Capt. Scott Tripp shows off an average-sized flats redfish from the lagoon system. Photo by William J. Bohica.

Stretching from Ponce Inlet, south past Sebastian Inlet, and on down to St. Lucie Inlet, the waters composing the Mosquito, Banana River and the Indian River lagoon system offer some of the more unique and productive fisheries in the Southeast.

The vast acreage comprising the lagoon system presents many facets to anglers. Many areas see virtually no tidal movement, while others do have water moving with the tide. Grassy, sandflats dominate, but oyster-bearing tidal creeks, sharply dredged channels, mangrove-lined shores and shallow back bays are also fish-holding habitat. And, hold fish they do!

The lagoons have a reputation for producing numbers of hefty fish. In fact, the current world-record spotted seatrout was corralled here. But for many anglers, it's the redfish that capture the headlines.

"There are very few places in the world where you can ease up on a 2-foot-deep grassflat and sight-cast to redfish that can top 40 pounds," said Capt. Scott Tripp. "And over the last decade, our population of those big bull reds has increased noticeably."

Capt. Tripp should certainly know. As one of the area's top guides over the last couple of decades, he's put anglers on plenty of them. As the owner of New Smyrna Outfitters, he has the opportunity to swap fish stories with the top local anglers, when he's not out on the water collecting those fish stories himself.

The fact that big bull reds remain in these shallow lagoons is unusual. Along Florida's Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the reverse is normally the rule. Reds generally inhabit shallow bays and estuaries during their early life stages, but once they become mature at above the 12- to 15-pound range, they spend the warmer months in the offshore or nearshore waters.

Cooler temperatures during the fall bring them into the major inlets and passes, and winter temperatures may hold many of them in those areas until warming temperatures in the spring send them back to deeper water.

Just why these reds choose to remain in the lagoons may be partly because, while the waters stretch for almost 140 miles along Florida's east coast, there are only three inlets that allow access to the Atlantic. Given the million-plus acres of fertile environment at fishes' disposal, the abundant food sources may outweigh their need to become ocean runners.

That doesn't, however, mean that they ignore those inlets.

"There is a definite seasonal movement pattern to these reds," noted Tripp. "During warmer weather, the reds fan out over the shallow flats throughout the lagoons, using the channels and troughs as travel routes. They travel from flat to flat and spend the late spring and summer feeding on the flats. When winter arrives, a lot -- but not all -- of those reds begin to migrate toward the inlet mouths for the winter. The water temperatures in the tidal areas of the inlets are more stable than the real shallow flats, and that brings a lot of forage into those areas. The reds just follow the forage and the stable water.

"There are distinct seasonal patterns," he continued, "and the fish migrate a long way between them. October is the key transition month between summer and winter patterns. It all depends on temperature, and it can fluctuate this month. You can have one day that's nice, warm, calm, and a day or two later, the temperature can drop 15 degrees. You can't predict what the temperatures will be, but the fish move a long way in response to those temperature changes."

Transitional periods always keep anglers on their toes. But if the temperatures are still in the "summer" range, Tripp has a pattern ready.