Orlando Area Saltwater Flats Fishing Report

[Capt Chris M]

Fishing has been quite good this month with lots of redfish and seatrout and the occasional shot at black drum. Most of the redfish are in schools of 20- 500 fish and putting

a lure in front of them is the closest thing we have to a certain hookup. The big schools offer the chance for double hookups and double digit catches. Even on days when it

was raining and winds 15-20 mph, the fish were more than willing to cooperate. The top baits have been the 3" DOA CAL on a 1/8 or 1/4 ounce jighead or the 5.5" DOA CAL rigged

on a weighted weedless worm hook with a Woodies Rattle. Most of the time, we have been using golden bream or Arkansas Glow in the 3" and gold rush or silver mullet in the

larger CAL.

Water temperatures in the Lagoon have been hovering between 68 and 72 the past couple weeks. These slightly warmer temps have meant a few less large trout in the very shallow

flats but the trout bite in 2-4 feet of water has been much better. The outside edges of flats or deeper areas with patchy sand and grass bottom have been producing using the

CAL/jighead combo. An ultralight rod with 5lb braid makes some of the easiest fishing we have even more entertaining. Using the right retrieve is critical to getting the most

bites. Almost all the bites will come while the jig is dropping so always having a tight line will mean more hookups. Too high in the water column will mean fewer bites, Too

slow will get a lot of grass on the hook. Vary your speed until you start getting bit. I always use a barbless hook and have my ARC Dehooker handy to help these delicate fish.

The first week of the month brought some heavy storms with high winds and rain but no lightning. Tonya and John were the first to brave the weather. We only saw one other boat

all day and had plenty of fish all to ourselves. They both caught redfish and trout and had a great day despite the weather.

The following day, my Canadian father and daughter team said they were used to the wind and rain and wanted to give it a try. Again we saw very few boats and had lots of fish

to ourselves. The combined for numerous redfish as well as a black drum and nice trout.

Curtis and Jeff had a great morning casting CALs at schools of large redfish.

Scott and Nick had schools around them most of the day. Scott did battle with one that weighed over 35 pounds.

Rick wanted to get his first redfish on fly. He tied on one of my recommended black redfish worm flies that he had made. A short time later, he had fulfilled his goal.His

friends got in on the action as well with redfish and a ton of seatrout being caught and released.

Jerry and Steve had some poor sight fishing conditions with solid cloud cover all day but managed some nice trout and a couple redfish casting 5 and 3 inch CALs to the sand

holes.

Steve and Scott fished with me yesterday and more cloud cover dominated the sky. We chose to ignore the old "red sky at morn"saying and headed out anyway.Within ten minutes,

Scott was landing the first trout of the day. Soon after came a redfish as well. We moved to another flat and encountered nonstop schools of redfish as well as some large

trout for a couple hours, a most excellent day of flats fishing.

Hopefully, we have seen the last of the cold fronts and warmer weather will prevail. The schools of redfish will remain throughout the next couple months. As always, the

simple rule of thumb for our fishing is the better you cast the more you will catch. When schools are plentiful, accurate casting can lead to catching 20 redfish per day. The

3" CAL shad tail has by far been the best lure to cast to the schools of fish. Fly anglers will want both a fast sinking fly like the redfish worm or one that lands very soft

like a bendback for calm conditions.

Capt. Chris Myers

Central Florida Sight Fishing Charters

Orlando Fishing Guide