Another 33" Redfish

Well my wife did it again with another 33" redfish.

Yesterday my wife stayed home while I got skunked fishing the Mosquito Lagoon. So today, she wanted to get in some quality fishing and hopefully break her "dry spell".

We headed for Peacocks Pocket road which was closest.

The first stop we made was just past Catfish Creek loop.

A medium sized gator was sunning itself on the bank where I wanted to fish so we drove past and parked a few yards up the road from the sunning reptile.

Because the water was relatively calm, I decided to use a white Creme Spoiler Shad swimming bait instead of my favorite gold Bagley spoon.

Several casts netted me a small trout and a couple of misses which were probably sea trout.

I was walking towards the car, ready to move on up the road when the water near the gator exploded.

At first I thought the gator left the bank but it was a huge redfish that was busting bait in the grass.

I started working the shoreline with the swim bait hoping for a hit but didn't get a rise.

A couple of sight seers from Wisconsin stopped to see how I was doing just as the big redfish again exploded next to the bank.

The two guys in the van couldn't believe a fish that big was in water this shallow.

Although I continued trying to get the fish to bite, it wanted nothing to do with my lures.

We moved on down the road to another spot where I picked up two more small trout before moving to our final stop near "bobcat bay".

Karen was using jumbo frozen shrimp under a Cajun Thunder bobber but the water in the marsh was so shallow, I changed out her bobber to a smaller thinner version that was less likely to spook any fish.

I walked about a hundred yards down the road and started fan casting back to the truck.

Meanwhile, Karen chucked out her rig next to a grassy point, sat down and enjoyed the beautiful afternoon.

I caught and released another small sea trout and missed a large redfish when I heard my wife yelling for help.

I walked back to where she was fishing and saw she was fighting a really nice redfish.

I grabbed the camera and the boca grip and got the last end of the battle on the video below.

The fish was as long as her leg and measured in at a bit over 33".

My wife finally broke her "dry spell" in a big way!

She released the fish and almost lost my boca grip that was still in the redfish's mouth as she was releasing it. She managed to grab the big red by the tail and retrieve my "tool" before it swam away.





After the fight, we decided to head for home and scout out the rest of the refuge.

As we got to "bobcat bay" we saw a porpoise surrounding a school of redfish and running through the school to get his dinner.

I was fishing and went back to the truck to get the camera but before I could get the best video of the redfish actually jumping out of the water to escape the porpoise, he had eaten his fill and was leaving the area.

The mosquitoes were starting to get nasty so we decided to call it a day and head for home.

This was at least the third 33 " redfish Karen caught in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

I have got to get a smaller movie camera I can carry with me as I fish. I keep missing some great actions shots.

Maybe for Christmas!

Till next time, Tight Lines!