The Redfish Bite Was Hot Just Before The Shutdown

I finally got caught up reading my emails today and learned from Jason Cooper that the redfish bite was hot just before the shutdown in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

He sent me these pics of the fish he landed while fishing off of Peacocks Pocket road in the refuge the last weekend, just before the area shutdown.

He told me that he caught all the redfish on the river side of Peacocks Pocket road on large 8" to 10" mullet and lost a few more.

He said that if he could have landed all the fish he hooked, he would have caught over a dozen reds over the course of the weekend.

The fish on the left hit an 8 inch mullet and measured in 

at 26 1/2".

The redfish below measured in at 28 " and hit the same size mullet.

This fish measured in at 40" and was the largest landed over the weekend.

 This red was in the slot at 24" and also hit a large mullet.

His smallest redfish measured in at 21" but the bite was so hot that he didn't get a chance to take a picture of that fish. 

He had to perform a quick release on the smaller red as was getting another "knockdown" on another rod.

Jason caught the sea trout to the left on the other side of the road where I usually pick up most of my fish.

The sea trout measured in at 27" and I don't know whether or not Jason released the fish to fight another day.

Hopefully, the closures will be short lived.

I'm already jonesing to get out to the river.

Tight Lines to you all!