Snook In The Marsh

Around 4:00 pm this afternoon, catching snook in the marsh was absolutely not on my agenda however, that's exactly what transpired.

I just managed to finish manicuring the lawn before a thunderstorm rolled over our area and unlike most of our late afternoon thunderstorms, this one lingered on.

Karen wanted to go fishing but when I was ready to leave, she didn't care to go out to the swamp and deal with the weather and the bugs.  This time of the year they go hand in hand.

Anyway, when I left the house at around 4:00 pm it was raining steadily so I decided to hit east Gator Creek Road to see if any top water action was happening in the shallows.

I noticed that the culverts were open and water was flowing so I stopped and started pitching a gold Johnson The Original Sprite Spoon
I was rewarded on my second cast with a nice 24" ladyfish which I photographed and released to fight another day,.

The fish jumped all around the culvert like a small tarpon before I could landed it so I continued casting the spoon into the area hoping to catch another one.

To make a long story short, I caught, hooked and released 21 ladyfish of all sizes.

All of them were in the 10" to 24" category and most were larger than the one I caught on a Chug Bug to the left.

I was about to move on when I noticed a snaky wake that I thought was a redfish so I picked up the rod with the Johnson's Sprite and mad a cast in front of the fish.

The gold spoon traveled about two feet before a needlefish exploded on the bait.

The toothy fish tried to inhale the spoon and was hooked solidly.  I landed the toothy critter and took this pic before releasing it.

I could have caught and released another dozen or so ladyfish but I decided to try for a redfish or a sea trout instead.

It was raining steady and the air temperature was around 79 degrees with only a light wind blowing.

I moved up to some of my favorite spots but the only thing I could catch seemed to be ladyfish.

I was soaked but the fish were still hitting so I moved up to a small pond where I usually pick up some sea trout.

I started casting the Chug Bug but it wasn't producing today.  The fish were following it but they were either short striking or turning away at the last minute.  One small redfish bumped the Chug Bug but didn't eat it.

Since it was getting late and I didn't feel like wasting any more time I stayed with the gold Johnson's Sprite.

It finally stopped raining and the water got calm as glass.  Fish in the middle of the pond were sloshing around after baitfish and a few closer to the road started chasing bait.

I heard several fish busting bait on the Indian River side so I changed rods and opted for a black back and silver Chug Bug.

The third cast into the river side rewarded me with a hit that blew the Chug Bug out of the water.  It landed and the fish hit it again but didn't get hooked.  At first I thought the fish was a sea trout but it was silver sided and broader.  It didn't dawn on me that it was a snook.

I tried several more casts but the fish was wise to the Chug Bug so I changed back to the gold spoon.

After a few minutes rest, I started carefully casting the gold spoon into the very shallow ditch around a small island and another snook nailed the spoon.

The fish acted like snook act.  It started jumping and making runs all over the place untill I finally lipped it from the water.

After taking these pics, I returned it to fight another day.

The feisty fish was a little over 25 inches long and in good shape.

I continued casting the spoon for a little while hoping for another one but that turned out to be the only snook of the day.

Catching snook in the marsh isn't common in this area.  They normally like fast moving water where they can better ambush their prey but I wasn't complaining.  You never know what you're going to catch in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Till next time, Tight Lines.