Just Another Windy Fishing Trip

Well today was just another windy fishing trip to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The winds have made fishing the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River challenging this Month, and today proved to be no exception.

I made a half hearted attempt at fishing the area on Friday, but since I only had about an hour to fish, I decided to scout the area for reds and sea trout instead.  I tossed a few lures but only had a couple of taps before leaving the area.

When I left for the refuge this afternoon, it was windy at the house but I hoped that it would die down when I got down to the river.

As I pulled into Gator Creek road to cast net some mud minnows, it was apparent that this afternoon was going to be just another windy fishing trip.

I netted a half dozen 5 inch mud minnows for bait as a last resort and headed into Peacocks Pocket road to see if I could find a sheltered area that had fish.

This afternoon Peacocks Pocket road had as much traffic as I-95.  There was a lot of out of town visitor traffic mostly taking pictures of the wildlife.

Despite the wind, there were tons of migratory waterfowl on both sides of the road eager to pose for the tourists.

 

 

 

I fished mostly artificial lures today and only picked up a couple of undersized sea trout on a Bagley Firetiger pattern paddle tail bait.

I didn't spot many fish and the ones I did see had a severe case of lockjaw.

In the two plus hours of fishing time in the area, I tossed soft paddle tail baits, a DOA shrimp, a Chug Bug, a gold Johnson The Original Sprite Spoon and even a couple of free lined mud minnows, all to no avail.

As I was leaving the refuge, I spotted a couple of redfish but they were running the bank of the marsh canal, going from pond to pond.

The two sea trout I finally did snag were caught back to back in an area that my wife and I call "snook point".

Obviously there were no snook in the area today.

 As I was leaving the area, I noticed the temperature was 68 degrees and the wind was still blowing as strong or stronger than when I first rolled into Peacocks Pocket road. 

No wonder the fish had lockjaw!

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and I am not planning on going fishing, especially if it is just another windy fishing trip like today.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Topwater Action In The Marsh

Some topwater action in the marsh was my original plan for this afternoon's fishing trip to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, but I didn't get a chance to get out until around 6:30 pm.

I originally planned on fishing Patillo Creek but the area wasn't completely open to vehicle traffic.

Friday on the way home from work, I decided to take a detour to see if Shiloh Marsh road was open for vehicle traffic.

I took the Scottsmoor exit on I-95 and headed up to the unimproved road only to find that there was still a barrier across the road.  Although I was happy to see that the "powers that be" fixed the potholes that were all over the road up to that point, I wasn't happy about the road being closed.

This time of the year is killer for the really big bull redfish that inhabit this area of the Indian River but it can't be fished without a boat unless he road is open.

I saw four trucks parked at the barrier and talked to one guy who was pulling two kayaks across the gravel to launch.  He said the reds were hitting pretty good on finger mullet, shrimp and cut baits.

Anyway, I turned around and made a mental note to take my Gheenoe next time I decide to make the trip.

I drove towards Haulover Canal and headed into Patillo Creek to see if this section was open.

As I neared the road I was happy to see that the barrier was down and the road was open.

I drove as far as I could in both directions to scout out the area and found no one else around.

It was absolutely peaceful and did spot a couple of redfish in the large pond at the first culvert.

This afternoon when I finally got to Peacocks Pocket road, the first person I saw was a friend of mine who fishes the area about as much as I do.  He was pulling in a slot redfish that he picked up on a live finger mullet under a small float.

I briefly stopped and asked if he had any luck anywhere else in the refuge and he told me about a bait stealing red that he just couldn't seem to hook.

The area where he was fishing was at the first culvert in the refuge and this was the first time I saw anyone catch a red from this area.  Most of the time I catch sea trout and ladyfish.

I moved up the road while there was still light and decided on fishing topwater baits.

I spotted a total of five redfish but they all had a bad case of lockjaw.

In the hour that I had to fish the area, I stopped at five locations and picked up two sea trout on a blue and silver Chug Bug and one trout on a Berkley Fire Tiger paddle tail bait.

All the reds I spotted were busting baitfish on the opposite bank of the marsh canal and probably could have been fooled with a live mud minnow or finger mullet.

One thing was certain, they were in no mood for the Chug Bug, gold spoon or paddle tail baits I was tossing to them.

The trout started hitting the Chug Bug just as it started getting dark and when the wind started slowing down.

I apologize for the lousy pics but both my Nikon Coolpix and Samsung cameras are in the shop for repairs and I'm still in the learning curve with my IPhone.  Evidently I'm tough on cameras.

I hope to get out again tomorrow and give Patillo Creek a try.

Till then, Tight Lines.

Skunked!

Well, my wife and I got skunked this afternoon.

I had the annual bad experience of visiting Jackson and Hewitt to get my taxes filed for the year and knew in the depths of my soul that I would probably have a crappy day fishing to augment the crappy day at the tax preparer.

Our one o'clock appointment wasn't through until around 2:30 pm after which Karen and I decided to hit the local Mexican restaurant for a much needed bite to eat .

We paid our bill and stopped by Wild Ocean to pick up some jumbo shrimp for bait, or in the worst circumstance to eat.

In short, we didn't get to the wildlife refuge to fish until around 5 o'clock.

