Another Rainy Sunday Afternoon In The Swamp

Well it turned out to be another rainy Sunday afternoon in the swamp which is exactly what I was hoping for.

I wanted to go fishing this afternoon but I had to get things done around the house first.  After I finished up mowing the lawn and cleaning up the riding mower, a thunderstorm passed over the house and it started to rain in buckets.

My wife didn't want me to go out but I wanted another shot at the fish I lost yesterday.

I didn't get to the area until around 6:30 pm and the air temperature dropped down to 74 degrees.

There was almost no wind blowing and there were no people around Peacocks Pocket road.

The first spot I stopped at was perfectly flat and there was absolutely no surface activity, so I picket up the rod with a small weedless silver Johnson's spoon.

I started blind casting and promptly picked up a medium sized ladyfish that jumped all over the place before shaking off the spoon.

A few casts later and I landed a clone to the first fish.

In about 20 minutes I hooked five ladyfish and landed three, all of which I released.

I moved up to a small pond and shot a couple of casts to the bank where I spotted a swirl.

On the third cast, an oversize redfish nailed the silver spoon and headed up the marsh canal.

After the redfish made it's initial run I started pumping the fish back to where I hoped to land it but it took off in the opposite direction and headed directly to a brush pile at the edge of the road.

I gave it some slack hoping it would untangle itself but it broke off taking my silver spoon with it.

The rod I was using was a medium action WalMart special loaded with only 8# mono and no shock leader, so I don't really hate myself for losing the fish.  And, even with my heavier Power Pro loaded rod, it would have been challenging to land it through all the heavy brush alongside the road.

I moved up the road to another stretch that opened up into a large pond and started casting a gold Johnson's Sprite around a small grassy island.

On the third cast I hooked up to a nearly slot size sea trout that I released.

It started raining again and I missed a couple of strikes on the spoon so I decided to switch to a Chug Bug.

It took a lot of blind casting but I finally hooked up with the fish below as it got closer to dusk. 

It was chasing baitfish around a shallow area and hit the Chug Bug as soon as it hit the water.

Since it was getting dark and the bugs were acting like vampires, I decided to head for home when my wife called to tell me it was getting dark.

I took a couple of shots of the awesome sunset before it started raining again.

Hope you enjoy.

I have to make a mental reminder to pick up another weedless Johnson's silver spoon.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Thunderstorm Sea Trout Action

Late Saturday afternoon seemed to be a good time to take advantage of some thunderstorm sea trout fishing.

Thunderstorms in the late afternoon seem to be the norm lately, and today was no different.

After I finished up with the chores around the house, I asked Karen if she wanted to take Elmo and Odie fishing with me.

It was still raining off and on and she didn't feel like getting muddy so I packed up some spinning rods and headed off to the "swamp" for some late afternoon sea trout fishing.

I was originally planning to take my Maverick flats boat out to the Mosquito Lagoon and fish the shallow flats around Pelican Island and the Whale Tail area but it was too late in the day to fool around with hooking up the trailer.

It was around 7:00 pm when I finally left the house and the rain was just beginning to let up.  The air temperature dropped just below the 80 degree mark and there was virtually no wind over the Indian River.

I decided to fish the area where I picked up a nice 31" gator trout that didn't get away last weekend so I passed up several other areas where I spotted some activity and headed directly to the general spot.

The grass along side of Peacocks Pocket road is chest high which makes for some tough fishing.  

When you hook a fish, the odds of landing it go way down because of the brush and the damn horse flies are blood thirsty.

If you do manage to evade these bloodsuckers, you still have the gnats, "no seeums", and the mosquitoes to contend with.

For some reason they all seem to be impervious to mosquito repellant.

Anyway, all the negatives create some positives.  I was virtually the only fisherman in the area.

I started out fishing a Johnson weeldess silver spoon on an 8# medium action spinning rig and promptly hooked up with a couple of ladyfish and a small sea trout.

I decided to change over to a larger size Johnson Sprite gold spoon smeared up with some Pro-Cure.

Several blind casts into the glass like water rewarded me with a follow up from what looked like a slot size redfish.  The fish veered off at the last minute and never gave me a second chance.

It was getting darker and the surface activity started to ramp up so I decided to try a Silver and Lime Green Chug Bug.

