ORLANDO and COCOA BEACH INSHORE-Speckled trout and redfish are becoming more common catches throughout the Indian and Banana River Lagoons this month. The lack of rainfall has left much of the central portion of the lagoon waters in decent shape with no huge algae blooms to speak of. This is allowing anglers to sight cast to many of these fish as they lay or cruise slowly in the shallow flats. Fortunately many of our Brevard county residents have adopted a "No Fertilizer" policy for their lawns in an effort to help save our precious lagoon system. Just one pound of your average lawn fertilizer can contaminate up to 50,000 gallons of water, so you can imagine the amount of damage a typical 50-pound sack of this stuff can cause. Because more people than ever are joining forces and not polluting the lagoons, we are seeing a slow but steady return of the fish into these waters. Most of the trout and redfish are holding near mullet schools in the flats, especially during early morning periods. Anglers can use the smaller 08 size Rapala Skitterwalk near the bait schools or one of the new Salty Snack lures by Assassin bait co. These imitate a mullet and are a more subtle presentation than some of the larger lures typically used for these two species. The Salty Snack can be rigged weedless so it makes a great lure if you are fishing where there is some rolling tumble weed algae which will also create structure for the fish. A 5/0 wide gap VMC worm hook pairs nicely with the this soft plastic baitfish imitation. We still don't have a lot of grass regrowth in the Banana lagoon, but there are some forms of algae that have started to give ground cover for the shrimp, crabs, and small baitfish that the predatory fish feed upon. These are "target" areas to consistently find reds and trout if baitfish are present. You may find juvenile tarpon in the Merritt Island and Satellite Beach canals in good numbers right now. They can be seen rolling near glass minnow pods in many cases. Anglers can use small jigs or streamer style flies that imitate the small minnows that tarpon like to feed on. Put these out and work them slowly and you should get a few tarpon to go airborne. Until next time...Catch a Memory!! Captain Jim Ross