Peacocks Pocket Redfishing

Peacocks Pocket redfishing this time of the year is really "iffy".

The weather has a lot to do with where the fish are, when they bite and if they bite.

My wife and I didn't get a chance to go fishing this afternoon until well after 3:00 p.m.

After I finished a couple of projects around the house, we packed up Elmo our "wonder dog" and several spinning rods loaded with a variety of artificial baits and headed for the "swamp" looking for redfish.

Karen was having a hard time casting with her old rod, so I picked up an "Ugly Stick" for her and mated it up with her old Okuma Coronado Saltwater Spinning Reel - Model CD-40A .

She was fishing fresh defrosted jumbo shrimp underneath a Precision Tackle Cajun Thunder Float - Green - Terminalrig.

Since just about everyone was waiting to watch the Daytona NASCAR race, we pretty much had the entire area to ourselves.

The only traffic in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was from visitors enjoying the waterfowl and alligators.

We didn't see a single person today fishing the refuge.

The temperature was 68 degrees and the weather was balmy. It looked like rain but except for a few drops, it never happened.

We spotted several gators, lots of spoonbills, a flock of white pelicans and the usual array of waterfowl that is indigenous to the area.

I took a few pics of this gator which had to be at least nine feel long.

Since we got to the refuge late, we only fished a couple of areas where Karen could dunk her shrimp and have a chance of picking up a red.

I walked the unimproved road casting a variety of lures and only had two strikes all the time we were out.

I tried my Bagly gold spoon, a Johnson gold spoon, a curly tail grub, a top water Zara Spook Jr. and even a D.O.A.Terroreyz with no luck.

I spotted five redfish and a few smaller trout but they just weren't interested in what I was throwing at them.

We moved to what was to be our last stop of the day; a place we call "bobcat bay".

I fished all six rods and never got a hit.

Karen tossed out her rig into a small cove and fished almost until dark with only a hit from a small trout.

As we were about to leave, she wanted to try the "swamp" side with a last ditch effort. And, it paid off!

I was walking back to the truck from a culvert I was fishing when I heard hear yell that she was hooked up to a nice red.

I pulled the Boca Grip from the dash of the truck and after a brief fight, lipped the redfish onto the bank. The water was under a foot deep and the fish couldn't put up much of a battle.

 

Karen spotted the fish's wake coming down the marsh canal and flipped the shrimp to the middle of the canal.

She said the redfish veered off it's path to eat the shrimp.

I took the 5/0 hook out of the fish's mouth and measured it to see if it was legal.  With a pinched tail, it measured in at just over 29" so I released it to fight another day.

Like I said, Peacocks Pocket redfishing can be "iffy" but today was Karen's day.

It's been a long dry spell for her.

Maybe next week it will be my turn.

Till then, Tight Lines!

Windboarding and Windsurfing the Indian River Lagoon

Today was a great day for Windboarding and Windsurfing the Indian River Lagoon.  Not so great for fishing!

I've been going nuts with my Internet service provider and Google trying to clean up two of my websites which were hacked into last week.  Every time I clean the site and databases, the hacker gets back in and screws everything up again.

Anyway, I had to get out of the house and go fishing despite the windy conditions.

The windboarders and windsurfers were having a blast on the north side of the Indian River lagoon as you can see by the video below.

I was going to take out my flats boat this morning but the wind killed that idea, so I packed three of my rods and headed for the refuge.

As soon as I crossed the bridge I knew it was going to be a challenging day fishing!

Since it was already about 3:30 pm before I got out, I headed for the closest area and headed for a couple of sheltered spots in the marsh canals.

There were a surprising number of visitors enjoying the birds and gators.

When the roseate spoonbills are in the marsh, everybody gets into taking pictures.  Who can blame them!  They are beautiful birds.

I started out casting my favorite gold Bagley spoon but soon gave up on it.

The spoon was too light and just skipped over the surface with the majority of retrieves.

I changed over to a D.O.A. TerrorEyz Fishing Lure - 3" - Clear Gold Black - Lures that I use when I take the boat out.  The lure is deadly to sea trout and moderately effective on reds.

I had several "taps" but no hookups until I hit a calm spot next to a small pond area.

My first cast with the Terroreyz got blasted by a ladyfish that thought it was a tarpon.

The fish tore up and down the narrow canal and got tangled in the brush twice before I finally landed the fish.

I took it's picture and released the fish to grow a little bit bigger.  You normally don't catch them that big in the canals.

