Chilly Afternoon On The Indian River

It was a chilly afternoon on the Indian River but when I got home from work today, I had to make a quick run around Catfish Creek Loop to see if anyone was having any luck.

It was almost 6:00 pm when I finally drove into Gator Creek Road and the air temperature was a chilly 48 degrees.    The wind was blowing just enough to make a steady ripple on the water and not many people were in the area.

As I entered the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge the fist thing I noticed was a huge concentration of gulls and other sea birds in the shallows.  

They were obviously chowing down on something in the shallows but I didn't see any finger mullet or signs of fish in the area so I moved up the road to see if Peacocks Pocket Road was open yet.

As I approached the turnoff, the barrier and the sign was still up.  

When I walked the road last week I noticed that they were working on the road but the area was supposed to be open on the 15th. of the month.

Anyway, I parked the truck and made several casts into a flowing culvert with a Johnsons Sprite gold spoon to see if I could stir up a hit.  
All I got for my efforts was a small finger mullet I snagged in the shallows.

It was too cold for me to continue fishing without a coat on so I drove into Catfish Creek Loop to see who was fishing the river.

When I hit the curve I met up with a regular who always fishes with cut baits.  He had four rods set out and didn't seem to be catching anything.  When I asked if he had caught any fish, he told me he caught two reds in the slot yesterday along with another 33 in fish,  but nothing today.

He blamed it on the cold front.

I wished him luck and drove on where I met up with another reader of this site.  He and his friend were fishing the river with cut baits and shrimp and they too hadn't had a bite.  Again, the cold front was believed to be the reason for the lockjaw.

I wished them luck and drove out of the area.  I never saw another fisherman in the areas that Karen and I usually fish until close to the exit where a couple had several rods out with cut baits and shrimp.

When I asked him about the fishing, he told me the same story.  The cold front put down the fish.

These three were the only ones braving the chilly afternoon on the Indian River and as I headed towards the bridge, I was glad I forgot to bring along the rest of my rods.

When I got home and read my emails, I got a fishing report from Craig and Mary Bates. 

They were out last Sunday afternoon and picked up some fish.   Mary was using a shrimp under a popping cork and picked up two middle of the slot Reds and a very nice 23” Trout.

            

Mary out fished Craig who landed a pair of nice trout up to 22” on a Naked Swimmer.

He sent me this pic of Mary with  a couple of slot reds they caught between Christmas and New Years that would up on the grill with some Redfish Magic.  Yum!

Maybe I'll wet a line this weekend if the weather warms up a bit, but tonight it's supposed to be another chiller.

Till next time, Tight Lines.