Memorial Day Ladyfish

This afternoon I expected a crowd in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and I wasn't disappointed one bit.

There were tons of people lining the Indian River east of the Parrish Park boat landing and everyone seemed to be having a great time on the water.

  

 

I saw several fishermen on both sides of the highway dunking finger mullet, cut baits and shrimp hoping to hook up with a redfish or sea trout.

I didn't get out this afternoon until rather late and because of all the people in the area I decided to start fishing around East Gator Creek road.

My wife went horseback riding in Mims so I didn't bother bringing Elmo or Odie this trip.

I started fishing the extremely shallow water using a light silver spoon with 30# Power Pro and a six foot length of 10# fluorocarbon.

The water was no more than a couple of feet deep in this area and full of weeds so I started casting using a fast retrieve to keep the spoon above the weeds.

The second cast hooked me up with a large mud minnow.

If I had thought of bringing a bait bucket, I would have kept it for a possible red or sea trout.

Several casts later produced another mud minnow and finally a ladyfish that jumped all over the flat.

I stopped at several spots and managed to land eight ladyfish out of the dozen or so I hooked up with.

I kept three ladyfish for cut bait because they were bleeding and would have died anyway and returned the rest.

I spied a redfish but it wasn't taking my spoon so I continued casting in various spots hoping for a sea trout for dinner.

At the second bend I got a nice hit from a sea trout and after a brief fight I put it on ice for dinner.

I missed a couple more short striking sea trout before moving up to Peacocks Pocket road.

It was getting late so I headed for a spot where yesterday there was a lot of baitfish activity.

When I got to the location, there were no baitfish schools in sight.

I made several blind casts on the Indian River side hoping for a sea trout until I hooked into this juvenile croaker.

I didn't bring along a baitcasting rig or I would have tossed out the croaker for bait.

They make an excellent gator sea trout bait.

The big females come a country mile to eat a croaker.

Anyway, I decided to head for home and cook my fish for dinner.

As I drove down Peacocks Pocket road I passed several fishermen on the Indian River and marsh sides of the road but none of the people I talked to had any luck.

Several people were holding me up taking pictures of the gators and pink roseatte spoonbills so I pulled out my Samsung camera and took a few myself.

 

The alligator above was close to 10 feet long and is one of the largest I have seen in the refuge.

As I crossed the bridge on the way home, my wife called and asked me about how my Memorial Day ladyfish outing turned out.

Not too bad!

Till next time, Tight Lines.

The Ladyfish Are Running

The ladyfish are running in the Indian River and the topwater sea trout bite is great if you can get on the water early.

When I got home from work this evening, my wife wanted to drive around Peacocks Pocket road to check out the fishing .

I loaded Elmo and Odie into the truck along with several fishing outfits while Karen was grabbing some frozen jumbo shrimp from the freezer for bait.

When we crossed the bridge over the Indian River it was obvious that Memorial Day weekend was going to jam pack the area with visitors from all over.

Even though it was late, there were tons of people fishing, kayaking, wading and generally having a good time on the river.

The air temperature was in the low 80s and there was almost no wind on the water.

I decided to drive to East Gator Creek road to try and catch a ladyfish for bait.  This area is extremely shallow and weedy but has tons of ladyfish during early spring.

I picked up a small silver "little Cleo" type spoon that WallMart had on special as a close out item last week, and decided to give it a try.

It took about five casts before I got my first ladyfish.  It was close to two feet long and jumped several times before I got it to the bank and shook it loose.

In about a half an hour I managed to hook five more ladyfish about the same size in the same general area before the last fish broke off the small spoon.

I tied on a larger silver Luhr Jensen Krocodile spoon that was not near as attractive to the ladyfish before driving to Peacocks Pocket road to try out a couple of spots in the marsh.

 to see if Karen could pick up a redfish.

Since it was getting late and we had Elmo and Odie in the truck, we decided not to try a bunch of spots.  Instead we parked along the Indian River where there were several finger mullet schools milling around in the shallow flats.

Every now and then you could see or hear a big sea trout busting the surface after the mullet.

I started tossing the silver Krockodile spoon, a gold Johnson Sprite, a white Zara Spook Jr. and finally a Chug Bug at the trout trying to get a bite.

Karen fished the marsh canal on the other side of the road with a jumbo shrimp and a Cajun Thunder float trying to catch a redfish.

We spent an hour and a half at the spot and almost got skunked.

The fish were killing the baitfish in the river but would not hit any of my baits until just before dusk.

Karen saw two nice redfish swimming down the canal but they ignored her shrimp.  She had a couple of hits from sea trout who took the heads off her shrimp but she didn't hook a fish.

