Cold Fronts Make For Great Fishing

When I heard on the television this afternoon that a cold front was coming into the area, I gave up the chores and asked my wife if she was interested in going fishing with me at the Indian River marsh area where I caught some trout yesterday.

Since the wind was blowing like crazy, and would make casting for her more than a chore, she declined my invitation.

So, I packed up my favorite spinning rod and Penn bait runner fishing reel combo, loaded with 20# yellow Power Pro line and 15# fluorocarbon leader and took off.

The lure of choice today was a beat up 2 1/2" gold Johnson Sprite spoon that I thought would be easier to cast in the wind than some of the other lures in my arsenal.

As I drove to the river, the wind was so strong that it looked like even the wind surfers were having a hard time. The water birds were all huddled together anticipating the coming cold front.

Because Karen wasn't fishing with me, I did a lot of what I call "jump" fishing from the truck. It's basically a quick stop and go fishing tactic.

Since it was almost impossible to cast on the river side of the unimproved road in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Preserve, I concentrated on fishing the marsh side of the road.

After a few stops in likely looking spots, I hooked onto a nice 20" sea trout that put up a nice tussle before being landed. I took it's picture and released it back into the tannic stained water.

I missed a few more hits in several other locations before catching another sea trout that was also over 20" when I took the tape to it.

Traveling down the road to where I caught redfish yesterday, I made at lest 20 casts in the same area with only one other hit.

At a place we call "snook point", I decided to try a spot I never fished before. Today the wind was favorable to casting there so I lobbed in several casts before hooking on to a heavy trout that at first felt like a redfish.

The fish measured in at 24", so I took it's picture and again released it.

I continued fishing up the road as the wind started dying down a bit.

Near a bend in the marsh canal, I was using a very slow retrieve keeping the spoon just off bottom, when I hooked into something heavy.

The fish started running up river taking a lot of line with it and I immediately realized it was one of the oversized bull redfish that inhabit the shallow marsh.

I wanted to take pics of the fish so I held up the rod as high as I could to keep the line away from the brush and got my camera and Boca Grip from the truck.

With one hand I fought the fish and with the other, I was trying to get a good shot of the action with my camera on video. I'm sure that anyone watching me would have gotten a good laugh as I tried to land the oversize fish while taking videos.

Anyway, the results are here for you to enjoy or whatever.

After quite a long battle where I almost lost the fish twice, I finally landed the redfish and took a few pictures.

This one measured 35" and had a good sized girth for it's length.

I took these pics and returned the fish to fight another day.

I didn't think I could duplicate this catch, but as I trucked up the road I came on at least two other redfish that were sloshing around on the bank after bait fish.

I eased up to the action and tossed the spoon just above where they were feeding. Within a few seconds I hooked up to another huge redfish that took off up the marsh canal like a streak.

I tried the same maneuver with the camera, but this time I didn't lift the rod high enough and the fish got off.

Totally pissed off at myself for not catching the fish first before trying to take a picture; I got back into the truck and headed for another likely spot I had been itching to try.

This time I hooked onto another 22" sea trout that was so heavy it just sloshed around a bit before I pulled it from the water.

I put the fish back into the marsh canal just as the rain started up.

I made a few half hearted casts, but the weather was so miserable that I decided to pack it in for today.

As I was getting close to Peacock's Pocket, the wind died down and the rain stopped. I took a few pics of Herons eating catfish for dinner and made a few halfhearted casts before finally calling it a day.

The temperature tonight is supposed to be in the low to mid 30s, but I've learned from experience that cold fronts make for good fishing if you care to brave the elements.

For me, I'm just plain stupid and like to fish.

Till next time,

Tight Lines!