 

A couple of fishermen in a pickup stopped to ask me how I was doing as they were passing me.

When I asked them how they were making out, they said they caught around 30 sea trout on plastic jigs on the Indian River side of the road near the culverts at Peacocks Pocket kayak launch.

I didn't believe a word of what they said and continued fishing the areas I knew were productive.

The area that they mentioned is good for sea trout but with the wind coming in from the direction it was, the fish would be farther out.

I spotted two redfish tailing but they weren't interested in any of my baits.  I missed two more sea trout and finally gave up on the idea of catching a redfish today.

I was wearing shorts and the temperature was an actual 62 degrees but it felt much colder in the wind.

I took some pictures of the roseate spoonbills and a large gator before I decided to get back to the house and continue deleting infected files from my website folders.

 

I'd love to get my hands around the ass*** who did the deed!

Anyway, the windy conditions made windboarding and windsurfing the Indian River Lagoon a great day for a lot of wet suited people today.

 Till next time.  Tight Lines.

Wildlife Photography Outing

Saturday's wildlife photography outing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge proved to be much more successful than our goal of catching a monster redfish or gator sea trout.

Karen and I left for the refuge around 3:30 pm but didn't start fishing until a little after 4:00.
This afternoon there was a substantial amount of visitor traffic in the refuge.

The roseatte spoonbills are starting to fly in from their migratory routes and everyone with a camera loves taking pictures of them as they are feed with their heads moving side to side in the shallow marsh areas.

This short video below shows you what I mean.

Despite the traffic, I decided to at least try and catch something, so I started blind casting with my favorite beat up Bagley gold spoon.

I bought Karen a new Ugly Stick from Wallmart and mated it up with an Okuma bait runner reel and some 10# Cajun line.

She was using jumbo frozen shrimp with a Cajun Thunder clacker float and a 5/0 Owner hook.

I wasn't sure how the rod would work out but Karen liked the setup and could cast a country mile with the float.

For the sake of brevity, we fished until dusk without any substantial results.

I gave up on my gold spoon and switched to a topwater Zara Spook Jr. which attracted some sea trout that couldn't figure out how to get themselves hooked!

The fish kept hitting the bait out of the water but I couldn't hook up with one.

Karen and I spotted several tailing redfish that were in very shallow water but they were having nothing to do with her shrimp or my plug.

We spotted several wade fishermen in the Indian River side of Peacocks Pocket road, but they didn't seem to be doing much.

The temperature was in the high 70s and the wind was minimal making for a beautiful afternoon in the swamp.

Although we didn't do as well as we normally do, it was great just to get out with Elmo and enjoy the day.

Wildlife photography outings in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge this time of year always provide plenty of opportunities for amateurs and professionals.

Another Beautiful Sunset

I was hoping to get in some fishing this afternoon but the wind was too brisk for my taste.

I would up spending most of the day on the computer deleting the content of some of my websites trying to find the malware that got my 1&1 webspace locked up.

I have hackers!

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Fishing The Marsh Canals Looking For Redfish

When I hit the Indian River marsh canals looking for redfish this evening, the temperature was a pleasant 71 degrees and the water was flat as a mirror in most areas.  There was almost no wind blowing at all.

As soon as I got home from work, I packed three rods into the truck and headed for the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge marsh canals.

I started blind casting several likely looking spots with my Bagley gold spoon at the first brackish water pond and got a hit from a small redfish on my second cast.

There was a large redfish on the other side of the pond busting baitfish right up onto the bank, but it was well out of range of my spinning rod.

After about 15 minutes of fruitless casting with the spoon, I selected a Zara Spook Jr. top water plug on my other rod and started casting to likely looking spots as I walked up the unimproved road.

There was a slight drizzle of rain which got the fish moving around a bit.

I was getting tired of "walking the dog" and was just about ready to go back to my gold spoon when a gator sea trout of about 30" exploded on the top water bait.

The strike surprised the hell out of me and knocked the plug at least two feet out of the water.

Needless to say, I didn't hook up with the fish and after another dozen or so casts I decided to move on before it started to get dark.

I passed several gators in the water looking for an easy meal.

A couple of them were in the 9 foot range.  Good reason never to wade in the marsh canals.

The next stop was about a hundred yards up the road at another shallow pond where I managed to hook up with two slot sized sea trout and missed three more, all on the top water plug.

Despite the glass calm water, the fish got turned on by the "walk the dog" action.

It was getting dark so I decided to head for home.

