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.