05-01-2003, 01:02 AM
Florida's Indian River - America's most diverse estuary
This past week we fished the many parts of the Indian River Lagoon. In the Indian River around Sebastian Inlet we took redfish, sea trout, flounder, ladyfish, and mangrove snapper. The redfish were caught on gold spoons while the sea trout and flounder were taken on jerk baits and live shrimp. Several sea trout were taken on the flyrod with a small surface popper fished early. The ladyfish and snapper were caught on a white bucktail tipped with a live shrimp.
The Sebastian area is holding a terrific number of hard fighting jack crevalle and spanish mackerel. Jack crevalle are truly an amazing fish. There stamina and power rival any inshore species. We took the jacks on a variety of lures including flys, jigs, and diving plugs. What an incredible sight to see a half dozen large jacks weaving behind the lure as its being retrieved as fast as possible back to the boat. We also took many jacks on pigfish and finger mullet. The spanish mackerel fell for white or yellow bucktails with a 2-3" trace of braided wire leader. We lost more than one spanish mackerel to shark and barracuda. With the calm water that Summer brings, I'll be fishing the near shore waters of Sebastian often over the next several months.
Fishing the brackish water creeks and bays which border the Indian River, we jumped several small tarpon using shad tail jigs. Once hooked, small tarpon are very acrobatic and frequently throw the hook immediately after taking the lure. We also used live and fresh finger mullet with good success. The larger tarpon are starting to show up in fish able numbers. With a new 22’ Pathfinder boat on the way, I'm really looking forward to this years tarpon season.
As on many trips, we saw an incredible amount of wildlife this past week. Dolphins, west indian manatee, sea turtles, manta and eagle rays, bald eagles, wood storks, and many types of beautiful wading birds.
Good Luck and Good Fishing,
Capt. Tod
http://www.fishingcaptain.com
[signature]
This past week we fished the many parts of the Indian River Lagoon. In the Indian River around Sebastian Inlet we took redfish, sea trout, flounder, ladyfish, and mangrove snapper. The redfish were caught on gold spoons while the sea trout and flounder were taken on jerk baits and live shrimp. Several sea trout were taken on the flyrod with a small surface popper fished early. The ladyfish and snapper were caught on a white bucktail tipped with a live shrimp.
The Sebastian area is holding a terrific number of hard fighting jack crevalle and spanish mackerel. Jack crevalle are truly an amazing fish. There stamina and power rival any inshore species. We took the jacks on a variety of lures including flys, jigs, and diving plugs. What an incredible sight to see a half dozen large jacks weaving behind the lure as its being retrieved as fast as possible back to the boat. We also took many jacks on pigfish and finger mullet. The spanish mackerel fell for white or yellow bucktails with a 2-3" trace of braided wire leader. We lost more than one spanish mackerel to shark and barracuda. With the calm water that Summer brings, I'll be fishing the near shore waters of Sebastian often over the next several months.
Fishing the brackish water creeks and bays which border the Indian River, we jumped several small tarpon using shad tail jigs. Once hooked, small tarpon are very acrobatic and frequently throw the hook immediately after taking the lure. We also used live and fresh finger mullet with good success. The larger tarpon are starting to show up in fish able numbers. With a new 22’ Pathfinder boat on the way, I'm really looking forward to this years tarpon season.
As on many trips, we saw an incredible amount of wildlife this past week. Dolphins, west indian manatee, sea turtles, manta and eagle rays, bald eagles, wood storks, and many types of beautiful wading birds.
Good Luck and Good Fishing,
Capt. Tod
http://www.fishingcaptain.com
[signature]