Late Afternoon Trout Fishing On The Indian River

Late afternoon trout fishing on the Indian River in December can be a frustrating experience if you don't remember to slow things down.

The trick to December fishing is to slow down your presentations and use the lightest test fluorocarbon leaders you can get away with on light tackle.

I didn't get home until late this afternoon and then had to wait for my wife to dry her hair before we finally got out to the river to fish.

We didn't have any specific area in mind to fish, so we just drove around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge road until we saw signs of fish activity.

The first stop we made, I caught a 20" sea trout on my first cast with a DOA CAL jerk bait.

The jig head I used was a green DOA and the body was a floating Strike King 3X "cyber flexxx" in watermelon color.

This combo works great in very shallow water because the floating body makes the jig head stand face down every time you drop it to the bottom. This keeps the hook readily available to the fish making for easier hookups.

Since it was getting late, about 4:30, we moved on up the road to scout for more fish sign before dark.

After making a couple more stops, the mosquitoes were getting so viscous that Elmo wouldn't leave the confines of the truck. So, Karen and I decided to give it up for the evening and come back tomorrow to try our luck.

Here are a couple of photos I took of the beautiful sunset.

Enjoy,

Till next time, Tight Lines!