Catching A 33 Inch Redfish

After a lackluster start today, my wife ended up catching a 33 inch redfish in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Preserve on her favorite bait; a jumbo shrimp beneath a popping bobber.

As usual, we started fishing late and because of the amount of vehicle traffic in the area, we decided on taking the East Gator Creek road where we hoped there would be fewer vehicles.

Wishful thinking!

The beautiful day attracted tons of bird watchers and sight seers which made the fishing challenging, to say the least. It seemed like everyone was taking pics of the gators and rosette spoonbills.

Finger mullet pods were being chased by redfish or trout, but they acted spooked from all the vehicle traffic and weren't biting on any of our offerings.

We took pictures of the scenery like everyone else and decided to move on to another area that we like to fish.

Driving very slowly I only stopped when there were signs of fish and after only a short time, we stopped at a location where we had easy access to both the river and marsh canal.

I was pitching a D.O.A. jerkbait , a gold spoon, and a Bagly soft minnow bait that I picked up cheap at a Bass Pro Shop in Savannah, Ga.

I had a couple of taps but nothing of any consequence until a large fish roiled the water after some lively baitfish on the opposite bank.

Since my wife was getting off of a "dry spell", I told her to cast her shrimp rig to the opposite bank and pop it a few times.

I was going to fish the Indian River side of the road until I saw her bobber quickly go under and upstream.

Karen picked up the rod and held on while I got my trusty Nikon and fiddled with the settings trying to get a half decent video of the action.

It was obviously a good fish and it made several hard runs before Karen finally got it close enough to the bank for me to lip it with the Boca Grip.

I compiled this video of the action. Hope you enjoy it.


After putting a tape on the fish, it measured in at a good 33". Too big to keep, but great to video.

After she released the fish, we decided to stick around and see what else we could come up with in the area.

I gave up on artificial lures and switched to a free lined jumbo dead shrimp on a 5/0 hook.

I moved over to the Indian River side and after only about 5 minutes had on another redfish only much smaller.

The fish put up a lively fight and measured in at 24". Just big enough to eat for dinner.

Because my doctor suggested I go on the "South Beach" diet, I thought about keeping the fish but Karen talked me out of it so against my better judgement, I let it go.

It was getting late and we decided to hit "bobcat bay" where Karen picked up a redfish yesterday evening.

On the way we saw a pair of kayakers pitching baits to a school of redfish or drum.

When we got to "bobcat bay" the water was dead calm with very little action. I spotted three big redfish chasing baitfish along the bank, but they weren't biting on my baits.

Karen wasn't getting any action either and because we were both dead tired, we decided to call it a day.

On the way out, we saw a group of folks who were all out out about 30 yards fishing for whatever. They even pulled a chair out on the water. Talk about comfort!

Catching a 33 inch redfish made Karen's day as well as mine. Hopefully we can duplicate our success tomorrow.

Till then,
Tight Lines!

Slow Mosquito Lagoon And Indian River Fishing

Hopefully the slow Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River fishing conditions we encountered this evening will not continue through the weekend.

I didn't get into town until about 5:30 this afternoon and after unloading the truck my wife and Elmo were ready to hit the water for some late fishing.

We hadn't been down Bio Lab road in a while so we decided to try out the Mosquito Lagoon fishing first.

The water level was down considerably and in some places more than I have ever seen. I pulled out my trusty Nikon and started taking pics of the shallow water boat launch and other scenery.

Today in order to wade fish this area, you had to navigate some pretty foul smelling dead vegetation before getting into the crystal clear shallow water.

Karen and I scouted the water for schools of fish or signs of singles that we could cast to, but gave up after a while.

The west side of Bio Lab road was dried up except for the deeper trough that runs along side the road. The only thing visible there were loads of waterfowl dining on what they dine on and a very large alligator trying to look like a log in shallow water that wasn't deep enough to cover it's back.

I quickly made a decision to drive over to Peacock's Pocket road on the Indian River Lagoon where I believed we would have better luck.

The road was relatively uninhabited. We only saw five vehicles all the time we were there.

The water on the Indian River side of the road was extremely shallow and the marsh side wasn't much better to fish.

Despite the conditions, Karen and I stopped in several areas to fish likely looking spots with not even a tap.

I fished gold spoons, jigs, D.O.A. CAL jerkbaits and even a Rapala top water bait. Karen fished large frozen heads on shrimp and got a couple of light bites but no fish until our last stop.

We were starting to get eaten alive by mosquitoes, so we decided to move on to "bobcat bay" where we believed the water would be deeper.

