Windy Evening On The Indian River Lagoon

Although it was a windy evening on the Indian River Lagoon and my wife and I weren't even sure that the wildlife refuge would be open we still decided to give it a try.

It was late afternoon before I got home from work and after packing a few rods, some lures and the cast net, it was after 7 o'clock before we got to a spot where I can usually pick up some bait.

This evening, there were lots of small ladyfish and a couple small finger mullet for the bait well.

Karen and I looked for signs of where the wildfires last week had caused the refuge to be closed and we quickly found areas on the east side of the road that were burned.

The wind made it difficult to spot signs of feeding redfish or sea trout, so we finally decided to try the last spot we fished and hoped for the best.

I dropped Karen off at her spot and I drove a few yards up the road to fish another area I hoped would be productive.

I tossed a green DOA jig head with gold and chartreuse jerkbait body on one rod and baited up my other rod with a 5" ladyfish for bait and didn't get a bite on either offering the entire evening.

Evidently I wasn't holding my mouth right.

Karen on the other hand yelled that she had a big trout on so I picked up my Nikon CoolPix and ran to help her out with her fish.

The gator trout was over 24" and inhaled the live ladyfish Karen was using for bait.

I took her picture and after I snipped off the hook, Karen released the fish unharmed.

It started raining again and after the wind died down the bite stopped dead.

The fish seemed to have lockjaw; nothing was hitting anything.

Since it was getting dark and the mosquitoes were eating me alive, we decided to call it an evening.

I didn't get a fishing report from any of my friends this week, but the fishing should still be good early in the mornings and late in the afternoons. At leas it was this evening for my wife.

Till next time, Tight Lines.