I tossed one rod with a jumbo shrimp out on the Indian River side of the road only to pick up a catfish.

It was around 7:30 pm close to sunset, before the sea trout started hitting my topwater baits.

I missed one large trout on a white Zara Spook Jr. that jumped out of the water trying to hit the bait on the way down and finally picked up this smaller fish on a blue back and silver Chug Bug.

The fish hit while the Chug Bug was totally motionless in the water making me realize that I was fishing the lures way too fast.

As I slowed down my retrieve I started getting follow ups and short hits.

Perseverance eventually does pays off!

Several people stopped while Karen and I were fishing to ask if we had any luck, and no one I spoke with had caught any fish.

As the sun began to set over the river, the sea trout and the mosquitoes started to bite. 

Elmo and Odie were ready to go home and so was Karen and I.

I missed one more sea trout on the Chug Bug before I decided to pack it in and head for home.

Hopefully we'll get out earlier tomorrow.

The ladyfish are running, the sea trout are hitting early and late and the redfish are always cruising the shorelines in the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Skunked!

Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River fishing is starting to pick up again if you get out early enough to take advantage of the bite.

As the weather starts to warm up and the bait fish start to invade the lagoons, the top water action for sea trout especially starts to get really good.

Unfortunately, this weekend I didn't get the opportunity to take advantage of the topwater action.  I had to spend some time working around the house fixing things and redoing our Koi pond.

Friday evening, after the long drive home from work, my wife and I took our two "best friends" for a quick scouting trip around Peacocks Pocket road. 

Elmo and Odie were in the truck even before we had a chance to load up the rods and bait.

There were a few fishermen dunking cut baits and live finger mullet hoping for a redfish catch, but none of the people we spoke with were catching anything.

Karen wanted to try one of her "secret" spots, so we spent time dunking baits along with everyone else for an hour or so.

On the way to her spot we saw several cars pulled over to the side of the road.  At first we thought the people were watching an alligator but instead they were all watching a huge wild boar in the swamp.

I managed to get this shot as it moved away from the crowd.

She was using her Cajun Thunder Oval Float with a jumbo frozen shrimp and I was tossing around some lures.

The wind was up just enough to make topwater fishing a problem so I spent most of my time tossing a gold gold Johnson The Original Sprite Spoon and a Bagley paddle tail bait.

I got a couple of hits on the spoon but never got a hookup, and the paddle tail bait turned out to be a complete waste of time.

Karen missed the first fish that was probably a red, and finally hooked up with a large stingray in the marsh canal.

 

The red hit the Cajun Thunder rig and started down the marsh canal like a freight train but as soon as the fish felt resistance, it dropped the bait.  Karen wasn't paying attention but at least she didn't get skunked.

I on the other hand, got skunked!

On Saturday I had good intentions to wet a line but I would up repairing some wood work around the house.  By the time I was finished, fishing was the last thing on my mind.

Sunday was a clone of Saturday.  No fishing.

Made a mental note to take the Maverick flats boat next weekend to fish Tiger Shoals on the Mosquito Lagoon.  

A friend of mine who fishes the area a lot said the reds that were in the area were hitting well.

Live shrimp and cut baits seem to be the best baits right now.

Till next time, Tight lines.

Sea Trout Action In The Marsh

Today I planned on getting in some early sea trout action today but it just wasn't in the cards.

Karen and I planned on getting out to the lagoon early but the lawn mower didn't budge when I tried to start it.

I just finished edging the walks and the damn mower died.

Since I planned on getting another mower this year anyway,  today turned out to be the day to do it.

Karen and I drove down to Lowes to pick up another mower so I could take care of the yard and  by the time we looked around to compare brands and prices the morning's fishing trip was moved to late afternoon.

I just finished up mowing the lawn when a thunderstorm moved into the area.  It started coming down as I was blowing off the driveways and I finally gave it up when the lightning started getting close.

By this time it was around 5:00 pm and Karen didn't care to go fishing in the rain.

I wanted to get some sea trout action in so I loaded up four outfits and headed for an area where I spotted an oversize redfish yesterday.

As I drive into Peacocks Pocket road, I stopped at a culvert and started tossing a Bagley swim bait.

I landed and released a ladyfish before moving on down the road.

I alternated tossing the swim bait, a gold hammered spoon and a Chug Bug to several fish I saw cruising the marsh canal and only picket up a slot sea trout.

I moved down to the pond where I spotted the redfish yesterday and wasted about 45 minutes trying to get it to bite.

The fish was in the same general area and bumped the hammered spoon once after I smeared it up with some Pro-Cure Super Gel scent.

It was getting toward dusk and I could hear lightning so I decided to move up to an area that I knew had some sea trout.

