Windy Afternoon Topwater Fishing

I didn't plan on spending a windy afternoon topwater fishing today, but as things turned out today, that's exactly what I wound up doing.

My wife and I drove down to Ft. Lauderdale this morning to pick up a couple of cases of Koi food for our pond fish.

The trip proved uneventful even with our two "wonder dogs" Elmo and Odie.  They were perfect companions and were relatively well behaved for a change.

When we got back, I mowed the lawn and around 7:00 pm decided to drive down to Peacocks Pocket road and toss around a topwater plug or two.

I drove through East Gator Creek Road to avoid some of the killer potholes that dot the other entrance and headed to the first salt marsh pond.

By the time I got on the water the air temperature was 79 degrees and there was a brisk wind blowing enough to make topwater fishing a real challenge.

I spotted a nice redfish at the first pond and made several casts to the fish before a large gator decided to move in on my fishing grounds.  I took a short video of the gator and decided to give him the area.

The next two spots I stopped to fish also had inquisitive gators homing in on my topwater Chug Bug, so I moved to a large pond where I knew there were no gators and some nice sea trout.

When I pulled up to the spot, I spotted several fish busting on baitfish but nothing extraordinary.

I started fan casting a freshwater Metallic Silver Black Chug Bug that I coated with Pro-Cure baitfish formula around the grassy islands hoping for a redfish.  The third or fourth cast produced a small sea trout that I quickly released.


Several more casts got me another small sea trout that just couldn't leave the Chug Bug alone.

After releasing the fish, I moved to my final spot where I hooked a nice sea trout on my second cast to a mangrove.

The fish hit the Chug Bug just as I stopped the bait midway in the marsh canal and took off like a small redfish. 

At first I thought I had hooked a red but when the fish turned I saw it was a large trout.

The fish headed for the brush at the bank and after a brief tug of war, the hooks pulled loose and the fish got off.

Although I was disappointed, I continued pitching the Chug Bug into the wind.

It was getting close to dusk and I missed two more sea trout.  One was briefly hooked but again the hook pulled out after the first run. 

One day I'll learn to set the drag light on these guys.

Anyway, it was a windy afternoon topwater fishing as you can see by the clip below.

When my wife called me to tell me it was "getting dark", I was ready to head for home.

Sunset On The Indian River

Fishing topwater baits against the wind wears you out and after the long drive we made this morning, I was ready to head home, get something to eat and hit the sack.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Topwater Fishing In The Salt Marsh

Got home from work late this afternoon and headed for the wildlife refuge to get in some late topwater fishing in the salt marsh for sea trout.

Although my wife thinks the area is "fished out", I still catch a lot of decent size trout and reds from the ponds and shallows of the Indian River.

Peacocks Pocket road was almost free of vehicle traffic when I got there and except for two other cars, I was the only person fishing the refuge.

The air temperature was in the low 80s and there was little to no wind blowing to cool things off.

Since time was a factor, I headed for a couple of ponds that I like to fish instead of fan casting the "ditches" like I usually do.

I started fishing a frog pattern Chug Bug at the first stop and promptly hooked and released three
nice sized ladyfish.

I love catching these "miniature Tarpon" on light tackle and topwater baits. 

They usually smash the hell out of the lures and then jump all over the place before giving up the fight.  

Like their bigger Tarpon cousins, you miss more than you catch.

Anyway, after the third ladyfish I was about to move on when I a nice fat 23" sea trout nailed the Chug Bug.

After a brief fight I hauled the fish up the bank and took this quick pic before releasing it.

I moved up the road and made a couple of casts to a redfish I spotted swimming up the marsh canal but the fish apparently had jockjaw.

My next spot was at a larger pond where several nice fish were hitting bait on the surface.

I spotted a couple of nice redfish and several sea trout in this spot so I started pitching the Chug Bug around the bait pods to see if I could stir up some action.

I was about to give it up and move on to another spot when I hooked up with another sea trout

about the same size as the one I caught earlier.

The fish put up a nice fight and almost broke off in the brush but I finally landed it, took it's pic and released it to grow up into a "gator".

Unfortunately that was to be the last fish of the evening.  It was getting dark and the bugs were getting nasty so I decided to head for home.

As I got into my truck the oriental gentleman I saw last week drove up and asked me about the fishing.

He said he was on vacation, fished all day and only caught one oversize redfish on a plastic jerk bait which he had to put back.

I told him what I caught and we parted ways.

Karen and I plan on driving down to Pompano Beach tomorrow to pick up some Koi food for our fish so I probably won't get out until Sunday, if then.