I smeared on some Pro-Cure and started casting around some weedy islands and hooked a couple of beautifully colored slot size sea trout.

 
Both fish gave me a decent fight before I managed to land and release them.

As dusk neared and I was bringing in my Chug Bug, another huge gator sea trout blasted the lure just as it was chugging over a drop off.

The fish missed the first time it hit and got foul hooked in it's side a split second later as it swirled back onto  the bait.

As I was trying to find a spot to land the fish away from the heavy brush that lined the bank, the big sea trout straightened out the treble hook and got off. 

I knew the gator trout I caught last week wasn't the only big one in the area.

I lost several sea trout in this same general spot that looked to be the same size or larger, and today's hookup only substantiated my theory.

The fish come into the "swamp" area via open culverts, become somewhat land locked and with all the forage in the area,  they quickly grow to trophy size.

Anyway, I made several more blind casts just at dusk and missed another smaller fish that hit short before I decided I had enough of the bugs.

I took a couple of pics of the sunset and headed for home.

As I left the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge I had to stop briefly to let an 8 foot gator cross the road and again to watch a bobcat prance across the road as I was leaving Peacocks Pocket.

Hope to get out again tomorrow..

 Till then, Tight Lines.

Late Afternoon Fishing In The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Late afternoon fishing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge can be productive and this evening was no exception.

I didn't get out to the refuge until 7:30 pm so I headed directly to a spot where I spotted some oversize reds last weekend.

Fishing conditions this evening were about what we expect in this area for late July.

The air temperature was in the mid 80s and there was almost no wind to mess with casting.

I started out with a silver Johnson's weedless spoon on a medium action rod with 8# mono.  I didn't bother with a shock leader mainly because I forgot to bring leader material along.  I didn't spend much time loading up the truck.

I caught a couple of ladyfish on the silver spoon and missed a small trout before I decided to move on and change lures.

I was going to try a top water bait but I didn't see any surface action so I picked up the rod with my "go to" Johnson's gold spoon and started blind casting around some grassy islands in a large pond.

I had a followup from an oversize redfish that turned away from the spoon when I paused the retrieve.  The fish never came back for a second chance.

 I hooked and released two more small ladyfish and as it started to get dark in the refuge the fish started hitting on the surface.

I switched to a black back gold Chug Bug and smeared it up with some Pro-Cure Super Gel.

The stuff works great especially when the fish are following up but not hitting a bait.

I caught a couple of barely legal sea trout on the Chug Bug and had another ladyfish hit before I decided to give it up for the evening.



The gnats or "no see-ums" as I call them were horrible, even with the liberal amount of insect repellant I sprayed on myself.

The grass in the refuge is about chest high on both sides of the road and the bugs are loving it.

My wife called to let me know it was getting dark outside and wanted to know when I was coming home, so I called it a day.

As I was turning the truck around, I spotted a couple of really big fish blowing up on baitfish close to the middle of the last pond I was fishing.  I made a mental note to hit the area again this weekend with my other "long distance" rod.

On the way out, I was treated to one of Central Florida's beautiful sunsets.

 

I love late afternoon fishing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, even when I don't catch anything.  You usually have the place all to yourself.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

The Gator Trout That Didn't Get Away

This is the story of the Gator trout that didn't get away.

A couple of weeks ago I hooked up to a gator trout that got off at the bank.

I had back problems and couldn't bend down fast enough to land thefish and the hook literally dropped out of the fish's mouth right at the bank.

Another fish story you say!  Not so.

Anyway, my wife and I took Elmo and Odie to Subway this afternoon for a couple of much needed subs.

We decided to eat them while driving around Peacocks Pocket road to see what was going on, but I wanted to see if anyone was catching fish at Haulover Canal, so we decided to head there first.

 

The draw bridge was up and the road was blocked to vehicle traffic due to bridge work, so we drove up to the canal via the eastern dirt trail.

There were several vehicles parked below the bridge and a couple of guys throwing a cast net around.

Since we didn't bring any rods, I didn't really care.

There was absolutely no current in Haulover Canal today.  The water was dead calm.



I took a few pics and asked about the fishing.

I was told that the black drum were tearing up shrimp, crab, clams and even cut bait at the mouth of the Mosquito Lagoon.

We ate our subs and headed towards Peacocks Pocket road.

We entered the eastern entrance and drove past the Peacocks Pocket canoe launch heading north.

