Anglers fishing near Orlando the first week of December 2025 found steady action on Mosquito Lagoon with redfish tailing in clear shallow water and a few large seatrout as well. Fly fishing was tops on the list the past few trips. Using both 5 and 7wt rods with floating line, clients cast size 4 and 6 shrimp imitations to tailing reds throughout the day. Some groups had over 100 fish while others were small pods or singles. Weedless flies are a must as the fish are feeding in thick grass and some locations have floating grass as well. Winds were generally out of the south all week meaning we could have both the wind and sun at our backs when sight fishing. This is not normally the case during winter months in Central Florida. Because most of Mosquito Lagoon is non-tidal, we can remain in the same general location for as long as the fish cooperate.
The majority of casts on recent redfish charters have been from 20-40ft with a flyrod and from 5-50ft with a spinning rod. poling the boat on the flats allows us to get extremely close to the fish. In low light or clouds, the boat will often be inches from them before they spook. Spinning anglers have been finding success with the DOA shrimp or a small weedless rigged jerkbait with 10lb braid and a 20lb mono leader. Moving out the the dropoffs and edges of the flats, both redfish and seatrout can be caught blind casting a 3″ paddletail jig bouncing it along the bottom.
With several days of cooler weather following a front that pushed through over the weekend, more seatrout will make their way up shallow. They are more commonly found over a sandy bottom than over grass and are usually sitting motionless until spooked. When you start running them over, slow down and make long blind casts to likely areas. The section of Mosquito Lagoon closer to New Smyrna Beach offers more locations with great sand bottom and has been producing decent numbers of big trout recently.
Slots are still available for guided sight‑fishing charters near Orlando, New Smyrna, Daytona, and Cocoa Beach. Call or text 321‑229‑2848 to reserve your trip.