South Indian River Lagoon

Holding the title of North America’s most biologically diverse estuary, the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) holds some of the finest fishing found in the state of Florida. Along with bull reds, gigantic snook, gator trout, tripletail, pompano, tarpon, and bluefish, you will find two-thirds of the nation’s manatees, a wild assortment of wading birds and other fowl, sea turtles, and dolphins.  Truly, it is a magical place.


The Indian River Lagoon is a shallow “river” through which we have placed the Inter-Coastal Waterway.  Thankfully for kayakers, the river is usually a couple of miles wide so avoiding motor-craft is easy enough. The  IRL, along with The Banana River and Mosquito Lagoon, are a haven for juvenile game fish species along the East Central coast and with so many inlets in a close proximity along with countless spoil islands, grass flats, and old dock pilings, you can be sure the predators are there too.





The IRL begins on the East Coast up north all the way to the Space Coast near Titusville and ends up just north of Port Salerno or Jensen Beach.  With such a large body of water you can imagine that there is a varied fishery and each section has its unique characteristics;  for example, the Northern and Central IRL are known for massive bull redfish, while the southern IRL produces more Slob snook with few redfish caught in numbers.  This article will concentrate on the southern part of the lagoon, from Vero Beach to Jensen Beach, as it is the section the author is familiar with.  (If I could afford to drive to Sebastian every week I would.) 











What is most intriguing about the IRL is the massive fish it seems to consistently hold.  The world-record Speckled Trout came from here, along with 95% of the line-class records for that same species.  If you want a gator trout, you will have to make a trip up to the Lagoon, this is the best place for it.  Monster snook will also congregate in the inlets during the spring and early summer for the spawn, and once that’s over you will have great opportunities for monster encounters out on the flats within a close proximity to those inlets. 










Launching into the IRL is simple enough, in some spots you can simply pull over to the side of A1A and dump yourself right in.  Otherwise, you can use one of the many ramps found in one of the many state and county parks.  Round Island, around Ft. Pierce, is a popular destination and offers some shelter from wind with various spoil islands, oyster beds, and grass flats adjacent.  The western shore of the IRL is mostly private property, while the eastern shore holds most of the public access.  With the prevailing east winds as common as they are here in Florida, we kayak fisherman can be thankful for this small mercy.


The southern IRL has miles and miles of used or barely used docks and during the heat of the day, when the action has abated on the flats, it is always a safe bet to start pitching underneath those docks.  Those docks will provide cover and shade for baitfish, as well as snook and monster trout…maybe even a redfish or two.  Even if they aren’t caught in droves this far south, they are still caught.



Oddly enough, large trout tend to act more like snook once they reach a good size.  Instead of finding them with the larger schools of average sized fish you will find the big gators, as solitary ambush predators, often in water only inches deep to deeper potholes found around docks and structures.  The best way to target these fish is by getting out on the water early and tossing a topwater wherever you can find bait busts or a lot of activity on the surface.  Once the topwater bite dies down then a more subtle approach, such as a weightless soft plastic or a D.O.A. terroreyez, may just be the trick.

 A typical day out on the lagoon usually goes as follows: Pre-dawn topwater action along the flats and the edges of the flats with good tidal flow.  As the morning progresses, both hard and soft baits will be fished around those same edges until the water is just too hot. Once the day wears on, it’s time to check out the channel markers, deep water channels, and pieces of flotsam as they may hold anything from tripletail to bluefish.  It’s always worth the investigative cast.


There are several bridges along the length of the lagoon and when the tide is kicking, they will hold snook with the possibility of tarpon and grouper.  A bucktail bounced along the bottom is a surefire recipe for success, but you can’t beat a finger mullet free-lined for big bridge snook.  The important thing is to have the proper tackle and to check your drag!  I have made the mistake a few times myself: fishing on the flats doesn’t require much drag as there is no need to horse the fish to you.  This is the opposite under bridges.  Snook will take to cover when hooked and you need to have a rod with a backbone, coupled with a smooth and powerful drag to yank those big fish out from under.


The standard inshore fishing techniques apply in the IRL: live bait, cut bait, topwaters in the morning, soft plastics, and all manner of plugs will work when the time is appropriate.  And the best way to figure that is to spend a little…no, a lot, of time on the water. As usual, I seem to have the best luck with the simplest of lures as I can fish it with live or dead bait or soft plastic.  Yes, the venerable lead jig-head also shines in the IRL.


The Indian River Lagoon contains so much life it’s hard to imagine a more pristine environment located in such close proximity to the bustling East coast of Florida.  The key here is to keep it this way; I’d hate to see this area become simply another extension of the Inter-Coastal Waterway, devoid of grass and life.  With the proper conservation and regulations, we can hope to have the lagoon as viable fishery for decades to come, hopefully longer.  Cheers.