The Indian River Bite Is On

The Indian River bite is on and the fish are nice and fat from feeding on bait fish that have been pouring into both lagoons.

My wife was working on a stained glass project today and I had a bunch of chores to take care of around the house so I couldn't get out until 4:30 pm or so.

After Karen decided not to go, I quickly loaded three rods and headed for Peacocks Pocket road.

I decided to enter via the easternmost road to see what the guys in the kayaks and canoes were doing, if anything.

I got to the unimproved launch ramp just as the angler in the picture below was pulling up from an afternoons fishing trip.

He told me that the river was boiling with redfish and big gator sea trout.

He said he caught around 40 sea trout and a few redfish all on Gulp scented baits.

I noticed that there were also several anglers wading in the general area where he said he caught the fish so I had no reason to doubt his voracity.

 

With the good news under my belt, I decided to see what was happening in the marsh areas.

The first two stops I made were fruitless but the third area I pulled up to was loaded with hungry redfish.

I noticed some wakes in the very shallow waters so I started casting a silver diamond spoon to them that my wife gave me for my birthday.

The second cast hooked me up with a nice two foot long redfish.  It made several runs before pulling off just at the bank.

The hooks on the spoon had narrow gaps, so I changed over to my favorite gold Bagley spoon a size larger.

The second cast hooked me up with another redfish that looked to be a bit larger than the first one.

I wanted to get a picture of the fish for the website so like a novice fisherman, I horsed it and pulled out the treble hook.

The fish took off like a shot into a large shallow pond leaving a large wake behind.

I waited a few minutes for the area to settle down a bit before fishing again.

I decided to change rods and chose a green Creme paddletail swim bait to see if I could nail a trout or two.

Instead of a sea trout, my second cast hooked me up to the redfish pictured below.   

 

This time I took my time and fought the fish until it tired enough for me to lip it.  

It took a good ten minutes before I got the fish out of the water for the shot.

I released the fat red which was just over the slot at 28" and continued pitching the Creme paddle tail bait.  

To make a long story short, I managed to hook up with six more redfish in the next hour and landed two more.  

All the fish landed today were between 25" and 30" and all of them were fat as hogs from feeding on finger mullet.

About this time I was really wishing that Karen was here to take some videos for YouTube but it was wishful thinking.

I continued hooking fish until just before sunset.   

The mosquitoes started getting to me and I was ready to go home and eat dinner.

Next week if everything goes as planned, I hope to take the Gheenoe out and hit the flats for some gator sea trout.

Hope the Indian River bite is on again in the same area.

Till next time, 

Tight Lines.