A Lazy Sunday Night Sport Shrimping

It was a lazy night sport shrimping on the Indian River this evening.

I didn't get a chance to wet a line this weekend and by this evening I was eager to get out of the house and hit the river.

I left the house around 7:30 pm armed with a small spinning rod rigged with an imitation shrimp.

Fifteen minutes later I was on the first fishing pier checking out what the sport shrimpers were catching this evening.

It had been raining all day long and it stopped shortly before I got to the fishing piers.  The air temperature was a pleasant 72 degrees and there was no wind on the water as you can see by the video below.

The lower fishing pier had a few shrimpers and no fishermen on it but the upper pier was more crowded at the shallow end.

I talked to a few shrimpers and to a man they all reported a slow evening.  Several had a few shrimp in their buckets but nobody was limiting out this evening.

The guys said they were averaging a couple of shrimp every ten minutes or so.  For this area it was a pitiful evening.

When I got to the piers an entertainer was singing away on the pavilion and despite the slow shrimping activity, everyone seemed to be having a great time.

I pitched my artificial bait at several sea trout that were hovering over the lights and caught two dinky trout before deciding to give it up.

When the small sea trout are schooling like they were tonight, you can be sure there are no big ones in the area.

I took several shots of the "inaction" and when it started to rain again, I decided to head for home rather than taking a chance of getting the flu, or worse.

Anyway, it was good to get out in the fresh air and enjoy the company of some of the locals.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

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Some Shrimping Action On The Indian River

I decided to hit the pier this evening to see if anyone was getting any shrimping action on the Indian River.

As is my habit, I took along a light action spinning rod tipped with a shrimp imitation to see if I could pick up a sea trout or two.

The fishing piers were relatively uninhabited this evening so I took my rod and my trusty Samsung WB150F camera and headed for the lower pier.

The people close to the sea wall were netting shrimp but they were all medium sized, not the jumbos

that are expected in this area.

There were several schools of under slot sized sea trout chasing shrimp, so I took a short video of the action.

The shrimp that made it past the sea trout were being netted by the guys on the pier.  But from what I saw this evening, the sea trout were winning.

I took a few shots and met up with Glen Best, a fellow fisherman friend who also goes sport shrimping on a regular basis.  That's him to the left.

It turned out that a couple of weeks ago, Glen and his friend were the guys who I briefly spoke with in Catfish Creek Loop.

They were sitting in their truck waiting out the rain when I passed them, and had just doubled up on redfish in the marsh area. 

I stopped and shot the breeze with him a bit about the fishing in the area and how the shrimp were running.

While we were talking, I started pitching the shrimp imitation at some of the sea trout to see if I could pick up a legal size fish.

The more we talked, the more fish I caught.  Unfortunately they were all under the slot.

I took these videos of the fish and the picture of Glen that I promised to put on my site.


I continued catching fish and could have gone all night long, but after an hour or so I decided to head for the house.

I was working all day on remodeling my wife's bathroom and I was dog tired.

It was about 10:45 pm when I left the fishing pier and I was home by eleven.

As I was leaving the pier, I took some shots of the evening's catch.

 


If I finish getting the bathroom prepped and painted tomorrow, I might hit the beach and try for some Spanish mackerel or blues.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

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Weekend Fishing Forecast

This weekend fishing forecast is dedicated to anglers in East Central Florida.

Today, as a new cold front pushes into the Gulf, NOAA’s National Data Buoy Center expects the winds to freshen out of the southeast.

This will result in winds up to 15 mph and seas of 4 to 6 feet.  Not too bad for offshore fishing, especially since the head boats out of Port Canaveral have been reporting nice catches of mangrove snapper, triggerfish, grouper, king mackerel and blackfin tuna up to 20 pounds.

Close to Port Canaveral, nearshore fishermen using live shrimp around the buoys are catching tripletail.

The 40-foot depths around Port Canaveral right now are where you should target redfish.  Some large schools of bull reds have been reported in these depths this past week just outside the Port.

Surf fishermen along the Space Coast using small clams for bait will be catching whiting, pompano, sheepshead and black drum.

Right now the pompano are scattered but roaming the troughs in small schools.  Don't stay in one spot too long.  If you don't start catching fish in a half hour or so move on to the next spot.  Pompano will be in one area one day and move on the next.

According to the guides, the Mosquito Lagoon has been hot during the morning hours between 9:00 and 11:00 am.

Redfish, seatrout and black drum have been cruising the eastern shorlines of the lagoon south of Oak Hill.  Sight casting and drift fishing with weedless lures or live shrimp has been the most productive tactic.

