Labor Day Weekend Fishing In The Wildlife Refuge

Labor Day weekend fishing is something I tend to avoid, mainly because of the crowds that ultimately mess up the fishing.

This afternoon I was pleasantly surprised to find the refuge "people free".

My wife and I planned to take Odie and Elmo for a ride around Peacocks Pocket road but decided against it at the last minute.

I packed up several rods and we headed for the same areas I fished during the thunderstorms yesterday.  I knew that I couldn't possibly duplicate the same scenario but I was hoping Karen would hook up with one of the Redfish that cruise through the area.

I baited her spinning rod up with a substantial chunk of cut ladyfish and I chose to fish with a replacement Chug Bug  I picked up at Bass Pro Shops in Savannah.

The conditions were not favorable to topwater fishing but I'm stubborn and I love the bite it produces so I started pitching the bait around some likely looking areas.

The air temperature was 92 degrees when we entered Peacocks Pocket road and when we finally got down to fishing, it had dropped to 88 degrees.

There was hardly any wind blowing at around 6:30 pm and the water was virtually flat in most areas so I didn't expect much action.

Karen tossed out another rod with a Cajun Thunder rig and a fresh dead shrimp and sat down to watch both rods while I walked the marsh canal.

It didn't take long before I hooked up with a slot size sea trout.

The fish hit the Pro-Cure smeared Chug Bug at the opposite bank of the canal and but up a brief fight before being landed.

I released the fish after Karen took a couple of pics and continued fishing the banks.

During the next hour or so I hooked three more  sea trout of about the same size and missed about the same number.

The fish were not as aggressive as they were yesterday and we never saw any Redfish during the time we were fishing.

Usually the fish cruise down the canal where you can spot them as they push water ahead of them but this evening they were absent.

Karen and I fished until the mosquitoes forced us to leave the area.

She managed to catch a nice hard head catfish on the cut ladyfish but other than that, it was a pretty uneventful trip.

At least we got a chance to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather.

 Till next time, Tight Lines.

Great Fishing During A Rainstorm

It's always great fishing during a rainstorm or shortly thereafter and this evening was no exception.

When I finally got home from work this evening it was just beginning to rain.  I waited a while hoping for a break but it looked like it would continue so I packed up six rods and headed for the river.

By the time I crossed the A. Max Brewer Memorial bridge it was beginning to slow down and by the time I got to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center it had stopped.

I drove down Peacocks Pocket Road and briefly stopped to fish at the kayak launch.  There were several large pods of mullet in the area being chased by either sea trout or redfish.

I tossed topwater Chug Bugs, a paddle tail jerk bait and a fluorescent Live Target shrimp with no hits or follow-ups.  

It started to rain again, much harder than when I left the house so I put on my Frog Toggs top, got in the truck and started to slowly drive down the road to see if any action was visible.

The temperature dropped to 73 degrees and the wind was blowing at a moderate rate with some heavy gusts.  Not great for casting.

I stopped to fish several places in the marsh canal and got several hits from sea trout and briefly hooked a large ladyfish.

              

Finally, the rain subsided enough for me to do some serious casting.  I stopped at a small pond that I knew held large fish and started casting a chartreuse and silver Chug Bug that was smeared up with Pro-Cure.

I caught two small sea trout which I released and hooked a very large ladyfish that got tangled in the mangrove roots and finally broke off.

I wasn't too happy about losing my Chug Bug, but it's part of the game in this area if you plan on catching any fish.

I tied on another Chug Bug pattern (Tennessee Shad I think) replaced the 15 pound test fluorocarbon leader with 30 pound leader and started casting my new lure.

At the next pond I fished, I caught three sea trout on the Chug Bug pattern and missed two more that got off.

 The one sea trout was under the slot and the others were all in or over the 24' slot. 

 

As the rain started up again, the sky was getting dark but I decided to keep fishing until dusk.  

I moved to another pond area and started making long casts to the shallow grassy flats and retrieving the bait over a drop-off.

The second cast brought me a hookup with a nice redfish that made a brief run and eventually pulled off.  Apparently, the fish wasn't hooked well.  

I was going to move on but I didn't want to waste fishing time so I decided to continue fishing the little pond.

About five long casts later, a redfish exploded on the topwater Chug Bug and headed for the middle of the pond. 

The rod I was fishing with was spooled with 30 pound green Power Pro and a length of 30 pound fluorocarbon leader but the redfish I had on tore off line like it was 4 pound mono.

The first run was almost 100 yards into the middle of the shallow pond and  I couldn't do anything but hang on.  The fish finally turned to the right and continued running around the pond.  I picked up some line and fought the fish for almost 20 minutes before it finally showed signs of giving up.

Finally the redfish started coming towards me, allowing me to pick up most of the line I lost on the first runs.

