Indian River Lagoon Green Eel

Since Peacocks Pocket Road still remains closed in the southern portion of the Indian River Lagoon's Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge; my wife and I decided to try for some redfish or trout off of Shiloh Marsh Road.

We started off very late and only saw two other vehicles in the entire area all the time we were there.

I fished topwater plugs and my wife stayed with dead shrimp under a Cajun Thunder rig.

On the way into the area, I stopped to cast to several surfacing trout, and only managed to hook a dancing ladyfish on my frog colored "chug bug".

To start off the day properly, I managed to get one of the treble hooks past the barb, into my finger as I was unhooking the ladyfish. My wife saved the day by pulling the hook out with a pair of pliers that I keep in the door boot. (Not for this use!)

We stopped at a couple of spots, got no hits and moved on to one of Karen's favorite areas.

I managed to get several hits, but no fish, until a "runt" trout a little bit bigger than my Chug Bug managed to hook itself on the bait.



Several casts later I had a great strike on the top water lure and thought I had a small redfish, but after a short fight; it turned out to be a large catfish.

Karen had several hits and started yelling that she had caught a snake.

I came over to where she was fishing and was surprised to find a very large green eel on the end of her line.

After a sort scuffle, she brought the eel to the bank and we took some pics of the unusual catch for this area.

Here is a short video and some pics that might give you a chuckle!

We continued fishing for a while, trying to hook one of the redfish that came cruising into the shallows just at dusk; but we couldn't get them to hit on anything. They were a bit spooked for some reason.

Anyway, I took a couple of pics of the beautiful sunset, and since we were both tired; we headed for the "barn".



Hopefully, we'll get the Maverick out this weekend.

Tight Lines To All!

Haulover Canal Bridge Closure

The drawbridge at Haulover Canal has been closed over the weekend for vehicle traffic, much to the dismay of many anglers, including myself, who forgot about it and had to go the long route via US 1 .

Although I had intended to float my Maverick flats boat this weekend, it was not meant to be.

Instead my wife and I, and of course our wonder dog Elmo, fished one of her favorite spots on the northern Indian River.

We tried several locations on the Mosquito Lagoon, but the water was extremely shallow and crystal clear in the areas we visited, and the fish didn't seem interested in anything we offered.

Going down Shiloh Marsh Road from US 1 seemed the best path to take, so we took it.

Several boats were fishing live mullet in very shallow water that was only a couple of feet deep and seemed to be having a good time, but no fish.

I have to say that I cast my heart out and only caught two awfully dumb trout that didn't even quality to get their pictures taken for this site.

My wife on the other hand, using dead shrimp for bait under her favorite bobber, did better with the trout. See pics.

She caught a couple of sea trout over the slot limit and missed several others, not counting a couple of stingrays and a blue crab that she caught.

My wife has a tendency to catch weird things other than fish.

Last year she hooked a loggerhead turtle that had to be at least 250 pounds in the Mosquito Lagoon ICW, north of the clinker islands. And last week, she managed to hook a snail along with her nice redfish.

I fished soft paddle tail baits, a gold Bagley spoon for a short time, skitter walks, CAL jerkbaits, and even a Chug Bug with only a couple of strikes.

The redfish were cruising the shoreline in very shallow water after bait fish, but were super spooky for some reason, and were not biting.

The fish just didn't like me this weekend! Must have been my B.O. or something.

Well, we did enjoy the weather and the beautiful sunset.

Anyway, next week should be better with a three day weekend coming up.

Till then, Tight Lines!

Sea Robin or Flying Gurnard?

Bruce R. brought up the subject of Sea Robins, so I thought I'd add a little bit more to my reply to his comment.



Flying Gurnards are distributed from Hawaii and Japan southward to central Polynesia,westward through Micronesia and Melanesia, through the East Indies, and across the Indian Ocean to the coast of Africa.

They all have elongated, nearly round bodies that taper to the tail with large bony "armored" heads. The body of the fish is covered with tough scales that are rather prickly, and they all have two large hook-like spurs near the gills with enormous fan-like pectoral fins.

The two pelvic fins that are far forward under the body, are used as "legs" to walk on the ocean bottom.

They are carnivorous bottom dwellers eating inverts, crustaceans, and other smaller fishes.

My wife and I used to sell small specimens in our tropical fish shop that we used to own in Titusville, Fl.

They were extremely popular, easy to keep if you maintained a large tank, and are definitely one of the more interesting marine fish.

I heard that the redfish in the Tiger Shoals area in the Mosquito Lagoon are kicking up a storm, so I hope to take out the boat and pick up a few. The clinker islands from markers 25 to 27 and eastward will be the main target for the day.

Till next time, Tight Lines!

Sea Robins? What Next?

Peacocks Pocket Road is still closed this weekend; probably due to the shuttle launch on Friday. So, the Indian River was the target for Saturday's fishing excursion.

The unimproved Shiloh Marsh Road was loaded with fishermen and women, who were mostly just enjoying the beautiful weather.

