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.