Peacocks Pocket On A Cool Friday

Peacocks Pocket road was the target for Friday's fishing outing.

After a long drive home, I decided to get my wife and Elmo our wonder dog and check out the river to see if anything was happening.


We decided to hit Peacocks Pocket only because it was the closest to the house.

The weather has been cooling down and the water is becoming much more clear which is typical for November on the Space Coast.

There was a slight breeze coming in from the NW that put a little ripple on the marsh side of the road, so I opted to fish the Indian river.

I started blind casting a gold Johnson spoon with a red tag and after about 30 casts or so finally hooked and lost a nice slot sized sea trout.

Several casts later and I missed another fish that I believe was a trout.

My wife was fishing with her usual shrimp and Cajun Thunder bobber rig and got nothing but a couple of catfish.

Since we got to the river late, we decided to stay around the first stop until dusk hoping to catch a roving late afternoon redfish.

True to form, as the wind started to die down and just as I was taking pics of the beautiful scenery; Karen and I both spotted several redfish coming in very close to shore.

I took a short video of one that came cruising by only a few feet from the road before I put down the camera and picked up my rod.

I targeted several reds but they were not interested in my spoon, creme paddle tail swim bait, or my top water Chug Bug.

It was frustrating, because I saw them occasionally changing course to chase bait fish, yet they wouldn't hit any of my imitations.

I chalked up the lack of interest to the clear water conditions, but I sure would have given anything for a live finger mullet. Anyway, the scenery was beautiful as usual and the sunset sublime.

Till next time, Tight Lines!

Islamorada Weekend

An Islamorada weekend isn't what I expected when my wife decided to come with me to pickup some Koi food in Dania, Fl., but that's exactly where we wound up this past weekend.

Karen had never seen Key West, or any of the Florida keys for that matter, so she made some last minute Motel reservations in Islamorada for the weekend. The place was canine friendly and because it is "off season" right now, the price was right.

Most of Saturday was spent driving however after checking in at the motel, I still managed to flip a gold spoon a few dozen times underneath the "Snake River" bridge at some resident tarpon.

The first cast picked up a "lizard fish" that had a serious mouthful of teeth. It wasn't very big but did put up a respectable fight on my light line.

The tarpon weren't hitting so we went back to the motel, dumped our bags and drove down to Key West to show my wife what she was missing.

I took some pics of the scenery and the seven mile bridge just for the hell of it and have some of the random below.

When we got back to Islamorada, we decided to rent a boat for Sunday to see what we could catch.

Unfortunately, it was off season and not much was happening except for yellow tail snapper and some other bottom fish.

The first place we booked reneged on the boat the next morning because the batteries were supposedly being charged, so we went down the road and picked up another 22' boat for the day.

The owner gave me some quick directions on navigating out from Upper Matecumbe Key into the Atlantic and explained the rules and regulations that prevail in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

We picked up some bait, a block of chum and lots of water and headed out to see what we could see.

The water was beautiful and the seas were moderate. Without a GPS that I'm used to using in my flats boat, I had a heck of a time navigating through the protected areas. 30" round yellow buoys mark the Special Use Research Only areas and you really have to be familiar with the area in order to comply with the regs.

We finally tied up to a mooring buoy several miles out past a reef tower and started fishing on a reef that I believe was Alligator Reef.

The water was 80 feet deep and Karen and I were using very light tackle. I didn't plan on bottom fishing in the Atlantic or I would have brought along heavier tackle.

So, we wound up using 12# light to medium action spinning rods with 30# fluorocarbon leaders and 5/0 hooks.

The chum bag started doing it's job after about 20 minutes or so and fish started coming up from the bottom.

Karen and I both had hits as soon as our baits hit the bottom. Almost every time we dropped our baits we started catching "sweetlips" grunt, Porkfish, and Yellow tail snapper.

We quickly realized that we were under powered for the fish that were hitting.

I learned this the hard way after about the fourth drop, when I hooked onto a very big fish that snapped one of my graphite carbon rods.