My first cast into the submerged grass with the spoon rewarded me with a fat slot sea trout.

I landed and released the fish and after several more casts in the same area picked up two more fish.

The water near dusk got as calm as glass so I switched over to the Chug Bug to see if I could stir up some more sea trout action.

I landed two more "chunky" sea trout and missed three short strikers before the mosquitoes started getting my attention.


 
Karen called to see if a gator got me and I decided to head for home and call it a day.

As I was leaving the refuge, I spotted five more groups of fishermen in various areas dunking finger mullet for reds.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get some more sea trout action in the marsh.

Till then, Tight Lines.

Fishing Peacocks Pocket for some Sea Trout Action

Fishing Peacocks Pocket for some Sea Trout action was on the agenda for me this weekend but as luck would have it, I didn't get much quality fishing time in.

After arriving home from work on Friday, my wife asked me if I wanted to take Elmo and Odie fishing.

Even though it was late and I was beat from driving 4 1/2 hours, I readily agreed to go on a "scouting" trip to the "Pocket" to see what was going on.

We loaded up the truck with five spinning outfits, the two dogs and some frozen shrimp for Karen to use for bait and headed for the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Even though it was late, the air temperature was still in the 80s and the slight breeze that was blowing across the Indian River was enough to make fishing quite enjoyable.

The birds seemed to enjoy the weather as much as Karen and I did.

We stopped at a few spots on the southern end of Peacocks Pocket road to fish with very little to show for our efforts.

Karen tossed a Cajun Thunder rig with a jumbo frozen shrimp to the opposite bank at the first stop and missed a nice redfish. 

She wasn't paying attention to her rod and by the time she saw the float zipping down the marsh canal the red dropped the bait.

That turned out to be the only fish of the afternoon.

I was using a gold Johnson Sprite and a Chug Bug.  I got a couple of short strikes on the Chug Bug and missed a nice slot sea trout on the spoon.

We drove around the road and saw a lot of vehicles but few fishermen. 

A couple of guys were wading the Indian River and a couple of others were drowning finger mullet on both sides of the road, apparently with no success.

We decided to head for home and try for some sea trout action Saturday .

Till then, Tight Lines.

Persistence Is The Name Of The Game

This afternoon I remembered that persistence is the name of the game when going after redfish in the salt marsh.

My wife and I spent most of the day looking for shrubbery to spruce up or Koi pond so I didn't get a chance to even think about fishing until around 5:30 pm.

Karen wanted to finish planting what was left of the hummingbird and butterfly attracting shrubs that we bought so I grabbed Elmo and a couple of spinning rods and headed for the "swamp".

There were rain clouds in the area and for most of the day it rained sporadically.  The air temperature was in the high 70s and there was a slight breeze over the water.

I decided to give Peacocks Pocket road a try and was wondering if Elmo and I were on a fool's errand today.  There were a lot of visitors and fishermen running around Peacocks Pocket road and the fish I spotted were spooky.

I started out tossing a Gold and Black back Chug Bug until the wind started to pick up and I couldn't make a good presentation.

I had a couple of hits on the Chug Bug from small sea trout but no keepers.

When presenting the Chug Bug became more like work than fun, I switched over to a gold
Johnson The Original Sprite Spoon smeared with Pro-Cure inshore salt water gel.

I had three hits in two locations that Elmo and I stopped at and finally decided to fish a culvert in a small pond where I knew redfish cruised this time of year.

Due to the rains this past week, the water levels in the marsh are up and the reds were foraging in the weeds for crabs, shrimp and other baitfish.

I targeted the edges of the weeds and drop offs next to weedy areas and was rewarded with a small sea trout.

I moved up to another culvert and cast the gold spoon into a shallow weedy area and after about four cranks of the reel handle was rewarded with a nice hit.

At first I thought it was a large sea trout but when the fish made it's first run I knew it was a big red.

 

The fish took off down the marsh canal and after a 15 minute battle and five more long runs I finally managed to "lip" the big redfish from the water.

I stumbled up the bank and took several pics of the redfish before releasing it.

The fish measured in at exactly 33" to the folded tail.

The redfish must have been really hungry because it inhaled the gold spoon.  I had a little trouble trying to get the spoon out of the fish's mouth but finally managed to gently push the barbs back through it's gills to free it.

I took a final brief video of the fish before releasing it.  It took a minute or so for it to revive but it finally managed to swim off into the deep marsh canal none the worse for wear.


It was getting late, Elmo was getting antsy and I was getting hungry so I headed for home.

Its' been a while since I landed a nice red but as they say; Persistence is the name of the game for redfish.

Till next time, Tight Lines.