Another Productive Gator Trout Fishing Trip

Well what started out as a scouting trip this evening quickly turned out to be another productive gator trout fishing trip.

After a long drive from Georgia, I wasn't really in the mood to go fishing but since it was raining, I knew that the fish in the refuge would probably be in their feeding mode.

I only had about an hour and a half of fishing time available so I quickly packed three rods, my trusty Nikon and Elmo our "wonder dog".

The temperature was 82 degrees and falling as I drove into the refuge and there was almost no wind on the water.

 I stopped at a couple of my favorite spots on the way in and flipped a paddle tail bait around some likely looking grass islands.

I briefly hooked and missed three sea trout before landing an under sized fish which I quickly returned to the water.

I decided to change to a Chug Bug in lieu of the paddle tail bait in order to catch a more respectable size fish.

The next stop produced another undersized sea trout that smacked the "baby bass" patterned Chug Bug.

This time I took it's picture before returning it to the water.

Several casts later produced another fish that was slightly larger.

My next few stops were around some grassy islands where I had caught redfish a couple of weeks ago.

I started casting past the islands into very shallow water and bringing the Chug Bug past the grass in short "hops".

About half way to the edge of the grass I saw a large wake overtaking the Chug Bug.  The fish circled the lure and smashed the bait out of the water.

I thought I lost the fish but it hit again and hooked itself in the mouth and side.

The fish put up a great fight with two long runs up the marsh canal.  I thought I lost it once as it got into some brush alongside the canal but I kept up the pressure on the fish until it moved into open water.

As I got the fish close to the bank, what I initially thought was a redfish turned out to be a huge sea trout.

The fish measured in at just over 28 inches.

I took a few pics and put the female back to grow bigger for my next trip.

It was getting late and the gnats were killing my legs so I moved on up Peacocks Pocket road where I met up with the only other fishermen in the refuge.

Ashford, a young man who frequently fishes the area and his father were casting Chug Bugs into an area where Karen and I frequently catch redfish.

I pulled up to them and asked how they were doing before moving down to one last spot that I planned to fish.

Ashford's dad showed me a picture of a nice fat 25" sea trout that Ashford caught some time ago.  He said he was trying to break the 25" barrier.

I assured him that he would before moving on to fish my last spot.

When I got to my spot, the water was calm as glass and I even though I didn't expect to pick up any fish here I decided to give it one last shot.

It took four casts with my topwater before another big sea trout blasted the Chug Bug.  The fish wasn't as big as the other one but it put up a nice fight before giving up the battle.

I briefly thought about taking the fish home for dinner but I didn't feel like cleaning the trout after dark so I returned it to the water to fight another day.

Elmo was having problems with the bugs and I was getting bitten on my legs by numerous bloodthirsty insects, so we decided to head for home.

Hopefully tomorrow will become another productive gator trout fishing trip.

Till then, Tight Lines.