Indian River Gator Creek Sea Trout

Indian River sea trout seem to be biting after the cold front almost as good as they did before the front eased its way into the area this past weekend.

This afternoon I decided to try my luck in the Indian River marsh area around Gator Creek.



Gator Creek is one particular area that I haven't fished on a regular basis. Although several of my friends reported sporadic catches of sea trout and redfish in the deeper holes, I have never seriously pursued fishing the area.

The sun was out and the air temperature was in the high 60s. There was very little wind to speak of when I started out around noon, and later on in the day it totally died off to a dead calm.

There were several groups of roseate spoonbills in the area along with a few species of ducks and herons. All were enjoying the day as I was.



I took four rods along, each with a different lure for variety, but wound up fishing with a gold Johnson spoon and a DOA jerkbait that I had been having luck with this past week.

Unfortunately, Gator Creek didn't pan out. The only thing I spotted were several schools of large mullet that would have made the day for a commercial net fisherman.

I decided to back track and move into Peacocks Pocket road and fish the marsh canal.

Fishing was tough today because the water was so calm. I spooked three trout before I finally landed one on my green DOA jerkbait.

The fish was smaller than the ones I had been catching yesterday. It measured only 17" but put up a decent fight.

I took it's picture and returned it to the water and continued "jump" fishing up the road.

I missed 4 more trout before I hooked another one that measured in at 22". Again I took it's picture and returned it to fight another day.

It was 2:30 when I caught my third trout on the same lure. This one was also about 22" and put up a better fight than the other two trout. Again I took a picture and put it back.

I was hoping to catch a redfish, but I didn't see any tell tale signs of one in the area.

Blind casting damned near wore out my shoulder, but being the die hard fisherman that I am, I continued without any hits until about 4:00.

The water was as calm and flat as a mirror on both sides of the road as I eased into the area we named the "duck blind".

As I started casting, I spooked a redfish in the 30" range not more than 8 feet from the bank.

I continued casting to it until I just got tired and finally decided to give it up. It was about 4:30 when I made the decision to head for home and get something to eat.

As I was driving out of the area, I kept watching the water on the marsh side of the road hoping to spot a redfish. About a mile from the "duck blind", I spotted a swirl right on the
opposite bank from the road, so I quickly stopped the truck and walked back to where the fish should have been.

I lobbed the jerkbait perfectly on the bank and pulled it into the water to where I thought the fish should be.

Almost immediately a redfish churned up the water and gulped down the lure.

At first the fish didn't fight much, but when he realized he was hooked he took off up the canal on a nice run. A few minutes later I lipped the fish with the boca grip and pulled it from the water.

The redfish was only 26" and since it was in the slot I was thinking about taking it home for dinner.

Anyway, I didn't feel like cleaning it and I wasn't feeling well because of an ear infection, so I decided to let the fish go to fight another day.

About the time the fish hit the water, my wife called to see if I caught anything. After giving her an abbreviated report, I decided to pack it in and head for the Hacienda.

Hope you all enjoy the pics and until next time,

Tight Lines.