Topwater Redfish In The Marsh

Got a chance to get out and wet a line this afternoon with some mixed results.

I didn't get out until late in the afternoon when the weather was finally cooperating.  The air temperature in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was in the mid 80s and there was almost no air movement on the water.

When I entered East Gator Creek Road, I tossed a Chug Bug around the first set of culverts (which were closed) and managed to hookup with a couple of ladyfish which I promptly released.

Fishing the shallow water flats around the rest of the area produced a couple of follow ups from sea trout, but no hookups.  So, I decided to fish the marsh and Indian River shallows around Peacocks Pocket road to see if I could pick up another Snook or big sea trout.  

The water in the marsh was dead flat.  Fishing topwater baits was not the best option today but I decided that if I couldn't catch fish on a Chug Bug or gold Johnson Sprite spoon, I wasn't going to catch anything.

I slowly fished the marsh canal with no luck and only a couple of half hearted follow ups by small sea trout, but I kept at it hoping for a dumb fish or two.

As I was tossing my Chug Bug around, Craig and Mary drove up with their canoe on top of their SUV and we started chatting about the fishing.

They said they had been out most of the day and caught a 19" redfish, a 26" Snook, and a juvenile Tarpon about three feet long.   

 

Craig describing Tarpon

We chatted about the fishing in several areas and about the fish they caught while on vacation on the left coast.

He sent me some pics on some of the salmon they caught and a wierd "sculpin" like fish that had a blue mouth and blue flesh that he said was excellent eating.  I'll update this post when I get the rest of his pics.

He said they also caught some Pacific Halibut that were out of season and some other assorted deep water fish.  

It was getting late so we parted ways and I continued fishing and swatting mosquitoes that were unmercifully draining my legs of blood.

I continued fishing both sides of the road in several more areas with only a couple more follows.  I was beginning to feel like I couldn't hook a fish today if my life depended on it.  

Anyway,  at a medium sized pond I decided to switch baits and began to fish a Yo-Zuri 3DB topwater bait smeared up with some Pro-Cure In Shore Formula.   

I picked up the lure at a Dick's Sporting good shop in Mobile, Al. along with some other lures I have yet to try out.

Evidently the change in baits did the trick.  I was "walking the dog" slowly over a drop-off coming off a shallow pond, when this red nailed the bait.

The fish made a couple of nice bulldog runs despite the fact that I horsed the fish in as fast as possible to minimize damage.  I lipped it with my Boca Grip, took this quick pic with my cell phone and quickly released it to fight another day.  

I'm not sure how large the fish actually was, but using my rod as a guide, I'm sure it was over 30 inches.

By this time the mosquitoes were eating me alive and when my wife called to let me know "it was dark outside", I decided to pack it up and head for home.

I hope to get in some more fishing this week but the fish are getting harder to catch in the "swamp".  

I don't know if it's the increased fishing pressure, or the fact that the kayakers are fishing the shallow ponds and making the fish spookier than they already are.

I filmed these guys in a large pond right after I caught the redfish in the above pic.

Till next time, Tight Lines.