The Indian River Lagoon has been clearing up enough from the summer algae bloom for fishermen to take advantage of the sheepshead fishing around the docks and bridges.  Wade or drift fish with fiddler craps or small shrimp to catch these tasty fish. 

If you're a freshwater fisherman, black crappie fishing on the St. Johns river north of Puzzle Lake is your best bet this weekend.

The most productive method for catching these fish is to slow troll small curly tail grubs on a jighead. Chratreuse, white and yellow are good colors to try first.

A few shad are being caught, but not in great numbers.

I'm heading out to Playalinda to check out the surf.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Skunked By A Cold Front

Well I got skunked by a cold front this afternoon.

I should have known that it was going to be a bad day "catching" when the waterfowl in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge were facing in the same direction.

Anyway, today was the first day all week that I got a chance to wet a line.

I left the house at 1:30 pm and was on the water 15 minutes later.

Since Peacocks Pocket road is closed to vehicle traffic until April of next year, I headed to a couple of spots on Catfish Creek Loop where I intended to dunk some fresh dead baits.

I immediately put out four rods with shrimp, cut clam and chunked ladyfish.

After fifteen minutes with no action, I started casting a gold Johnson's Sprite to see if I could stir up a follow or a fish.

This also didn't produce any action, so I started tossing a Chug Bug, a Zara Spook Jr. and several types of plastic baits.

After an hour I still had no bites but I decided to stick it out despite the lack of action.

I watched as these guys motored into the shallow cove from the boat launch but after spying on them for another half hour or so, I realized that they too were not getting any action.


They were casting the shoreline with something I couldn't make out.

I pulled out my trusty Samsung 18x camera and started taking pictures of the scenery and the waterfowl.

 

 

As I was putting the camera away, a Sheriff came by and we talked about the lousy fishing.

He told me that I was the only guy he saw fishing this area and on the main causeway nobody seemed to be catching anything.  He too attributed the bad fishing to the upcoming cold front.

After two hours very slowly rolled by, I decided to admit defeat and call it a day.

I pulled in my baits, packed up my rods and headed home.

On the way out I passed several fishermen enjoying the day but not catching any fish.

I decided to take East Gator Creek out of the refuge to see if I could spot and fish there but the shallow area was a dead calm with nothing moving around that I could see.

When I hit the main causeway, I called my sister in Allentown to wish her a happy birthday and whine about being skunked by a cold front.

Until next time,

Tight Lines. 

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Reds Along The Causeway

The reds along the causeway have been hitting cut baits, according to several contributors to this site.

Ed Stewart emailed me this report on 12/9 and picked up these fish the previous  Sunday morning, Wednesday night and Friday night.

The three reds he caught measured in at 38", 27" and 24" . 

All the fish were all caught on cut ladyfish along the Northeast and Southeast sides of the SR 406 causeway, past the new bridge.

I usually pass up this area because of all the jet skiers and para-sailers,  but

several other readers fish the area and always seem to catch fish.

Ed's catch is proof that you don't need a boat in our area to catch big reds unless you choose to fish the Mosquito Lagoon.

I do know that the stretch just past the Marine Patrol station up to the Refuge sign is a great place to set up and wait for cruising reds.

Since Peacocks Pocket road is closed until April, I may have to trade in my artificial lures for some shrimp and cut bait.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.

Thanks for the report Ed!

Weekend Fishing Blues

Didn't get a chance to any fishing until late Saturday afternoon and then only for a couple of hours.

The weather was great but the fish weren't cooperating worth a hoot.

I planned to fish artificials but stopped by the local bait shop and picked up some fresh dead shrimp to use as a backup.

The guy at the bait shop said that a couple of guys fishing Playalinda Beach came in with a report of catching several Spanish mackerel, a couple of Pompano and a "ton" of blues.  He said nobody had given a good report on catching redfish.

Since Peacocks Pocket road is closed for the season and I didn't want to stay away from the house too long to hit the beach, I drove through East Gator Creek road and around Catfish Creek loop to see if anything was going on.

At the barrier to Peacocks Pocket road, I spotted a small school of black drum but they were well out of casting range.  I wasted about a half an hour hoping for a bit on some dead shrimp but nothing was taking.

I continued down Catfish Creek loop and fished several likely looking areas with no success.

I finally stopped at a small pond where a couple of guys last week caught some reds.  I flipped out three baits and started casting a small Creme paddle tail swimbait around.

After about an hour, an old fishing friend of mine drove up and we chatted a bit about the fishing and an accident he recently had in Orlando. 

