Top Water Action On The Indian River Lagoon

When fishing the Indian River Lagoon on a June afternoon, sudden thunderstorms are just about a "gimmie".

My wife, our wonder dog Elmo, and yours truly gave it a shot on Friday evening mainly to see if the tarpon were in the area.

Midway to one of our favorite fishing spots, the sky unloaded with a torrent that almost had us heading back to the hacienda.

We waited it out and I started throwing a Skitter Walk top water plug in the marsh canal next to the river. On the third cast, I hooked and briefly fought one of those gator trout you read about in Florida Sportsman magazine. The fish was at least 30" long and had to weigh in the 10# range.

She jumped twice the plug fell out. I tried several more casts with the plug and other plastic baits to get her interest, but it it was not meant to be today.

The rain slowed to a drizzle and we continued fishing down Shiloh Marsh Road.

The fish seemed to be hitting better on the marsh side during the rain and after a couple of stops I hooked into another gator trout of about 27" to 28" that again shook the top water plug.

Fishing for over sized trout in a ditch with top water plugs has its hazards and maneuverability is one of them. When the trout headed left; I couldn't, and the fish left me with my plug.

Finally we got to a causeway that Karen loves to fish; so she continued with her favorite shrimp and bobber rig while I plugged away with my top water lures.

True to form, after a few minutes she caught a slot redfish that she gingerly fought to the bank, and unceremoniously jerked into the roadway.



I used my trusty "Arc" dehooker but the fish was too far gone and even though I tried to revive her to fight another day, I decided to fillet her instead for dinner.

I kept losing fish on my top water, so I changed lures for an oddball soft "Sonic" type lure I think I got on sale from Bass Pro Shop in Savannah. After a couple of casts, I hooked a clone to the redfish my wife caught. This time, I took a few pics (below) and released her to fight another day.

A few minutes later, and my wife again caught her second redfish in the same area. This one was slightly larger, just making the slot; but again we let it go.

As dusk settled on the Indian River, and the mosquitos started really getting blood thirsty, we headed home to clean the fish and write about another beautiful evening on the Space Coast.

Till next time, Tight Lines!