Windy Scouting Trip In The Refuge

After a week without wetting a line, my wife and I decided to take Odie for a scouting trip in the refuge.

The weather was great.  Air temps at around 72 degrees, sunny skies, and enough wind to make topwater bait fishing out of the question.

We drove around Bio Lab Road, Peacocks Pocket Road, Patillo Creek Road and finally around Haulover Canal wetting a line in a couple of areas without any success.

 Bio Lab road was one way only to Playalinda Beach road but since my last trip, the powers that be have taken down the signs and allowed two way traffic throughout.

Along Bio Lab, we saw several people fishing, but nobody seemed to be catching anything.  The water in the Mosquito Lagoon is very low and almost crystal clear throughout the southernmost section.

We drove into an area close to the beach road that holds juvenile tarpon and snook during the summer months, but after many casts around the area with a Storm Creme Spoiler Shad bait and a Chug Bug, it was apparent that the fish were not in the area.

Karen and I spotted a group of 8 manatees that were cruising the area and a gator that up along the bank that was extremely lethargic.

Karen thought that it was sick but it could have just been waiting for dinner.

The three groups who were fishing that area said they never even had a nibble, so I didn't feel too bad about being skunked.

We moved to Patillo Creek Road and found several groups of fishermen covering all the best bank fishing spots.  The people I spoke with also said that the bite was non existent.

From there we drove over to Peacocks Pocket Road to see if the refuge managers had opened it up.  A couple of years ago, they said the road would be open in the spring of 2023.  We're still waiting.,...

Anyway, several vehicles were parked around the shallow water boat launch and a few people were fishing the banks without any success.  The water around the boat launch was crystal clear, but after scanning the water for a while for signs of fish or baitfish activity, I didn't even bother to wet a line at any of the spots I used to fish but decided instead to head home

Despite the skunk, out scouting trip in the refuge was worth the price of the gas we burned.  The weather was beautiful and like just about everybody we spoke with; Me, Odie, Karen were glad to get out of the house and enjoy the day.

Till next time,

Tight LInes.