He was rear ended, sandwiched between a bus and was lucky to still be with us. 

He took a video of me landing a redfish last year in an area where he had been catching some black drum, but this afternoon he was having no luck.  

We parted ways and after about another 15 minutes or so I decided to pack it in and head home to see how my wife was feeling.

She is still recuperating from surgery but doing much better than she was.

I took some pics of the awesome sunset as I was leaving the refuge. 

Hope you enjoy.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Sport Shrimping Post Thanksgiving Day

Sport shrimping on the Indian River this evening was pretty much only for the hardier types.

Thanksgiving Day is usually when sport shrimping picks up in this area.  At least in previous years that was the trend.

This evening was the first time in quite a while that I bothered visiting the two fishing piers on the river.

It was around 8:30 pm when I drove down to the bridge and it was extremely foggy.  The air temperature was 65 degrees, there was a fine misty rain falling and there was the usual breeze blowing over the Indian River.  Perfect pneumonia weather!

The band that was playing at the Pavilion earlier had already gone home and there were only a few vehicles in the parking areas.

The lower fishing pier was somewhat crowded, but the upper pier had only three people shrimping this evening.

Lower Fishing Pier

Upper Fishing Pier

 I talked to several people who were shrimping on the lower pier and most of the shrimpers had only a few medium size shrimp in their nets.  Nobody had a 5 gallon bucket limit.

I took a few pics of the area and proceeded to the upper fishing pier to see if they were doing any better.

The first guy I spoke with (below) was a "snow bird" who told me the shrimp were not running this evening.  Despite his report, I noted that he and his buddy had at least a couple dozen shrimp in their nets.

The folks shrimping next to him had done better.  They had at least two dozen shrimp each and were still netting them up as I was preparing to head for the comfort of the hacienda.

 




I took a few more pics before leaving and on the way home noted that the air temperature had dropped a couple of degrees.  Definitely a front moving in.

Perhaps that's why the sport shrimping this evening wasn't up to par.

In any event, I'll try to hit the area again in a few days for another report.

Till then,

Tight Lines and Heavy Nets.

Post Thanksgiving Day Fishing On The Indian River

Thanksgiving Day was bleak and post Thanksgiving Day fishing was almost as bad.

I've been taking care of my wife for the past few days so I haven't been able to do any fishing however, this afternoon I took a couple hour break to scoot around Catfish Creek on the Indian River to see if I could stir up a bite or two.

I entered the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge via East Gator Creek road to see if there was any action in the shallows.

The wind was blowing steady and the air temperature was dropping from 79 degrees as I entered to 65 degrees when I left the area.

There was a front coming trough and it started raining as I entered Catfish Creek Loop.

Today I only brought along three rods.  One with a DOA Shrimp, one with a Nemeire Red Ripper gold spoon and one with a Carolina rigged jerk bait.

The majority of the time I fished with the Red Ripper spoon to try and locate some fish.  Unfortunately I had no takers so I changed over to the jerk bait.

After several casts to likely looking spots with that bait I realized if there were any fish in the area, they were not hitting minnow imitations.

When I spotted a small school of black drum in the area below, I finally changed over to the root beer colored D.O.A. Shrimp Lure smeared up with some shrimp scented Pro-Cure .

After several casts I finally got a hit and lost either a drum or a redfish.  The fish nailed the bait but I snatched the bait away from it before it was solidly hooked.

I made several more half hearted casts to the general area not really expecting anything but to my surprise I hooked up to nice oversize redfish.

At first I thought I had a snag but the fish started it's run and kept on going.  I thought it was a big drum but after several runs I finally got it close enough to see it was a big red.

I got the Boca Grip from the truck as I was fighting the fish and finally lipped the red onto the bank.

The Stanley tape put the fish right at 32".

I quickly released the red just as it started to rain again.  It started as a light mist and gradually got to pneumonia like weather.

I decided that one fish was enough so I headed out of Catfish Creek and came upon these two fishermen.

They were sitting in their truck waiting out the rain and had set out at least four rods.

I asked them how they were doing and they said they just had a double header.  The one guy said he caught a 25 incher and the other a 27 1/2 inch fish.

When I asked about what bait they were using, he told me they were using the shrimp they caught last night on the fishing pier.

Evidently the shrimp are finally running.

Anyway, I took a few pics of the nasty weather and headed home to see how my wife Karen was doing.

The pain pills she was taking pretty much knocked her out but I didn't want to leave the house too long.

Hopefully, after she gets well we can go out with a pail of shrimp and nail a few more.

