The fishing right now in the Indian River Lagoon is really good for some and not so great for others. The redfish and big trout are tightly grouped up together. Because of this, there is just a lot of “dead” water out there right now, so don’t waste time fishing in areas that “look good” or have been good in the past, but poll or troll until you visually locate the fish. With the water being low, the fish have been holding on the edges and depressions of flats with high concentrations of both large, striped mullet, and the small silvers. When the fish are located, back off of them and come back to ‘em a half hour later or so…just to let them calm down. If you’re quiet, its easy to pull a good number of fish from one spot. The redfish and trout have not been very fond of artificials as of late, so we have been using live finger mullet, and/or fresh cutbait with great results.

Another good bet right now are juvenile tarpon. Good numbers of these beautiful 5 - 40 pound fish are moving up into back-water creeks and canals. We have been catching them in just about every canal system and mangrove lined creek from Merritt Island down to Sebastian, in both the Banana and Indian Rivers. I would recommend fishing for them early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Troll around until you see just one or two roll, and toss a live “free-lined” mullet, or a chartreuse Tarpon Toad (if flyfishing) ahead of them. They are not rolling as much as they do when the water oxygen levels are low, so two rolling fish may give away a dozen or more fish underneath them.

For more info or to book a trip with Capt Peter Deeks visit Native Sons Fishing

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