Little Lagoon Summer Fishing

Hey everybody, first post for me. My name is Jimmy and I'm a fanatic kayak fisherman born and raised in Ft. Lauderdale, FL currently living in Nashville, TN. My wife and I are taking a vacation and staying right on the Little Lagoon in late July and I can't put into words how excited I am to get to finally chase the same species that I spent so many years catching in south Florida! It's been 13 years...

I'll be bringing my kayak and promised my wife I'd only spend one day fishing haha but it will be a FULL day! Basically, I've been out of saltwater for some time now and any advice is greatly appreciated. I'd love nothing more than to get my kayak tugged around by a nice redfish and also to take a few specks home for me and the wife to have a fresh fish dinner one night.

Not at all asking for anyone's secret spots but if anyone could chip in with some advice for patterns and areas that time of the year that would be fantastic and I'd gladly return the favor if any of you happen to head to Tennessee. I pretty much have my lure selection figured out but any tips there would also be appreciated :D

Welcome MTF!
It sounds like you've done your 'homework' and will have a great time on the Little Lagoon.
Early morning and late afternoon are going to be your best bet that time of year, but fishing any available dock lights at night is where fishing can really 'shine'!

The species you will encounter most should be familiar to you (speckled trout, silver seatrout and redfish) and you should encounter some croaker and maybe flounder, but likely not any snook around here :-(

Hope this helps!

I was wanting to reply but couldn't seem to get past the 'one day of fishing' part of his post!!!

Haha well you know... it wouldn't be nice of me to go on vacation with my wife and then leave her alone everyday just so I could fish. It's a fishing/scouting outing that day. I plan to make another trip later in the Summer by myself or with a few of my kayak fishing crew from here and we'll spend 3-4 days fishing like madmen.

I am with Dave on this one. I love my wife and kids, but one day, that would be hard to do. Cant wait to get down myself and fish for one day, or three/four. Good luck midtennfisher when you come down and safe travels.

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Originally Posted by bfreeland38

I am with Dave on this one. I love my wife and kids, but one day, that would be hard to do. Cant wait to get down myself and fish for one day, or three/four. Good luck midtennfisher when you come down and safe travels.

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There's a long dock behind the house we're renting. I can't guarantee that I won't be out there at sunrise/sunset sometimes for an hour but as far as the entire sunrise to sunset fishing, I'm only doing that one day. When I make another trip back it will be alone or with fishing buddies and will be 3-4 days of hardcore fishing.

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Originally Posted by MidTennFisher

Haha well you know... it wouldn't be nice of me to go on vacation with my wife and then leave her alone everyday just so I could fish. It's a fishing/scouting outing that day. I plan to make another trip later in the Summer by myself or with a few of my kayak fishing crew from here and we'll spend 3-4 days fishing like madmen.

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I'm just messing with you. I usually only get to visit lower Alabama once a year or every other year. One thing to consider is when she's wanting to go to the beach, go to one that you can fish at also. May have to move down a little bit away from people but I've done it. I have a wife and three kids so I know how you feel.

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Originally Posted by Dave

I'm just messing with you. I usually only get to visit lower Alabama once a year or every other year. One thing to consider is when she's wanting to go to the beach, go to one that you can fish at also. May have to move down a little bit away from people but I've done it. I have a wife and three kids so I know how you feel.

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Oh I specifically looked for a place we could do both, that's why we're headed to the Little Lagoon! I did my research on the place. Great fishing for me and then right across the street is a beautiful beach.

I meant surf fishing straight off the beach while she catches a few rays.

I may give that a shot. For the reds down there I was thinking of using my goto lure down in the Florida Bay which was a Johnson Silver Minnow spoon. Matter of fact, I think that's the only lure I caught redfish on. Is that a producer in the lagoon? I'd cast them way past some visible tailing reds, bring it past them at a steady retrieve and watch them slam it. For specks and flounder I was going to get some of the Berkley Gulp shrimp lures. Those and some paddletail swimbaits should do just fine. What do you all think?

3" White/pearl curly tails w/ 1/4 oz red jig head works well for flatties also

I've never caught a Flounder actually. I've read about them being pretty common in the Lagoon. I'll bring a bag of grubs along for the trip, thanks!

get yourself a 5' cast net(smaller/less expensive), learn to throw it, on the gulf side of the bridge at LL finger mullet are all around usually. Aside from Gulp soft plastics, finger mullets carolina rigged will produce some flounder in that area. Or...you could just buy some bull minnows, they work just as well. Flounder fishing is finesse fishing, sometime the bite is subtle, sometimes its a bit more aggressive. They aren't like most fish as to where they eat and try to swim off. More times the not flounder won't move much after they've taken your bait. It feels a little like you're hung up/or it gets heavy. Generally, when I feel one bite, I give him about 3-5 seconds and set the hook. Generally a light/med. light power rod with a fast action is good for feeling the bite. I hope this helps you, I primarily flounder fish and this setup/bait choice works well for me.

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Originally Posted by MidTennFisher

I've never caught a Flounder actually. I've read about them being pretty common in the Lagoon. I'll bring a bag of grubs along for the trip, thanks!

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+1 on what SNAKE said. They don't run a bait down and hammer it like our smallmouth. Resist the urge to bow him up when you get a bite. I probably lost as many as I landed until someone told me to give it 5-10 seconds for the flounder to get the bait in its mouth. I would cast a jig/gulp with one rod and let a Carolina rigged live bait drag behind the kayak. If your dock has bright lights shining on the water you can hammer some specs on small Finn-s and fluke soft plastics on a jighead. They will also tear up live shrimp under a float. This would be an easy way for your wife to catch a few as well. I brought a floating light that I use for crappie to a dock at Fort Morgan last year and had a blast catching specs til my 12v battery died.