Shrimp is the bait of choice right now for almost everything.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Seasonal Road Closure

The annual Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge seasonal road closure is now apparently in effect.

After my Doctor's appointment this afternoon, I decided to wet a line in the refuge however, as I meandered up to Peacocks Pocket road, I was greeted with the closure notification below.

Peacocks Pocket road will be closed from November 1st thru February 15th of next year to vehicle traffic.

I guess I'm going to have to either start walking in earnest or find another mode of transportation to get into my favorite winter fishing holes.

From my conversations with a couple of wildlife management officers, I learned that the closure coincides with the waterfowl hunting season.

Years ago there was no closure however, someone who had a few bird shot pellets land on them complained and now the area is closed for everyone.

In any event, I fished the Indian River and marsh areas around Catfish Creek Loop hoping for a redfish.

During the time I fished Catfish Creek Loop,  I saw a small school of black drum feeding in the shallow marsh area and two redfish that obviously had a case of lockjaw.

I started fishing with a topwater Chug Bug but had no takers or follow ups, so I switched over to a Johnson's Sprite and a Gold Neimire Red Ripper spoon.  Both pieces of hardware didn't produce anything either.

Evidently the fish were either not in the area, or they were feeding on crustaceans.  I suspect the latter.

There was a slight wind was coming out of the east this evening and the air temperature was in the high 70s and dropping as I decided to leave the area. The gnats and mosquitoes were out in full force and I forgot my insect repellent, so fishing became a torturous endeavor and not much fun.

I did manage to get some nice pics of the area before calling it a day. 

 

 

On the way out, I decided to drive through East Gator Creek road.  I saw some topwater action just at dusk and missed two sea trout on the Chug Bug.  Both fish were short strikers.

Except for those two fish, it remained an unproductive trip but it was still great to get out in the air and enoy the great scenery.

The sunset was awesome as usual.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Gloomy Day In The Wildlife Refuge

Saturday turned out to be a rather gloomy day in the wildlife refuge for Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River fishing but despite the inclement weather, I still opted for a short fishing trip around Peacocks Pocket road.

I left the house around 3:30 pm and it was drizzling as I crossed the bridge over the Indian River.

There were several bank fishermen along both sides of the causeway road fishing with cut baits and live finger mullet.  Most of them had at least three rod holders set for reds and as I passed, nobody seemed to be catching anything.

As I was driving down Peacocks Pocket road looking for actively feeding redfish, I spotted several very large gators along the bank.

Since the air temperature was 72 degrees, I really didn't expect them to be as active as they were this afternoon but I spotted at least half a dozen during my trip.

I brought along four rods tied with a Red Ripper spoon, a Chug Bug, a Heddon Zara Spook Jr. and a purple tube bait I decided to try out just for the hell of it.

A guide in Savannah, Ga. told me he kills reds in the shallows with this setup so I bought the Bass Pro Shops Bargain Tube Kit 45-Piece set and smeared some Pro-Cure Inshore Saltwater formula into the tube to mimic a crab crawling around in the weeds.

Bass Pro Shops 67-Piece Tournament Series Jig Kit is also supposed to work for redfish when they are targeting crustaceans in the grass but I haven't yet tried them.

I knew from last week's trip that the reds are targeting crabs and shrimp in the grass, but because I left the house in a hurry, I neglected to bring along any fresh dead shrimp.

As it turned out, I probably should have stopped at one of the local bait ships to get some.

Other than just a couple other die hard bank fishermen, there was not much vehicle traffic along the road.  A few guys were leaving the area as the rain started picking up, but other than that it was a gloomy day in the wildlife refuge for sure.

After blind casting to several spots that I normally fish, I quickly realized that today was probably going to be a "live bait" day.

I had a slot redfish hit the gold Nemire Red Ripper Spoon Lures in a shallow weedy area and missed a small sea trout on the Heddon Zara Spook Jr. topwater bait in another shallow marsh area.

Other than those two misses, I remained fishless for the afternoon.

Normally, I love to fish the fronts especially when there is a tolerable rain falling on the surface of the water but this afternoon, the fish just weren't hitting any of my baits.

As I was moving to another spot, I stopped about midway up Peacocks Pocket road and asked some bank fishermen how they were doing.

They said they caught a black drum and a small redfish both on shrimp on the river side of the road.

I wished them good luck and moved on up the road to fish "bobcat bay" on the Indian River side.

After many blind casts to likely looking spots with no takers, I decided to head for home.   The rain was beginning to beat down harder, it was getting late and a bit chilly.

As I was slowly driving up to the double culverts near the shallow water canoe launch, I saw two waders plodding their way out of the shallow marsh area where they were fishing.

