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The summer fishing continues to be outstanding here in central Florida. Redfish have been providing the most consistent action with large schools being encountered on most days. These fish have been biting well and will chase down lures fished on the surface providing some explosive bites. There are a few tarpon around but they have yet to appear inshore in significant numbers.

During the first week of the month, I spent a couple days fishing with Capt. Blair Wiggins, host of the Addictive Fishing TV show. We spent the first day fishing without cameras and found some huge redfish willing to eat both Baitbusters and DOA shrimp. Nearly every spot we visited held hungry redfish. The next day the cameras arrived to film an episode of the show. Of course the giant reds were not in the mood to bite but we did find and catch plenty of other redfish. The episode should air in late September.

Sam and Wade had a good day redfishing in Mosquito Lagoon. The four inch Cal in silver mullet color accounted for multiple fish caught and released.





After dropping my clients off at the ramp, I went back out for an hour of fun fishing. Using the shallow running Baitbuster, I fooled four more redfish from 15-20 pounds.



Glen and his son Gabe had shots at hundreds of redfish throughout the day. We found fish in schools and small groups roaming the shallow flats. Gabe landed the largest fish of the day just before we headed in.



Rusty and John had a tough start to the day as many of the redfish that had been present the previous two days had spread out with the rising water levels. It took us a while to find them but we located some large schools of black drum and redfish. Rusty got a black drum around 15 pounds and John landed a similar sized redfish.



Sunday, I took a break from the flats fishing to fish along the beach with Capt. Ron Presley. We encountered tarpon and large jack crevalle along with schools of little tunny. I had one bite from a large tarpon but missed the hookset. The tunnys and a barracuda gave us some great light tackle action on Baitbusters and the 5.5 inch BFL.





Yesterday, Dan and his father George had a great day on the Lagoon. The redfish were chasing down the Baitbuster all day long.





I look forward to continued topwater action for the next couple months. As the fall mullet run gets under way, the fish will get more and more aggressive as they fatten up for the winter. With lots of grass floating on the surface, treble hooked plugs can be difficult to use. The DOA Chughead rigged on a weedless jerkbait and the Baitbuster are effective despite the grass.

Capt. Chris Myers
Orlando Fishing Guide