Several had their rods in pvc rod holders out in the river and were watching them in their lawn chairs, also out in the river.

With 85 degree temps, why not?

My wife and I hoped to replicate Friday's trip with another redfish or two, but unfortunately the redfish didn't see it our way.

For a change I decided to primarily use dead shrimp for bait, instead of the usual array of lures I normally chuck to the fish. But, the redfish I was hoping to take home for dinner weren't the least bit interested in eating today. I'm sure they probably knew I was going to eat one of them if they were foolish enough to get caught. Who knows?

I used two rods with popping bobbers over dead shrimp in very shallow water, and only managed to catch two nice sized stingrays, two catfish, and believe it or not, a Sea Robin!

I caught the Sea Robin on a small 2" Bagly Hammered spoon in only a foot of water. (See the pics)



My wife Karen, didn't do any better. She had two hits from what she thought were redfish, but because of the wind, couldn't set the hooks properly.

As dusk arrived on the river, we took our leave towards the "gumball", as my wife calls it; and stopped to talk to one of the regulars who fish the area.



He and his son the previous day were trying to catch a bull shark that was in the same area he was fishing this evening. I asked him if he caught the shark yet, and he told me he could never get it to hit his mullet.

He said his son outfished him with two black "puppy drum" that he caught; both on dead shrimp.

We wished him good luck, and left the area hoping for a better day tomorrow.

Until then, Tight Lines!

Catching Nice Redfish After The Atlantis Shuttle Launch

The last Atlantis space shuttle flight launched at 2:20 this afternoon without a hitch, and drew the usual huge crowd of spectators. The traffic took almost 2 hours before everyone finally cleared out of the viewing areas.

My wife and I wanted to check out Peacocks Pocket road, to see if it was open for vehicle traffic, and to get in some late fishing before dusk.

We drove past the area and the gate to the road was still padlocked, so we headed up to Shiloh Marsh Road to try our luck.

The weather was gorgeous and a slight wind on the Indian River provided just enough ripples for some potentially great fishing.

On our first stop, Karen chucked out her usual dead shrimp offering under a Billy Bay, "lowcountry lightning" Pop n Gurgle bobber.

I started chucking a Bagly hammered gold spoon, and before I could make my third cast, Karen hooked up to a nice 31" redfish that put up a very respectable fight.

The fish swallowed the 5/0 hook, so I cut the fluorocarbon leader, and released the fish to fight another day after I took some pictures of her catch.

I tried several spoons, jigs, jerkbaits, and finally my favorite topwater plug without even a hit.

Not wanting to get "skunked", I finally broke down and put on a dead shrimp under a Cajun Thunder bobber and started popping away.

I missed a nice redfish on the rig after a brief fight, and thought I had finally hooked into another bruiser red, only to find that it was a medium sized stingray.

The spot where we were fishing was relatively shallow, and near an open culvert.

There were some rocks at the culvert, that was providing cover for schools of baby croaker that were attracting redfish and sea trout.

Unfortunately, they were not having any of what I was offering. Today, I couldn't buy a bite on lures, so I finally put on one of the last dead shrimp we had for bait and just let it soak while I went for my Nikon.

There was a little water moccasin that was having much better luck fishing than I was, so I decided to take some pics of the critter. It was the first time I ever saw a snake catching fish.

Hope you enjoy them, along with the incredible scenery.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get out tomorrow and do better, so until then; Tight Lines to All!

Another Windy Afternoon On The Indian River

It was another windy day on the Indian River, but the wind coming out of the West made casting a bit easier than yesterday.

My wife, our wonder dog Elmo, and yours truly hit Shiloh Road on the northern Indian River directly across from the Scottsmoor boat launch.

The water was crystal clear and the fish were spooky on the river side. On the marsh side of the road, the water was cloudy and very shallow. All the fish today were difficult to catch.

Few people took advantage of the beautiful weather today in the drive and for the most part, except for the water birds, we had the place to ourselves.



My wife couldn't break her luck of the past couple of days and today caught ziltch. She missed several fish but wasn't holding her mouth right, or whatever.

I didn't do much better today. The first hour and a half produced only one trout slightly larger than the lure I was casting.

I was using a 2" gold Gator spoon and then switched to a Chug Bug with not hits at all. I then downsized my lures to mimic the 1 1/2 " small baitfish that were all around the culverts and started getting hits.

I changed to a Creme natural shad colored paddle tail lure and began catching more trout.

The day ended with 5 trout for myself and a goose egg for my wife.

On the way out of the drive, we stopped and talked with the only other fisherman who was still in the preserve.

Joseph was still fishing and reported catching a slot redfish and several slot sized trout. He said he caught the redfish on a dead shrimp and the trout on finger mullet he netted in the vicinity.

He was fishing the marsh side of the river and was trying to catch a shark he said he saw busting on schools of finger mullet.

Karen asked him how big the shark was and he replied "at least 4 feet from the dorsal to his tail".

From the description, it sounded like a very hungry bull shark.