When the fish finally swam close enough for me to get a look at it's size, I was taken back.  The big redfish was almost four feet long.

Apparently it didn't like my looks because it took off again on another long run as soon as it saw me.

I turned the fish again, but this time it headed for a small mangrove island, got into the roots and broke off taking my Chug Bug with it.

I wanted the fish for pictures to post here, but it was not meant to be.  

I was going to tie on another Chug Bug but it was getting too dark, so I decided to head for home and give it a shot tomorrow.  

A couple of my buddies said they have caught really big Bull Redfish of this size in the marsh area but until this evening I chalked it off to braggadocio.  

Now I believe them!  Anyway like I said, it's great fishing during a rainstorm.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Dog Days Topwater Fishing

Dog days topwater fishing can be productive when conditions are favorable and apparently this evening they were.

Fishing Peacocks Pocket Road is one of my favorite pastimes when I get off work in time to enjoy the evening bite.

East Gator Creek Flats

This evening when I drove into East Gator Creek Road the air temperature was 93 degrees and there was almost no wind to speak of.  Not exactly great conditions for topwater fishing, but I decided to focus on tossing Chug Bugs and SkitterWalks until either I caught something or the bugs bled me dry.

Fortunately, I didn't have to endure the latter until I was ready to head home.

When I drove past the first set of culverts at the junction of Peacocks Pocket Road, I decided to test out a Chug Bug to see if anything was interested.   It took five casts before I hooked, landed and released a nice ladyfish that jumped all over the place before giving up the fight.

It was a great start and I had high hopes of duplicating the result so I headed to one of my favorite deep water ponds where I knew some nice sea trout were prowling around the drop offs.

The pond was flat in some areas and had a slight ripple in others.  I started casting close to the bank and gradually extended my casts outward towards the choppier water.

I spent a lot of time fan casting the area and finally got a hit from a nice sea trout.  The fish nailed the plug right out of the water but didn't get hooked.

I continued casting the area and was about to move on up the road when a nice 17" sea trout nailed the Chartreuse/Metallic Silver Chug Bug. 

The fish put up a respectable fight before I shimmied down the bank to land it.

I took a couple of pics and released the fish to grow into a "gator".

Several more casts into the same area produced another smaller sea trout that I also returned to the marsh canal.

It was getting late so I moved up to another pond that I occasionally fish and started fan casting to likely looking areas.

The bugs were getting to me and after making several casts I was about to give up and head for home but a Snook nailed the Chug Bug close to a submerged grassy island.

The fish caught me by surprise and hooked itself before I had a chance to set the hooks.  At first I thought I had hooked a ladyfish but after the second jump when I saw the telltale lateral line along it's side, I had no doubt that it was definitely a nice Snook.

The fish jumped two more times and started to head towards deeper water in the marsh canal when the hooks pulled out.

Some guys on the other side of the pond were watching the battle and were more upset that I lost the fish than I was.

I made several more casts before moving on up the road.

As I passed an area called the "duck blind" I noticed a couple sight casting the Indian River shallows for reds or sea trout.

Indian River Sight Casting

Their boat was in a foot of water and they were fishing the exact spot where I picked up a redfish a couple of weeks ago.

I took a couple of pics before moving on, but the bugs were becoming particularly viscous as it got closer to dusk and I wasn't equipped with bug spray.  Dog days topwater fishing can be a blast but not when you're covered with mosquitoes.

As I headed for home I took a couple of pics of the beautiful sunset.  Enjoy.

 

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Fishing The Culverts

Because of all the heavy rains we've been having, fishing the culverts seemed like a viable plan this afternoon so after I finished setting up my wife's computer and the rain stopped, I headed for the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to wet a line.

It was about 6:30 pm when I left the house and I was on the water fishing a topwater plug by 7:00 pm.

The water on the Indian River was slightly choppy and in the marsh, it was almost like glass in most areas.

I started fishing a chartreuse and silver Chug Bug at the first trio of culverts past the Peacocks Pocket kayak launch where I spotted some sea trout hitting mullet on the surface.  I had a couple of follow ups but no fish so I moved on to fish the marsh ponds.

I switched between a frog patterned Chug Bug and the chartreuse and silver patterned one and had several misses and follow ups but no hookups.

Finally I decided to fish a DOA CAL pink and chartreuse shadtail bait that I smeared up with Pro-Cure Inshore formula.

Almost immediately I started getting hits from sea trout around the open culverts on the Indian River side of the road.

All the trout were mostly slot sized with a couple undersize fish in the mix.

I hooked and released three sea trout and missed about the same amount before I decided to head home.

The bugs were getting to me.

As I slowly drove north on Peacocks Pocket road I spotted a push of water made by a school of either redfish or black drum, so I drove past the school and quickly flipped out the plastic paddletail bait in front of the school.

