Well the winter pattern is here and the waters are gin clear in most areas and tailing redfish can be found almost any given day the wind is not too high. With the great weather we have been having lately there is no shortage of anglers on the flats very early in the morning, especially the weekend. While the weekends are not my preferred time to fish sometimes it's not my choice as to when I am on the water. One good thing about the low water this time of the year very few boats are able to navigate the shallow water and and once we make it to areas of low water the fish are usually ripe for the picking.

Recently I was joined by Lee and Linda Williams who spent a half day catching not only their first redfish after living in central florida for over 35 years however the couple boated over 20 redfish in short order, not bad for their first trip to the lagoon. The big fish of the day was a healthy 31 inch fish caught by Lee that weighed in at 12 lbs. Not to be tdone Miss Linda took great pleasure in showing who the reel angler was by boating 15 redfish herself with several lost that were very nice solid fish as well. While Lindas fish were not overslot fish , she did manage to land several upper slot fish to 27 inches. Several multi spot fish with as many as 8 spots were landed as well. Pictures of some of the fish can been seen in the photo album "Winter on the Lagoon".

As always I am ever trying to improve the catch ratio for my fly anglers with that go to fly...as of this month it has become my own custom spoon fly that
has been the ticket for for the most success. This fly mimics a fluttering baitfish and puts off just enough flash to get their attention. It has been very
productive while fishing potholes for some large gator trout as well as taken its share of redfish.

With the baitfish all but gone the live bait of choice is shrimp and when casting to weary tailers it is very rarely refused, long cast past the fish and soft presentations have resulted in some spectactular hook ups in water less than 10 inches. Small topwater lures have taken their share of fish when they are more aggressive and not pressured. Several groups of gator trout have been consistant and are also taking topwater lures in areas of dense grass.

If sight fishing is your idea of a great day then it is about as good as it gets in the lagoon and North river. We still have several schools of black drum that are in the area and these to can be a blast to catch as well as some great table fare. Most of the fish have grown from 5 to 7 lb average to some healthy 12 lb fish. Soft plastics have taken several fish and a live shrimp is almost irresistable.

For the best experience I would sugguest booking your trip during the week to avoud the weekend traffic on the water. We are not concerned about the
other anglers but the boat traffic tends to have the fish rather spooky when they are driven over all morning it takes a while for them to settle down and
feed.

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