A Windy Day In The Refuge

Well, today was another windy day in the refuge but it didn't put that much of a damper on my fishing.

It was raining when I left the house and by the time I got to the entrance to Peacocks Pocket road, the rain had subsided and the river was relatively calm.

The air temperature at around 2:30 pm was a pleasant 78 degrees but as the day progressed, it jumped back up to the low 80s.

My excursion this afternoon was mainly a scouting trip.  Karen didn't want to get wet so I fished alone today.

By the time I got to my second spot, the wind started blowing and it looked like another thunderstorm was coming through the area.

As I drove slowly down Peacocks Pocket road, I didn't spot any cruising redfish or actively feeding sea trout in the marsh canals or in the river.  It wasn't looking like a stellar fishing day but I continued casting mainly a gold spoon, a topwater Chug Bug and a DOA shrimp into likely looking areas.

As the wind picked up, I gave up on the Chug Bug.  I concentrated on fishing a Johnson's Sprite and the
D.O.A. Shrimp Lures.

I finally hooked and released a medium sized ladyfish that hit the gold spoon outside of a small pond.

Things were looking up when I got to an open culvert.  There were finger mullet trying their best to evade a predator which turned out to be a slot redfish.

I saw the red but the fish wouldn't hit my spoon so I switched to the DOA shrimp, smeared it up with some Pro-Cure scent and promptly picked up a nice sea trout.

I took a pic and promptly released the fish.

Several more casts produced another hit and another ladyfish.

I switched back to the gold spoon and hooked up with a redfish after the third or fourth cast but I never landed it.

The fish made two short runs and on the second one headed into an underwater stickup where it broke loose with my favorite spoon.

I decided to move on up the road to fish another culvert when I met up with Jason, a fellow angler friend of mine.

We chatted a bit and he told me about some nice sea trout and reds he picked up in the area last week.  (Pics to follow)


He went his way and I continued fishing the culvert.and picked up another nice sea trout.

I took it's pic before releasing the fish.

The wind was picking up and I was having a heck of a time casting so when my wife called, I decided to pack it in early.

I made my way up the road and met up with Ron, another fellow angler.  He said he didn't catch any reds today but he did get a nice black drum on the Indian River side on cut bait.

We parted ways and I headed towards the kayak launch.

As I made my way down Peacocks Pocket road, I met up with Jason who had several rods staked out on the bank waiting for a redfish or sea trout to pass by.

As I was leaving the refuge, I spotted some activity in a small pond so I pitched a Tsunami gold spoon to see if it was a redfish.

Two casts later produced another sea trout and ladyfish from the same spot.

The wind was picking up, I was having a hard time casting, and since it was around 5:30 pm, I finally decided to head for home.

Till next time, Tight Lines.