Catching Two Redfish At The Same Time

Catching two redfish at the same time is something I have done on occasion and this afternoon was one of those days.

Since Peacocks Pocket road has been closed, my redfish tally hasn't been up to par.  This afternoon was the exception.

After mowing the lawn, I wasn't really in the mood to go fishing this afternoon but I steeled myself and loaded up the car with my cast net , a few rods and some lures.

I didn't plan on being out for long so I went down to East Gator Creek Road and netted few 6 inch finger mullet for bait in case the fish weren't hitting artificial baits.

I drove up to Bio Lab road to see if anyone was doing any good in the area.  I didn't feel like wading the flats in the area so I moved back to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to fish a couple of small ponds located there.

I wasted some time pitching spoons in the shallows and switched to a Heddon Zara Spook Jr. top water plug.

I landed this small sea trout and finally decided to move to another area an fish the mullet.

At my first spot I had a savage bite that tore off most of the body of the live finger mullet.  The line briefly zipped off the casting reel before the fish dropped the bait.  I believe the fish was probably a large sea trout from what was left on the hook.

I packed up the rods and moved to another area I sometimes fish.

There were several redfish busting bait fish on the bank of the pond so I baited up two casting rods with chunks of fresh dead finger mullet and started casting a Chug Bug to the redfish that was busting the shoreline.

I had a couple of follow ups on the artificial lure but no hits but I continued fishing the shoreline until I heard one of the casting rods start clicking away.

I put up the Chug Bug and set the hook on the redfish that hit on the casting rod.

The fish took off into the shallows and went around a small island but I finally managed to land it with my Boca Grip.  As I was trying to grip the fish at the bank without falling in, I heard the click on the other rod start taking off.

The first fat redfish measured in at 27" so I took it's picture and measured it while the click on the other rod was steadily sounding off.

I quickly released the redfish, picked up the camera and Boca Grip and started fighting the fish that was on the other rod.

As soon as I picked up the rod I knew that the fish was a big one.  It was in the middle of the pond and when I put on pressure, it just kept on swimming.

I don't think the fish even knew it was hooked until I started fighting it.  Anyway, I set the camera to video and tried to take pictures of the action as I was fighting the fish with one hand.

If you have never tried this, believe me it's tough.  I was trying to keep the line taught while trying to focus in on the fight.  The results are below for appropriate criticism.  Feel free to comment.

While I was fighting the redfish, a few guys in a red pickup truck stopped and watched me battle the fish for awhile before moving on down the path.  All they said was "pretty good fish".

Anyway, after about a 20 minute battle I finally got the fish to the bank and gripped it on to the bank.

As you can see, the fish was as long as my leg and measured in at just over 35 inches.


I took some pics after measuring the fish and finally released it.

It stayed on it's side for a bit but finally swam off into the deep canal.  I was concerned because of the gators in the area but the fish made it safely.

It was getting late so I packed up my gear and headed for home.

Catching two redfish at the same time gets hectic but it's definitely a blast.

As usual the sunset was awesome.

Till next time, Tight Lines.