Windy Fishing Weekends

It seems like windy fishing weekends are the norm this time of the year.

I got home from work late on Friday and didn't get a chance to do any serious fishing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge however, I did manage to ride around the area before sunset to see if anyone was catching fish.

On Friday evening there was a lot of vehicle traffic and only a few fishermen.  The weather was breezy and the air temperature was in the 70s.  No one seemed to be catching anything other than ladyfish and cats.

I spotted several trout hitting the surface and a couple of oversized redfish in a small pond busting baitfish just at dusk but nothing was hitting any of my baits.

I was hoping to get out early today but unfortunately I had to work around the house and mow the lawn.  I didn't get out  to the river until around 4:30 pm but the weather was great.

The air temperature was 85 when I drove into the most eastern entrance to Peacocks Pocket road and there was hardly any wind on the water.

I brought along three rods this afternoon tipped with a gold Johnson Sprite spoon, a small Creme paddle tail bait and a Gabbie soft bait that proved to be a winner last weekend.

The marsh ponds and canals were calm as was the Indian River so I decided to start pitching the Gabbie first.

After several unfruitful casts I noticed that the fish were chasing small baitfish on the surface, so I tied on a small Heddon Zara Puppy Foxy Shad topwater bait to see if that would get a hit.

After several casts to where I saw fish busting baitfish, I finally got a small sea trout which I promptly released.

The fish was under size, but it was a fish.....

I drove slowly along Pocket road looking for signs of fish and noticed some guys catching fish on the Indian River side so I pulled out my trusty camera and started taking pics of the action.

The one fisherman picked up a nice ladyfish while the other guy was fighting a slot redfish.
Both of the fish were caught on shrimp.

I took this brief video of the catch with my trusty Nikon Coolpix and moved on up the road hoping to duplicate their success.

I concentrated on fishing the mouths of the small ponds that emptied into the marsh canal hoping for a redfish or a big sea trout.

After casting to several spots I finally picked up a keeper sea trout that measured in at 23".  The fish creamed the Zara Puppy after following it up the canal.  I guess it just couldn't resist the "walk the dog" retrieve.

I released the trout and continued to an area where I picked up redfish a few weeks ago.

Several more casts into the area finally produced another keeper sea trout that looked like a clone to the first fish.

 

I unhooked the bait and released the fish to fight another day.

It was getting dark so I decided to call it a day and head for home.

On the way out of the refuge, I met up with Craig and Mary at the same spot where she caught a nice sea trout last November.  I guess they were hoping to duplicate the catch, anyway Craig said the fishing so far had been "crappy".

He had been fishing a Chug Bug with no luck, but he said a fish hit Mary's bobber as she was casting a shrimp to a spot in the marsh canal.  There are definitely some big fish in the area.

I told him about my trout before heading for home.

Hopefully Karen and I will get out tomorrow.

Until next time, Tight Lines.

The Big Chill

Went fishing this afternoon before the big chill sets in this evening and loaded up with sea trout.

After getting my fill of politics this morning, I set out for the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to catch some sea trout.

I brought along five spinning rods rigged with various types of artificial baits but concentrated on using the new rig that I bought from Gander Mountain this past Friday.

I tied on a "Gabbie" and turned into Peacocks Pocket road to fish the marsh canals in the area.

My second cast into the marsh canal produced a small sea trout which I promptly released.

Two casts later netted me another slightly larger sea trout that I also released.

The little gabby bait was working as advertised on the medium action spinning rig that I bought and for the next couple of hours, I did nothing but catch and release sea trout.

 

 

 

Most of the fish were under the slot (15" to 20") but a few were keepers that I declined to keep.

A fishing buddy of mine stopped and told me he caught a red and a nice 20" sea trout yesterday but had no luck as of yet today.  He said the fish didn't start biting until around 4:00 pm when he caught his first fish on a live finger mullet.

He moved up the road a bit and stopped to put out a couple of rods rigged with live finger mullet while I continued casting the little Gabby around likely areas in the marsh canal.

