Orlando Florida Report 3/27/09

While the fishing has remained very good, the winds of March arrived the past two weeks. Unfortunately, there have been plenty of clouds around as well making sight fishing difficult. Water levels have risen over a foot opening up new feeding grounds for the fish. The redfish, in particular, have been taking advantage of the new food source and are still schooling and tailing aggressively.

On a cloudy and windy day last week, my wife and I fished the Mosquito Lagoon. We started the day targeting some tailing redfish. I managed to get one on a tan and crystal flash shrimp pattern fly before we got tired of poling against the wind. We spent the rest of the day fishing the deeper edges of the flats with the Minn Kota instead of the push pole. The trout kept us busy and we caught nearly 50 of them to 25 inches. The DOA Deadly Combo accounted for most of the larger fish.

Friday, Ben and Jamie met me at the ramp early with high hopes of finding tailing fish. The water had risen significantly over the previous two days and the fish had moved to new areas. After much searching, we found a few schools of tailing reds. They only gave us one shot and disappeared. The trout that had been so plentiful earlier in the week had vanished as well. We kept on searching and finally found a school of large redfish. Ben and Jamie each caught a redfish in the 25 pound range and had one more break off. While the quantity was low, we made up for it in quality.

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This Monday, I was part of a multi-boat trip on a windy and rainy day. The first flat we visited held multiple schools of redfish as well as some tailing singles. High winds made casting tough and my clients never quite got their lures to the fish. Trout fishing was slow but they did manage to land a few before we called it a day.

Wednesday was cloudy and windy but the fish were happy and plentiful. Fishing with Marty and Todd, we encountered school after school of tailing redfish and black drum throughout the morning. Nearly every time they managed to get their four inch DOA CAL in front of the fish, they got a bite.

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Todd ended the day catching a beautiful trout. After releasing this big female, we headed in after a successful day.

Hopefully, we have seen the last of the cold fronts and the weather will begin to stabilize. More and more baits are returning to the flats every day and the fish are taking advantage of the increase in food. April should bring some good catches of large trout along with plenty of redfish and drum.

Capt. Chris Myers
Central Florida Sight Fishing Charters
http://www.floridafishinglessons.com