02-17-2001, 02:27 AM
Florida's Indian River Lagoon - America's most diverse estuary<br><br>Temperatures have been in the 80s and fishing has started to rebound from a colder than normal winter. We’ve been catching lots of small trout, ladyfish, jacks, bluefish and spanish. The drop-offs with adjacent grass covered flats continue to be the most productive areas. There have been a few reds on the flats during the middle of most days. However, I poled my butt off today to try and find a fly caster from Montana a few. We sighted a few spooky fish and after several failed attempts went back to drop-offs for trout, jacks, and ladyfish. <br><br>Winter was much colder than previous years and the water is just now starting to warm up. I was afraid the cold winter would really take it toll on the snook population. However, I was in the Sebastian River a few days ago and took several small snook on fly (black or white clousers). Fellow Capt. Gus Brugger also reports larger snook starting to show up near the Sebastian Inlet. The water level is also very low and clear right now. Many of the more productive flats are too shallow to pole into. A high tide coinciding with good light and favorable winds are the ideal conditions. <br><br>In nearshore waters, the spanish mackerel have been plentiful. They will take most any small jig or clouser fly pattern. Blue fish are also in nearshore waters along with pompano and whiting. Blue fish will take jigs as well as silver spoons. There is plenty of marine life to view when the fishing is slow. Many manatees were sighted this week, even a mother and her 2’ long calf. We were able to watch the two for several minutes at a very close distance. One afternoon we watched a 300-pound sunfish in 3’ of water in the Indian River. Another 300-pound sunfish was sighted outside the inlet. The fishing will get much better in the next month when we start to get afternoon showers.<br><br><br>Thanks,<br>Capt. Tod Hagan<br>http://www.fishingcaptain.com<br><br><br><br><br>