Night Fishing Topwater Plugs

Night fishing topwater plugs has always been one of my favorite ways to fish for big sea trout and redfish.

Except for a couple of ladyfish, Saturday's fishing trip turned out to be a bust.

After taking a ride around Bio Lab road to see if there were any fish in the vicinity, I decided to fish Peacocks Pocket road instead.

The water was flat and there was little to no wind on the water. The air temperature was in the 80s and the fish weren't active.

The blimp that Jason and I saw on Friday made another pass over the Indian River, so I took a few pics of it to see if I could identify it.

It turned out to be a "Cloud Lab" blimp, whatever that is.

Anyway, I only fished for a couple of hours and if it wasn't for the two ladyfish I caught on topwater baits, I would have been skunked for the afternoon.

On Sunday,I had higher hopes but unfortunately I didn't get to the refuge until around 7:00 pm.

Again, the water was flat. The air temperature was 80 degrees and dropping because of the thunderstorms that were in the area.

When I actually got to the first pond I wanted to fish, it was almost dark and the air temperature was 78 degrees.

I started fishing a Johnson's Sprite gold spoon and had a couple of bumps. I decided to use the black back and gold Zara Spook Jr. to see if I could instigate some action.

The wind started blowing a bit as it got darker and I started blind casting the topwater bait around some grassy islands.

The first pond I fished was a bust. I spotted an oversize redfish cruising down the marsh canal and as it got to the pond, it swirled on a small ladyfish and continued on it's way.

I tried a cast but the fish was on a mission.

The sky got darker and as dusk approached I decided to try another small pond up the road.

On the second cast with the Zara Spook Jr. a big redfish busted on the plug but didn't hook itself. I let the plug sit for a second hoping that fish would come back and hit the lure but when I twitched the bait, nothing happened.

I made several more casts into the area without another hit so I decided to move to another area where a buddy of mine picked up a gator sea trout a few months ago.

It was dark when I pulled up to the spot but there was just enough light to see where the plug was landing. On the third cast, what was probably a big sea trout blasted the bait.

It sounded like someone heaved a boulder into the water when the fish hit. At first I thought I had the fish hooked, but apparently I jerked the bait out of it's mouth.

I reeled in the plug and shot several casts to the same general area but never got another hit.

Night fishing topwater plugs is fun but from land you need luck to be on your side in order to land the fish you hook.

The next spot I fished was a smaller pond that had two small grassy islands separating the main body of water from the marsh canal.

I couldn't see much but I cast the Zara Spook past the smaller island and started "walking the dog" back to the bank.

About half way back to the bank, another big sea trout busted on the lure. This time it was solidly hooked but after a long run the fish broke off my bait.

I couldn't tell if it went into the mangrove roots or hit a stickup, but the line parted with a snap.

Tonight luck was not on my side. The gnats were eating me alive and when my wife called me to come home, I didn't argue.

Night fishing topwater plugs is a blast but the ratio of landed fish to hookups is pretty low.  I was hoping to have a pic of any one of the fish I missed tonight for the blog but alas, it was not meant to be.

Anyway, I had a great time missing fish!

Till next time, Tight Lines.