On the way out of the refuge, I tried one last spot where I saw a swirl near the bank.

I wasn't sure if it was finger mullet, a sea trout or a redfish but I decided to give it a try anyway.

I pitched the plug to the opposite bank right on top of the damn fish.  It looked like a slot size red as it turned around on the bait and nailed it with it's nose.

Frustrated with my stupidity casting directly on top of a fish, I decided to head for home.

 Anyway, it started raining again which gave me a good excuse to leave.

If I get all my work done tomorrow, I'll be either out in the Maverick or in the marsh canals looking for redfish.

Till then,

Tight Lines.

Fishing The Marsh Canals Before A Cold Front

Fishing the marsh canals before a cold front will usually provide you with some fast action if you can handle the windy conditions that normally accompany them.

When I heard weather man forecasting 37 degree temperatures or less for tomorrow morning, I decided to go fishing.

My wife doesn't like to fish in the wind, so she decided to work on her stained glass projects instead of tagging along with me.

I loaded four rods into the back of my truck and took off for Peacocks Pocket road.

Today was very windy in the northern Indian River lagoon and the wind surfers, donned with wet suits were out in force.

I don't particularly like fishing in extremely windy conditions but from past experience I've learned that fishing the marsh canals before a cold front can lead to some great catches.

The air temperature was 63 degrees at 4:30 this afternoon and the alligators were out in force on the banks sunning themselves.

 






Today was a perfect day for wildlife photography.  A few early Roseatte Spoonbills were feeding in  the marsh along with the Ibis, herons, egrets and usual array of ducks and mud hens.

 On the way into Peacocks Pocket before Catfish Creek loop, I spotted a huge redfish blasting baitfish along the opposite bank of a shallow pond that usually provides some decent sea trout fishing.

I tried a top water "Gold Sardine" color Heddon Saltwater Super Zara Spook Jr. and a gold spoon with no results.  The fish just kept cruising the shoreline blasting baitfish when it came up on them.

I moved on to "jump fish" several other areas casting as best I could.  It was hard to detect a strike and I think I missed at least two fish before hooking up with a nice 27" redfish across from a spot my wife and I call "snook point".

The wind was pushing water around a small island into the marsh canal where the water looked like it was roiling.

It turned out to be a small school of redfish.

I pitched my favorite gold Bagley spoon to the opposite bank and slowly retrieved it just off the bottom.  It didn't go more than six feet before the redfish below nailed it.

 

The fish put up a decent battle for it's size before I landed it, took it's picture and released it to fight another day.

A couple in a pickup truck drove up just as I was unhooking the redfish.  When I asked them if they had any luck, the man said he didn't bring his rod along but that he had caught reds just up from where I bagged this fish.

I bid them good day and after several more casts briefly hooked another redfish before it shook the spoon off.

I really need to sharpen those damn hooks!

Anyway, it was getting chilly so I decided to pack it in for the day.

With any kind of luck if it's not too cold tomorrow I plan on giving it another shot.

If you've never tried fishing the marsh canals before a cold front, you could be missing out on some great fishing opportunities.

Till next time; Tight Lines!

Boynton Inlet Fishing

Boynton Inlet was on the agenda for Saturday, so I tried to get some fishing in on Friday evening after driving home from Vidalia, Ga.

On Friday evening, it was almost dark when I got home from work, so my wife and I didn't get much fishing time in.

We hit two spots about half way through Peacocks Pocket road, but it was really too windy to do any serious fishing.

Karen was using dead shrimp for bait and I spent my time casting a beat up Bagley gold spoon into the wind at both stops.

I missed two sea trout both in the marsh canal and saw one redfish that spooked when I made a bad cast on top of it's head.

Karen missed a couple of sea trout at the same spot, but the wind was so brisk that she really couldn't tell when the fish were biting.

 Saturday, we planned to drive down to Ft. Lauderdale and pick up some much needed Koi food from a wholesaler friend of mine so Karen and I decided to get a hot and ready Pizza for dinner and head for home.

After picking up three cases of Koi pellets, we decided to stop by Boynton Inlet to see if anyone was catching snook or snapper off the pier.

 

The waves and wind made fishing from the long pier a challenge which is probably why there were hardly any fishermen around. 

 



 The short pier had a few guys trying for snapper but from what I could see, no one was doing any real catching.

I took some pics and this short video showing why the fishermen were AWOL.

We didn't get home early enough to get to do any fishing this evening but hopefully tomorrow I'll remedy the situation.

Till next time, tight lines.