Sea Trout And A Fireworks Display On The Indian River Lagoon

Catching sea trout and a fireworks display on the Indian River Lagoon makes for a great fishing trip.

My wife and I almost didn't bother to go out fishing this afternoon.

We thought that the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge would be loaded with visitor traffic due to the Independence Day holiday.

We didn't bother even packing our gear until about 6:00 pm and then took our time getting to one of our favorite locations.

I netted up about a dozen 6" to 8" finger mullet for bait and moved down the unimproved road on to one of our spots.

We came into Peacocks Pocket road at the eastern most entrance and passed by only three other groups of fishermen who had staked out their spots on the Indian River.

Everyone seemed to be having a great time enjoying the wildlife and the outdoors in general.

The alligators were out in force. Karen and I spotted at least five good sized ones on the way in on both sides of the road.

When we staked out our spot, Karen moved up the road to where she saw a large redfish pushing water right onto the bank. She put on a 6" finger mullet and free lined the bait at her spot.

The fish today were holding tight to the shoreline in the canal and on the river side.

I impaled the biggest finger mullet in the bait well (almost 8") and tossed it to the opposite bank of the canal near a closed culvert.

The bait lasted all of 5 minutes before a 24" sea trout inhaled the bait and took off up the canal.

I came prepared today with a casting reel loaded with 60# Power Pro braid, an 8' section of 15# fluorocarbon leader and a 5/0 Owner hook.

The sea trout didn't have much of a chance but it still put up a respectable fight.

I landed the fish and intended to release it but it was hooked in the gills and was bleeding badly so I decided to keep it for dinner.

Karen was way up the road so I just took these pics of the fish and the rod for size reference before putting on another bait.

To make a long story short, neither Karen or I had another bite until just before dusk.

Another big sea trout picked up the live finger mullet and headed towards an open flats area.

I briefly fought the fish before taking it's picture and releasing it to fight another day.

One trout for dinner is enough.

The mosquitoes were draining the blood from our bodies and Elmo was looking just plain miserable in the truck. He refused to get out of the truck because of the mosquitoes.

Karen missed a redfish but didn't get another bite so we decided to head for the exit.

On the way out, we found a spot to park where I managed to take this video of the fireworks display that the city of Titusville put on.



We didn't catch the redfish we were hoping for today, but what could be better than some nice sea trout and a fireworks display on the Indian River Lagoon.

Till next time,

Tight Lines and a Happy Independence Day!



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