I slowed down and yelled to them that there are some really big gators in that immediate area.  By big, I mean in the 10 foot category.

When I asked them if they caught anything, they said they were fishing with Cajun Thunder floats and live shrimp but had no fish.  They said "they were definitely out there" but were not hitting anything.

I didn't bother to watch and see if they made it across the deeper marsh canal without being eaten.  Instead, I called my wife and asked her if she wanted a SubWay sub for dinner.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

A Day At The Beach

After having a terrible day fishing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge yesterday, I opted for a day at the beach today.

My wife went horseback riding this afternoon so I packed up some rods and headed for Playalinda Beach to see if anyone was having any luck in the surf.

I wasn't expecting much because of the windy conditions but I decided to scout out the area anyway.


When drove up to the entrance to the beach, I asked the ranger if anyone was catching any fish today and as usual they were clueless.

It was high tide when I turned the corner to the first parking area and as I stated, there was a brisk wind whipping up the surf.

 

I stopped at parking lots #4, #8, #9 and #10 to see how the surf fishermen were making out and at every stop I found that nobody was catching any fish.

The heavy surf was pushing up literally tons of seaweed onto the beach and every surf fisherman I spoke with was pulling in more seaweed than fish.

The only fish I saw being caught were a couple of mediocre whiting

and a small pompano that flipped off due to the load of seaweed on the guy's line as he was trying to land the fish.

I took a few dozen pics and decided to see if anyone was doing any better at Eddy Creek.

When I pulled into the turnaround, there were several fishermen around the boat launch and more on the fishing pier. 

A few guys were pulling in fish but nothing spectacular so I decided to fish Peacocks Pocket road via Bio Lab road.

As I drove through Bio Lab road, I stopped at several likely looking areas to pitch a Red Ripper spoon around.  I had one hit but missed the fish, whatever it was.

There were a couple of hardy souls braving the wind fishing the Whale Tail but other than that the Mosquito Lagoon was relatively free of fishermen.

 

When I finally entered Peacocks Pocket road, it was getting late.  The air temperature was 73 degrees and the wind was still blowing from the northeast.

I fished several spots with a gold Red Ripper and a silver and black Chug Bug.

There was zero interest in the Chug Bug and I missed two reds in the grass.  The last red that I hooked took my gold Red Ripper.

As it neared dusk, I decided to call it a day early and head for home.

On the way out of the refuge, I spotted several bank fishermen dunking shrimp and finger mullet.

As I was driving past them, I saw a lone porpoise chasing redfish almost on the bank where the fishermen had their lines set.

I stopped and took this video of the action as the big porpoise was rounding up a redfish dinner.


Sorry about the quality but it was almost dark.

It has been a tough weekend for fishing.  Almost everyone I encountered was having difficulty catching fish but, that's why they call it fishing and not catching!

Till next time, Tight Lines.

An Unproductive Afternoon In The Marsh

Well, it turned out to be a very unproductive afternoon in the marsh.

I didn't get to go fishing today until around 4:00 pm and the weather was beautiful.

The air temperature was in the low 80s and there was only a hint of a breeze over the Indian River and marsh areas of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

I was hoping for a couple of redfish this afternoon, but as it turned out, I got skunked!

The baits of choice this afternoon were a topwater Chug Bug, a gold
Nemire Red Ripper Spoon Lure, and a DOA CAL jerkbait.

For the most part I concentrated on fishing likely looking spots in the grassy areas with the Nemire spoon but there were no telltale signs of fish today anywhere.

All the time I was out on Peacocks Pocket road I never saw a tailing red or any fish busting baits of any type.

I fished hard and several vehicles passed me by but there were only two other people fishing the area other than myself.

As I was flipping my Red Ripper into a likely looking area in the marsh, a wildlife ranger drove up to watch me fish.

I walked over to talk to him about the conditions and he told me that nobody today was catching any fish.

He wished me luck as he departed and I continued casting until it started getting dark and the mosquitoes became unbearable.

As I was driving out of Peacocks Pocket road, I saw a couple of fishermen in their truck getting ready to leave the refuge.

I stopped to ask if they were doing any good and they told me that they caught only one small sea trout but the other guy landed a 31" redfish on a DOA shrimp.  In fact the wildlife ranger even netted the fish for the guy.

The spot where he caught the red was the same area where I picked up a couple of reds last weekend.

I knew I should have started fishing from the other end of Peacocks Pocket road!

 

Anyway, the scenery was awesome as usual and tomorrow is another day plus,  my wife wants to come along.

Till then, Tight Lines!