Redfish Worm, top; Clouser Minnow, bottom. Both are simple, effective flies for sight fishing redfish and black drum.
You need two flavors of little black flies for use for reds and black drum in the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon system. They’re small (#4), and lightly weighted (1/80th ounce lead dumbbells).
One is a simple black Clouser Minnow. The wing is simply black bucktail, and some sparse flash. I usually use Flashabou Accent on these smaller sized flies, sometimes gold, sometimes copper, but if Fire Fly in purple comes to hand I use that. I haven’t noticed much discrimination on the part of the fish in regards to the color of the flash.
The other fly I call a Redfish Worm. It has the 1/80th ounce lead eye, a tail of either a short piece of zonker strip or Arctic Fox tail dyed black, and a body of large black Cactus Chenille (or similar product). That’s it. It’s simple, but looks good when wet.
Both flies are tied with a double mono prong weedguard, and both are simple, five minute ties even with the ‘guard. There’s no sense complicating one’s life needlessly.
Of course the way they’re fished is as important as anything else. Use them when shallow water (less than 12 inches) fishing in the Indian River Lagoon or the Mosquito Lagoon, from a kayak or while wading, looking for redfish and black drum. The reds will almost always be slot fish, since you’re in less than a foot of water. Most of the fish I see while doing this are singles, and I seldom see more than four or five together.
Once I see the fish, I want to be close enough that after I cast I know, make that KNOW, exactly where the fly is in relation to the fish. That means I am close enough to them to see everything. The importance of this cannot be overemphasized.
Reds and blacks require somewhat different presentations. Reds tend to be both more aggressive in their approach to a fly and more spooky than blacks.
For the reds try to anticipate where the fish will go and put the fly there, about two to three feet in front of it. That fly sits in that spot until the fish is either close enough to see it when it’s twitched, or until it’s obvious that the fish is not going where you hoped it was. If the fish sees the fly most of the time they’ll crush it, but sometimes they ignore it or spook off. If the fish doesn’t go where you thought they would, or if the cast misses, or if the time is available, try again. Keep trying until the fish eats, spooks, or is out of range.
For the blacks try to drop the fly mere inches in front of them to attract their attention right away, or place it such that you can drag it right into or by their face. Blacks tend to be pretty myopic, and very lackadaisical in their approach to a fly. The fly has no olfactory stimulus for them, so the visual stimulus needs to be real strong. Even then many times they ignore it or spook from it. But if you get enough shots you will find plenty of takers.
Could you have success with other flies in these types of situations? Probably. But if the sexy, simple, little black flies are working, why would you want to use anything else?
I hope you found this Mosquito Lagoon Florida fishing tip useful!
John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com
All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.
I am so excited right now after reading this! Thank you!