When we got to the cove, we saw several wakes which I made several unsuccessful casts to. Karen flipped off two baits trying to cast out to the wakes so I helped her out and cast the last shrimp closer to where the fish were feeding.

After just a few minutes she hooked into a nice slot sized redfish that put up an exceptionally good fight.

I was going to take a short video of the action but my camera wasn't set up for it; so I just took some pics of her fish before she released it. The fish was lucky; I would have eaten it.

The "skeeters" were apparently calling all their relatives for dinner and we were on the menu, so instead of trying to catch another redfish, we decided to grab a sub for dinner and head for home.

I'm glad Karen caught the redfish to break her slump. I on the other hand remained fishless for the day.

Oh well, Tomorrow is another day.

Tight Lines!

Birthday Fishing Trip

My wife and I decided to celebrate my birthday today by going fishing. Like we never do!

Although all the fishing reports I've received from the local guides I know tell me that the fish are biting like crazy; today's birthday fishing trip did not confirm their reports.

Anyway, for a change, we decided to start at Gator Creek to try and avoid some of the out of state traffic we have been encountering on the other unimproved roads.

The water in Gator Creek was lower than usual, yet very clear for this time of year.

When you enter the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge at the second most eastern entrance to Gator Creek; you will find an expanse of grassy shallows no more than 3 feet deep in any place.

From the deeper trough that parallel the road, the water becomes shallower towards the middle and then gets deeper on the opposite side of the creek.

The deeper troughs are where the redfish and black drum usually travel and then move up to the weedy shallower areas to ambush bait fish or crustaceans.



This afternoon even though we saw several pods of bait fish being busted by sea trout or redfish, the fish just weren't cooperating.

My wife Karen fished fresh large fresh dead shrimp on the bottom in several areas with only a couple of blue crabs to show for her efforts.

I fished D.O.A. Jerkbaits, Creme Paddletail lures, several colors of jigs, Johnson Gold spoons and even a Rapala top water with absolutely no results.

Several people stopped to see if we were catching any fish and we told everyone the same sad story.

A couple of disappointed fishermen from the Tampa area said they wade fished the Eddy Creek flats of the Mosquito Lagoon, but didn't catch anything except sea trout using shrimp under a float. Apparently they were after some of the bull redfish that the Mosquito Lagoon is famous for.

Although they asked for advice, there wasn't much I could offer today except that some of the best redfish I have caught were almost exclusively on gold spoons. Specifically the Strike King gold "hammered" type spoon in the larger size.

The large size spoon displaces more water surface area and can be fished much slower than the smaller sized spoon. I believe it also more closely resembles the baitfish that the larger redfish feed on in the Lagoon.

Shortly after they left, Karen and I packed up and moved on to Peacocks Pocket road to fish the marsh canals.

On the way out of Gator Creek I took this quick video of some Spoonbills that always seem to be in the area.



We stopped and thoroughly fished three spots until we finally decided to leave.

Karen missed a couple of trout and caught a blue crab using her shrimp.

I kept tossing every lure combination I had in my truck to fish that were targeting and busting up finger mullet along the bank.

Just as the wind started to die down, I tossed a #7 offset hook embedded in a Strike King jerkbait to a fish that created a huge swirl on the bank.

The fish swirled on it and picked up the lure immediately as it hit the water. As my line started moving up the canal, I gave the fish a second and then set the hook.

As luck would have it, the redfish wasn't hooked well enough. It made a run towards the bank where I could see it and then departed for parts unknown.

The fish was well over the slot limit and closer to 32".

After the commotion, neither Karen or I had another hit for the rest of the time we fished the area.

I'm not sure whether the full moon has anything to do with it or if the cold snap this past winter put the kibosh on it, but lately the fishing has been nothing short of crappy from shore compared to the same time last year.

Anyway, the weather was beautiful and birds of all types were all over the Preserve.

I consoled myself by taking several short videos and pics of the areas we fished.

The beautiful sunset and the full moon over the Space Center almost made up for the redfish I missed.



Hopefully, tomorrow the fishing will be better.

Till next time.

Tight Lines!

P.S.: To the two guys from Tampa.

Believe me, the fishing in the Mosquito Lagoon around Whales Tail, the back of the clinker islands, the flats along the eastern shores of the southern lagoon and both the no motor zones are why they call it the redfish capital of the world.

You need a boat to access these areas or a guide for the day.

Friday Evening Picture Outing

Friday evening seemed to be a good time for a picture outing after a trying work week and a 4 1/2 hour drive home.

Karen and I packed up a couple of rods, just in case, along with Elmo our "wonder dog" and headed for the nearest water.

