Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Fishing Reports (May 2026)

Neal Goodrich
Oak Hill, Florida
Reported: 1 month ago

Good day everyone! The weather has been fluctuating lately. The Wind and Rain changing daily makes it difficult to know the best time to go out. But, the fishing has been consistent when we do get out the trout bite is really good. Most of them are just undersized, for...

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Neal Goodrich Oak Hill, Florida Reported: 1 month ago

Good day everyone! The weather has been fluctuating lately. The Wind and Rain changing daily makes it difficult to know the best time to go out. But, the fishing has been consistent when we do get out the trout bite is really good. Most of them are just undersized, for every 10 undersized you'll catch one keeper. Everyone is waiting on the bait to change to catch the big ones! There are some Reds around but they are few and far between. The Jacks are starting to show up put up a good fight. Don't forget as of April 1st you can't keep trout over 19 in. Good fishing everyone!

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Taylor Belinger
Winter Springs, Florida
Reported: 4 months ago

Fishing is on fire

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Taylor Belinger Winter Springs, Florida Reported: 4 months ago

Fishing is on fire

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Taylor Belinger
Winter Springs, Florida
Reported: 5 months ago

Sorry! Fishing has been GREAT, the cooler temps have the water clearing up, and the fish are in groups

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Taylor Belinger Winter Springs, Florida Reported: 5 months ago

Sorry! Fishing has been GREAT, the cooler temps have the water clearing up, and the fish are in groups

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Hunter Bach
Oak Hill, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Redfish are still schooled up and the large trout are getting on the flats in the warmer days. The schools of big black drum are still around as well. Fishing has been good!

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Hunter Bach Oak Hill, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Redfish are still schooled up and the large trout are getting on the flats in the warmer days. The schools of big black drum are still around as well. Fishing has been good!

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Hunter Bach
Oak Hill, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Great night/evening trips for bull reds, snook and tarpon as well as cooking water temps on the flats for aggressive trout and redfish bites

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Hunter Bach Oak Hill, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Great night/evening trips for bull reds, snook and tarpon as well as cooking water temps on the flats for aggressive trout and redfish bites

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Hunter Bach
Oak Hill, Florida
Reported: 1 year ago

Now is a great time of year for tarpon and bull redfish. We are catching multiple reds in ver 35" in a 4 hr trip and the tarpon are here in solid numbers for the next few weeks

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Hunter Bach Oak Hill, Florida Reported: 1 year ago

Now is a great time of year for tarpon and bull redfish. We are catching multiple reds in ver 35" in a 4 hr trip and the tarpon are here in solid numbers for the next few weeks

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Neal Goodrich
Oak Hill, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

My latest report is titled Thanksgiving Week. The weather was windy, the water was a little choppy in spots and the sun peeked in and out of the clouds a little each day... But it might as well have been raining redfish! That's how many we caught! The first day...

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Neal Goodrich Oak Hill, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

My latest report is titled Thanksgiving Week. The weather was windy, the water was a little choppy in spots and the sun peeked in and out of the clouds a little each day... But it might as well have been raining redfish! That's how many we caught! The first day (Wednesday), i took out Chad and Kari for a few short hours. They brought 9 redfish, 2 snook and a few mangrove snapper to the boat. It was Kari's day and everywhere she cast she was catching the reds! Poor Chad was a good sport about it, even though Kari gave him her spot on the bow he still didn't catch one. Friday Art and his grandson Daniel got a bit of a late start on another partly cloudy and windy morning but the wind died down a little and we got on the redfish on the first stop and before the morning was over they had caught 30 head of reds, a 20 inch trout, 4 snook and 7 mangrove snapper. WOW!!! They were sure some happy fishermen when we got back to the dock! If this is any indication of what is to come, the redfish season is going to be fantastic!

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Hunter Bach
Oak Hill, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

Fall is a magical time if year on the flats. As the cold fronts begin to hit and the water temperature drops, the shallow grass flats of mosquito lagoon begin to flood with the larger redfish and and numbers of trout that have been in deeper water most of the...

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Hunter Bach Oak Hill, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

Fall is a magical time if year on the flats. As the cold fronts begin to hit and the water temperature drops, the shallow grass flats of mosquito lagoon begin to flood with the larger redfish and and numbers of trout that have been in deeper water most of the summer. The seatrout spawn throughout the late fall, and into early spring. It is not uncommon to find a group of 20 or more over-slot trout sunning on a patch of hard bottom ready to inhale almost any presentation. As for the redfish, instead of the singles, pairs, and small groups of mostly slot fish we find in the warmer months, we now get the opporunity to target redfish upto and over 30” in less than a foot of water and find schools of more than 50 redfish cruising around together. And last but not least, with the cooler water temperaturs, the fish feed on the flats all day long! Book now to chase the schools of shimmering copper redfish and wolf like packs of gator trout!!

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