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.