Late Start Fishing

Got a late start fishing today but in only a half an hour managed to pick up a couple nice sea trout and miss a very nice over sized redfish.

Marsh fishing is always a matter of timing and when fishing from land, you also need to mix it up with some skill and a good portion of luck.

The air temperature today was in the low 90s but it felt hotter with very little wind to cool things down.

Because of the rains this past week, the salinity of the water in the marsh changed more than usual and the fish were feeding in areas that were submerged earlier in the month.

I got to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge around 7:00 pm and the thermometer still registered 84 degrees.

I only saw two other bank fishermen and a couple of wade fishermen near the Peacocks Pocket kayak launch all the time I was out fishing.  Only the wade fishermen seemed to be connecting and they were using live shrimp for bait.

The water in the marsh was like glass in most areas and the fish were skittish.

I only brought one rod this evening which was tipped with a Fire Tiger paddle tail bait that I have been catching most of my fish with lately.

I only fished three areas this evening and all my fish were caught just at dusk.

I was getting taps from small sea trout in the first spot but nothing of any consequence so I moved up to a hole where I was sure there would be some fish.

My second cast with the Fire Tiger bait hooked me up with the sea trout to the left.

Two casts later and I picked up another clone to the first fish.

I released both fish and moved up to the last spot I was going to fish this evening which was at a small pond which opens up to the marsh canal.

After several casts and a couple hits from small sea trout, I was just going to call it a day when I picked up this slot size sea trout in the grass.

Again I released the fish and because it was getting dark I decided to make one last cast into another shallow grassy area where I thought I saw a swirl.

The Fire Tiger paddle tail bait didn't move over a yard before a nice fat over size redfish hit the bait and started off down the canal.

The fish caught me by surprise and because my drag was set super light for the sea trout I was catching, the redfish felt the resistance and dropped the lure after a brief run.

I couldn't believe I missed the red but that's part of the fishing experience.  Sometimes you land them and sometimes the one that got away is the best fish of the day.

From experience, I've learned to use 10# or lighter mono and a slightly heavier fluorocarbon leader with the drag set extra light when fishing for sea trout.

A light action rod with this setup will also land you more fish. 

Although this setup is just the ticket for a sea trout's paper thin mouth, it isn't my preference for the tougher mouth of a redfish, and today's missed fish is the reason.  It's harder to set the hook.

Anyway after losing the redfish, the gnats and mosquitoes were starting to draw more blood from me than I cared to lose, so I decided to head for home .

On a lark as I was crossing the bridge I decided to stop and check out the fishing pier to see if anyone was doing anything with the shrimping.

I walked both the upper and lower piers and as I expected saw that only a few shrimp were being caught.

More than anything else, people were dipping out small blue crabs as they were drifting by.

Personally, I would use them for bait.  They're killer on big reds.

Anyway, even though I got a late start fishing I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and the sunset

Till next time, Tight Lines.