Tomoka River, Port Orange, ML & IRL report

West Palm to Jacksonville
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Hferrell87
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 5:17 pm

Tomoka River, Port Orange, ML & IRL report

Post by Hferrell87 »

Hey all,

I fish quite a bit in many different areas and just wanted to give a little insight on conditions and fish in those areas.

Tomoka River:
Been fishing this area the most lately due to the algae bloom and pressure both lagoons have. Have been catching snook, flounder, reds, trout, jacks & juvie tarpon. This area is a weird one. Went one day and had one of the best days of fishing I have ever had. Caught multiple slot reds, 2 keeper flounder 16" & 18", 4 trout one being 22", a ton a small snook, one being 18", juvie tarpon rolling everywhere. Landed one small tarpon and jumped two more in the 5# range.
Went the very next day, didnt even get a sniff of a bite... This area including the basin and the Halifax river can hold massive amounts of quality fish of every species. I seem to find schools of bait getting crushed on the surface a lot more than in the lagoons. We used mostly 1/8 ounce jig heads with rootbeer paddle tails & doa glow shrimps.

Port Orange:
Went one time with my buddy and we only fished for about two hours. Not super familiar with the place but found a dock that held my biggest flounder to date, 23", 5 1/2 lbs. Showed my buddy who was on the other side on some mangroves and he then pulled a 21" 4 1/2 lb. Flounder out from the dock right next to where mine was. A storm was about to roll in so we decided to take these lovely flatties home for dinner. Caught my flounder on a 3" doa glow shrimp and my buddy caught his on a doa deep diver bait buster in glow color.

ML/IRL:
Pure trash...

Just kidding, but not really...! I tend to not fish these areas in the summer due to the algae bloom and ysually only fish the lagoon in the winter. From what some friends said, the water level is low, low, low which is unusual this time of year. There are reds out there and trout as well, but have fun sifting through all the dead grass and coffee colored water. There are tailing reds if you can find decently clean water and healthy grass. Peacocks pocket in the IRL might produce some good fish as long as the water level is good there. People act like the Mosquito lagoon is world famous still... Haha not so much. If they can figure out the algae problem and stop allowing every Hoosier that tries to run the 1/4 mile on all the flats, then maybe then, would the lagoon be good again...

Winter time is a whole other story.


Will be posting picks to back up my catches when I can get to my pc in a few days. Glad to be apart of this group and hope I can wet some lines with my fellow yaker's!!!
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DaveR
Supporter 2007 - 2012
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Re: Tomoka River, Port Orange, ML & IRL report

Post by DaveR »

Tell us more about the algae bloom. Want to go over this fall but it has me spooked.
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Hferrell87
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 5:17 pm

Re: Tomoka River, Port Orange, ML & IRL report

Post by Hferrell87 »

DaveR wrote:Tell us more about the algae bloom. Want to go over this fall but it has me spooked.
Well it's called "brown tide" and they still haven't figured out what is the main cause or causes. It's thick enough to not let light penetrate through, in turn killing all the grass on the flats. There are still a bunch of fish out there but they aren't easy to catch right now. Once the water cleans up (when it gets cold), sight fishing reds is awesome. When the algae gets bad like t is now, fishing slows down and requires a lot more cut bait fishing which I myself don't care to do.
It has been raining very hard everyday over here so it's hard to say if the rain will flush out the algae or possibly make it worse. I will fish it soon and give you a better ideal of if you should take a trip or not. As of right now, I would probably save the gas for a better time.
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DaveR
Supporter 2007 - 2012
Posts: 10003
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm
Location: down the shore

Re: Tomoka River, Port Orange, ML & IRL report

Post by DaveR »

Thanks!
Senior Exalted Pro Staff Member of the Paddle-Fishing.com Kayak & Canoe Anglers Club

"SANCTUARY!!!"

Capitalization is the difference between helping your Uncle Jack off a horse, and helping your uncle jack off a horse.
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