Sunday Afternoon Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing Outing

Sunday afternoon was much to nice to spend the day inside the hacienda, so my wife, our wonder dog Elmo and yours truly hit the water to try our luck.

The Mosquito Lagoon north of Haulover Canal was calm and the water was very clear, which is par for the course this time of year.

We didn't do much fishing, mostly looking, however several reports we received stated that the redfish were beginning to really school up and some nice ones were being taken on lures imitating finger mullet.

We saw luckless fishermen at Haulover, and moved on towards the Indian River marsh areas in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Again the water was very calm and crystal clear on both sides of the gravel roadway.

We spotted several slot redfish and swirls that I believed to be trout, so I pulled out my Creme paddle tail swimbaits and started fishing the swirls.

My wife fishedwith fresh dead shrimp on her outfit,  in several places, without any luck.

I  hit a couple of schools of sea trout and landed five before they moved on.  All were nice sized keepers, but with the season closed, I returned them to fight another day.  If it wasn't for the closed season, they would have been on the dinner table.  You get of eating turkey leftovers after a while.

We were hoping for some redfish, but today it was not to be. 

Till next time.

Tight lines to all.

P.S.  For all you surf fishermen, I was told that the Pompano are starting to come in on Playalinda Beach at several Lot locations.  Sand fleas and bits of shrimp seem to be doing the trick.

Weird Buzzards

Took a drive with my trusty dog Elmo and came upon some weird acting buzzards near L. Pond road. on the Northern Indian River Lagoon.

They weren't in the least bit spooked by Elmo or myself when I decided to get out of the truck and take a pic or two.

Usually buzzards will take off when humans get too close, but this crew obviously didn't give a hoot. They just kept walking around with their wings outstretched.

Anyway, caught a few trout on green Creme swimbaits before heading back to the North 40.



Enjoy the pics of the weirdo birds, sorry I didn't take any of the fish.

Oh well, they weren't much to brag about.

Tight Lines to All!

Late November Fishing

I went to check out the Shuttle landing hoping to get a nice video to post, but I couldn't get my Nikon on the right settings fast enough.  All I could capture was the last part of the descent, as the shuttle came in to the right of the Vehicle Assembly Building.  In any event, it was an impressive landing on a beautiful crisp Fall morning.   Here's the only shot I got.

The double sonic booms definitely get your attention.

The water level is up in the marsh areas and shallows of the North Indian River, and the water is crystal clear throughout the areas I visited.

There are some large schools of redfish still roaming the flats earlier in the day, and they seem to be partial to anything resembling a finger mullet.

My wife is still having good luck using large dead shrimp for bait, and I've been told that .

I haven't had much luck with sea trout on the artificials that were producing well for me last month, but because of the closed season, I really haven't targeted them all that much.

The fish that have been caught and released are generally larger, and were caught on darker Gulp baited, white jig heads.  Other good trout offerings this time of the year are natural colored Gulp shrimp and DOA clear body shrimp w/green tail, or reddish brown colors.

Due to the lower water temperatures, the trout and redfish seem more interested in slower retrieves.

I tried my favorite top water lures, ChugBugs and SkitterWalks, but never got a hit.

The cooler temps should heat up the fishing in the upcoming weeks and give better shots at tailing redfish.

The mullet will be gone from the Mosquito & North Indian River Lagoon systems as winter conditions prevail, and shrimp, small crabs, or lures that resemble them will be the baits of choice for winter redfish.

Looking forward to some good fishing.

Tight Lines!

OOPS! She Did It Again!

November has always been a great month for redfish in the shallows, and so far this weekend, nothing has changed to make me believe otherwise.

Late this afternoon my wife and I decided to hit the "swamp" and try our luck for some redfish.  The trout season is closed here until the end of December, so we decided to target the reds.

As usual we got out late, which for me is the best time to dunk a bait!

The spots we normally frequent were occupied by other fishermen, so we hit a tried and true spot Karen loves to fish.

I dropped her off at her favorite spot, and moved down the road about 50 yards with 
Elmo our wonder dog, to try my luck with artificials.

I started chucking a 3" Storm Kickin' Shad,  that a guy at Bass Pro Shop in Savannah said was a killer bait for Sea Trout and Redfish.   I got a couple of half hearted hits, and after about 15 minutes I heard my wife yelling for me to come help her.

I thought she had another redfish on, but as I drove the truck up to where she was fishing; I found her about  halfway into the Indian River, head first, for the second time this year. This past September she went for a swim at about the same spot!.

Karen was trying to retrieve her prescription sunglasses that she had lost in the September 
outing, in exactly the same spot where she fell in last time trying to land her other redfish.

Evidently the bank gave way underneath her when she made a grab for the glasses in the water!

As I was trying to pull her out of  her precarious position; upside down and almost in the river; the drag on her rod started screaming, and a big fish took off for parts unknown. 

Before I could get to the rod, the fish had stripped almost all the line from her spinning reel.

I started pumping the fish to regain some line, while my wife tried to regain her composure and dry off before I passed the rod back to her.  After all it was her fish.

The pictures speak for themselves.  The redfish measured in at an even 36 inches and was the biggest fish that Karen has landed to date.  We didn't have a scale on the Boca Grip, but the fish had to way at least 20 pounds.

The fish are beautiful, and heavy bodied this time of year, and they fight like hell.

After we took some pics and released the redfish to fight another day, we headed home to get my wife a change of clothing and dry out.

I never did get a chance to catch anything, but it was a great afternoon excursion .....

