Early May Orlando Area and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, May 8, 2018

Fishing in the Orlando area and in the Mosquito Lagoon has ranged from good to excellent the past few weeks.  The weather has been nice for the most part with exception of a few passing fronts. This past week we experienced exceptional adventures on both the Econ River near Orlando and the Mosquito Lagoon.

On Thursday April 26 I had the pleasure of sharing the deck of Three Quarter Time with Chris Cooper and his family from Orlando.  As repeat clients, the Cooper family has shared some outstanding charters with me, and it’s always a challenge to meet or exceed both the catches and memories from past adventures together.  The first major catch of the day was made by Chris’s daughter Elise when she boated very respectable black drum in the 30-pound range.  Next, it was Chris’s 6-year old nephew Zac’s turn when he hooked and landed a 40-inch redfish.  Like most of my trips this past few weeks, the quantity was not great, but the quality was.

My next noteworthy adventure was on Wednesday when repeat clients Bob Osbourne and Tom Raftican from California joined me for a day of fishing in the Mosquito Lagoon.  Again, the winds were up so I opted to focus on fishing in deeper protected waters and again the quantity was not good, but the quality was.  The first major fish was a very respectable 48-inch Redfish caught by Bob, followed up by a 40-inch redfish caught by Tom.

On Thursday May 3rd I had the extreme pleasure to of spending my birthday fishing with my good friend and mentor Captain John Kumiski on the Econ River. In one month from today both John and I will be traveling to Alaska for the summer, and the Econ trip was more of a training mission for me.  The Econ is at a very low stage and the fish are concentrated in the deeper pockets.  In preparation for my Alaska summer job, guiding at the Katmai Lodge, I’ve been building three new fly rods and tying flies, and this trip down the Econ put my skills to the test.  I’m happy to say the 8’ 5wt functioned extremely well and the mouse fly I tied for rainbow trout caught over 30 fish and a few trees and stomps without failing.  If you are a light tackle fly angler, you need to fish the Econ during low water.