There weren't many fishermen around the boat launch area; probably because the grass was over waist high throughout the unimproved road. 

I saw one guy fishing the Indian River side of the road cleaning a slot redfish but no one else looked like they were catching any fish.

I drove up behind Ron a friend of mine and asked him if he was catching anything.

He said he caught a slot size redfish earlier on a mud minnow and was heading home.

We parted ways and headed towards the house.

I almost didn't go fishing this afternoon.  It was raining hard with lightning at the house and I didn't really want to tempt fate by going fishing in this mess.  However, when it started to ease up I asked Karen if she wanted to go fishing with me.

She has allergies and felt that the high grass would do nothing but cause problems, so she bid me adios as I loaded up a few rods.

It was around 6:30 pm when I left the house and the air temperature was in the low 80s.

When I got to Peacocks Pocket Road the air temperature was in the high 70s and the water was almost dead calm.

It was raining off and on but there was no lightning in the area.

I headed directly to the small pond I fished Friday evening and did nothing but waste my time there.

This 10 foot alligator kept messing with my fishing.

I had a couple of taps from small sea trout before I foul hooked a small ladyfish on my gold Johnson's Sprite spoon.

I tried a Nemire Red Ripper that I had on one of my spinning rods and missed a redfish that turned on the lure and missed.  

I fished several areas in the marsh canal and a couple of small ponds without another bite so I decided to try the area where I lost a large gator trout a few weeks ago.

The water was still dead calm so I decided to fish my beaten up "go to" Johnson Sprite gold spoon.

As it started to drizzle again I flipped the spoon out past a weedy island and retrieved it over a shallow grassy hump where baitfish usually congregate.

As I retrieved the gold spoon over the shallow area and it headed for deeper water, a huge gator sea trout jumped halfway out of the water and inhaled the spoon.

The fish made a long run and headed toward some brush but I managed to steer it away from the stickup.  It turned and headed up the other direction of the marsh canal towards more brush but I again managed to gently play the fish until it finally gave up the fight.

The fish looked like an oversize redfish but it was a big gator trout that didn't get away this time.

I scurried down the bank through some brush to "lip" the big fish and shinnied back up the bank to measure the fish and take some pics.

I didn't plan on keeping the fish but it was hooked deep in the gills and was bleeding so I decided to have her for dinner.

I took some quick pics as the rain started coming down heavier and decided to call it a day.

The fish hit at around 8:15 pm and it was getting dark so I turned the truck around and went home.

I got Karen to take a couple of pics of me holding the fish.  Looking at pictures of fish laying on the grass gets boring after a while! 

The fish measured in at 31 inches and is one of the biggest gator trout I have landed to date.

I'm still trying to catch the one that got got away last year.  Anyway, the gator trout that didn't get away is in the pics and now the fridg.

Till next time,

Fishing Thunderstorms

Fishing thunderstorms in the marsh isn't recommended for one's health and well being , but that's exactly what I did after I finally got home from work this evening.

I didn't get out to the water until around 7:15 pm which gave me about an hour's worth of fishing before dusk.

The air temperature dropped from the low 80s to around 76 degrees as I drove through Peacocks Pocket road and the fish were actively feeding on the surface pounding baitfish.

Since I didn't have much time, I headed directly to a small pond where I missed several fish last weekend.

Fishing thunderstorms is something I do on a regular basis as long as there is little chance of lightning in the immediate area and this evening it was definitely "touch and go".

The wind started picking up as I got close to where I wanted to fish and it started coming down in buckets.

Despite the rain, I picked up one of the three rods I had in my truck and started casting to some surface feeding fish near a grassy island.

The wind made working the Chug Bug challenging but I managed to hook and release a slot sea trout in relatively short order.

I switched to my "go to" beat up gold Johnson's Sprite spoon and started casting around the baitfish activity.  The spoon is easier to fish with in the wind and with 30# Power Pro, it was easier to feel a bite.

After several casts I missed a strike from something big.  The fish swirled around when the spoon hit the water and butted the spoon hard, but didn't get hooked up.

From the wake that it was pushing, it looked to be well over the 27" slot limit for redfish.  (Assuming it was a redfish)

It was getting darker as the wind started blowing harder and the heavens literally opened up making it all but impossible to do any serious fishing, so I decided to pack it in and head for the house.

