Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Seasonal Road Closure

The annual Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge seasonal road closure is now apparently in effect.

After my Doctor's appointment this afternoon, I decided to wet a line in the refuge however, as I meandered up to Peacocks Pocket road, I was greeted with the closure notification below.

Peacocks Pocket road will be closed from November 1st thru February 15th of next year to vehicle traffic.

I guess I'm going to have to either start walking in earnest or find another mode of transportation to get into my favorite winter fishing holes.

From my conversations with a couple of wildlife management officers, I learned that the closure coincides with the waterfowl hunting season.

Years ago there was no closure however, someone who had a few bird shot pellets land on them complained and now the area is closed for everyone.

In any event, I fished the Indian River and marsh areas around Catfish Creek Loop hoping for a redfish.

During the time I fished Catfish Creek Loop,  I saw a small school of black drum feeding in the shallow marsh area and two redfish that obviously had a case of lockjaw.

I started fishing with a topwater Chug Bug but had no takers or follow ups, so I switched over to a Johnson's Sprite and a Gold Neimire Red Ripper spoon.  Both pieces of hardware didn't produce anything either.

Evidently the fish were either not in the area, or they were feeding on crustaceans.  I suspect the latter.

There was a slight wind was coming out of the east this evening and the air temperature was in the high 70s and dropping as I decided to leave the area. The gnats and mosquitoes were out in full force and I forgot my insect repellent, so fishing became a torturous endeavor and not much fun.

I did manage to get some nice pics of the area before calling it a day. 

 

 

On the way out, I decided to drive through East Gator Creek road.  I saw some topwater action just at dusk and missed two sea trout on the Chug Bug.  Both fish were short strikers.

Except for those two fish, it remained an unproductive trip but it was still great to get out in the air and enoy the great scenery.

The sunset was awesome as usual.

Till next time, Tight Lines.