Another Memorable Fishing Adventure

Karen and I had another memorable fishing adventure this afternoon when I had to have the truck towed to the shop.

We decided to leave Elmo and Odie at the house this afternoon to concentrate on the fishing.

We picked up some mud minnows at the local bait store and headed towards Peacocks Pocket road to fish the marsh canal.

Along the way we spotted a few gators and several sea trout busting baitfish along the canal and at the mouth of the ponds.

I tossed a Chug Bug to a couple and had several follow ups from small trout before finally landing a slot size fish which I returned to the water.

When we got to where Karen wanted to fish, I broke out the rods and set some baits out along the Indian River side of the road, as well as along the marsh canal.

The weather was hot and there was a good breeze blowing over the water until just before we had to leave the refuge.  The spot we fished had tons of activity (as you can see below) and we should have caught a redfish or two, but Karen and I both kept missing fish.

She had a redfish on briefly before it dumped the mud minnow and missed four other bites while we were fishing the area.

I never got a bite on the Indian River side of the road, but I missed three good bites in the marsh canal.  One was no doubt a redfish, but the other two were probably sea trout.

When I finally did manage to catch a fish, it was a two foot long garfish that I hooked by dumb luck on a Bass Pro XPS Series topwater bait.

I got a second gar about the same size on a large mud minnow in another area of the marsh canal.

As it got close to dusk, the usual afternoon "flyover" of Ibis made their presence along with the skeeters that started sucking my blood.

It was then that we decided to head for the house and call it a day. 

As we left the refuge the sunset without incident the sunset was awesome as usual, but when we got to the Winn Dixie on Dairy Road, the dreaded "low oil pressure" light came on and the truck started sputtering to a stop. 

I checked the oil level and it was normal, but after trying several times to get the truck started, I finally pulled onto the sidewalk and called the wrecker.

Karen decided to walk to the house and get the other truck to pick me up while I waited for the wrecker, so I gave her a good flashlight and let her do her thing.

The wrecker came withing 20 minutes, loaded the truck onto the flat bed and toted it off to the Exxon station where I usually get my work done.

I thought it was a computer problem, and after a week, it turned out to be a couple of sensors and the oil pump.

Anyway, Karen picked me up just as the wrecker was leaving me at the station.

The last time we had truck problems on a fishing trip, I had to get towed out of the wildlife refuge and the engine had to be replaced.

I guess, this time we were lucky.  Anyway, it was another memorable fishing adventure I can write about here.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Out Of Practice

It's pretty obvious that I am way out of practice catching fish on topwater baits.

I felt good enough this afternoon to see if I could catch a few sea trout in the marsh area so I loaded up the truck with a couple of spinning rods, a box of Chug Bugs, and a packet of Live Target shimp for a backup.

When I drove around East Gator Creek road,  the wind was blowing over the water at a good clip but the air temperature was a pleasant 86 degrees.

I didn't start spotting fish until about a quarter of the way up Peacocks Pocket Road where there were two or three redfish tailing at the mouth of a small dried up pond.

I pulled off the road and tied on the Live Target shrimp, smeared it up with some Pro-Cure, and tossed it on the bank in the grass above where the fish were feeding.   A quick jerk flipped the shrimp into the water without too much disturbance but a sea trout grabbed the shrimp and spooked the reds from the area.

The trout was way under the slot and flipped off at the bank as I was pulling it out of the water.

I pulled out the other rod and started pitching a black Chug Bug around the area hoping for a larger sea trout but only got a couple of half hearted hits, so I moved on.

The next spot I fished was at the mouth of a larger pond that drops into about three feet of water at the marsh canal.  The wind was blowing directly to me making casting a challenge, but I managed to make several decent casts before a large sea trout boiled on the bait.

I waited a minute or so, smeared the Chug Bug up with some Pro-Cure to give it a bit more appeal, and shot another cast to the fish.  The fish came up and missed the bait three more times before finally leaving the area.

Either I'm way out of practice or the fish was blind, but you seldom get four shots at a sea trout in the 20" plus range especially on topwater plugs.

