Bull Redfish In The Marsh

Catching a Bull Redfish in the marsh was something I didn't have on the agenda this evening but that's exactly what happened just before dark.

When I got back in town from work this evening, I planned on going fishing either at Playalinda Beach or in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.   Since it was late and the refuge was closer than the beach, I decided to fish the refuge and see if I couldn't snag a redfish or a gator sea trout.

Karen had plans with her girlfriend so I packed up five spinning outfits, some new Z-Man PaddlerZ baits I picked up at Bass Pro Shops in Savannah and headed for East Gator Creek road.

 The air temperature was 88 degrees when I crossed the bridge and there was almost no wind blowing.

I drove to East Gator Creek road and stopped a couple of times to work a silver and black Chug Bug off the flats to see if I could stir up some action.

I had a couple of follow ups but no hits, so I headed up to Peacocks Pocket Road to fish some of my favorite spots.

I've been working on the house and haven't been fishing as much as I like to, so this evening I decided to target redfish instead of the usual sea trout that I love fishing for.

I threaded an "electric chicken"  Z-Man jerk bait on a light red headed jig and started pitching the bait into likely looking areas on both sides of the road.  The Z-Man baits are already scented but I added some Pro-Cure Inshore Saltwater formula just to make it more attractive to the fish.

I had a couple of hits before finally landing a small sea trout which I quickly released.

Evidently the fish loved the bait because it engulfed all 5" of it up to the jig head.

I had two more good hits on the bait but missed both fish before I decided to switch rods and fish with a gold Johnson's Sprite spoon.

I knew I wouldn't be catching as many fish with the spoon, but the fish I would catch would be larger.

There were tons of spoonbills and alligators in the refuge this evening so I took a few pics before moving on to the last area I planned on fishing before dusk.

I spooked a couple of nice tailing reds on the Indian River side of the road before catching a larger sea trout on the spoon.

At first I thought the sea trout was a red, but a fish is a fish.

Anyway, as I released the fish I noticed some topwater activity on the river so I switched rods and started popping the Chug Bug around the turmoil.

I briefly hooked a sea trout that got off and after a couple more casts snatched the Chug Bug away from a nice fish that hit the bait.

I missed the fish but the Chug Bug came back to me and hit me in my right  forearm.  Hooked Again!

I got my fishing pliers out of the truck and tried to jerk the hook out of my arm, but it was in too deep.

I was pissed to say the least and didn't want to repeat the emergency room stay I put up with the last time I hooked myself in the side, so I pulled the hook all the way through, cut off the barb and switched back to my other rod with the gold Johnson's Sprite spoon. 

My wound was bleeding profusely so I let it bleed to clean out the puncture.  I dabbed on some antibiotic that I had in the truck and continued fishing.

It was getting dark when I noticed a push of water in the marsh canal at the entrance of a shallow pond.

Several casts with the spoon didn't get me a hookup so I pulled out the bottle of Pro-Cure and smeared up the spoon to give it some additional fish appeal.

It took three more well placed casts to the opposite bank before a bull redfish inhaled the spoon.

At first I thought I just spooked the fish because it swirled around and swam straight towards me.  When I noticed that the line was slack I knew that the fish had the lure so I quickly reeled in the slack and set the hook, just to make sure.

The bull redfish literally went crazy in the shallow water.  It made a long run up the marsh canal with me running behind it trying to keep it away from the stickups.  Every time I got close to the fish it took off again like a freight train.

The battle continued for about one hundred yards or so up the road and about 25 minutes later I was beginning to believe I could actually land the fish.  It took several more minutes before the bull redfish was tired enough for me to land it.

I had the boga grip with me and as I led the fish to the bank I stepped into the canal to grip the fish out of the water for some pics.

 

I quickly got the tape out of the truck along with the camera and took some pics of the fish before releasing it.

The fish measured in at almost 38 inches and probably weighed in at over 20 pounds.  The pics don't do justice to the girth of the bull redfish.

Anyway, I unhooked the fish and after reviving it let her go back to where she belonged to fight another day.

I took some pics of the sunset before calling my wife to let her know she should have gone fishing with me this evening. 

There really are some nice bull redfish in the marsh!

Till next time, Tight Lines.