Mosquito Lagoon, the Big One Got Away

Mosquito Lagoon is a large but shallow salt water estuary along the Atlantic Ocean eastern shore in Central Florida. This inlet is protected by a coastal barrier that separates it from the ocean. To the north of this estuary are the cities of Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach. To the south of this body of water is John F. Kennedy Space Center. West of this lagoon is the Indian River Lagoon. The closest city is Titusville, just west of both the Indian River Lagoon and the Mosquito Lagoon. A major highway (I-95) runs through Titusville and parallel to the two lagoons. The lagoons are separated by a strip of land that is a part of the wetlands although it is dry most of the season. The two lagoons are connected by a man-made canal called Haulover Canal (The original Haulover Canal was built in 1854. This canal was replaced in 1887 by the current Canal).

 

Mosquito Lagoon is known for its great fishing, especially for redfish. Some claim that it is the capital of the world for redfish. There are plenty of other types of fish that are caught in this lagoon including black drum, spotted sea trout, tarpon, flounder and snook. Top lures, shrimp and finger mullets are the preferred fishing bait.

 

My fishing buddy and I have fished in this area on many occasions and our luck has been horrendous. Many times, we stay all day and come away with nothing to show. At the same time, conversations with others uncover that they fished in the same area and caught many fish. We use the same bait but the fish allude us. Nevertheless, we continue to fish in this area that so many call the greatest fishing area in Central Florida.

 

Rather than brood about our unfortunate luck, we continued to pursue our fishing objective and low and behold one day it happened. This enormously large redfish hit my line and I struggle, and struggled, perhaps for about a half hour trying to bring the rascal in. It must have weighed more than 70 pounds. I managed to get it into shallow water where it could only flap its tail, and oh did it flap. My buddy and I tried to get it into the net but it was too small. So, he, at almost seven feet tall and 400 pounds, waded into the shallow water (about one foot deep) while I continued to hold the line. As he reached for the big one, it made one big flap, he fell in the water, and the fish broke the line and scooted away, flap, flap, flap! That was the big one that got away.

 

We have not given up on Mosquito Lagoon. We will soon return looking for the big one. I am told that fishing is good in Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon as well as the Haulover Canal.

 

Mosquito Lagoon acquired that name because of the abundance of mosquitoes in the area. It was not the only thing that was named after the mosquito. There was the Mosquito Inlet, now called Ponce Inlet. The area south of St. Augustine was one big county known as Mosquito County. This county got smaller and smaller as separate counties broke away, so that you ended up with one Central Florida County known as Mosquito County. Then, that name was changed to Orange County. Volusia County which was once a part of Mosquito County, then, a part of Orange County when the name was changed, broke away into its own separate county.

 

I have referred to Indian River Lagoon on several occasions. It is not a river. It has no fresh water source (except runoff) and, like Mosquito Lagoon, it is shallow. The Indians referred to it as Indian River before it was discovered to be another salt water estuary. However, the Indian River name stuck. So, those who know that it is a lagoon just call it Indian River Lagoon. Another body of water further south of this area known as Banana River is also not a river but a lagoon. So, it is now called Banana River Lagoon.

 

REFERENCES:

 

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Guide, http://www.redfishonfly.com and Mosquito Lagoon, http://www.mosquitolagoon.com