Beautiful Pre Launch Weekend

NASA gave the space shuttle Discovery the green light to launch this Monday morning.

Needless to say, the fishing areas in the Peacocks Pocket portion of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge were filled with out of town sightseers and fishermen.

This Friday evening and Saturday, up until the NASA people ushered everyone out of the unimproved drives, there seemed to be more people than fish in the refuge area.

The shuttle will take its seven member crew to the International Space Station and is expected to liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center on Monday at 6:21 a.m. EDT.

So far the weather looks great for the shuttle launch, and the only concern seems to be fog forming at the Space Center.

The fishing, according to the NASA official that was removing everyone from the area, was pretty slim. Hardly any trout were being caught and I saw no redfish anywhere.

Usually you can spot a single cruising redfish or a small school in this area, but on Saturday I didn't see anything resembling a redfish.

I used my standard variety of soft baits along with a skitter walk on top and a Red Ripper below with no success.

My wife was using a Cajun Thunder type bobber and fresh dead shrimp for bait like the one in the picture below.

In one of the spots that was not cordoned off by NASA, she hooked into something really big that took her bobber rig and just kept on going to parts unknown.

We surmised it was probably a large bull redfish, or one of the over sized black drum that cruise the shallows in this area, because of the way it just took off and kept on running.

She kept looking for her rig to surface, but it never did. Whatever took her hook, line, and bobber rig had to be huge!

Anyway, coming back from the refuge, I took some shots of the new fishing pier that is now under construction. They have finished pouring concrete and have already installed light posts on the pier.

As we crossed the bridge we watched the early bird shrimpers beginning to set up their spots for the night's shrimping activities.

The new pier should be the center of activity when it's completed for both fishermen and hopefully the sport shrimpers. We shall see what rules and regulations the powers that be will impose on us!

As long as the shuttle remains on schedule, I hope to get shots of the launch on Monday to post here.

Till next time, Tight Lines!