Fishing Peacocks Pocket

Fishing Peacocks Pocket this afternoon was more of a picture taking venture than a fishing expedition.

My wife had been sick with a severe sore throat and chest congestion for the past week and a half and today was the first day she was feeling well enough to venture out without getting frozen to death.

Since the weather was nice, we decided to go out for some air and see what was biting around Peacocks Pocket road.

I rigged a small spinning rod with a DOA jighead and a 4" CAL jerkbait for myself and another one for Karen. She asked me to show her how to fish a jerkbait when she saw how many fish I was catching on the baits.

We took some pics of the beautiful roseatte spoonbills and some other water birds as we drove into the area while watching for signs of fish.

As we passed around Catfish Creek, I thought I saw a fish swirl so we stopped and fished awhile with no luck. I switched to a gold spoon and still didn't raise a strike, so we move on.

The second stop also resulted in no fish, but a guy with a kayak on the back of his truck stopped and told me about a school of black drum in a cove near the Peacocks Pocket shallow water launch. He said he caught one from a school of about 50 fish before they scattered.

Since we hadn't had even a strike, we decided to drive past my usual likely fishing spots and go directly to the area he described.

I stopped briefly at a spot near where we normally fish, close to the canoe launch, to talk to a family who was fishing there.

The guy I spoke with said he had caught a redfish, but it didn't look like much was happening at the moment. Anyway, it was getting late so we moved on to the cove that the guy I spoke with had mentioned.

Knowing full well that the likelihood of the school still being there was next to nil, Karen baited up with a shrimp and I started blind casting with a variety of lures in the crystal clear shallow water.

In the horizon on the river I saw a lone kayaker slowly paddling towards the canoe launch.

Since the fish weren't cooperating I picked up my camera and starting taking pics of the kayaker and the beautiful sunset.

When the guy got closer to the ramp, it became obvious that the guy was loaded for bear. His kayak had a bait bucket on board, and he carried five fishing rods that I could see.

We talked briefly and he told me that there were huge schools of black drum and redfish tailing in the shallows on the leeward side of a small island out in the river.

I left him to loading his kayak on his BMW and I continued taking pictures.

I made a few halfhearted casts and when the mosquitoes started getting particularly nasty, I called to Karen to see if she and Elmo were ready to call it a day.

We packed up and planned on going out earlier tomorrow.

I can't believe I actually got skunked today! That hasn't happened in a very long time.

Anyway, till next time.

Tight Lines.