Space Coast fishing: Weather gets windy, but snook, drum still biting

Well, it's the weekend of the big game and many an angler has plans to see which team can hoist another Lombardi Trophy by the end of Sunday. Meanwhile, another front will sweep through the Space Coast before then, dipping temperatures 10-15 degrees and scattering a few hundredths of an inch of rain.

The winds will whip up by Saturday and Sunday making it impossible to fish offshore, and the beaches will also likely be a tough place to fish productively. However, for what seems like the fifth week in a row, snook lead the best bite category for anglers.

First, snook like it when the weather gets crummy. Second, snook don't mind when the water gets dirty. Third, snook will pounce on a variety of artificial lures, jigs, live bait and dead bait.

A few pompano were caught inside the Indian River Lagoon, so that's another good sign fishing is on the upswing with spring only weeks away. Black drum fishing is also good in the northern lagoons.

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Closures & regulations changes in effect: Anglers are reminded about these fishery harvest closures currently underway and ones about to begin and end.

• Snook: Harvest opened Feb. 1. One fish bag limit, 28-32 inches, snook stamp required..

• Grouper: Harvest closed from Jan. 1, 2023, through April 30, 2023. Includes gag grouper, red grouper, black grouper, scamp, yellowfin grouper, yellowmouth, coney, graysby, red hind & rock hind. Harvest reopens May 1, 2023.

• Spotted seatrout:  Harvest open as of Jan. 1 in Volusia, Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin & Palm Beach counties. Harvest closes November and December 2023.

• Flounder: Harvest reopened Dec. 1.

• Hogfish: Harvest closed from Nov. 1, 2022 to April 30, 2023. Harvest reopens May 1, 2023.

• Redfish: Harvest of redfish is banned in the Indian River Lagoon and Mosquito Lagoon beginning Sept. 1. FWC will re-evaluate later in the year.

• Alligator: Hunt season open Aug. 15-Nov. 1. Permits required.

• Lobster: 48-hour sport season (mini-season) open July 26-27, 2023. Regular season opens Aug. 6.

• Dolphin: New fishing regulations began May 1, 2022 for state waters. Bag limit is now five fish per day per angler; Vessel limit is now 30 fish per day. Captain and crew may not be included in limit.

• Tilefish: Harvest is open as of Jan. 1.

• Bass: Bass at Headwaters Lake will soon become all catch-and-release.

For complete fishing regulations in Florida go to MyFWC.com.

Mosquito Lagoon

Capt. Jon Lulay of 2 Castaway Charters in Titusville said that if you can find the black drum schools, you have an opportunity to catch and release a couple of 20-25 pound fish. They will take split blue crabs, live shrimp or jerk baits. Speckled trout, redfish and snook are other catches in the lagoon that are possible using these same tactics.

Offshore

The weekend's marine weather forecast is not favorable to safe or fun fishing through the weekend. Before and after the front passes through, snapper fishing has been pretty good on the reefs in 70-90 feet of water. Kingfish, triggerfish and cobia are also possible catches on these same reefs. On the current edges, trolling can produce catches of blackfin tuna, wahoo and sailfish.

Surf

Melbourne Beach on week days has been a good time to fish the surf. There may be few pompano this week, but croaker and whiting seem to be biting just fine. The weekend waves may be too rough to fish, but look for bluefish, jacks and Spanish mackerel after the water cleans up a bit next week.

Sebastian Inlet

The waters at Sebastian Inlet seemed to be wind-whipped and cool with the weekly fronts. That has kept the snook bite slow for anglers hoping to take home a keeper. Snook, being tropical, like it when the water is warmer. Tripletail are something that can be caught inshore around channel markers and crab trap floats. Flounder fishing has been slow, too.

Indian River Lagoon

Black drum are biting around the dock pilings and in the open water of mud flats where they are rooting for crustaceans. Snook are easier to catch around bridge pilings and mangroves where the fish are hunting in shallow water. Sheepshead are being caught around the bridge pilings of causeways.

Freshwater

Former pro bass angler J.T. Kenney of Palm Bay said this is the time to fish spawning bass in area lakes and waterways. Stick worms and topwater plugs both will get bites with bass moving onto and off of beds as they begin or finish spawning. Also, speck fishing remains pretty steady in many areas. Anglers are catching limits using live minnows or speck jigs.

Ed Killer is an outdoors columnist with florida today. Email your fishing reports to ed.killer@tcpalm.com.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Snook, black drum are chewing for Space Coast anglers