I continued catching small sea trout until one of the trout I hooked, that was around 14",  wrapped itself around a stickup in the canal.

I pulled the stickup and the hooked fish toward the bank when a huge sea trout came out of the depths and ate the fish I had hooked on my line.  The huge fish was apparently attracted by the writhing of the smaller trout trying to free itself.

At first I thought the gator sea trout was a redfish, but as it got closer to the bank, I could see it was definitely a sow sea trout of at least 10 pounds.  The fish was thick bodied and close to three feet long.

As I continued pulling the two trout and stickup to the bank, the fish simply let go of the 14" trout I had on my line.

I reeled in the scaled sea trout, unhooked the fish and returned it to the water wondering if the big sea trout would return to eat the released fish.

I tried casting a gold Johnson Sprite around the area and a top water bait, but the big trout was gone for the day.

I got in the truck and backed up to where my buddy was fishing and told him about the fish before moving up Pocket road to hit some other spots.

Today the weather was clear with a brisk wind.  The air temperature was in the low 50s and continued to drop as the afternoon wore on.

There were tons of cars negotiating Peacocks Pocket road today, mostly from out of town visitors enjoying the wildlife.  I saw few fishermen.

The waterfowl were out in force but today there were no gators around.  Probably too cold for them.

      

    

 I stopped a few times to try out several new areas before finally deciding to call it a day.

In total I caught and released around 20 sea trout today, all before the big chill sets in tonight.

Temperatures are expected to be in the 30s.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Fishing A Windy Cold Front

Fishing a windy cold front was not exactly what I was planning on today but it is what it is.

I decided to try out  a new spinning outfit that I picked up at Gander Mountain this Friday but I didn't get out to the river today until about 2:30 pm.

The air temperature was dropping and the wind was perfect for para-sailing; not too great for fishing.

As usual, I packed several rods into the truck and headed for the nearest water.

As I got to Peacocks Pocket, I decided to try a few casts around the first of the culverts to see how my new rig would cast into the wind.

I bought the outfit to cast small lightweight baits to finicky sea trout and redfish during the summer and cooler winter months.

The 6' 6" IM-7 graphite rod was mated to a 7 ball bearing 5.2:1 gear ratio Gander Mountain spinning reel.  I loaded the rig with 300 yards of 20# Power Pro tipped with 8 feet of 12# fluorocarbon leader and a new 1/4 oz. soft bait called "Gabbies".

The Gabbies were billed as "fish candy" for sea trout, redfish, snook and even flounder so I decided to give them a shot.

I smeared on some Pro-Cure inshore salt water super gel and almost immediately started catching sea trout.

In the five or six mile stretch that I fished, I managed to hook and release at least a dozen small sea trout using the above rig and Gabbies bait. 

 

With the wind blowing like it was today, I can honestly say this was a minor miracle.

I met a couple of buddies who fish the "swamp" area on a regular basis like I do, but neither of them had any luck fishing this afternoon. 

I finally hooked a fish with some weight and it broke about 2 inches of my new rig's rod tip off while fighting the fish.  After talking to the guy at Gander Mountain, they said it was probably a factory defect and said they would replace the rod.

The traffic in the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge was heavy with sight seers this afternoon and for good reason. 

 


The alligators were all over the banks sunning themselves before the cold front and the Rosette Spoonbills, Ibis and Pelicans were gathering in flocks all over the place. 

  
As I was driving down Peacocks Pocket road a couple of guys were pulling a kayak out from the marsh side of the road temporarily blocking my progress. 

I asked them if they caught anything and they said they had a couple of redfish and a sea trout that they picked up on shrimp.  Both said that nothing was hitting artificial baits.

  
I pulled over and took a couple of pics of their catch and moved on to see if I could fool a redfish.

About two miles up the road in a relatively calm area, I finally hooked into a slot redfish using the same Gabbies as bait. 

I tied a #2 Glo Gabbie on my other spinning rod and pitched it ahead of a wake that I saw moving close to the opposite bank.  The fish hit almost immediately and after a nice battle, I managed to boca grip the red on to the bank.

