Tarpon And Ladyfish

Well Tarpon and Ladyfish is what was on the menu this weekend.

I was having trouble with my truck and didn't bother going out on Friday evening so I decided to hit the Lagoons on Saturday instead.

I decided to fish a "secret" spot that my friend Ron put me on last weekend to catch a few ladyfish and juvenile tarpon.

I got to the spot around noon and the air temperature was in the high 80s or low 90s.  

There was a mild breeze blowing in which made fishing almost comfortable.

The spoonbills in the area were certainly enjoying themselves!

I packed a small tackle box with a couple of top water baits, two paddletail baits and  a spare gold hammered spoon.

I tucked a spare rod with the gold spoon in my britches, slowly waded out to where I spotted some topwater action,  and proceeded to toss around a blue backed silver STORM Rattlin Chug Bug.

I smeared the lure up with some Pro-Cure Gel scent and had a strike on the second cast to the area.

The fish was barely hooked and shook off the lure after the second jump.  It was a ladyfish of about two feet long.

Several casts later hooked me up to another larger ladyfish that again shook off the Chug Bug.

I decided to switch over to the rod with a gold Johnson The Original Sprite Spoon and started fan casting from the shallowest area outward to the deeper channel.

It took three casts in water about 20" deep to hook up with a juvenile tarpon.  The fish hit the spoon and quickly tore off to my right making the Power Pro on my reel sing.

The fish jumped twice and on the second jump shook out the spoon.

I didn't expect to hook up a tarpon in only 20" of water and had to compose myself before starting to fish again.

The treble hook on the spoon was straightened out so I reshaped it back into place with my pliers and made a mental note to replace it when I got home.

I continued fishing the area and within an hour hooked and released six more ladyfish. The largest one that I originally thought was a tarpon was close to three feet long.

Thunderclouds were moving across the area and when the sun went behind the clouds, the bite came to an abrupt stop.

I waded back to the truck and decided to see what was going on around Peacocks Pocket road in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

I passed up most of the spots I normally fish because the wind made fishing too difficult but I finally pulled into a small marsh pond that was partially out of the wind enough to make casting feasible.

I wasted about a half an hour trying to get a hit before finally admitting defeat and headed up the road to another spot.

To make a long story short; I hit a half a dozen spots and only got one hit on my gold spoon.  I have no idea what the fish was.

Thunderstorms continued to cross the area and when it started lightening close to where I was fishing, I decided to give it up for the day.

All the time I was in the refuge, I saw only four vehicles and they weren't fishing.

I took a few pics of the scenery and some pigs I spotted on the way out of the refuge that didn't turn out, but no pictures of the fish I was hoping to catch today. 
  

If it wasn't for the tarpon and ladyfish that I caught earlier this morning, I would have been skunked today.

If it doesn't rain tomorrow, I may get out.

Till then,

Tight Lines to all.