Maybe tomorrow!

Tight lines to all!!

Indian River Shrimping Is Right Around The Corner

With the water temperatures in the Titusville, Fl. area getting a bit cooler, some of the locals have already started the ritual of cleaning out their freezers, to make room for their upcoming shrimping catches.

Shrimping should start really getting better as the full moon approaches, and when the water temperatures hit the magic 67 degree figure.

I previously described what's necessary to get started shrimping from land; and when I ran across this little video that explains nicely how its done by boat; I decided to put it up for your viewing.

The lights that they use, are also widely used by bridge and dock shrimpers, and the green color, definitely makes everything much more visible topside.



I made a personal vow this year to get out and do a little more shrimping instead of tryig to snag the Bull Redfish and seatrout that also come into the green lights to gorge on the shrimp.

The last time I went shrimping was with my neighbor on his pontoon boat in Oak Hill on the ICW.

When the tide changed and the current started moving, we loaded up the 5 gallon buckets in very short order.

Hummm! Makes me hungry.

Till next time.

Tight Lines To All!

November Indian River Lagoon Redfish

The weather for November is simply unbelievable.  The air temperature this afternoon was a pleasant 73 degrees at 4:30 p.m. and the wind was for all practical purposes, nonexistent.

After spending the day working on my computer, and my wife working on her stained glass sun catchers, we decided to get a little fresh air and tool on down to the "swamp" at the north end of the Indian River Lagoon.

We loaded up the truck, almost got run over by our wonder dog Elmo getting into the car, and proceeded to our favorite stretch on the river.

Today proved fruitless on top water lures.  I tried silver mullet Chug Bugs with not even one strike. 

I reverted to one of my favorites, the Creme green colored paddle tail swim baits and promptly picked up a couple of legal sized trout.

At an area we call the duck blind, I noticed a boil in the water on the opposite bank and quickly sent my creme lure almost directly on top of the roiling boil.

I immediately hooked up to a nice fat 26" redfish that took me about 15 minutes to land on my 10# test Cajun line.

I tried shrimp on my other rod but never even got a catfish..

My wife Karen, wasn't  doing much so we moved to another spot around an area we call "bobcat bay", for obvious reasons. 

Last year in that spot, a bobcat walked up to my wife while she was fishing on the bank, and just sat down and watched her fish.  If I'd had my camera, I would have posted the neat shot, but it was left at the house that day. 

Anyway, that's how the spot is forever remembered by us!

After catching a few more nice sized trout in our second stop, my wife hook up to what we thought was a nice redfish.  It fought for about 15 minutes until we could get it to shore and discovered it to be a large black drum. 

The fish checked in at about 12 pounds and was over 28" long.  Check out the pics of the fish, and the beautiful wheather.
 

It was a beautiful calm Saturday afternoon fishing trip that we both enjoyed to the max.                                                      

It's great to live in the redfish capital of the world!

Till next time.

Tight Lines To You All!

November Indian River Lagoon Fishing

Despite the windy conditions throughout the day on the upper Indian River Lagoon, the fishing has been upbeat.

Finger mullet are still all over the river.  There are bait pods are being followed by trout and redfish,  all over the shallows on both banks of the Indian River.

Farther out in the river in deeper water, jacks are busting bait pods along with some gator trout.

My wife and I, and of course our wonder dog Elmo, didn't get the tackle out until about 3:30 this afternoon.  Since we got a late start, I decided to hit the "swamp" instead of taking out the boat.

We fished the kayak and canoe launch area at Peacock Pocket, right through to the end of the road.
      
Artificial lures produced only a few small trout today, mostly on ChugBug top water lures.

I had a good hit that could have been a redfish, on a Creme swimbait, but I was enjoying the scenery instead of paying attention to the fishing.

My wife Karen, caught and released a decent trout using a large dead shrimp near the Pocket, and later picked up a slot sized redfish in another area we frequent with the same bait.

The deep colors on the fish are just beautiful, this time of year as you can see by the photos.

As dusk approached, the wind picked up and it looked like a winter storm was going to blow in, so we decided to call it a day.

With any kind of luck, we might get out tomorrow for some more Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing.

Till next time; Tight Lines To All!!

Halloween Redfish? Or Not!

The Halloween Redfish were out in the Lagoon in mass, but  they suffered from a severe case of lockjaw.

Now I know why fishing is called fishing, and not catching......

This weekend, it seemed like the curse of the fish gods was upon me.

I couldn't hook a redfish if my life depended on it, and there were plenty around.  It's not like the fish weren't there... they were, but with the clear water conditions, and a severe case of lockjaw every time I got close to them, they just weren't biting my offerings.

Fishing the Indian River Friday and Saturday evenings, proved to be a futile effort in catching. 

My wife, my wonder dog Elmo, and yours truly, managed to dredge up only a few catfish and stingrays. 
We didn't technically get skunked; we seldom do, but the redfish we were targeting, weren't cooperating worth a flip.

I saw several slot reds within casting distance, but they weren't interested in any of my offerings.

DOA shrimp, gold Johnson spoons, chug bugs, jerk baits, and even dead shrimp didn't produce any action.

The weather was extraordinarily great for Halloween, with a full moon and a nice breeze on the water; the lagoon was just beautiful.

The weather should be changing in the next few weeks, and shrimping will be the focus as the water temps drop.

The locals are concerned about the bridge construction, hampering the shrimping activities, but it's a little early to worry about it. 

I guess we'll find out in the next few weeks.

Till next time, Good Luck and Tight Lines!