Topwater Sea Trout Action

My wife and I didn't get a chance to get out this weekend until late this afternoon.

I was hoping for some topwater sea trout action but the windy conditions this afternoon made it look like a lost cause.

We left the house around 4:00 pm and headed for Karen's favorite "tree" in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. She likes this popular area because there are almost always black drum and reds in the shallows.

Odie Looking Cute!

We took Elmo and Odie with us to give them some play time and as we approached the area, both dogs were eager to get out and sniff around.

Karen was fishing with jumbo fresh dead pink shrimp and I took along a live bait rod for myself, just in case the topwater baits didn't pan out.

I tossed out my shrimp around some mullet activity and started casting a gold Johnson's Sprite spoon around the shallows in the Indian River side of the road.

Karen opted to fish the marsh canal where she saw a fish tailing as we pulled up to our spot.

After numerous casts and a lot of dead grass on the spoon I was just about ready to change lures when I spotted a nice redfish tail around a startled school of mullet.

I shot a cast just ahead of the red and almost immediately the fish swirled around and hit the lure.  Unfortunately, it didn't eat it.

As the fish swam off, I continued casting the spoon but never got another strike.

About the time I decided to change lures, another angler pulled up in a big black pickup truck and put in next to where I was fishing. 

It was then when I got a hit on the jumbo shrimp.  I thought I had a red or a drum but instead hooked up with a large puffer fish.  The 13" long puffer was the culprit that was robbing my baits so I put up the rod, went back to the truck and changed lures.

I got the rod with a black and chartreuse Zara Spook Jr. and smeared on some Pro-Cure just for good luck.

Numerous casts around the mullet pods got me a couple of half hearted hits so I decided to fish the "ditches" on the other side of the road to see what was biting.

Several casts later I missed a nice sea trout that struck the topwater bait three times before giving up.

A few casts later I hooked up with another sea trout that hit the bait at the bank.

After Karen took a quick pick I returned the fish and continued fishing the plug up the road.

It was close to 7:00 pm when the trout started biting and in the next hour I hooked and released three more fish all around the same size before Karen wanted to call it a day.

My back was killing me from painting our bedroom so I quickly agreed with her to call it a day.

The dogs had fun and although Karen didn't hook up with a red she had a nice afternoon in the "swamp".

On the way out of the refuge we spotted a huge flock of white pelicans and several alligators.

I took these pics near Peacocks Pocket before leaving the refuge.

Next weekend I promised Karen to take the boat out for a run around the islands near the boat launch.

Till then,

Tight Lines.