Till next time,  Tight Lines.

Chug Bugs For Sea Trout

Fishing Chug Bugs for sea trout is one of my favorite pastimes when they are biting and this afternoon for the most part, the sea trout were eager to please.

I haven't been able to get as much fishing in as I normally do but this afternoon I decided to hit Peacocks Pocket road to see if anything was moving around after the rainstorm.

Fishing the fronts is usually productive and this afternoon was no exception.

It was raining when I drove into East Gator Creek Road and it continued on and off until around 6:30 pm.  The air temperature dropped to 71 degrees and there was a mild breeze blowing until dusk.

There were several flocks of Rosette Spoonbills in the marsh and the alligators were pretty much everywhere I stopped to fish.

 

I didn't bother fishing around East Gator Creek because I usually spend too much time on the ladyfish that inhabit the grassy shallows, so I drove to Peacocks Pocket road to fish some of my favorite ponds instead.

There were a lot of fish moving around but they were spooky.  I started fishing a ZMan soft bait and missed a couple of small sea trout so I decided to start fishing a gold Johnson's Sprite spoon to cover more water.

After several dozen unfruitful casts to some very active fish I decided to start fishing topwater baits.  The fish were hitting finger mullet on the surface in several areas so I pulled out a Skitter Walk and started casting around the mullet pods.

I had a couple of follow ups but no hits so I decided to change over to a freshwater Frog pattern Chug Bug.  

I smeared on some Pro-Cure to enhance the bait and started casting to the banks of the marsh canal and other likely looking areas. 

As the water became a lot calmer, the Chug Bug was the trick.  After only a few casts I had a nice hit with a sea trout of about 20 inches.  The fish nailed the topwater bait at the bank and put up a brief fight before I released it.

Things were looking up.

I moved to a large marsh pond where there were some large sea trout and redfish chasing mullet on the surface.

I started blind casting the area and after several casts managed to briefly hook up with another nice sea  trout.

I missed two more sea trout and spooked a nice redfish before I hooked up with this 26 inch fish.

The fish hit the Chug Bug as soon as it hit the water, missed the bait and hit it again.  It hooked itself on the second strike.

After taking a pic I released the fish and moved to another spot.  When I got to the pond, an oriental gentleman already had the spot staked out.  Literally.  He had five rods out with live finger mullet.

When I asked him if he caught anything, he told me he landed and released a 41" redfish and a 28" sea trout both caught on live mullet.

For some reason, I wished him more good luck and moved on to another location.

It was getting closer towards dusk and it started to rain again but the fish also started to bite.  

I hooked and released two more sea trout on the Chug Bug.

The largest fish was 27" and  I missed one that was well over that size as I was leaving the refuge to head for home.

That fish hit the Chug Bug in the marsh canal right at the bank.  I thought it was a redfish when it hit and I set the hook so hard it pulled the plug out of it's mouth.

One of these days I'll learn.

Until next time, Tight Lines.

The Fishing Is Hot If You Know Where To

The fishing is hot right now depending on what you are fishing for.

This weekend was great for ladyfish but not so for redfish or gator sea trout.

I didn't do much serious fishing this past weekend but I did manage to catch some nice ladyfish and stir up a couple of small Tarpon in the Mosquito Lagoon.

I only fished an hour or so Friday evening when I got home from work and a couple of hours late Saturday in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Friday I specifically targeted ladyfish and managed to score a half dozen or so in and around East Gator Creek road.

I caught most of them on a ZMann Paddler Z rigged on a 1/2 oz. jig head.   The fish loved the bait when fished super fast or skipped across the sea grass in the shallows.

As it got closer to dusk, I switched to a topwater Skitterwalk and picked up two more ladyfish and missed a nice size sea trout.  The sea trout hit the topwater plug as it was sitting "lifeless" on the surface.

Saturday afternoon I was after anything but only scored on ladyfish and a small sea trout.

I missed a small Tarpon just off the ICW in the Mosquito Lagoon on a DOA Bait Buster while wading and spooked three nice redfish in the clear shallows on a gold Johnson's Sprite spoon.

Unfortunately the fish I jumped Saturday all had lockjaw and refused my baits.

My buddy Jason and his friend did much better on the Indian River than I did, as you can see by the pics below.

 

  

He said he saw several large schools of  big Bull Redfish  and caught these on live mullet.

He was skipping mullet to the schools on the edge of the grass flats were they meet up with the big bare sandy patches. 

I need to start fishing live baits more often!

Till nest time, Tight Lines!