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.