[Capt Chris M]

With the summer pattern settling in of mostly calm mornings with late afternoon storms, we are entering my favorite time of year to fish in Florida. While the winter offers great redfish and trout fishing, the summer does as well along with a variety of other species we don't have during the colder months. Big tarpon have made an early season appearance in the Lagoon. We have not hooked any yet but it is an encouraging sign to see them this early. It should only get better as the summer goes on. In addition to the tarpon, there have been giant ladyfish which have been providing some excellent light tackle action. They will hit nearly anything that moves and provide drag screaming runs and lots of jumps.
On the last day of May, my wife and I went to Mosquito Lagoon for some fun fishing. I started the day catching a snook on a 4 inch CAL tail. We spent some time jigging around the mullet schools in deeper water hoping to hook one of the tarpon following the bait. The sail cats kept us entertained but were not what we were looking for. We encountered some spooky reds on the flats and Julie landed the red of the day.

We moved back to the mullet schools and had fun catching some of the biggest ladyfish I have ever seen in Mosquito Lagoon as well as a few nice trout.
Last Monday, Rodney from Virginia joined me for a fly fishing trip. We saw a few large tarpon at daybreak but only caught sailfin catfish, which often follow them. Rodney had shots at multiple redfish and lots of black drum throughout the morning. Since the flyrod did not seem to be working for him, Rodney decided to switch to spinning gear and quickly landed a redfish. His second red of the day was his largest ever weighing in at 28 pounds.

He had several more shots at that school of reds before they moved on. We spent the remainder of the day catching big ladyfish and seatrout on CAL jigs.
Tuesday, Bob and Pam were on board for their annual trip to Mosquito Lagoon. While we were hoping to find the big redfish, clouds made sight fishing difficult and we never did see them. The couple did catch numerous large trout and ladyfish and Pam caught the only redfish of the day.

Saturday, Adam and Pat were hoping for some sight fishing action for redfish and that is exactly what they got. The fish were tailing and feeding in shallow water. Nearly every time they got their 4 inch silver mullet DOA CAL near the fish, they got a bite. Some fish came unhooked but other made it to the boat for a quick photo.

When the fish stopped tailing, we moved on to some trout fishing and both guys landed multiple fish. We hit one more flat as a storm was drawing near and Adam connected with a redfish before we had to make a run to the ramp.
Yesterday, I went searching for tarpon in Mosquito Lagoon. The water was a bit choppy in the morning and I did not see any. I threw the fly to some large redfish, which I did not catch, but did get several black drum on the new Arkansas Glow DOA shrimp. I used the 5.5 inch DOA BFL, which we be available soon, to land numerous large trout and ladyfish off the deeper edges of the flats.
With the full moon fading, the fishing next week should be outstanding. Everything is taking advantage of the huge supply of baitfish. With so many options available, sometimes it's hard to decide what to do first.

Capt. Chris Myers
Mosquito Lagoon Fly Fishing Guide