My neck was beginning to give me problems and although the weather around Titusville looked like it was getting ugly, the wind was dying down in the refuge so I decided to make one more stop at a larger pond to see if the fish were biting there.

I changed over from the black Chug Bug to a black and silver pattern to see if it made any difference hooking the fish and again smeared on the Pro-Cure.

This time I must have been holding my mouth right.  I missed a nice redfish because I literally jerked the plug out of it's mouth and hooked four sea trout in the same general area.

Although all the fish were around the slot and nothing to brag about; from what I've been catching in Highlands, N.C. and Mobile, Al. I wasn't about to complain.

On the way out of the refuge, I spotted some spoonbills feeding in the shallows in one area and a couple of gators but the sea trout bite appeared to have come to a halt.

I took a shot of the sunset as I left Peacocks Pocket road and headed for the hacienda.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Pain In The Neck

If you've never had a real pain in the neck, believe me you don't want one.....

I finally got to the doctor's office in Melbourne this morning and had an MRI to determine what the problem is with my neck.

The doctor suspected several things but wanted to wait for the MRI results to be sure.

The medical technician that held me immobile for 20 minutes or so under the machine, showed me the pics which meant absolutely nothing to me.  When I asked him what he saw in the pics, he said that it looked like I had a couple of herniated discs and "something else" going on.

I thanked him for his opinion, got my next appointment, and headed to pick up my prescription for muscle relaxers and pain.

On the way out of the medical center, I took these pics of some Sand Hill Cranes that were pecking for their dinner alongside the parking lot.

I love these big birds.  They have no fear of people and like some of the best of us, mate for life.

After picking up and taking my pills, despite feeling totally miserable, and I decided to take a quick ride around Peacocks Pocket road to see what the water levels were like and if anyone was catching fish.

I hadn't been in the area since I returned home and was planning a fishing outing as soon as I could feel better.

The water levels in the marsh were down slightly from a few weeks ago, the air temperature was in the low 90s, and the wind was blowing enough to make fishing possible.

Peacocks Pocket Road was made for bird watching today.  There were tons of waterfowl in the marsh along with a couple of very large gators sunning on the bank.

 

These white pelicans were flocking in two of the areas where I usually fish.

As I slowly drove along the road scouting for fish, I spotted several reds busting bait along the banks in the marsh canal, and at least two gator sea trout creaming mullet in a shallow pond.

Close to another spot I occasionally fish with my wife, I took this short video of some roseate spoonbills feeding in the shallows.  A couple of large sea trout also made the scene busting on the surface after bait fish.

I could have loaded this page up with tons of pictures of waterfowl, but it's much better to see them on your own.  I'm not sure why Black Point is such a draw for waterfowl, when you can see just as many different species along Peacocks Pocket Road.

Anyway, as it was getting towards dusk, I took a couple of pics of the sunset over the marsh.

Hope you enjoy them.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Jones Avenue Boat Ramp

I had visions of getting in a lot of fishing when I got home from Mobile, Al. this week but a severe neck problem put a chink into my plans.

Trying to self medicate with bone spurs and God knows what else is a fools errand, and after a couple of weeks of incessant pain and my wife's urging I finally broke down to see a doctor.

On Tuesday, I had enough of laying in bed with an ice pack on my neck, so I decided to take a ride over to the Jones Avenue boat ramp to see if anything was happening.

This shallow water ramp is for kayaks, canoes, and very shallow draft flats boats but larger vessels can launch with care.

My wife and I used to launch our Ghenoe here and fish the flats just north of the island.  We usually managed to catch some nice sea trout and some very nice redfish.

This afternoon, I didn't bring along a rod and I forgot my camera, but my trusty cell phone got the pics I needed.  I couldn't help but notice  that the same old live on catamaran was still in about the same spot it was a couple of years ago.

A couple was launching their kayaks when I drove up and after talking with them a bit they said they usually had good luck with live shrimp under a float.

