04-17-2002, 01:50 PM
Capt. Rob Blake's fishing report from Florida's Mosquito Lagoon and Upper Indian River-updated April 16, 2002.<br><br>The heat is on! Hot days and muggy nights are here to stay here on the Space Coast. Afternoon thunderheads will form over the mainland to produce showers and thunderstorms over the Mosquito Lagoon and coastal waters. Its all part of the subtropical environment we live in…what a great place to be!<br><br>Over the past weekend I fished the 2nd Annual Mercury Redbone @ Large Tournament to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Conditions were less than desirable for sightfishing most of the time, but in the end we put fish on the boat. The field of boats numbered 22 and when all was said and done my anglers Scott Jacobsen and John Brazelton from Redington placed 2nd in the fly division and tied for 4th in overall points for the entire field of boats. Congratulations to my good friend Capt. Mark Thomas for capturing 1st place in the Fly Division with Maj. Gen. Bill Gorton from Park City, Utah.<br><br>Redfish are still plentiful on the flats, but finding the big schools of fish has proven to be difficult the past couple of weeks. One day the schooling fish are abundant, the next they have moved on. We have mostly been working the pods of 5-15 fish in less than two feet of water. In either case, tailing fish are abundant at sunrise.<br><br>Spotted seatrout are available for the angler who arrives on the flats and drop-offs prior to sunrise and works the first hour of daylight. We haven't been seeing the larger trout lately in the numbers we had a month ago. Go early for best results!<br><br>And yes…I do have my new Maverick Mirage HPX up and running. In fact, the HPX was broken in at the Redbone Tournament and was certainly instrumental in getting us to some new, and very shallow, water for redfish that put us among the top boats in the field.<br><br><br>Capt. Rob Blake<br>www.redfishonfly.com<br>1-866-RED-DRUM Toll Free<br>1-321-633-0923 local<br>1-321-544-5041 cell<br><br><br><br>Contact Capt. Rob at 1-866-RED-DRUM <br>or 321-633-0923 or 321-544-5041 (cell).