Catfish Creek loop and several other areas in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge provided plenty of photo opportunities as well as a shot at a sea trout or redfish for dinner.

The scenery was picture perfect and there are at this time of the year, tons of different types of waterfowl in the area.

I took several short videos and pics before deciding to try our luck at any fishing. Hope you enjoy these.

It was late so we just "jump fished" the marsh canals.

I fished primarily D.O.A. CAL Jerkbaits and Creme Paddletail lures in several colors and only got two bites and one nice sea trout that I returned to fight another day.

My wife fished with old dead shrimp and only picked up a blue crab for her efforts.

The area was loaded with visitors and the fish were spooky. Only one person I spoke with caught a redfish which he said measured out at 24".

We weren't so lucky and after getting bitten by too many swamp mosquitoes, we both decided to head for home and some dinner other than fish.

On the way out we saw this poor guy pushing his boat out of way too shallow water. I can't laugh about it too much since I've been there a couple of times myself without a push pole.

Hope to get out tomorrow after doing some chores.

Till then,

Tight Lines.

Skunked

It's been some time since I've been Skunked, but today was just one of those days.

My wife, Elmo and I went to try the northern Indian River Lagoon shallows around Shiloh Marsh road.

We left the house around 3:00 p.m. and didn't get on to the potholed road until about 3:30 or so.

There was a mild breeze blowing and the temperature was in the high 70s.

I fished mostly D.O.A. C.A.L. Series Shad Tails and jerk baits with a couple of gold spoons scattered in just for grins. Karen fished dead shrimp under a Cajun Thunder.

We stopped in several likely looking places and both of us fished hard without even a bite until just before we decided to pack up and leave.

There were a lot of people in the area today and the ones I spoke with weren't having any better luck than we were.

One gentleman and his wife said he fished for several hours in several places where fish were roiling the surface, but never got a bite.

I could relate. In a couple of spots we stopped at, there were tons of finger mullet milling around and every once in a while a large fish would roil just below the surface. If the water was warmer, I would have bet that the fish were small tarpon but I just couldn't tell.

I'm not sure what or if they were feeding, but it sure wasn't anything resembling any of my offerings.

Top water baits, jerk baits, spoons, live bait, and even a tried and true Creme paddle tail bait never got a tap, until about 7:00 p.m.

I was casting into an open culvert with a D.O.A. Jerkbait where finger mullet were milling around and after the third cast or so I missed a hard strike that I was totally unprepared for. It was probably a large sea trout but I can't be sure.

Anyway, so much for catching!

Karen and I still had a nice time just enjoying the area, wearing out Elmo with his Mr. Gear toy and taking pictures of the scenery. Here is a short compilation of the area.

Man, I have got to get my boat out.

Till next time,

Tight Lines!

Another Late March Afternoon Fishing Trip At Peacocks Pocket

There was a chill in the air but all in all the weather was just perfect for a late March afternoon fishing trip at Peacocks Pocket.

My wife and I planned on going out earlier in the day but some work problems cropped up and changed our plans.

It wasn't until about 3:30 this afternoon before Karen, Elmo and I got to pack our rods and head for the water.

We opted to fish the closest spots, which for us is the Indian River Lagoon from Peacocks Pocket Road, around Gator Creek, to SR 402.

There were a lot of out of town visitors driving through the area taking pics of the waterfowl and the beautiful scenery.

We started fishing the closed culverts just past the shallow water kayak launch at Peacocks Pocket.

It was a beautiful day for kayaking and I took a video of these two paddling in from the entrance of the Space Center.


There were several large schools of mullet in the river but nothing was chasing them close to shore.

My wife fished dead shrimp under a Cajun Thunder type popper bobber and I fished my usual array of top water and jerk baits.

After about a half hour of steady casting in the area with absolutely no bites, we decided to move up the road and scout for signs of fish.

Our second stop was also a fruitless effort, so we moved up towards another culvert that we sometimes fish.

I changed rods to fish a small glo white D.O.A.® C.A.L. Series Shad Tail swim bait behind a green jig head.

After many fruitless casts, I finally landed a barely slot sized redfish that followed the bait from the opposite bank of the canal.

The fish hit the lure in about a foot and a half of water and put up a surprisingly decent fight before giving it up.

I asked Karen to take some pics and put the fish back into the marsh canal to fight another day.

I walked the bank from where I caught the red and continued casting the same lure hoping for another redfish.

Today there was a slight wind on the river and almost no wind on the marsh canal. Because the temperature was in the mid 50s and the water was cold from the previous nights cold front, I opted to use a very slow but jerky retrieve.

