ML 1-15 in the canoe
Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2010 10:37 pm
Went out with my buddy from school on Friday morning to the lagoon. Put the canoe in at the last lot in the seashore south of New Smyrna. We got out and although none of the lakes or the intracoastal had wind when we were driving it was blowing in the lagoon. Hate that. Started off at some spots that I typically fish in my kayak and couldn't really see anything with all the wind but managed a few trout and bumped a school of reds up but they dissappeared. Decided to go exploring since we had more range,(two paddlers instead of one.) and the because the wind laid down.
Found a few schools that didn't want to bite but a shallow flat with some depressions that seemed pretty lively. We stayed here for about two hours. Got a bunch of rat reds including my buddies first, he's from Maryland and fly fishes for trout alot. I picked up a twenty incher on a chartreuse exude rt slug. Here are some picks from that area including me starting to play around with the underwater abilities of my camera.
On our way out of this area some considerate boater was kind enough to buzz us at about twenty five yards but this time I'll let it go. He bumped up a fish that moved right in front of us and I put the lure on it and bam...
To finish off the day we went back to an area that had had boats on it earlier when i wanted to be there. There we found a very skittish school of reds and a nice pod of some gator trout which was a pleasant sight as I will describe later. Here I got a 22 inch red that had seven spots on one side and three on the other. I got him on a quarter ounce doa shrimp thrown in front of a wake.
From there we found a school of schoolie trout that we played with before we went home, my buddy got some on his new fly rod and I got one that was quite small.
While it was a pretty fun trip and we saw lots of fish it seemed like most of the reds, both singles and schools, were just laying in the shallowest water possible, not moving and just trying to warm up. To confirm other reports there were numerous large gator trout floating throughout the lagoon but the schoolie population seemed to be doing well and I did see a few live gator trout. The other thing we saw alot of dead were yearling class flounder about three inches long, they seemed to litter the bottom in some areas.
That is all until the next trip, which will be whenever I don't have school and when the wind stays down.
Ben
Found a few schools that didn't want to bite but a shallow flat with some depressions that seemed pretty lively. We stayed here for about two hours. Got a bunch of rat reds including my buddies first, he's from Maryland and fly fishes for trout alot. I picked up a twenty incher on a chartreuse exude rt slug. Here are some picks from that area including me starting to play around with the underwater abilities of my camera.
On our way out of this area some considerate boater was kind enough to buzz us at about twenty five yards but this time I'll let it go. He bumped up a fish that moved right in front of us and I put the lure on it and bam...
To finish off the day we went back to an area that had had boats on it earlier when i wanted to be there. There we found a very skittish school of reds and a nice pod of some gator trout which was a pleasant sight as I will describe later. Here I got a 22 inch red that had seven spots on one side and three on the other. I got him on a quarter ounce doa shrimp thrown in front of a wake.
From there we found a school of schoolie trout that we played with before we went home, my buddy got some on his new fly rod and I got one that was quite small.
While it was a pretty fun trip and we saw lots of fish it seemed like most of the reds, both singles and schools, were just laying in the shallowest water possible, not moving and just trying to warm up. To confirm other reports there were numerous large gator trout floating throughout the lagoon but the schoolie population seemed to be doing well and I did see a few live gator trout. The other thing we saw alot of dead were yearling class flounder about three inches long, they seemed to litter the bottom in some areas.
That is all until the next trip, which will be whenever I don't have school and when the wind stays down.
Ben
