Fish the Mosquito Lagoon with Captain Tony Pantuso

Captain Tony Pantuso runs an inshore fishing charter operating out of New Smyrna Beach, listed by the town’s official tourism authority as one of the local guides specializing in the Mosquito Lagoon fishery. Beyond that listing, which describes trips targeting redfish, spotted seatrout, snook, black drum, and tarpon, detailed operational information such as a working business website, phone number, or specific launch location could not be independently confirmed through the sources available for this directory.

The Mosquito Lagoon, which forms the northern portion of the Indian River Lagoon system running along New Smyrna Beach’s western side, is widely regarded as one of the most productive shallow water fisheries in Florida, a status tied directly to its unusually undeveloped shoreline. Much of the lagoon’s eastern edge borders Canaveral National Seashore, federally protected land that has kept the surrounding waters largely free of the seawalls, docks, and shoreline hardening common along more developed stretches of Florida coastline. That intact habitat, dense with seagrass beds and mangrove shoreline, supports the redfish and trout populations that guides throughout the New Smyrna Beach area, including this charter, build their trips around.

A single captain guide service targeting this water typically works from a shallow draft flats boat, poling or using a trolling motor to move quietly across the grass flats where fish can be spotted and cast to directly, a technique commonly called sight fishing. Trips are generally built around half or full day bookings, timed to tidal movement rather than a fixed clock schedule, since fish behavior on the flats shifts significantly with incoming versus outgoing tide.

Because independent verification of this specific operator’s current contact details and years of experience was not possible beyond the tourism authority’s listing, prospective customers are encouraged to confirm booking information directly before planning a trip. Its inclusion in the official New Smyrna Beach visitor’s bureau’s roster of fishing guides is a meaningful signal that the operator is recognized locally, and it represents the kind of small, single captain charter business that makes up the backbone of New Smyrna Beach’s inshore fishing scene, working the same protected lagoon waters that draw anglers to the area specifically for its fishery rather than only its beaches. For visitors specifically drawn to New Smyrna Beach for its fishing rather than its surf, a Mosquito Lagoon specialist like this one represents the kind of local, small scale guide operation that has made the lagoon system a genuine draw in its own right, distinct from the town’s better known reputation among surfers, even where full public documentation of the specific operator remains limited.