Karen's Gator Trout In The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

This afternoon Karen and I decided to leave the dogs at home and for a change, go fishing alone.

We loaded up some rods and the "bait" I caught yesterday, and headed for East Gator Creek road to see if I could pick up another ladyfish for cut bait.

The plan was to fish for reds this afternoon but we wound up catching a gator sea trout instead.

When we left the house the air temperature was 82 degrees and there was  a mild breeze blowing just enough to put a slight ripple on the water.

When we hit East Gator Creek road, I started fan casting the culverts with a Chug Bug smeared up with some Pro-Cure.

I hooked and lost three large ladyfish before leaving the area.  If the rest of the day turned out like it started, we were in for a disappointing afternoon of fishing.

Good Luck Rainbow

As we left the area and drove into Peacocks Pocket road, a nice rainbow picked up our spirits.

Karen said it was good luck, and apparently it was.

Our first stop was at a large pond where we spotted a big school of redfish pushing a wake in the marsh canal.

There were finger mullet in the area and fish chasing them, but except for a couple of follow ups and one hit, we didn't catch any fish there.

Nosy Gator

I spent most of my time avoiding a nosy alligator that kept chasing my Chug Bug. 

The next spot we fished was at a pond were I usually at least hook up with sea trout and redfish.

I cut ladyfish steaks, smeared them up with Pro-Cure to enhance the "flavor", and set out two rods along a drop off at the edge of the shallow pond.

Karen sat with the cut baits while I proceeded to fan cast the banks of the marsh canal alongside the road.

I was using the Tennessee and Silver/Black Back Chug Bug patterns today on two separate rods.

I had several follow ups from small to medium size sea trout and finally nailed this slot size sea trout to the left.

I released the fish and continued up the marsh canal when I heard Karen yelling that she had caught a redfish.

I got the camera and was ready to take a video of Karen landing the redfish, but when I got close enough to the water to see the fish, it turned out to be a large gator sea trout.

 

The fish took the ladyfish steak and was heading for the middle of the pond when Karen picked up the rod and started fighting the fish back to the bank.

 

She said the sea trout made a couple of long runs that took drag before she could finally get it close enough to the bank where I could "lip" the fish.  The trout was over 30" long and felt like it weighed in at closer to nine pounds.

We took this short video and some of the pics above before releasing the trout to fight another day.

I revived the fish and as it swam down the marsh canal, I told Karen that we needed to catch a redfish to make the day.

After cutting two new baits and setting out the rods, I decided to pay more attention, so I sat down with Karen to watch the baits.

The wind was blowing harder and we had a brief rainfall that made topwater fishing more difficult, so I didn't mind baitfishing for a change.

After only fifteen minutes or so Karen had another hit from a redfish.  The fish peeled off line from her Okuma baitrunner but when she tightened up on the line, she didn't set the hook and the fish spit out the bait.

I took off her 5/0 Owner hook and switched to a 6/0 VMC circle hook and told her to just tighten up on the line the next time she got a bite.

I had a circle hook on a ladyfish head on my rod and I should have listened to my own advice.  A big redfish took the fish head and headed from the shallow grassy pond into the marsh canal towards the Peacocks Pocket boat launch.

I took the reel out of free spoon and when I felt the line go taught, I tightened up on the line.  
As soon as the fish felt the resistance, it hit the surface with a splash and spit out the fish head.

After getting garbage from Karen about losing the fish and not listening to my own advice, I baited up again and continued fishing.

Meanwhile, Karen's bait was picked up by a redfish and was peeling off line from her reel.  She asked me to set the hook so I picked up the rod, let the fish run until it stopped and started again, and slowly tightened up on the line. 

This time the fish was on (or so I thought) so I gave the rod to Karen and told her to keep the line tight while I got the camera from the truck.

When I came back with the camera, Karen told me that the fish came off.   It was probably my fault but alas, it was not ment to be.

Anyway, it was starting to get dark and the wind was blowing harder so when Karen asked if we should leave, I was ready to head for the house.

On the way out of the refuge, I took some pics of the sunset that I hope you all enjoy.

There are some nice gator trout in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge if you know how to fish for them and get lucky enough to land one.  

Tomorrow after getting some work done around the house, Karen and I plan to take Elmo and Odie along with us for another short trip.

Till next time, Tight Lines.