I was mentally kicking myself for not driving home faster so I could get in some more fishing time.

Fishing thunderstorms is extremely productive if you hit it right and this evening could have been really great if I had more daylight to fish.

Oh well, tomorrow's another day.

Till then,

Tight Lines.

A Windy Sunday Afterrnoon In The Marsh

It was a windy Sunday afternoon in the marsh but I decided to go fishing anyway.

It was raining on and off, windy, and the temperature was in the low 80s when I finally got off my butt and packed up the rods.

My wife doesn't like fishing in the wind so she decided to stay home and work on her stained glass project.

I left Odie and Elmo our wonder dogs at home even though they were begging for a fishing trip.

It was a little after 4:00 pm when I finally got to Peacocks Pocket road and the weather was bleak.

I saw some out of town visitors fishing at the first set of culverts coming into Peacocks Pocket road and only two other groups of fishermen all the time I was in the wildlife refuge.

A couple of hardy souls were fishing out in the river with a cooler and  several rods and a couple of other fishermen were fishing from the bank near the the small boat launch.

Today seemed like a great time to toss baits in areas that I seldom fish, so I started out fishing a gold Johnson's Sprite Spoon. 

The grass around Peacocks Pocket road is high right now and this makes for some difficult casting positions and when you do hook a fish, landing it can be pretty challenging.

I fished the shallow marsh canal, some deep holes, several small ponds and a couple of large ponds today with the spoon, a Chug Bug and a couple of paddle tail baits.

I got hits on the paddle tail baits but no fish.  The wind made it too difficult to feel a strike.

I got most of my fish on the gold Johnson's Sprite spoon and a couple on the Chug Bug when the wind died down near dusk.

When I switched over to the spoon, I started getting hits but more misses than I could count.

I started catching sea trout on the rod with Power Pro line so I stayed with a good thing.

I could feel hits with that outfit and I finally started landing sea tout. 

All but one of the sea trout were in the slot but I released all of the fish to fight another day.

In one area I started getting a lot of misses and finally figured out why.  Here is the reason.

All these ladyfish were all under 12 inches long and could barely eat the spoon I was using.

I finally hooked one ladyfish that looked around 25 inches long that finally shook off the spoon at the bank.  I was glad because I couldn't have landed it along the brushy bank anyway.

I spotted several pushes from redfish and spotted several reds tailing in a couple of ponds but they were well out of casting distance.

As I got tired of fighting the wind, I decided to head for home.

As I was leaving the refuge, the wind died down again and I spotted a nice red feeding along the bank. 

I stopped the truck and flipped a spoon ahead of where it was feeding and two casts later, the fish swirled around and butted the spoon however, it wasn't hooked.

I was tired of fighting the wind and was hungry so I called my wife and asked her to put on a couple of potatoes.

On the way out, I just had to take a pic of this dude.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Saturday Afternoon On The Indian River

This Saturday afternoon on the Indian River turned out to be a bust.

I originally planned of fishing Haulover Canal for redfish but as usual I got a late start and wound up fishing around Catfish Creek loop for sea trout and ladys.

The weather was wet as usual and somewhat windy but I picked up a cheap rod and reel outfit from WalMart and just had to try it out.

Since it was raining I decided not to bother fishing my Tarpon spot and instead headed out to a couple of ponds that are usually good for redfish.

I loaded the new outfit with 10# line and a Tsunami shrimp and as usual packed up three other spinning rods tipped with artificial baits.

When I got to the river, it was obvious that my new outfit wouldn't get much of a workout.

It was raining on and off and the wind made casting a light bait difficult, so I decided to start out with a gold Johnson The Original Sprite Spoon to locate some fish.

The nice thing about bad weather is that you can have the place all to yourself and today for the most part, I was the only one fishing the area.

Blind casting several areas didn't produce any redfish but I did manage to hook and release several ladyfish in the 12" to 25" category and two under slot sea trout.

As it got close to dusk the wind stopped and the water on the Indian River and the adjacent marsh became glassy calm.

Throughout the afternoon I never spotted a redfish and at dusk on the way out of the refuge, I saw three reds pushing a wake down the marsh canal.

I didn't even bother pitching a spoon at them.  I was fished out for today.

