Pre July 4th Tarpon Fishing

Got out late Thursday and decided to try for some of the small tarpon that are now in the north part of the Indian River Lagoon, north of Scotsmoor, Fl.

My wife and I saw a few small tarpon busting finger mullet in the north part of the river, and in the salt marsh canal adjacent to it, but had no takers.

I tried mullet imitating lures, as well as smaller swim baits for over an hour, with absolutely no hits. I didn't bring my cast net, so for today, live bait was not on the menu for these tusslers.

The water in the Indian River was a bit choppy from a West wind, and the temperature hovered in the high 80s with a clear sky; so it was almost perfect for this sort of fishing.

At low light, my wife and I moved to a favorite spot where I knew some trout were always on the prowl. Last week she caught an "almost" gator trout, so we decided to try and repeat the performance.

Karen had several hits here, on a shrimp Cajun Thunder bobber combo, and I picked up several trout in the marsh canal fishing a drop off ledge that I knew was there.

I started catching trout on Creme swim baits, but decided to switch to a new top water lure I had in my tackle box, to try for a larger trout comparable to the one my wife caught last week.

Several casts and two misses later, I picked up a small redfish that exploded on the bait.

The little fella acted like he was one of the bull redfish that this part of the river is noted for.

Several casts later, it was apparent that the bite was about over. This is typical for this area.

The fish turn on in spurts, and provide some great action while it lasts; then like someone turned off a magical switch, it's over.

The low light turned to dusk, so we left the preserve deciding to try again tomorrow.

Maybe Friday will be a lucky day for a tarpon! Tight lines!