I really appreciate the tips everyone! I'm not much for live bait fishing but I do quite a bit of finesse fishing for bass here in TN so I'm no stranger to slowly working a shaky head worm along the bottom and having to feel for the bass to pick it up. I can be attentive and patient with the flounder as well.

Does this area have large areas of flats to chase tailing redfish? This is what I was used to doing in south Florida. I fished the Flamingo area if anyone has been there. We'd find huge grass flats, less than a foot of water and just coast along looking for schools of reds. I envision doing this from my kayak down in LL but I'm not familiar with the terrain.

Google earth might help you there for shallow areas to explore....no other help from me..... I am further north then you....Nashville is our 1/2 way point, when headed south

Little Lagoon is mud/sand bottom and I've never caught large reds there, just rats. It is shallow and very warm in July. Lots of small flounder. You will want to be on the water at first light and the fishing slows down once the sun hits the water.

IMO, in late July the intracoastal is better for specks at night because the depth gives them a place to hide during the day. The lights just east of Oyster Bay have been best for us.

BTW, there are large gators in the lagoon, especially on the west end, never heard of them attacking, though.

While the wife is sleeping at night can be your best fishing of the trip. Work soft plastics arouind any lighted pier and you may enjoy a bonanza of speckled trout and some real large ones are a possibility. I like the hours between 12 midnight and 3 am best for this because most people have gone to bed and the piers are not occupied. I have also caught many flounder and reds in Little Lagoon. Don't turn up your nose at croaker when it comes to a good table fish and they are also in the lagoon.

"BTW, there are large gators in the lagoon, especially on the west end, never heard of them attacking, though."


Most people who get eaten by gators and sharks don't report being attacked!

Well as I said before I really do appreciate all the advice you all have given me. I'm now 7 days away from the trip down there and have a change of plans for the better. Rather than just one full-day of fishing, I'm just going to fish the early mornings for a few hours every day I'm down there if possible.

I bought 1/4oz jigheads, 4" bass assassin sea shads, berkley gulp mullet grubs and gulp shrimp, also some popping corks to attract attention if need be. I have a few more questions that I'd really appreciate some info on before I head down there. Keep in mind I'm primarily after Specks and Reds.

1] First off, I may have mentioned I'm a kayak angler. I will be kayak fishing and anyone here who also kayak fishes and wants to fish the mornings July 23rd to July 29th let me know and feel free to join.

2] How strong is the tidal effect in the Lagoon? Are there areas that I'll actually get beached and be stuck until high tide if I'm not careful?

3] Is there any sight fishing to be done for redfish in this area? I know it's a bit different in that there aren't any grassy flats like I used to fish in Flamingo. I do miss coasting along flats stalking down a school of redfish and casting to them.

4] What is the water clarity like? Because I like to fish a lot of backwater here in TN when bass fishing, it's full of timber laydowns and I use 30lb braid so I can horse a bigger bass out before she wraps me around a treebranch and breaks my line (and heart). If I fish a clearer lake I'll use a 3 foot leader of 20lb flourocarbon to reduce line visibility. Should I do the same in the lagoon?

5] Last one. I'm staying on the North end of the lagoon about in the middle. I see some areas of shore that are grassy and undeveloped. Are these good areas to fish? I just don't know much about this area so I don't know if the specs and reds will be very shallow and I can spot them either visually or by watching for surface activity or if I need to be in deeper water locating fish with my depthfinder.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out and let me know if you come to Tennessee and want to get on some larger bass (Ha...like Alabama isn't full of them already). I'll gladly repay you for your advice by sharing some locations and the techniques that work in them that have produced plenty of 20+" bass.

1. Wish I could but...
a. I like to stand up and fish
b. I don't like getting my butt wet when fishing
c. I gotta work (I know a 4-letter werd ;-)

2. Not much tidal effect (except right at the pass).
More of a 'drift' except when the wind blows hard especially from the east or west.

3. Most sight fishing is under lights at night.

4. In the brackish (tannin) water the vis is usually just a few a few feet.
In the plume of green gulf water near the pass the vis may be 6 feet or more at times.

5. Edges of grass beds in 3'-4' deep water early and late in the day should be good for trout and redfish (topwater or suspending baits).
Don't overlook sandy points especially if they have some docks nearby with a decent drop off.

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Originally Posted by chillinfish

"BTW, there are large gators in the lagoon, especially on the west end, never heard of them attacking, though."


Most people who get eaten by gators and sharks don't report being attacked!

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Bwa ha ha ha!!

80% chance of T-storms everyday we're there through Saturday so far because that's all I get on the 10 day forecast. What the heck, I want to fish!!!

Midtenn, shoot me a PM. We plan on doing some kayak and boat fishing around the lagoon next week. Big specs were stacked up in there the last couple of weeks.

I sent you a PM, let me know if you want to join forces.

Thanks again everyone. I leave Wednesday morning and can't wait to get some fishing in. I plan to stop at J&M to buy a few lures and hopefully get some good information from the locals there. I'll be sure to post a report, hopefully with lots of pictures.

I'm leaving in the morning, heading back to Memphis. I fished the pier lights behind our condo several nights. Small redfish were being caught on cut bait, and I caught several decent specks on live shrimp. I tried several types of lures, but never actually landed one using them. The fish were actively feeding on minnows under the lights on most nights.

i surf fished several days (need a PVC pipe for a sand spike - bait shops sell lightweight ones, but they are 8-10 bucks). I cast-netted bait in the surf some days, and I used cut shrimp on others. Typical catches were small hardhead catfish, whiting, and baby sharks.