The fish were tight lipped and didn't pick up the bait so I got back in the truck and pulled the same maneuver again with the same results, only this time a fish bumped the bait and let it go.

Undaunted, I smeared the plastic bait in the Pro-Cure
and this time let the bait sit in front of the school until the lead fish passed by.  Then I twitched it just enough to give it some life.

This time a fat redfish picked up the bait and headed up the marsh canal.

The fish made three nice bulldog runs before I managed to get the Boca Grip and land the fish.

I was hoping the fish would be in the slot so I could harvest it for dinner but it measured 29".

I quickly took some pics and released the red back to the marsh canal.

As it swam away, I made a mental note to pick up a helmet cam.  The fight in the narrow marsh canal would have made a great YouTube vid.
  When they are open, fishing the culverts can be extremely productive, so on the way out I just had to try one more cast to end the day.  A nice spotted sea trout hit the paddletail on the first cast but somehow managed not to get hooked.

I took some pics of the awesome sunset and headed home to partake of a ham that was ready for dinner.

 

Till next time, Tight Lines to you all.

Live Target Shrimp For Spotted Sea Trout

Lately, I just started using Live Target shrimp for spotted sea trout with some outstanding results.

The soft plastic bait perfectly resembles a live shrimp and with the culverts in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge flowing like they are, the sea trout just can't seem to resist them.

I seldom rave about artificial baits, but these work better than any I have ever used, especially when smeared up with some Pro-Cure Inshore formula.

This evening, even though I didn't get home from work until rather
late, I still managed to nail several slot size and over sea trout on these realistic looking shrimp.  I think I also missed a small redfish but I'm not sure.

Anyway, when I picked them up at Bass Pro in Savannah, I stowed them in my tackle arsenal and overlooked using them in lieu of topwater Chug Bugs and SkitterWalks.  (I'm partial to topwater baits because of the awesome strikes they provoke.)

Today I'm glad I broke with my inclination to fish topwater baits and try out these realistic looking shrimp imitations.
 
I fished an hour and a half this evening until dark with the same lure around the open culverts and dropoffs next to shallow flats and I missed more fish than I landed.

The grass in the refuge has now been  mowed which makes it easier to get closer to the water and land fish. 


I hope to get out tomorrow and try for a redfish or two.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Super Moon Fishing Weekend

This weekend's Super Moon made fishing in our area a lot easier but catching was an entirely different matter.

Despite a minor health problem I've been dealing with and some severe thunderstorm activity in our area, I still managed to get out a few hours on Saturday and Sunday to wet a line and try to catch some quality redfish.

When I hit the refuge on Saturday afternoon, the air temperature had quickly dropped from the high to low 80s and the winds were picking up to (what seemed to me) gale force.  Fortunately the extreme conditions didn't last and eventually it turned dead calm towards dusk.

I had been briefly scouting some areas around Bio Lab road before driving into East Gator
Creek road to fish and the rain was literally coming down in buckets.   I slowly drove to Peacocks Pocket road past the culverts and decided to fish the marsh area when the lightning subsided.

|When the rain slowed down enough to fish, I stopped to toss some artificial baits in a couple of ponds but all I managed to score was a couple of small sea trout on a topwater Chug Bug and a DOA CAL bait.

Half way through Peacocks Pocket Road a rainbow appeared and I was positive that the fishing would improve.

Up to this point I hadn't spotted any sign of topwater sea trout or redfish activity but since there was a slight chop on the water, I decided to keep fishing topwater baits.

At a large pond, I finally got a hit from a nice redfish on my trout pattern SkitterWalk.  The fish caught me by surprise when it busted on the lure and I jerked the bait out of the redfish's mouth. The fish didn't come back for a second try.

After making what seemed like a million casts with the SkitterWalk, I finally decided to give up fishing for the day.   It was getting late and the "super moon" was becoming visible through the clouds.

I took several pics of the moon and the beautiful sunset before calling it a day.

All day I had the refuge virtually to myself.  Except for a couple of fishermen who came in as I was leaving, the only other person in the area was a photographer who wanted to get pics of the Super Moon over NASA's VAB building.

Sunday afternoon was another story.

After helping my wife at the stables with her horses I headed for the river to get in some fishing.

It was late afternoon and the usual late afternoon thunderstorm activity was in the area.

I briefly stopped to fish the shallow flats off of US1 near the intersection of Hwy 50 with the SkitterWalk that I had a redfish hit on Saturday.

It turned out to be a fruitless endeavor.  I had something follow the bait but it wasn't hungry.

I drove to Peacocks Pocket kayak launch and stopped at the second set of culverts to watch some wade fishermen out in the river.  

 

While I was tossing a Creme paddle tail bait to some tailing reds, of the guys caught a small redfish on what looked like a topwater bait.