The sky was clear and the temperature was around 80 degrees when we first got on the water but as the afternoon wore on, the temperature dropped past the 70s and the wind picked up enough to make me think about putting on a wrap.

Karen used a jumbo fresh frozen shrimp under a float and I fished topwater plugs, DOA Baitbuster, a gold hammered spoon, a Creme paddle tail bait and even a MirrOlure Catch 2000 Jr. suspended plug with no luck.

We fished two locations which had tons of baitfish activity, but nothing seemed to be interested in anything we were tossing at them.

I saw two large redfish cruising the canal and several nice size sea trout around the baitfish, but the fish were spooky and had a bad case of lockjaw.

I saw several people fishing on the Indian River side of Peacocks Pocket road and one guy tossing a silver spoon while wading.

The guy wading had two sea trout on a stringer that he was dragging around with him, but he had to be a candidate for a case of walking pneumonia with the wind blowing as it was.

There was a lot of visitor traffic in the refuge this afternoon from a variety of states.  Everyone was taking pictures of the pelicans, ducks, egrets and spoonbills.

Since both of my cameras are back in the shop for repairs, the only pics I bothered taking were of the sunset with my "smart phone".

  
Hopefully tomorrow will be more productive; I hate getting skunked but like they say; "That's why they call it fishing and not catching".

Till next time,
Tight Lines.

March Wind Blows In The Refuge

Well the March wind was blowing in the refuge this afternoon as can be expected for this time of the year.

I didn't get a chance to wet a line this weekend although I did have good intentions however, after talking to a friend of mine today who fishes the refuge on a regular basis; it seems I didn't miss much.

I Started out today relatively early.  I left the house at around 2:00 pm and drove into the first entrance to the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge at around 2:20 pm.

As I crossed the bridge on the Indian River it was evident that fishing today was going to be a challenge.

There were a lot of para-sails on the water and the wind was blowing moderately heavy out of the northeast at around 10 to 15 mph.

The temperature was in the low 70s and dropped throughout the afternoon to the mid 60s.

I brought along five spinning rods each rigged with different lures and I wound up using every one of them.

Casting was difficult even in sheltered areas.  The wind gusts always seem to perk up when you try to make a strategic cast and I lost a couple of gold Johnson spoons and a bass patterned Chug Bug. to the opposite banks of the marsh canal.

I only spotted four redfish today and none of them were interested in anything I was casting.

I started out using a little Gabbies soft bait and after a half hour of fruitless casting switched to a Johnson Sprite gold spoon.

That didn't pan out so well so I switched to a Creme paddle tail swim-bait and finally settled on the baby bass pattern Chug Bug until I lost it on a sea trout.

The only hits I could feel today were on the Gabbie and the Chug Bug and the only fish I landed was a nice 25" sea trout that clobbered the Chug Bug when I wasn't expecting it.

 
The fish hit as I was working the bait from a shallow pond into the deeper water of the marsh canal.

The only other hit I had was when a large sea trout nailed the Chug Bug and broke off taking the lure with it.

The weather was clear and the sun was up all the time I was on the water but the wind was a pain in the butt.

There were a ton of visitors in the refuge today mostly looking at the waterfowl and hoping to spot a gator or two.

One lady and her daughter asked me where the gators were hiding.  I told her to backtrack and look a little closer.  I counted five gators from where she was coming from.

Apparently she thought they would all be on the bank sunning.  Most of them today were in the water looking for dinner.

I got tired of getting beat up by the wind so I left for home early this afternoon.

As I was leaving the refuge, I was glad I didn't take out my Maverick flats boat this afternoon.  It would have been a waste of gas.  I'll wait till the March winds die down a bit.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Bull Redfish In The Mosquito Lagoon

One of the best places to find Bull Redfish in the Mosquito Lagoon is almost directly across from parking lot #9 in Canaveral National Seashore’s Playalinda Beach.

This area called Gallinipper Basin has many unmarked sand bars that are difficult to navigate if you're not familiar with the area, but most of the year the bars hold some bruiser sea trout and bull redfish.

View Larger Map

You will need a shallow draft flats boat, kayak or canoe to safely access the area and you can put your vessel in at Eddy Creek across from parking lot #8 at Playalinda Beach or if you don't want to pay the entrance fee at the Seashore; you can launch from the shallow ramp at Bio Lab road.

If you put in at the Bio Lab road launch, you can fish the grass flats that parallel the dirt road all the way south to the southwestern corner of the lagoon.

I have caught some nice sea trout, redfish and even flounder in this area on DOA Shrimp, small white hair jigs and top water plugs while wading out from the road.

The bottom is made up of manatee grass and if you target the white potholes you can pick up fish almost all year round.

This time of the year, when the weather is cooperating in this area , the fish come into very shallow water where you can catch them by wading.

There are a bunch of old pilings in the very southwest corner where my wife and I sometimes catch some nice reds.

I finally got my flats boat and trailer back from Float On so Karen and I plan on fishing the area around the whale's tail and Gallinipper Basin as soon as the temperature gets a bit warmer.

Bull redfish in the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River can be caught all year round and while the fishing pressure is still relatively light in the area, it's time to go get them.

Till next time.

Tight Lines.