Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Fishing Reports (December 2025)

Hunter Bach
Oak Hill, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

We knew we'd be up against it due to the moon phase of the past week or so. Full to half-full moon up for most of the night and deadly high mid-day temperatures give the fish an excellent opportunity to feed all night and look the other when no matter...

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Hunter Bach Oak Hill, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

We knew we'd be up against it due to the moon phase of the past week or so. Full to half-full moon up for most of the night and deadly high mid-day temperatures give the fish an excellent opportunity to feed all night and look the other when no matter how well a bait is presented to them during the daytime. Repeat client and good friend, Tyler was not intimidated. We kicked the day off watching 20 - 60 lb. tarpon lazily roll at first light. For about 45 minutes we pitched live shrimp, blue crabs, and baitfish as well as artificial presentations to them. A few sipped down the blue crabs but gave us the slip as a bony-mouthed tarpon will sometimes do. By the time the sun cleared the horizon, the tarpon activity declined and we moved onto the flats. Within minutes we were staked out on a school of black drum in the 5-15lb. range. After a few missed hook-ups we finally landed one around 22" and a slot red before the school moved on. From there it was pretty much all sight fishing. We had a few opportunities at large trout and snook cruising the flats despite the tough moon phase and Tyler followed directions perfectly to sight-fish a couple of over-slot Mosquito Lagoon redfish! They are plentiful but demanding in the clear shallow water and closely adhering to the direction of your guide is all but imperative. In the late afternoon, we returned to the main channel to try our luck with the bull reds. On light tackle, we landed a few more fish including another over-slot redfish and we had an absolute monster on the 6500 penn that somehow managed to break us off on some structure

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Neal Goodrich
Oak Hill, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

The Trout Bite is as HOT as the Temperature! We went out early to avoid as much heat as possible. We watch the sun come up and the bait shower across the water in front of us. No sooner did the sunlight hit the water and the first trout hit...

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Neal Goodrich Oak Hill, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

The Trout Bite is as HOT as the Temperature! We went out early to avoid as much heat as possible. We watch the sun come up and the bait shower across the water in front of us. No sooner did the sunlight hit the water and the first trout hit the deck! We reeled in some small ones and a couple of slot sized ones and decided to move a little. I don’t know if the dolphins were leading or following but everywhere we found good fish they seemed to find us! We were almost ready to come in when Josh got a runaway hit and a 27” Snook exploded out of the water and it was a sight to see! That Snook put up a good fight but it ended way too soon. It was a good way to end the day!

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Hunter Bach
Oak Hill, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

We are still catching good numbers of slot to over slot redfish on the flats along with trout over 20" and numbers of smaller trout in deeper water. The reds on the flats are beginning to transition into their summer patterns. The schools are breaking up and instead of a...

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Hunter Bach Oak Hill, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

We are still catching good numbers of slot to over slot redfish on the flats along with trout over 20" and numbers of smaller trout in deeper water. The reds on the flats are beginning to transition into their summer patterns. The schools are breaking up and instead of a few shots at 50 fish we can get 20+ shots at singles. This can mean more technical presentations but if it were easy it wouldn't be worth doing! Although, with more intermediate anglers, pitching live mullet to laid up and cruising redfish and trout is very effective. The snook fishing is beginning to heat up; on the night trips we are getting good numbers in the dock lights and starting to catch some tarpon in the 20-40 lb. class. Throughout the month we will be seeing more snook on the flats. By the end of May, tarpon season will be in full effect for mosquito lagoon and new Smyrna beach. Dates are already filling up fast so make sure to reserve your dates now to tangle with the silver king this summer or sight fishing the flats of mosquito lagoon.

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Neal Goodrich
Oak Hill, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

On and off, Up and down, hot and cold, all opposites, all antonyms, all ways to describe the way fishing has been for the last several weeks. There have been good days with some catches of trout and reds and there have been some great days of reeling in some...

