Towed Out Of The Refuge

When Karen and I decided to take the dogs fishing this afternoon, the last thing we expected was to be towed out of the Refuge.

This afternoon started like most of our Sunday afternoons. Karen and I went fishing at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to try for some redfish.

We left the house rather late and when we entered East Gator Creek Road we encountered our first bit of lousy luck. The was a barrier up at the end of East Gator Creek where it joined Peacocks Pocket Road.

I backed up until I could find a turnaround and we drove down to the easternmost entrance to Peacocks Pocket to see if the barriers were up there.

When we left Titusville, we noticed a heavy burn and with the wind as brisk as it was today, we thought the entire refuge would be closed off, but it wasn't.

Although this trip was mostly for Odie and Elmo, we did try to catch some fish along the way.

Karen was fishing with some jumbo size shrimp under a Cajun Thunder float and I was using a variety of artificial baits.

The first two places we stopped at were a bust. No bites, no followups, no nothing except a lot of feeding waterfowl.  I took this brief video of the beautiful Rosette Spoonbills we spotted feeding alongside some egrets.


The third place had me briefly hooked up with a large ladyfish that got off after a couple of spirited jumps. The fish nailed one of the Z-Man Scented Paddler baits I picked up last week at Bass Pro.

After almost an hour of no hits, Karen wanted to move up the road to "Bobcat Bay" where she caught a few reds last year.

I tossed around a gold spoon for awhile without any success and finally settled on a gold and black back Rapala Skitter Pop that proved successful around several pods of mullet.

The fish were being chased all over the area by large Ladyfish and Sea Trout.

After several misses, I finally connected with a large Ladyfish that I released.  I thought about cutting it up for redfish candy but it was getting late and Karen was happy using shrimp.

We decided to pack it in and make one more stop where I connected with a nice redfish yesterday.  Karen wanted to know where I caught the fish, so I showed her the place.

There were several vehicles fishing nearby "our spot", so we decided to head for home.  She was tired and the dogs were getting "ansy".

As we were passing the cars, I noticed my friend Jason Cooper who was fishing with his friends at a spot where I missed a tailing redfish on Friday. 

I stopped to see if they were catching anything and he pulled this slot red from the river.

Naresh Melaram with his first redfish!

Jason and his friends managed to catch four reds on finger mullet and cut baits. 

Evidently a school of reds were in the area.

Jason's told me that his friend Naresh never caught a redfish before in his life,  well today little Daniel and his uncle Naresh managed to score. 

Daniel's fish was 28" and Naresh's measured in at the slot, 23".

I took some pics of him proudly holding up "dinner" as we headed out of the refuge.

As we got to Catfish Creek Loop road, the truck's oil sensor indicated low oil pressure. 

About the same time this happened, the truck made a couple of clanks and shut down.

I checked the oil and it was full but the truck would not start.

It was pure poetic justice.  Just before this happened, I was telling Karen that the engine should be good for at least 600,000 miles.  With 384,000 miles on the odometer, I didn't expect it to give up the ghost, especially in the wildlife refuge on a Sunday evening.

I called Herb Daniels wrecker service and got no help.  They were booked until Monday, so I called Jason and asked him if he could drive me to my house so I could pick up Karen's truck so I could unload my gear.

It was late and he was ready to head home, so he agreed to help me out of our predicament.

I finally got C & L Wrecker to pick up the truck and take it to the local Chevy dealer.

Jason drove me to the house and in between conversations with the wrecker driver we swapped fish stories and talked about fishing as Karen and our two "wonder dogs" waited for the wrecker to arrive in the refuge.

Jason told me that he and a buddy of his had nailed some nice dolphin in the 120 ft. depths out of Port Canaveral.  His friend has a 25 foot boat and they were pulling seven lines in their trolling spread. 

When we got to the house, I took Karen's truck and drove down to Fisher's Nissan to wait for her and the wrecker.

After a long wait, my truck with Elmo and Odie finally arrived at the dealer where the truck now resides.

When I asked about the wait, the driver said that he couldn't turn around on the narrow dirt road without the possibility of turning over so he drove all the way up Peacocks Pocket road, past the kayak launch to the highway.

I didn't envy him as I paid for the tow and moved our gear from one truck to the other.

Being towed out of the Refuge is not what I would wish on anybody but thanks to a good friend and some luck, it could have been a lot worse.  The truck could have gone out on I-95 on my way to Savannah.

Jason said he would send me some pics of his fish which I will post when I receive them.

Until next time, Tight Lines.