The water was flat, the air temperature was in the 90s, and it was almost noon; not a great time to fish the flats, so I didn't feel to bad about being under the weather.

I walked around the shallows and noticed some redfish tailing around the island north towards the railroad bridge and some sea trout occasionally busting on the surface after baitfish.

I made a mental note to fish this area again as soon as possible.

My neck started giving me fits so after a short time, I decided to head to the house and put on another ice pack until my doctors appointment.

Jones Avenue boat ramp is usually underused except for us locals.  It is the quickest way to get to the  railroad bridge and the lush grass flats north of Mims.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Atlas V Launch This Morning

Took the boys for a ride to the marsh this morning and stopped on the A. Max Brewer Causeway bridge just in time to check out the Atlas V launch.

Compared to the shuttle launches, it was rather unimpressive but it was still worth stopping.  There were a good number of people on top of the bridge ready to view the launch, but there wasn't the party atmosphere that permeated the shuttle launches.

I took this short video of the launch from Cape Canaveral as the vehicle punched through the cloud cover.

After the launch, I took Elmo and Odie for a drive around East Gator Creek road to see if I could spot any ladyfish in the shallows.

I was surprised to see that the western side of the road was drained almost completely dry with only a trickle of water remaining in what once was a channel.

The eastern side of the road had a good bit of water in it and for the most part, it was clear and clean.  I spotted a couple of swirls but couldn't tell what the fish were.

I didn't bring any rods with me, so I drove around Catfish Creek Loop to check that area out before heading for the house.

I made a mental note to get out later in the afternoon to walk Peacocks Pocket road and see if the refuge managers did any work to the road.

Tight lines.

Fishing In Mobile

Fishing in Mobile, Al. is definitely not like fishing the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

This afternoon, I decided to get out and sample the
fishing in the Mobile, Al.  area.

The two options I had was to either fish Dauphin Island or head towards the  causeway at the Admiral Raphael Semmes Bridge which was a lot closer to where I was staying.

I opted for the latter and loaded up a spinning rod, some lures, and some Pro-Cure for the trip.

After leaving the tunnel, I took the first right towards the bridge and pulled off at the first place where I could park without getting stuck.

The air temperature was in the high 80s and it was raining off and on all the while I was fishing the sea wall.

As I was getting my tackle ready, I met with a fisherman who was leaving the area.  He said the fish weren't hitting and that he was going to another spot on the other side of the bridge.

Undaunted, I tied on a D.O.A. Cal Shad Tail bait and smeared on some Pro-Cure Inshore formula and started blind casting around the shallow, weedy areas close to the bank.

On almost every cast I pulled up some sea grass.  I missed a couple of hits but with the tackle I was using, landing a large fish in the grass would have required a lot of luck.

I moved up the sea wall across from the U.S.S. Alabama and started gradually casting just off the weed line into deeper water.

I had two "bumps" but no real takers so I changed lures and tied on a small size Johnson's Sprite.

The deeper water didn't have as many weeds but the fish were either not in the area or they had lockjaw.

As I continued working my out into deeper water towards the bridge abutment, I came across Luke, who was bait fishing along the sea wall.

He was using dead shrimp for bait and had caught some small Sail Cats and "sailors choice".     As I was walking towards him, he had a croaker type baitfish on as bait and had just missed a nice fish.

He was mostly a freshwater fisherman but decided to try fishing saltwater this afternoon.

The tide was going out and as we spoke about the fishing, Luke had a good bite from a small bull shark that grabbed the bait, and despite the braided wire leader, broke off.   I told him that they had sandpaper like hides which was probably why the mono filament line parted.

I tied on a Chug Bug and started tossing it around the crab traps hoping for a sea trout hit.  After twenty or so casts I finally had a small trout bust on the plug but I didn't get a hookup.

Several more casts produced a lot of weeds but no fish so I decided to head to another area.

I bid Luke farewell and good luck with his fishing and headed down the narrow sea wall back to the truck.

As I was walking off, I took a pic of some folks sailing along with the outgoing tide towards the Gulf.

Looks like a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Till next time, Tight Lines.