 oz flair jig and cut the hook off. Tie the shank of a 12/0 circle hook to the eye the flair jig using 20# mono or very small tie wrap. Gary must be living right because just at sunset we found tarpon, nice sized tarpon too! The first hook up was with a large fish that threw the hook on the first jump. The second fish, equally as large also threw the hook. Third time is a charm. A nice tarpon slammed the jig and immediately took to the air only this time the hook stuck home. After the second, third and several more jumps, we were still attached to the fish. After a tough 40 minute battle the tarpon was at boat side with leader at the rod tip. The tarpon surged at the boat snapped the line. Never got a chance to touch the fish but we were close.
Thanks,
Capt. Tod Hagan
http://www.fishingcaptain.com[size 2]
[/size]
[signature]