 The fish had gill damage so I decided to take it home and fillet it instead of letting it go to waste in the marsh.  I know the gators didn't like that idea much.

As the temperature continued to drop, I decided to head for home and call it a day.

Fishing a windy cold front can be productive with the right approach and baits but it also wears you out.  

Till next time, Tight Lines!

Another Windy Saturday Afternoon In The Swamp

Another windy Saturday afternoon in the swamp hunting for reds and sea trout.

This afternoon I didn't get a chance to hit the river until about 3:30 pm.

The air temperature was a pleasant  70 degrees and the wind was blowing enough to make casting a problem in most areas.

I packed up a few rods and decided to target sea trout in the swamp area of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

It would have been a stellar day to hit the Mosquito Lagoon flats but my boat and trailer is being worked on by the Float On manufacturer in Vero.

Driving into the refuge, I had to stop to take a few pics of the beautiful rosette spoonbills that were feeding in the area.

 The refuge is a great place for "birders" especially during the early months of spring.

Since I got a late start, I didn't bother to bring along my cast net and instead decided to fish spoons and paddle tail baits to cover more water.

I stopped by the first set of culverts going toward Peacocks Pocket road and tied on a Johnson Sprite gold spoon.

The first cast hooked me up with a juvenile sea trout that was just a tad bit bigger than my spoon.

Oh well, a fish is a fish!

I proceeded up Peacocks Pocket road to scout the area and for a while I thought that the small sea trout would be my only fish.

Since nothing was moving around much along the banks, I started blind casting with the gold spoon to several areas that looked promising.

At my third "honey hole" I finally hooked up with another under slot sea trout that I promptly released.

The wind wasn't letting up and it was hard to keep the spoon from skipping on the surface so I changed rods to start fishing a Fire Tiger pattern Bagley swim bait.

I had several more taps and missed several more sea trout before moving up to a spot where I knew harbored some nice redfish.

I switched back to the Johnson Sprite gold spoon and after several casts into a small pond area at a drop off, I got a good hit from another sea trout that acted a lot like a red.

This fish was a keeper and after a brief fight I put it in the cooler for dinner.

The wind was dying down a bit and a couple of oversize redfish were busting baits outside of casting distance so I decided to give it up for the afternoon and head for home.

The sun was beginning to set and it was getting chilly, so I took a few photographs of the sunset and packed it in for the day.

Although it was just another windy Saturday afternoon in the swamp, at least I didn't get skunked.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Super Bowl Sunday Fishing

Superbowl Sunday fishing this afternoon was almost spiritual.

Evidently everyone was home watching the pre-game activities because I only saw one other angler fishing Peacocks Pocket road.

There were a few sight seers watching the gators and waterfowl, but except for very few cars, I had the wildlife refuge virtually to myself.

   

The temperature was in the low 60s when I started fishing and it went down to the high 50s when I finally left for home.

The water was flat with almost no wind to break up the glassy surface.  This made for some difficult fishing.

I took four spinning rods along this afternoon and decided to fish only soft paddle tail baits for sea trout.

As I proceeded down Peacocks Pocket road I "jump fished" and stopped to cast in at least a dozen locations.

Except for a few small sea trout and one small redfish, I can't brag about having a stellar day fishing but at least I caught fish.

The cool weather made it necessary to fish the baits super slow this afternoon.

Yesterday when Karen and I fished the area, it was warmer and there were more fishermen and kayakers all over the area.

Although we didn't catch anything, yesterday, I missed a nice redfish and several nice sea trout at around 5:00 pm.

I kept yanking the baits out of their mouths because I was fishing too fast and trying to set the hook quickly.

Today, I slowed down and started hooking fish, but the fish weren't as active or as willing to hit the baits.

As the sun started to dip to the horizon, it started to get really chilly so I opted to head for home.

 Suberbowl Sunday fishing would have been much better if the temperature was a few degrees warmer but all in all it was another great day fishing and birdwatching in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Till next time,

Tight Lines!