Another Great Day Fishing The Cold Fronts In December

My wife and I went out earlier than usual Wednesday to enjoy the beautiful weather and catch a few redfish.

We scouted several areas around the Mosquito Lagoon and decided on fishing the Indian River marsh areas where we usually have some success.

The temperature was in the low 70s and there was almost no wind to speak of. The water was like glass in the shallows and in the middle of the river, only a slight chop.

The alligators were out in force sunning themselves on the banks.  This is probably why there were so many visitors in the refuge today.  It looked like "Grand Central" with all the traffic.

I rigged a pencil float on Karen's rod with a 4/0 hook. She was using frozen shrimp while I opted for my favorite beat up Bagley gold spoon.

Because the water was so calm, I didn't really expect to catch many fish, so we slowly drove around Peacocks Pocket road from the first entrance to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge looking for signs of fish activity.

All I spotted were some cute little diving ducks that looked like feeding redfish.

We finally stopped at one of our favorite spots and started fishing.  I started fan casting in deeper water, working my gold Bagley spoon as slowly as possible and Karen cast her shrimp close to a weedy island.

Since a cold front came through the area yesterday when I was fishing Playalinda Beach, I correctly assumed that the water temperature dropped and the fish would start heading for deeper water.

Redfish and sea trout get sluggish during colder weather and don't like to chase after speeding baits.

My strategy was apparently right on because after a few casts, I hooked up to a nice 17" sea trout that I unceremoniously dragged from the marsh canal, just as a man and his dog were walking by.

Bob and his neat dog "Buck" stopped and we chatted a while about fishing the marsh and a couple of other areas I didn't know about.

He said that fishermen were now catching big Black Drum in Haulover Canal at the entrance to the Mosquito Lagoon.

Bob and Buck had walked all the way from the new bridge past where we were fishing and was on his way back when I picked up another sea trout that was a clone to the first one.

The sea trout were holding in deeper water and were viciously nailing the gold spoon on a slow drop.

I caught a couple more fish before we moved on to try a few other areas.

The trout were cooperating but we couldn't find any redfish until we came to "Bobcat Bay".

Karen parked herself at a culvert and tossed out her shrimp bait, while I walked around the bend to fish the Indian River side of the road.

It was getting late and the temperature was dropping. It was in the high 50s before I finally got a hit from a redfish.

The fish nailed my spoon on a slow drop but I missed the strike. Several casts later in the same general area I again had a tap on the spoon.

This time I jerked too soon and missed the fish, but as I quickly reeled in to re-cast, the fish swirled around and hit the spoon a second time. 

This time it hooked itself and took off like a shot but after only a couple of feet, the hook pulled loose.

As the big redfish swam by me only a few feet away in about a foot of water, I could see that it was well over 30" long.

I was going to keep fishing but Karen drove the truck up to where I was and wanted to move.

It was getting really cold and I didn't have my jacket on so we decided to call it a day.

Karen hooked a couple of fish but lost one that swam under a rock and another that made for a stickup and pulled loose.
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For a change we left the refuge early and saw several more gators on the way out.

The sunset this evening was awesome as you can see by the pics below.

 

Till next time, Tight Lines.