9-11-2010 Indian River Fishing Trip

The weather on Saturday was in the low 90s with a slight breeze coming in from the Southwest.

My wife wanted to try out Shiloh Marsh Road on the northern end of the Indian River instead of taking out our Maverick flats boat; so we packed up our rods, my underused cast net, a live bait bucket, and took off for the lagoon.

Coming into Shiloh road we stopped for a two foot water moccasin that was crossing the unimproved road and also saw a couple of deer farther down towards the lagoon.

Rounding the first bend, we saw one angler waist deep in the water about 100 yards out, with four rods in sand spike rod holders, baited up with finger mullet.

This is a great area to fish for the "bull redfish" that come into the shallows to feed on baitfish or small crustaceans and is almost always inhabited by at least one fisherman.

The schools of reds travel up and down the the shorelines and always eventually come into this area.

At the next bend we saw a couple of parked trucks, and a shallow water boat out in the river with several fishermen using the same technique.

Karen and I decided to get some bait instead of just using dead shrimp or lures and try for a really big redfish.

I headed for a culvert that I knew harbored either small ladyfish or mullet and after two or three casts had enough 4" to 6" mullet for our excursion.

On the way I took a few pics of the waterfowl in the area that you might be interested in.

Since it was getting late in the afternoon, we went to a spot that my wife loves to fish and baited up four rods with live finger mullet and dead shrimp.

On one of my rods, a nice redfish picked up my mullet, but after only a very short run wrapped the 10# Cajun line around a stickup and got off.

I missed a second red that I was in too much of a hurry to hook. I'm used to fishing with artificial lures and obviously don't have the patience to wait the proper amount of time before setting the hook.

My wife missed one fish that she thought was a redfish and then just when it was beginning to get dark, she hooked up to a nice slot sized red that put up a respectable fight.

I wanted to keep the fish for dinner, but Karen wanted to release it, so we did.

The mosquitoes were beginning to get nasty and Elmo, our wonder dog, was begging to leave so we all decided to call it a day.

Even though I got "skunked", I enjoyed the trip and got some nice pics of the areas bird life.


The wood storks, egrets, roseate spoonbills, and herons were all massed together feeding in the marsh shallows.

Hope you enjoy the pics and until next time; Tight Lines!