Mid January Trout Fishing On The Indian River

Mid January trout fishing on the Indian River is as good as it gets. The water is clear and sight fishing for reds and sea trout is at its best.

This afternoon I packed up my wife and Elmo our wonder dog for an excursion around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The weather has been cold this past week and the water temperatures are right down there.

Today was sunny and the air temperature was in the 60s up until about 4:00 when it dropped about 7 degrees.

There was a mild wind to contend with most of the afternoon which caused casting problems for my wife and myself.

Karen was fishing a Billy Bay "Lowcountry Lightning" Pop-N-Gurgle float with a 15# fluorocarbon leader about 18" long and a dead jumbo shrimp for bait. She was on the prowl for big redfish.

I was using a green DOA jig head with a Strike King 3x Zulu jerkbait on the business end and gold Bagley hammered spoons on my other two rods. The last rod was rigged with a
D.O.A.® C.A.L. Jerk Baits - 4'' - Electric Chicken color.

I was hoping for some decent sized trout for dinner or a slot redfish. Today I planned on eating my catch!

We both fished several locations on the marsh and river sides of the unimproved roadway and for the first half hour or so, neither of us got a strike.

Our usual "jump fishing" tactic wasn't working too well today because of the windy conditions. It was difficult to see any fish movement and when I did see some swirls, they turned out to be cute little puddle ducks.

All of my usual spots today proved to be void of fish, even though ripples on the water normally makes for some good fishing.

Finally, after about 50 casts or so, I landed a "rat" redfish that followed my jig combo right up to the bank.



I took a picture of the fish just to prove I caught something and returned it to the water.

Karen was still trying her best to get a bite, but the fish apparently wanted nothing to do with fresh dead shrimp today. Sometimes that's just the way it is.

As the afternoon wore on, the wind started calming down a bit so we decided to move on towards "bobcat bay". The name was chosen for obvious reasons!

Anyway, I spied a fish pushing bait up towards the bank so I pulled over and started casting ahead of where it was feeding. The fish wanted nothing to do with my bait, so Karen tossed out her offering and started Popping and Gurgling to attract a fish.

After awhile, Karen saw a nice fish swirl and thought she had hooked bottom. When she finally pulled in her rig, she realized the bottom had been a fish and she pulled up baitless.

Karen pointed out a narrow stretch of water to me where she saw a fish splash, so I quietly tossed my jerkbait around the area.

After a few casts, I finally picked up a nice keeper sea trout that inhaled my lure. Karen took a pic as I tried to get the hook out, but it lodged in the gills and the fish started bleeding.



I knew the fish wouldn't make it, so I put this one in the cooler for dinner.

As the waters became calmer, the fish were easier to spot moving around. We stopped at two more areas where we saw some fish but nothing was interested in what we were offering.

After I managed to cast right on top of a nice redfish and spooked it to hell; Karen and I decided to call it a day and head for home. She was still suffering from a bad cold, and I wasn't feeling much better.

As we crossed the bridge at the new fishing pier on the way home, we saw several groups of shrimpers setting up their generators and shrimp lights for the night's shrimping activities on the bridge and lower fishing pier.



The shrimping has been getting much better in this area since the temperatures remain on the cold side. The Haulover Canal shrimpers have also been pulling in more and larger shrimp lately.



I may hit the bridge tomorrow night and get a shrimping report. Until then.

Tight lines to all!