I raised the fish several feet off the bottom until the fish decided it didn't want to become dinner and headed back to the bottom. I wasn't quick enough releasing the drag that was cranked down all the way and the rod snapped halfway up from the but.

The next problem we encountered was that I had neglected to bring along enough leader material and hooks.

The fish kept breaking off on the coral if we didn't reel in immediately after hitting the bottom with our baits.

Despite the fact that we were not adequately prepared for this type fishing, we managed to catch several nice sized yellow tail snapper and several other types of bottom fish.

We stayed out for several hours until I was medium well done and Elmo was crossing his legs wanting to hit the grass for a good pee.

The seas started getting rough, so we decided to head in to the marina.

All in all we had an enjoyable day on the water, even though I was unprepared for this type fishing.

I had planned on fishing the river that evening for the resident tarpon that were always there, but after a full day on the Atlantic, I decided to call it a day.

Next time we spend a weekend in Islamorada, I'll come ready for bear!

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

Indian River Salt Marsh Fishing

Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River fishing picks up for shoreline fishermen as the weather begins to cool down during the fall and winter months.

This evening after a 6 1/2 hour drive, I had just enough energy left to head out to one of my favorite spots on the northern Indian River Lagoon.

My wife had her "ditty bag" packed along with a small cooler full of dead finger mullet and large frozen shrimp for bait.

I loaded my rods into the truck along with Elmo our famous "wonder dog" and proceeded out to our spot.

On the way into the marsh area, we saw some swirls along the bank that looked to be redfish chasing some bait fish.

I pulled off the side of the unimproved trail and started pitching a gold Johnson spoon that I use to locate redfish and sea trout, while my wife pitched out a dead shrimp to something that was chasing bait in the salt marsh area several yards up the trail from where I was fishing.

About 30 casts later with no hits for either of us, we picked up our stuff and moved to the spot I was originally going to fish before darkness set in.

When I pulled up to the spot, the water was almost dead calm on the river side and the culvert was open pushing water and bait fish into the marsh area.

There were fish swirls on both sides of the road. Some were obviously catfish with a few redfish mixed in with them.

I cut a finger mullet in half and pitched it just outside of the current on the salt marsh side of the road with my Okuma bait runner setup and started casting with my spoon to the swirls on the other side of the road.

My wife stayed with her green Cajun Thunder dead shrimp and bobber rig.

I missed a small redfish on the spoon and my wife immediately caught a small catfish. I unhooked the cat and before I could continue with my fishing, she caught a good sized croaker.

I took a couple of pics of the croaker and started fishing with a top water plug. Even though the water was dead calm, you can sometimes pick up nice trout and occasionally redfish with long casts and slow retrieves.

After several casts with some halfhearted hits by small sea trout and a ladyfish that jumped all over the place before shaking off; I decided to give up the lures and concentrate on bait fishing.

I caught a cat on the cut mullet bait and recast to a different area. About the time I finished my cast, Karen hooked into what she thought was a small redfish.

After a short battle, it turned out to be a nice eating size black drum of about 25" or so.

The fish inhaled the dead shrimp Karen was using, so I cut the line as close to the hook as I could and let the fish go to grow up a bit more.

Occasionally, especially this time of the year, I'll eat black drum.

They have a taste similar to redfish and the same texture, when they are caught during cooler water periods.

But today was the black drum's lucky day.

The mosquitoes were eating us alive, Elmo was whimpering because of the mosquitoes and I didn't rally feel like cleaning fish after driving 6 1/2 hours.

So we called it a day and headed home.

My wife out fished me again!

Till next time, Tight Lines!

Shiloh Marsh Road Fishing Trip

My wife and I decided to take our wonder dog Elmo for a trip to the North Indian River Shiloh Marsh Road area to see what we could pick up for dinner.

After I mowing the lawn and getting drenched by a mid afternoon thundershower, I was more than ready willing and eager to get some fishing in.

Because the wind was blowing in from the northeast; we opted to fish the Indian River's Shiloh Marsh Rd area instead of the flats around Mosquito Lagoon's Bio Lab road.