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Neal Goodrich Oak Hill, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

On and off, Up and down, hot and cold, all opposites, all antonyms, all ways to describe the way fishing has been for the last several weeks. There have been good days with some catches of trout and reds and there have been some great days of reeling in some 30-40 lb. Drum. But there have also been some days where I wished I would have stayed home. All in all the tide is turning and there's going to be some better days ahead. The live bait is changing and the fish will be jumping.

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Hunter Bach
Oak Hill, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

We have a very consistent trout bite with the current size ranging from 15"-21" along with a few kicker fish over 24". The snook have come out of the freeze pretty strong and we are catching good numbers of 18"-25" snook in creeks and canals where the water is warmer....

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Hunter Bach Oak Hill, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

We have a very consistent trout bite with the current size ranging from 15"-21" along with a few kicker fish over 24". The snook have come out of the freeze pretty strong and we are catching good numbers of 18"-25" snook in creeks and canals where the water is warmer. Out on the flats we are having a fantastic season for redfish. My clients can expect 20 shots in a half day of fishing but the fish are challenging! The shallow winter pattern combined with crystal clear water will test any anglers abilities who targets them. They're a great warm up for bone fishing! We are getting shots at singles and schools of up to 50 fish. The average size for the redfish is getting better as well with most fish over 24" and some of the reds on the flats are over 30". They're a fly fisherman's dream!

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Hunter Bach
Oak Hill, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

The fishing the rest of this winter and spring is going to be one for the books. We are consistently getting 20+ shots in a half day. Quite of few of these shots are at schools of 10-30 redfish or black drum. The water is crystal clear and the fish...

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Hunter Bach Oak Hill, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

The fishing the rest of this winter and spring is going to be one for the books. We are consistently getting 20+ shots in a half day. Quite of few of these shots are at schools of 10-30 redfish or black drum. The water is crystal clear and the fish are feeding great on artificials and flies. We are commonly catching "lagoon slams" of trout, black drum, and redfish on fly and spin. The best times to book are the days leading up to a full moon to witness the most schooling activity but the fishing has been good all throughout the lunar cycles.

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Hunter Bach
Oak Hill, Florida
Reported: 2 years ago

The fall/winter transition has the redfish, black drum and gator trout absolutely fired up! We've had multiple trips now with 10 trout over 20". The cooler temps have the water clearing up and the sight-fishing on fly and spin will continue to be stellar through the winter. The best trips...

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Hunter Bach Oak Hill, Florida Reported: 2 years ago

The fall/winter transition has the redfish, black drum and gator trout absolutely fired up! We've had multiple trips now with 10 trout over 20". The cooler temps have the water clearing up and the sight-fishing on fly and spin will continue to be stellar through the winter. The best trips seem to be leading up to the full moon, like we just recently had as it stages up the big trout on the flats and encourages the black drum and redfish to school.

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Hunter Bach
Oak Hill, Florida
Reported: 3 years ago

Fishing report 11/11/22 : Had the pleasure of fishing two great clients, Jorge and Rob. We started the day out free lining live mullet and jumbo shrimp to snook and rolling tarpon. After a couple missed hook ups we lost the moon over the horizon and the tarpon stopped rolling...

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Hunter Bach Oak Hill, Florida Reported: 3 years ago

Fishing report 11/11/22 :
Had the pleasure of fishing two great clients, Jorge and Rob. We started the day out free lining live mullet and jumbo shrimp to snook and rolling tarpon. After a couple missed hook ups we lost the moon over the horizon and the tarpon stopped rolling so we headed off into the back country. Searching out protected holes and cuts we started catching numbers of slot trout, redfish, and small snook on both live shrimp and artificials. Around noon we made our way back out of the back country, as the wind increased, and found safe harbor in a waterfront bar and grill to refuel for the afternoon fishing. Post chargrilled oysters and rum runners, Jorge and Rob returned to the flats to catch a handful more trout and redfish to bring the days total to somewhere around 20 trout, 7+ redfish, and 3 snook.

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