Mosquito Lagoon Oct 4&5

[Good Times]

Hey folks! It's been a while since I've posted, but wanted to share a trip and put in a good word for our guide. As long as Dad and I have fished, he'd never landed a Red Fish. Trout, cobia, flounder, every trash fish known to man, grouper, snapper, etc, but no Red Fish. For years I've talked about making a trip to Mosquito Lagoon to fish that area. I've always seen and heard amazing things about the Red Fish there. Turning 40 this year made me realize that I was never going to have the "money" or the "time" to do this trip, but that I would regret it if I didn't go. "No regrets" trumps "time" and "money."

I called and booked a two day trip for Oct. with Capt. Mike Hakala (Capt. Mike's Spoons and Aqua Dream Spoons) in April. I wanted to be sure that he would have a spot open for us. Capt. Mike is a really a great guy and was happy to accommodate us. Unfortunately about a month ago he called to let me know that he was going to have surgery and that was going to knock him out of our trip. He was very apologetic and had already lined up another guide to take us if we still wanted to go. I told him I trusted his recommendation and we booked with Capt Patrick Rood. We would not be disappointed.

We showed up at the ramp on Tuesday and got the trip underway. I was a little concerned because the current fishing reports I read from other guides had been bleak. Recent storms brought the water level up and murked up the water in the lagoon so sight fishing was out and the bite was really off. But nonetheless, we jumped in a took off. I'll let the video show the rest of the story.......

http://vimeo.com/30169750[/video]

Day One was Red Fish the the chance of big trout. Day Two was trout in the morning with Red Fish to follow. Dad schooled me with the trout. I had some gator trout on the line but they all came unbuttoned. They are not easy to catch! They got in my head and psyched me out. Dad fared much better. It makes me want to go back and hit those fish again though! They are smarter than your average trout. I guess that's how they got to be big in the first place.

Needless to say we had a great trip and would highly recommend both Capt. Patrick Rood of www.spotntailcharters.com and Capt. Mike Hakala of www.aquadreamliving.com. Capt Patrick was a really great guy and knew his stuff. He had us on fish the whole time. It was just a matter of getting them to bite. He kept working it until we had the right bait in the right spot. I really liked the fact that he treated every fish with kid gloves. I've never seen anyone be so gentle with Red Fish and Trout. You can really tell he conserves the resource and has respect for both the angler and the fish. Plus you can tell he just really loves what he is doing. It shows. At one point we pulled up on a spot and started fishing. We watched as a canoe with two ladies and a kid paddling around in the area made a bee-line for us and paddled right between us and the bank, directly over our spot when it would have been easy for them to go behind us. They waved and said hello as they passed in front of us right over where we were casting. Capt. Pat just waved back and didn't say a word. He kept his cool and we just moved to another spot and started fishing again. I thought that showed a lot of character.

Thank Capt. Patrick for a great trip!

[KyTrkyHntr]

Looked like an awesome trip!! Thanks for sharing!

[SS-342]

Man O man! What a great attitude! Seems like thet trip was worth the money just to be around nice folks!

A great report.

Thanks

[Sir reel]

Great report...video says it all.

You ready to move back... we're look'n for an interim...

[silverking]

Don't know Capt. Rood, but I've fished with Capt. Mike on a couple occasions and not only does he know his fish, he makes great lures, too. And he's one of the nicest guys you could meet.

Glad you and your dad had a good trip. That is a very special fishery over there.

[FHC]

good trip

[fishinfool]

Thanks for the report. It really makes me want to get back to the lagoon and Indian River. That is where I learned to love Trout and Red fish angling.

[Jumptrout51]

You guys did good. Looks like you fished in more wind than folks around here like. Some of these guys would have been blown over-board.