The following is an archived fishing report for the below date and location. If you are looking for the most current fishing reports on the Mosquito Lagoon, Sebastian Inlet, Ponce Inlet, Port Canaveral, near coastal beaches and Indian River in east central Florida then please visit our reports page. Also visit our "video reports" page to see an HD version of this fishing report.

If you are here in the Orlando, Disney, Kissimmee, Palm Coast, Cocoa Beach, Edgewater, Titusville, New Smyrna Beach, Palm Bay or Daytona Beach area and are looking into going on an inshore light tackle flats fishing charter for redfish, seatrout, tarpon, IRL snook or black drum then please give me a call at (352)223-7897 - email - captdrew@floridainshorefishingcharters.com - I will be glad to see if I can meet your needs or answer any questions you may have.

July 18th, 2011 - New Smyrna Beach Flats Fishing Charter Report

Well here we go again. Summer time is most definitely here in the central Florida area. The weather has been outstanding here the past weeks with a great outlook for the future as well. HOT! Very hot days by any definition can be the best way to describe it. With afternoon thunderstorms coming most every day this leads to a normal pattern for Florida with great charters in the mornings and a good afternoon to get ready for another day of fishing come the following morning.

The fishing here in the New Smyrna Beach area as well as the Edgewater, Oak Hill, Mims, Scottsmoore and Titusville waters has been the focus of attention for inshore flats fisherman.  Redfish, trout and black drum are the main attraction. There is no better place to be saltwater fishing than that of the inshore grass flats of the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River. Known as the redfish capital of the world, this is a sight fishing paradise.

Redfish and seatrout have been the main focus here with a few black drum scattered about the waters of the Canaveral National Seashore and the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Searching the grass flats for bait fish will be your key here this time of year. Finding the mullet, pinfish and other baits you will find the predators that follow them. Redfish will be feeding early and throughout the morning in extremely shallow waters near the bait pods. The key is stealth when approaching these fish. You may have to work your way towards these fish from large distances so be prepared to take your time. If the fish are tailing be sure to have a soft presentation when making a cast to them as not to scare everything around them.

Throw past them and in front of them far enough for this to happen. The flock of bird theory will take place if you make a mistake. You see ten thousand birds in the air and one turns left; they all turn left. As this will happen learn from it. The D.O.A. Shallow Runner Bait Buster, live small blue crabs, cut lady fish or cut mullet/pinfish will work. As another great choice of baits I do like to use every now and then is a live hand caught mud minnow on a 3/0 circle hook. Redfish and sea trout cannot resist this.

Along with the redfish you will come across a stray trout or two as well. Of course you will catch a lady fish or two with this tactic.  As always please be sure to handle the fish you land with extreme care as to get them back in the water very quickly for a higher survival rate. Catch and release does improve the quality and ensures a better sport fishing experience here on the Mosquito Lagoon.

As the first key to a successful inshore sight fishing experience here on the Mosquito Lagoon and the flats of the Indian River it is of the utmost importance for a few things to take place. First is an early start time.  You want to beat the heat mainly and get that golden moment as the sunrise breaches the morning sky. This is in a way like a hunting trip with the only difference is you are not killing anything but stalking them with patience and stealth. Getting there on time is very important. So give yourself plenty of time here to make good decisions and allowing for changes in the game plan.

Second thing is to be sure to give your fellow anglers a very wide gap between you and them. I cannot stress this enough. If you arrive to an area that you want to fish and within “reason” there is another boat there just look elsewhere. What is within reason? Stay 800-1200 feet away. On the water this is really not much at all. This is so simple. What happens is too many people are seeing other anglers hooking up and just moving right in on top of them. These anglers usually have worked hard in getting on the fish and into a good position just to have someone else make a “noisy” mistake. Now I realize that quite a bit of these scenarios are not done on purpose but by not knowing.

Treat these waters like I said as a hunting ground and they are turkey or deer everywhere. You cannot put two hunters 100 feet within each other and expect to have a good experience. Basically apply the first come first serve theory or the early bird gets the worm. There are thousands of acres of fish able waters out here so there is space. Respect others. They will respect you.

Captain Drew's Cell - (352)223-7897

Past Central Florida Fishing Reports

2006 to 2009 Archived - Ponce Inlet, Sebastian Inlet, Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Reports
2010 to 2015 Archived - Mosquito Lagoon, Port Canaveral, Indian River and Ponce Inlet Fishing Reports
2016 to 2020 Archived - Mosquito Lagoon, Sebastian Inlet, Indian River and Ponce Inlet Fishing Reports

New Smyrna Beach Light Tackle Saltwater Flats Fishing Guide
Captain Drew Cavanaugh - Florida Inshore Fishing Charters - New Smyrna Beach Florida

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