Evidently it was the right recipe because after a few more casts, I picked up another fish.

This time it was a nice size sea trout about 20". The fish followed the bait and hit it just as it dropped to the bottom.

The fish put up a nice fight and first I thought I had on another redfish.

After landing the trout, I walked back to where Karen was fishing and got her to take another pic with my Nikon.

Karen had a nice bite on her shrimp but missed the fish. We both fished hard without another bite and because it was getting late and quite chilly, we decided to head for the hacienda.

On the way out of the Preserve I took some pics of the beautiful sunset.

The weather is supposed to be warmer tomorrow so we're hoping to get another afternoon of fishing in.

Till then,

Tight Lines.

The Winds Of March

The winds of March make it tough to handle light weight lines and light lures.

This afternoon my wife, our wonder dog Elmo and yours truly went out to try our luck at several locations on the Indian River.

The first area we hit was the unimproved shallow water boat launch at Fish Camp 72 at the end of Jones Road in Mims.



The wind was whipping up enough to make life miserable casting but a few well placed casts with a D.O.A. CAL jerkbait in the deeper areas around the launch yielded a couple of slot sized sea trout.

A dilapidated old bi-hull houseboat that ran aground a few storms ago, drifted closer to the bank and provided structure for the sea trout.

Because I haven't been in the area for a while, I took a few shots with my Nikon and moved on to scout some other promising spots.

Karen and I were thinking about taking our Maverick flats boat out next weekend to fish the northern flats of the river, so we drove up to the Scotsmoor boat launch to see if the water level was high enough to launch our boat.

As you can see by the pics, there is enough water from the rains this week to let us launch without any problem. The narrow channel heading out to the main river looked just fine depth wise.

I took some shots of the area and talked to some guys who were netting mullet for bait to see what was happening.

According to them, the redfish were biting well and the larger sea trout were just starting to get active.

I didn't bother trying to cast into the heavy wind and because we were hungry and it was late in the afternoon, we headed for the local subway shop and then home.

When we got home and finished eating our Italian subs, we saw on the television that a "super secret" satellite was being launched from Cape Canaveral Air Station; so I got my camera and went out to the back yard to get this video.



Hopefully the winds of March will subside tomorrow so I can get a little bit more fishing in.

Till then,
Tight Lines!

Rainy Shiloh Marsh Road Trip

This afternoon's rainy Shiloh Marsh Road trip was more of a scouting adventure than a fishing trip.

When I got home late this afternoon the weather was nothing short of miserable.

The wind was blowing, the temperature was about 64 degrees and dropping and it was raining or misty most of the time.

Despite the lousy weather my wife and I packed up a few rods, rounded up Elmo our wonder dog and headed towards the northern entrance to Shiloh Marsh road.

Last week when we scouted the area, the water levels were at an all time low. Areas where we normally caught redfish and sea trout were high and dry leaving only the deeper troughs.

Since it had been raining this past week, I wanted to know if the water levels had significantly increased across the mud flats.

As we entered the area the first thing I noted was that the water levels in the meandering creek on the Indian River side of the road had risen at least a couple of feet.

The first culvert that was almost high and dry last week, now had a nice current of water running through it into the marsh canal on the left side of the road.

It was raining a heavy mist but I just had to try a few casts to see if I could dredge up a trout or red.

I made several casts with a light green jig, a DOA jerkbait and a Chug Bug top water lure without getting even a tap.

As we moved on up the road we were happy to see several roseate spoonbills, various shore birds and a pair of sandhill cranes foraging in another area that last week was totally dry.

I took a few pics of the cranes and the video below, just because the sandhill cranes aren't usually roaming around this area.

Karen and I were looking for signs of fish in the newly flooded shallows, but didn't see anything until almost the other end of the road.

Karen spotted a nice redfish tailing about 30 feet out from the bank in shallow water, so I stopped the car and shot a couple of casts to the fish. It was a wasted effort on my part. The fish just wasn't interested.

Normally, I would have stayed around the spot and continued fishing; but because of the lousy weather, I made a mental footnote in my brain to come back tomorrow.

It started pouring like crazy, so we decided to head for home to dry out and watch a movie.

As we crossed over Haulover Canal, there was only one boat in the canal with two fishermen shooting casts to the bank. They were probably after sea trout.

Normally this time of the day, you would expect to find quite a few boats anchored throughout the canal and at either mouth fishing for big bull redfish and black drum that are found there.

Hopefully the weather tomorrow will be more conducive to "catching" than today's weather was.

Till then,

Tight Lines.

P.S. This is the first time I've been skunked in a very long time. I guess that's why it's called fishing!