02-20-2002, 05:10 PM
Capt. Rob Blake’s fishing report from Florida’s Mosquito Lagoon and Upper Indian River-updated February 20th, 2002.<br><br>The wintertime weather pattern continues to press on. Winds in the 15-20 mph range are common this time of year as fronts pass through the central Florida area. Over the past week, we have been able to sneak out on select days to scout out the crystal clear water of the lagoon.<br><br>Friday, I found myself fishing with friend Capt. Mark Thomas as we sought to take advantage of the first sunny day in a week. Throughout the day we saw slot and under-slot reds that were quick to eat shrimp, and even a few trout cooperated as well. This was nice, but the highlight of the day came when Mark brought out the flyrod and sightcasted to a jumbo trout that was laid up with 3 of his buddies in a white spot. The trout were everywhere! And big ones to boot! With a precision cast, Mark coaxed the tout into eating. After a brief tussle, I cradled the beast into the boat and handed it to Mark. At this point, I think someone could have shot Mark in the foot and he would still be grinning ear to ear. According to the boga grip scale, it weighed 7 pounds on the nose. After reviving the fish, Mark let the trout slip back into the lagoon. Good job Mark!!!!<br><br>On Saturday, my girlfriend and I went out and scouted around for two hours in the drizzling rain and wind, along with my forever-growing golden retriever pup. Cloudy days don’t always hide the presence of tightly schooled redfish and Saturday was an example of this. <br><br>After a slow start, we eventually located a nice school of oversized reds in about a foot of water. Dark clouds were lingering overhead, but this school of redfish was “flashing”, or turning on their sides near the water’s surface. When you see redfish do this, they will eat just about anything you throw at them. Some of the fish we saw in this school were pushing twenty pounds. A quiet approach (as quiet as you can be with an 80 pound puppy on board) revealed some fish were willing to tail. My girlfriend presented a shrimp with precision accuracy to the school without spooking them, and the rod was instantly doubled. When the school of fish took off, I thought for sure she would be broken off. Thankfully, I was wrong and we landed a 14-pound redfish ten minutes later. <br><br>The dog got so excited that he jumped into the water after the fish, but my “words of encouragement” convinced him to get back in the boat. ;-) The drizzling rain then turned into a downpour, so we called it a day and were back at the dock by 8:00. <br><br>Water levels in Mosquito Lagoon have risen a few inches in the past week, opening up some flats that only a week ago were not accessible. Expect water levels to drop again in the near term.<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><br><br>Contact Capt. Rob at 1-866-RED-DRUM <br>or 321-633-0923 or 321-544-5041 (cell).