Chug Bugs For Gator Sea Trout

It's hard to beat Chug Bugs for gator sea trout and this evening was no exception.

When I got home from work this evening I heard that a cold front was moving into the area so I loaded up a few rods and headed to Peacocks Pocket road to cast a few top water plugs around the area.

Unless something changes this year, the managers of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge usually close Peacocks Pocket road to the public from November 1 until mid April; so I decided to get in my "last shot" at catching some fish before the closure.

When I crossed the causeway bridge I could see that top water fishing was going to be a challenge.  There was a steady wind blowing across the water which would make a decent presentation difficult to impossible.

I headed straight for a couple of ponds that I wanted to fish before it got dark.

At the first pond I started throwing an XPS top water bait around some promising areas.  I had a couple of followups and nailed one nice ladyfish that I kept for future use as redfish bait.

Another fisherman pulled up behind me where I had parked and started putting on waders.  He told me he was going to fish a deep "trough" on the Indian River side of the road with paddletail baits.

He said he usually does quite well with reds and sea trout that use the deeper trough as a sort of deep water highway.

I left him to his fishing and moved up to another smaller pond where I nailed another 2 foot ladyfish on a Chug Bug.  The wind was blowing too hard to fish the "walk the dog" bait properly and the Chug Bug was a better option.

I missed a couple of small sea trout in the same pond before I decided to make one last stop at another area Karen and I fish on a regular basis.

As I rounded the bend on a larger pond I decided to fish the leeward side of a small grassy island.

The water was calmer and it just looked "fishy" so I started tossing the Pro-Cure coated Chug Bug into the grass.

My second cast plopped down into the middle of the grass and a huge fish erupted on the Chug Bug.

The fish inhaled the bait and started peeling off drag into the middle of the pond.  I was silently cussing myself for not putting on my sports camera.  It was a great fight.

The fish headed towards the brushy shore twice but I eased up the pressure and it turned to swim back into the open pond.

I thought I had an oversize redfish on until I got the fish to the bank.  As I reached down to "lip" the fish, I saw that it was a big gator trout.

I pulled it to the bank and quickly got the camera and tape measure.  The fish measured in at 32" using the pinched tail method.

I got the pliers out and unhooked the fish, took a few pics and quickly released it to fight another day.

The fish took off like a shot and I'm sure it won't eat another Chug Bug for at least a few days, if ever.

I moved up to another stretch and missed another fish that I believe was a red.  The fish hit the Chug Bug completely out of the water but didn't hook itself.

I never ceases to amaze me how a fish can nail a bait with two treble hooks and still not hook itself.

Anyway, it was getting dark and the air temperature was dropping quickly.

I packed up my rods, tried to call my wife and headed for home.

I hope the refuge is open tomorrow but if not, I'm sure I'll find some place to wet a line.  On thing is for sure, you can't beat Chug Bugs for gator sea trout or anything else for that matter.

Till next time, Tight Lines.