[PorSiLasFlys]

Whats up MS
This is my first post. Hope its in the right place. I fish out of Miami.
I had been trying to get out to mosquito lagoon for quite some time. I finally made it (amazing) this February.What a cool place to fish.

So I found fish in numerous spots or better yet these fish found me. So like any other fishery i put my time in looking for good spots using charts and that thing they call common sense. I polled more that weekend than i have in a long time.

So to the point. I found fish in multiple spots (single fish, not schools). But I feel I never stood a chance at these fish. It seemed they always new I was there. I noticed the majority of boats were using trolling motors out on the flats (even in the poll/troll zones). I through an artillery of baits at these fish. I mean i took out everything i had plastics, spoons, lures, and the list goes on.

So my question is there a special approach to these fish. Do we need to introduce ourselves to them prior to catching them, maybe take them out to dinner? I love it and wand to go back but would like to have a better game plan next time. Did the lagoon get hit with the red tide effect?

Hope y'all can chime in and help me better understand this amazing fishery.

 

[Bill Payne]

There are people on this forum more familiar with the Lagoon than me, but I can tell you one thing, these fish get a lot of pressure. As a result, they are super weary. I have a friend from Charleston that is an avid and very successful redfish angler, and he says the lagoon reds the smartest redfish he has ever seen.

The best advice I can give is to be super stealthy, and make really long, down-wind casts with as light a tackle as you can.

 

[TheAdamsProject]

Our Lagoon fish are very pressured and can be very moody at times. One day they can be just like you mentioned and the next day you can go back with the exact lures you got snubbed on and do very well. Pick out an area and get up on the poling platform and scour that area. Too many people in the Lagoon act like they are fishing the Bassmaster classic. They haul ass into a cove or flat because they are too lazy to pole or put the trolling motor on 80% and burn shorelines. When they don't see anything they jump up on plane and buzz to another spot. Don't be that guy and you will be rewarded.

 

[el9surf]

Our Lagoon fish are very pressured and can be very moody at times. One day they can be just like you mentioned and the next day you can go back with the exact lures you got snubbed on and do very well. Pick out an area and get up on the poling platform and scour that area. Too many people in the Lagoon act like they are fishing the Bassmaster classic. They haul ass into a cove or flat because they are too lazy to pole or put the trolling motor on 80% and burn shorelines. When they don't see anything they jump up on plane and buzz to another spot. Don't be that guy and you will be rewarded.

Agreed 100%

 

[el9surf]

Nobody likes the guy leap
frogging on the trolling motor, or the guy that burns miles of shoreline leaving prop scars the entire way. Be patient, willing to cover ground on the pole, courteous around others and you will be rewarded.

 

[Smackdaddy53]

Nobody likes the guy leap
frogging on the trolling motor, or the guy that burns miles of shoreline leaving prop scars the entire way. Be patient, willing to cover ground on the pole, courteous around others and you will be rewarded.

This applies anywhere

 

[Capt. John Kumiski]

i make my living there- see this article- http://www.spottedtail.com/free-fishing-article-tactics-for-heavily-pressured-fish/

 

[PorSiLasFlys]

I couldn't agree more. As a matter of fact I took my trolling motor off years ago for that reason. I was getting lazy and not polling enough. Fishing in Flamingo is the same thing. One day they love and me and the next they don't even turn to look at me. I definitely put in my time on the platform. Its just i found so many fish in the lagoon but they just weren't having it.

 

[Capt. John Kumiski]

they do get moody...

 

[DeepSouthFly]

I've fished that place a few times. It is a beautiful piece of water. Fish are spooky but like they've all said just be patient and as silent as possible. I've asked the same question you did on here and the guys that fish that area were very helpful with me. I doubt there are any "secret spots" anymore being all the fishing pressure. I know they were having water quality issues a little while back. Hope most of that has been fixed. That's too awesome of a natural body of water to lose to water issues.

 

[MRichardson]

It was a beautiful piece of water.

We aren't losing it. It's lost.

 

[Capt. John Kumiski]

water quality problems certainly have not gone away, nor will they until all we humans go somewhere else

 

[el9surf]

It was a beautiful piece of water.

We aren't losing it. It's lost.

I think this view depends on how long you have fished there. Many of the new guys are still optimistic about seeing grass and fish. They have no reference point of what it was 20 years ago. Yes there is some grass and some fish but it is very different. I spent many years fishing random flats out there that weren't named, they were just random shorelines in between all the top spot named areas. Pretty much anywhere you went the flats were loaded with big fish.

As bad as the lagoon is the IRL is 1000x worse at this point. The IRL used to be so good you didn't even need to go to the lagoon. Less pressure and loads of dumb fish.

 

[MRichardson]

True. If one doesn't know any better, it seems acceptable. Those of us around before know what it coulda/shoulda been. It's just too depressing for me.

Florida sucks as far as stewardship goes. It really does. I have to start making my alternate retirement plans as I get the impression that in another decade our waters will look like those in China.

 

[el9surf]

I'm hopeful that ml can recover. I think the irl will take decades. With the population exploding I just don't see how it's going to get much better.

 

[TheAdamsProject]

@el9surf I agree. I see some good things and some not so good things in the Lagoon right now. The IRL is a different story, I am amazed how bad it looks compared to last year and last year it didn't look great.

 

[Ice Cream Man]

This 29 1/2 " trout was caught & released last week by my buddy Matt from NC.
It was his first trip to the Lagoon. So don't give up..... ICM

 

[Backcountry 16]

I think this view depends on how long you have fished there. Many of the new guys are still optimistic about seeing grass and fish. They have no reference point of what it was 20 years ago. Yes there is some grass and some fish but it is very different. I spent many years fishing random flats out there that weren't named, they were just random shorelines in between all the top spot named areas. Pretty much anywhere you went the flats were loaded with big fish.

As bad as the lagoon is the IRL is 1000x worse at this point. The IRL used to be so good you didn't even need to go to the lagoon. Less pressure and loads of dumb fish.

I think that applies to everywhere in Florida (except maybe the nature cost) now overpopulation.I fish Pine Island in Swfl and have watched it decline for the 50 plus years I have been here to a shell of what it use to be.

 

[Net 30]

I'm hopeful that ml can recover. I think the irl will take decades. With the population exploding I just don't see how it's going to get much better.

X2. A couple years ago while fishing I met a group of scientists from UF or FS that were doing water sampling between Ft. Pierce and Sebastian in the Indian River Lagoon. We talked for a bit and they admitted the Lagoon had finally passed it's tipping point and was now in a free fall.

When asked about the Lagoon ever rebounding, they said a minimum of 15-20 years to fix the problems IF the funding was available. They all kinda laughed about the possibility of getting the necessary funds....sad.

 

[RSC]

This applies anywhere

What does frogging on the trolling motor mean?