Dog Days Fishing In The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Well it was definitely dog days fishing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge this evening.

After working around the house all day, I was dog tired but not beat up enough to pass up the possibility of catching a redfish or big sea trout in the refuge.

I left the house at a little after 6:00 pm and headed straight to the closest entrance to Peacocks Pocket road.

The air temperature when I left the house was 92 degrees and there was no wind blowing.

When I got to the entrance of Peacocks Pocket road the air temperature dropped down to 82 degrees and a light wind was blowing across the Indian River.

Compared to the heat we endured all day, it was down right pleasant.

Although I brought my usual array of rods, I decided to fish with top water Chug Bugs and gold spoons to eliminate smaller fish.

I briefly fished a few ditches with a gold Johnson The Original Sprite Spoon and picked up a ladyfish and an undersized sea trout.

As I was pulling the fish out of the water, I noticed a big gator under a bush on the opposite bank that was getting interested in what I was doing.  I took a couple of pics and decided to move on up the road.

Fishing was much easier this evening because the powers that be finally mowed both sides of the unimproved road.

The high grass caused me to lose almost as many fish as I landed.  Anyway, since it was getting late, I headed towards a shallow pond in the marsh where I missed some nice sea trout last week.

There were a flock of roseate spoonbills feeding in the area but there were also fish busting baits on the surface so I started pitching a black back/silver Chug Bug around the ditch.

My second cast hooked me up briefly with a small sea trout that flipped off after the first jump.

Two casts later and I landed a small ladyfish on the same Chug Bug.

I decided to pass on the smaller fish and try for another gator trout in a small pond farther up the road.

When I got to the spot I started pitching the Johnson's spoon from the opposite shallow flat across a dropoff where I usually pick up some fish.

I had a couple of bumps but no hookups so I switched back to the Chug Bug.

It was getting late and I stupidly stepped onto an ant hill.  The nasty buggers bit the hell out of my feet before I knew they were there so I pulled off my sneakers and continued fishing.

After several casts I was about to call it a day but I decided to try the "one last cast" and I'm glad I did.

I pitched the Chug Bug as far out into the middle of the pond as I could towards where a fish blasted some baitfish.  The lure didn't travel more than two rod lengths before a nice sized sea trout blasted the bait.

The fish put up a nice fight and I could tell there was some weight on it as I slowly steered it to the bank.

I had to skinny down the bank to land the fish and would up in the water.  I gilled the fish and took these pics before releasing it to fight another day.

The fish measured in at 23 inches and was a nice female loaded with eggs.

I went back down the bank and revived the fish and watched it slowly swim off into the coffee stained water.

The mosquitoes were beginning to get nasty and I was still stinging from the ant bites so when my wife called me to tell me it was getting dark, I didn't argue.  I just headed for the hacienda.

Till next time, Tight Lines.