It had been raining and the road was sloppy, but we hoped that the rain would promote the redfish bite, so we plodded on looking for signs of fish.

I noticed some finger mullet activity in the very shallow waters on the marsh side of the road so we stopped to try our luck.

Another fisherman and his family stopped to see how we were doing and after talking to him a bit, discovered that he was a reader of this website. Small world!

I should have gotten his name but I didn't think about it at the time. Anyway, he was definitely in the right area to fish, especially with the kayak or canoe he had in his truck. I'm not sure which it was.

He left and we continued fishing.

My wife put on her usual dead shrimp under a Cajun Thunder bobber rig and I tried a Johnson gold spoon.

After several casts without even a follow, I tied on a top water Zara Spook Jr. that looked like a pretty good imitation of the silver mullet in the shallows. Several casts later, I lost the lure to the swamp.

After a few choice cuss words, I decided to try a frozen finger mullet that we brought along from our last trip. I cut the tail off and stabbed it several times to get the "juices" flowing and pitched it into the area I though there should be redfish.

Meanwhile, my wife called out to me that she had caught a trout. I put my Okuma bait runner on free-line and went over to where she was fishing to help her out and take a couple of pictures.

The slot sized trout looked like dinner to me, but my wife wanted me to release it, so like any obliging husband I acquiesced to her wishes.

The water was high and both redfish and sea trout were in extremely shallow waters chasing down mullet and other crustaceans.

I walked farther down the road after spotting a redfish chasing something in water that was less than 6" deep. He was tailing and sloshing around enough for me to shoot the finger mullet right into the swirl.

The fish immediately picked up the bait and started running down the narrow creek. After a respectable battle and several strong runs, I finally managed to lip it out of the water.

The fish was gut hooked so deep that I decided to make fish sandwiches out of it. It measured out at 26" which was just enough for my wife and I to eat for dinner.

We moved out to another prime area where an open culvert was flowing. Karen chucked out her rig and I put on another gold spoon and started casting. I had a few hits from what probably were small trout and my wife lost another trout on her rig.

Since I already had my fish, I pulled out my Nikon CoolPix 8700 and started taking pics of the awesome sunset you get to see here.




There were some nice trout feeding in the running culvert but my wife was fishing the other side and I was just enjoying the sunset.

After losing some baits to trout, we decided to call it an evening and head for home.

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

Fall Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Fishing For Flounder

Fall Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Fishing for flounder really heats up during the annual mullet run.

As the water starts to cool down, the flounder start coming into the inlets to feast on the finger mullet that are flushed out of the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon systems.

In the East Central Florida area, we catch summer flounder and Atlantic founder that can run anywhere from 1 lb. to well over 10 lbs.

In the Port Canaveral area you can catch them near the jetty rocks and on sandy bottoms using live mud minnows, finger mullet, shrimp, cut squid strips, cut ladyfish or mullet, and artificial lures fished on the bottom.

When fishing live bait around rocks, use a very short 40# fluorocarbon leader with a swivel and either a kale or circle hook. A bank sinker heavy enough to keep the bait on the bottom above the swivel completes the rig.

In the rivers, fish around sea walls, bridge pilings, sandy bottoms and around docks using longer 30 or 40# leaders, with 3/8 oz rubber core sinkers, to get your baits to the bottom.

If you're using artificial lures, try fishing a 4" jerk bait with a jig head just heavy enough to stay on the bottom, hair jigs, or a combination jig head with shrimp or cut squid to sweeten up your offering a bit.

Regardless of where you decide to fish for flounder, the formula for success is to make sure that you keep your baits right on the bottom.

My wife and I haven't been able to get out and fish for the redfish that have been invading the shallows in this area, but hopefully this weekend we can break the trend and catch a few.

Last Saturday we managed to hit the Northern end of the Indian River Lagoon where my wife caught and released a nice slot redfish in the 27" category, but I only managed to capture the beautiful scenery on my Nikon.


I fish primarily artificial lures and the fish just weren't cooperating.


Maybe this weekend will be different. Enjoy the sunset, it was awesome!



Tight Lines and good fishing!