Thanksgiving Outing

Late fall fishing in central Florida's lagoon systems can be extremely productive if you can brave the sometimes unpredictable weather.

The overeating of Thanksgiving day turkey got me in the mood for some fresh fish.
 
An obvious place to pick some up in this area is the Indian River or local supermarket.

With the economy sucking as it does, my wife and I decided to hit the river and hope for the best.

One of our favorite spots for shallow water red fish is the "catfish creek" area .

The area has been closed for the past few months due to waterfowl hunting, however, today the barriers on the overgrown road were down and we decided to give it a go.

Several visitors to the area seemed to be enjoying the beautiful day and only one other fisherman seemed interested in really catching any fish.

Being well prepared for the excursion (note the pic of my truck with custom rod holders, etc.)

I decided to try sight casting to any moving trout or reds seen along the truck path that circumvents the area.

I spotted several fish in the shallows, but casting artificials to them proved fruitless. The fish were spooky in the clear water and saw me before I could spot them. Not a good bet for fish on the table.

Today I was using "chug bug" topwaters, DOA jerk baits in black/gold and electric chicken colors and also a 3/4 oz. gold "red ripper".

The latter is extremely well suited for the very shallow water fishing that we were doing today.

Since we got a late start; the area was pretty well traveled and after a while I decided that artificials were not the best bet.

I decided on the trustworthy dead shrimp bait under a Cajun thunder bobber rig.

Well, a picture is worth a thousand words.

The tried and true bait works when everything else fails; this is why my wife Karen usually out fishes me on these outings.

Live or fresh dead bait is her first choice and normally produces.

Today however, it was my turn to catch on her rod.

Well, no matter, the point is that winter fishing is the ticket when "cabin fever" attacks occur. The surf at Playalinda beach and the jetties around Port Canaveral park area are also pretty hot this time of year for pompano and flounder.

The day was beautiful, the sunset (see pic) was lovely and until our next outing.....

Tight lines to one and all.

The Vulture Heron Standoff

As we were coming into the wildlife refuge on the Indian River, we came upon a mexican standoff between an irate vulture and a green heron.

I took a few pictures like the one to the left before breaking up the confrontation.

 I'd like to know who would have won the fight but fishing was on my mind.

It was a beautiful evening and the wind was calming down nicely.

After stopping at a couple of likely spots and not having any luck; Karen and I decided on fishing one of our special areas.

The general public always pass up this area for some reason and it usually holds fish of some sort.

Artificials didn't seem to be doing the trick today so I broke down and grabbed a bobber rig, put on a dead shrimp, and proceeded down a blocked off path along side of the river.

I finally spied a wake coming into a small cove and patiently waited to see if the fish would come close enough for me to make a cast.

I sent the shrimp out to about fifteen feet ahead of the fish, popped the bobber once and watched the fish pass it by and then turn towards the bobber.

The bobber started moving and after a few seconds I set the hook on the slot red fish below.

The fish put up a respectable fight and after a few minutes I lipped him from the water and trudged back to the truck.

Except for the mosquitoes, my wife was not getting any bites,and since it was getting dark, we decided to call it a day.


Fishing late till dusk usually produces fish this time of year and today was no exception.

Think I'll go out again tomorrow.

Till  next time, Tight Lines!