North Indian River Fishing Report

The shuttle launch, that was scheduled for Saturday morning at the Cape, forced the closure of the dirt roads in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Preserve that parallel the northeast shores of the northern Indian River.

These closures included the Peacock Pocket road, SR 406, Black Point Wildlife Preserve road, Playalinda Beach road, Bio Lab road and the road to the boat ramp at Haulover Canal. The latter was closed due to paving.

The closures remain in effect until the shuttle actually launches, which is expected to happen early Wednesday morning.

These closures put a damper on the fishing for a lot of wade and bank fishermen in the area, The areas that were available accessible were pretty crowded.

My wife and I fished a "secret" area we found on Saturday with the results already posted HERE.

We erroneously assumed that the Shiloh Marsh road, from A1A to Kennedy Parkway, would also be closed; but we were wrong.

The road had not been open since before the waterfowl hunting season last fall, but this Sunday, the cables were down.

Due to the many pot holes in the drive and the primitive road conditions, this area is never overly populated. Wheel alignments aren't cheap these days.

My wife, Elmo the wonder dog, and I got a late start Sunday, and began randomly fishing the flowing culverts all the way through Shiloh road.

We spotted several large redfish in the river side, but they were beyond casting distance. The water running through the culverts produced lots of trout. Baitfish were all being jumped by the trout, and the trout were being jumped by me.

I was using green D.O.A. jig heads and jerk bait bodies in several sizes and colors. White produced the most strikes, which occurred on almost every other cast.

I caught and missed trout, and the fishing was fast and furious until we lost the light. Unfortunately, the one time I really wanted to capture the sunset and pictures of the fish, I forgot my Nikon Coolpix at home.

It should be noted, that this is the most northern part of the Indian River. It is very shallow water, and the area is noted for bull redfish, huge gator trout, and when the water gets a bit warmer; tarpon up to 100 lbs.

Most people overlook the area, but believe me, it's a sleeper for big fish.

I plan to have another go at the area next weekend, if the good lord willing.

Until then, tight lines!