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.
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