Catfish Creek Was Hot This Evening

The bank fishermen around Catfish Creek were catching this evening, not just fishing.

When my wife asked me to pick up a prescription for her, I packed up a few rods and took Elmo and Odie along for a spin around Catfish Creek in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

As we crossed the A. Max Brewer Bridge it looked like everyone had at least one fishing rod out in the river.

I drove around Catfish Creek and stopped to talk to several fishermen to see what was biting and what the fish were biting on.

The first guy I spoke with was landing a slot size redfish as I drove up to him.  He and almost everyone I spoke with was using shrimp for bait, and catching either slot size and under Redfish, or slot size Black Drum.

 I didn't want to waste his time so I drove up the road and talked with another couple who were fishing a culvert.  They said they had just got there and were using shrimp for bait.

I brought along three rods this evening each tipped with different lures but I didn't expect to do much fishing with the dogs along. Elmo usually chills out in the back seat but Odie is a handful and has to explore and watch everything that is going on.

The air temperature was in the high 70s and the river was like glass. There were several people paddling kayaks and a couple of guys at the mouth of Catfish Creek fishing from a shallow draft flats boat. The scenery this evening was awesome.

I spotted several pushes of water that were probably Black Drum and a couple of redfish in the shallow marsh area. I tossed a gold spoon for awhile with no luck and switched to an Electric Chicken paddletail bait and got one hit from a sea trout.

As it got closer to dusk I made a few casts with a Chug Bug and got a follow up from something but no hits.

I used my camera this evening more than my fishing rods and took these pics of the sunset before moving out of the refuge.

As I was driving past one area I like to fish, a fisherman was landing this slot size Black Drum that he caught on a piece of shrimp. I took his pic but forgot to get his name.

 
Anyway, after taking a few pics of his fish I packed up Elmo and Odie and headed home.

Karen and I plan to go fishing tomorrow with the "pups" and I plan to hit the spot where I spooked the reds this evening.

Hope you enjoy the pics,

Till next time; Tight Lines.