Maybe tomorrow,

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Independence Day Weekend Fishing

Independence Day fishermen were all over the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon this weekend trying their best to land sea trout, redfish or just about anything that was biting.

I was hoping to be one of these fishermen this weekend, but my truck has been in and out of the shop all week and I wasn't willing to take the chance of being stranded in the middle of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge with electrical problems.

I did take an hour to run by one of my favorite fishing spots on Saturday afternoon with a couple of spinning rods, just to get out of the house and toss a few lures around.

I tried fishing the southern flats off of Bio Lab road with topwater baits and a gold spoon but had only limited success.

Being on the Mosquito Lagoon just after noon isn't the best time to cast a lure around.

I waded a grass flat area with some hard bottom and lots of sandy potholes and picked up one barely legal sea trout on a silver Johnson Sprite which I promptly released.

I switched to my other rod rigged with a bass colored Chug Bug that I had stuffed into my waistband and missed a couple of strikes from what looked like decent sized sea trout.

I generally like to sight cast for sea trout and reds but the fishing conditions made that difficult, so I spent the majority of my time blind casting into the potholes that I could spot.

I finally got tired of blind casting and because I still had some concerns that my truck wouldn't start, I started wading back to where I parked the truck.

On the way in I spotted two large sheepshead around some old pilings and spooked a slot size redfish that I didn't expect to see in the shallows during that time of the day.

I noticed that the Mosquito Lagoon is experiencing the same type of algae bloom that we had last summer and that the water isn't as clear as usual.

On the way back home, I took a detour around Peacocks Pocket road just to see what was going on.

There were a lot of people on the road; some fishing and most just driving by and watching the waterfowl or whatever.

Anyway, I didn't spot any actively feeding fish so I aimed for the Hacienda and the coolness of an air conditioned den.

Maybe next week when things calm down a bit on the water I'll give it another shot.

Till then, Tight Lines.

July Indian River Fishing

July Indian River fishing is literally "hot" if you get out on the water early.

Seasonal temperatures are always a factor in how successful your fishing trips will be, but during the summer months of July and August, the water temperatures become a critical factor.

The key to catching fish during the month of July is to find cooler waters for each species you are targeting.

The trick to find cooler waters is to fish early in the mornings before temperatures climb to levels that are uncomfortable for both fishermen and the fish.

Your best bet for the next couple of months is to start fishing before the sun comes up, and quit before high noon when July temperatures shut down the bite for most species and make fishing on the river unbearable.

The exception to this rule is tarpon, ladyfish and freshwater peacock bass that are found farther south in the canals of Dade County.

Redfish can tolerate water temperatures from 52 to 90 plus degrees but prefer temperatures in the 70 to 85 degree range. The water temperature must typically be at least 65 degrees Fahrenheit for the spawn to occur.

During the early morning hours you'll find redfish in our area foraging for food in clean shallow water flats and just off the edges of the sandbars.

The optimum temperature range for spotted sea trout is 59 to 80 degrees.

Water temperatures of 68ºF seem to trigger spawning activity, which continues as the water temperatures increase. For female "gator" sea trout, peak spawning activity takes place when temperatures are between 77ºF and 86ºF.

Spotted sea trout will be feeding in the clean deeper grass beds near the potholes alongside ladyfish and small jacks early in the mornings and move into deeper waters as water temperatures increase.

Snook prefer water temperatures in the 72 to100 degree range with an optimum around 76 to 78 degrees.   

Snook are very sensitive to water temperatures and prefer feeding near tidal flows and moving water where they can more easily ambush their prey.

 Right now you can find spawning Snook along some of the beaches in our area.

The rocky beaches around Patrick AFB are a particularly good place to target summer snook with a large live finger mullet.

And finally tarpon.

Tarpon prefer water temperatures of 72 to 82°F. Below 60°F degrees tarpon become inactive and lethargic.

During the summer months big tarpon in the 100 plus pound category roam the beaches throughout central Florida.

You can catch them just off the beach from small craft,  kayaks and in many areas, in the surf.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that the fishing is lousy when you sleep in and don't get out on the water until around noon.

For most species, that's just about the time to start "packing it in" and heading for home.

Remember that if you want to start catching instead of just fishing "the early bird catches the worm" .

Indian River fishing in July is tailored for insomniac fisherman .

Till next time,

Tight Lines and a Happy Independence Day to you all.