The water on the Indian River was dead calm and I counted five alligators in the immediate area where the two wade fishermen were doing their thing.  The thought of the gators stifled any inclinations I had of wade fishing the river.

I counted at least a dozen redfish tailing in the shallows, but they weren't interested in any of the baits I was offering so I moved on down the road.

At every stop I made, I spotted redfish and sea trout activity on both sides of Peacocks Pocket road.

The water was flat calm and the fish were spooky but they were actively feeding on mullet.  I silently wished I had brought some with me today.

As the sunset approached, I stopped at one of my favorite ponds and decided to spend the rest of my fishing time there.  I untied the SkitterWalk, tied on a frog pattern Chug Bug and started fan casting along a dropoff.

After the tenth or fifteenth cast, a large redfish followed the lure and literally blew it out of the water.

I missed the fish but the ferocious strike made the trip worthwhile.  I continued casting the plug, half hoping the fish would return and after several casts another redfish in the 30" category hit the bait.  The fish was on for a brief time util the hook pulled out.  

Before it got dark, two more redfish took swipes at the Chug Bug before I finally hooked and landed the slot fish below.

I released the fish and after making several more fruitless casts decided to give it up for the day.

Super Moon fishing is unpredictable but Sunday turned out to be worth the effort.  I took some pics of the beautiful sunset before heading home.

Till next time, Tight Lines to your all.

Jumping Redfish In The Marsh

When I decided to hit the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to wet a line this evening, jumping redfish in the marsh was the last thing I expected to see.

In all my years of fishing I never had a redfish actually jump out of the water, but this evening at around 8:15 pm, that's exactly what happened as I was leaving the refuge.

I didn't get on the water until around 6:30 pm this afternoon and I didn't have high expectations of catching anything.  The truth is that I was getting flustered trying to fix a Windows XP operating system problem on my wife's computer and I needed some fresh air to clear my head.

Anyway, I loaded four rods into the back of the truck and headed to East Gator Creek road to check out the possibilities.

Although the water was up from the incessant rains this past week and the culverts were open, no fish were hitting in these areas.  At least they weren't hitting what I was offering.

Since it was late, I headed past some of my usual spots in favor of fishing a couple of marsh ponds with top water baits.

I did stop at two deep water spots in the marsh canal to fish a Creme Paddletail bait and got a strike at the second location, but I didn't get a hookup.

The grass along side of Peacocks Pocket road is so high, I probably could not have landed the fish up the bank anyway.

When I finally got to the large marsh pond that I wanted to fish, there was absolutely no surface activity.

The water surface had a slight chop and there was a mild breeze blowing.  The air temperature was 87 degrees and slowly dropping.

I decided to toss a gold Johnson Sprite spoon around but after numerous casts without any action, I switched to this speckled trout pattern Rapala Skitter Walk.

I started fan casting the area trying to evade the gators that kept following my bait and after a half hour I was about to give up on the lure, but as I was "walking the dog" past a submerged grassy island, a sea trout of at least 30 inches busted on the bait and started peeling off drag.

The big sea trout made three nice runs and as I was trying to lead the fish towards an open spot at the bank, the treble hook pulled out of it's mouth.  I could see where the hook wore a hole in the side of the fish's mouth as it shook off the Skitter Walk.

The grassy bank did it to me again.

I smeared on some more Pro-Cure Inshore Formula and continued walking up the road fan casting to likely looking spots.

This particular area didn't produce any more hits so I moved up to another area where some friends of mine caught a huge gator sea trout last year.

I pulled up to a spot where I could cast without getting tied up in the tall grass and started "walking the dog" with the top water bait.

It took four casts before a redfish hit the Skitter Walk and jumped about three feet into the air.  The fish was well over the slot and came straight out of the water like a shuttle launch when it felt the hook.

In all my years of fishing I have never seen a redfish jump like that.  They always put up a bulldog battle with long runs, but this one was acting like a freshwater Black Bass.

Anyway as the fish started it's run up the marsh canal, the line went slack and the hooks apparently pulled out.

That was the second nice fish of the day that I lost and it was to be my last.

It was getting dark and I was getting tired of being eaten by the bugs so I headed home.

When I got to the house and rinsed off my rods I discovered why the fish kept getting off this particular rig.

I was using 8 pound Cajun Red line with a 12 pound fluorocarbon leader on a 7 1/2 foot medium weight rod and the hooks on the Skitter Walk were not all as sharp as they should have been.

Apparently the jumping redfish in the marsh was never hooked deep enough to enable me to land it.

Fishing a bait with dull hooks on a medium action rod and light line apparently wasn't enough to set the hooks properly.  Anyway, the hooks are being sharpened as I am making this post.

Another Beautiful Sunset

Till next time, Tight Lines.