I've seen several of them in the Indian River, but this is the first one I've ever heard about on the marsh side.

In any event, Joseph said he wouldn't be wading in that area again trying to net any finger mullet.



The sunset was again beautiful, and the day was perfect even if we didn't catch any huge fish.

Till next time, Tight Lines!

Peacocks Pocket Road - Still Closed

Peacocks Pocket Road is still closed for repairs and according to the person we talked to at the Wildlife Refuge, they don't anticipate it opening for at least another couple of weeks.

Being somewhat disappointed learning about the closure from my wife, we decided to fish a couple of our spots on Shiloh Road this evening before sunset.

We spotted several large redfish in the shallows chasing baitfish, but because of the time restraint, decided to go straight to our "trout hole".

My wife used her standard shrimp and Cajun Thunder rig, and I started off with a white Creme paddletail soft bait.



Karen lost two trout as soon as she started fishing with the shrimp.

Evidently the trout weren't interested in a white minnow because I never got a hit. So, I switched to a hammered gold Bagly 3" spoon and missed two fish.

After several casts, I downsized to a Gator 2 1/2" gold spoon, and promptly hooked and released four slot sized trout; the largest measured in at 19".

As the wind died down, I decided to try a black and silver "Chug Bug".

The first cast with the topwater lure netted another nice trout of about 18", and two casts later, I picked up a second smaller trout in the same area.

I stayed with the top water plug for two more fish and decided to head for home.

I just came in from Columbia, S.C. and the drive is a killer on your back!



Here are some pics of the fish and one of the most beautiful sunsets Karen and I have seen in a long while.

Hope you enjoy them!

Till next time, Tight Lines!

Windy Weekend On The Indian River Lagoon

It's been a windy weekend on the Indian River Lagoon.

Yesterday's Redfish Tournament turned out great despite the windy conditions, and our personal outing turned out just fine even though I didn't score a redfish.

Today was a mirror of yesterday's weather. The northern Indian River Lagoon was windy all afternoon even until dusk.

My wife, our wonder dog Elmo and I went to the Mosquito Lagoon but the wind discouraged any interest in bank fishing.

We hit our "honey holes" along Shiloh Road and didn't fare too well there either.

Our last stop, where I caught some decent trout yesterday, proved fruitful for me but not for my wife.

Karen, missed several fish on dead bait and finally landed a small trout and a nice sized stingray.

I tried soft plastic baits and drew a blank until I switched to a 2" Bagley Hammered Gold spoon.

I walked the bank of the Indian River and peppered a fifty yard stretch with the spoon until I finally hooked up to a decent slot redfish, that was loaded with spots, and would have been a keeper for yesterday's tournament.

The fish put up a great fight on my 10# Cajun line. After four nice runs, I finally pulled her out of the water for a few pics.

I thought about cooking her up for dinner, but released her instead to fight another day. I'll settle for the leftover chicken in the frig!



After Karen took the pics, we both were tired of fighting the wind and decided to head for the hacienda.

Till next time, Tight Lines!

2010 Redfish Tournament Tour At Titusville, Fl.

Mayday was a beautiful day for the Redfish Tour Tournament held on the Indian River at Titusville.

My wife and I had planned on taking our Maverick flats boat out for a ride on the Mosquito Lagoon, but when I drove by the river, there wasn't a parking space to be found. I had totally forgotten about the Redfish Tour being held today.

Instead I did some work around the house and decided to take a few pics of the happenings on the river.

My video camera was on the blink, so I just compiled a little video of the weigh in and the winning entrant ceremony that was conducted by the Indian River. Hope you enjoy it.

The first place and grand prize winners of a new $30,000 Ranger flats boat rig was Chris Huston and Mike Tucker who won the tournament with two fish totaling 15.27 pounds. I hope they pardon me if I butchered the spelling of their names!

Anyway, after taking all the pictures I needed; my wife and I headed for the north shallows of the Indian River to do some late afternoon fishing.

We found a spot midway down unimproved Shiloh Road and started fishing in earnest. My wife was motivated by seeing all the redfish that were caught and released at the weigh in; and she wanted one for herself.

As luck would have it, she got her wish. Fifteen minutes after we parked the truck, she caught a nice slot sized redfish on her standby Cajun Thunder rig, with a shrimp bait.




I took some pics and we released the fish to fight another day.

The wind was really picking up and the water was getting rougher. I was throwing Creme paddle tail lures, a white jig head with a 4" gulp and a D.O.A. CAL bait with little success.

I picked up two slot sized trout walking the shoreline and the action simply stopped dead.

I tried several lures in my tackle box and finally settled on a small Bagly hammered gold spoon.

That did the trick! In an hour and a half, I picked up five trout between 15 and 20 inches, and missed at least 3 more.

The fishing slowed down as the the wind continued to pick up and both Elmo (our wonder dog), and I were tired. Karen had finally also had enough for one day, so we packed up and left the preserve before dusk.

All in all it was another great day on the Indian River, even if we didn't get to run the Maverick.

Till next time, Tight Lines!