Indian River Fishing - Fishing The Mud Bottom Shallows

Fishing this time of year can be absolutely fantastic if you when and where to fish.

Is this a learning moment?  I certainly hope not.  This time of year, with the sudden drop in air and water temperatures, the fish can usually be found in very shallow water, over dark mud or sediment bottoms.

Although in the Mosquito Lagoon, the redfish start bunching into small schools;  the North Indian River fishing is a bit different.

Here we find the redfish in small pods or feeding alone over the dark mud bottoms on small  crustaceans and the occasional baitfish.

Monday afternoon, my wife and I , and of course our wonder dog Elmo, again tried the Merritt Island National Wildlife refuge around Gator Creek,  and eventually towards the Peacock Pocket shallow canoe launch.,

The conditions were absolutely gorgeous and the water on the river was calm as glass, especially towards dusk.

My wife fished dead shrimp and I decided on spoons to cover more water and try to locate any stragglers.

I chose a Bagley gold hammered spoon with a red tag, that is much thinner than the Johnson gold spoon I often use in deeper water.

The 3" spoons can be fished in 6" of water or less, without hitting bottom if you know how to fish them.  The trick is to start retrieving before the spoon hits the water, in order  to take out the slack, and then  fishing it as slow as possible using a steady short pumping action.

I spotted several good sized wakes and saw a few tails before getting my first redfish.  The fish are extremely spooky during this time of  the year because of the crystal clear water conditions.  You have to drop your spoon, or whatever lure you happen to be using, into the water gently, without "plopping" it, and scaring the devil out ot the fish.

I had a couple of bad presentatioins before I finally made a textbook presentation and hooked up with a 28" oversize redfish.

I cast well in front of, and past the redfish, and as slowly as possible pulled the gold spoon near the feeding fish.

The fish was hungry, and inhaled the spoon almost immediately.  The dead calm water was broken by the fighting fish, and the scene would have provided a superb video, but my wife was 50 yards down the road doing her thing close to   the truck and my Nikon.

After several nice runs, I finally pulled the red from the cold shallow water, got my wife to take a picture, and returned the fish to it's home in the river.  The water where I caught this redfish, and missed two more, was not more than 6" deep.

Here are some pics of the area and the fish for your viewing.

Till next time, Tight Lines To All!