Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Report

The weather in east central Florida was awesome today but the bank fishing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge left a lot to be desired.

I was working on making an aquarium stand most of the day and as the afternoon progressed I decided to take Elmo and Odie out for a drive around Gator Creek Road.

I took along a couple of rods and headed into the refuge to see if Peacocks Pocket Road was open.  Unfortunately, it is still closed for repairs.

There were a lot of bird watchers, sightseers and bank fishermen out this afternoon but except for one regular, Chuck, no one was catching anything.

I passed several fishermen around Gator Creek and Catfish Creek who were fishing with live or dead shrimp and cut baits, but everyone I spoke with said the water was too cold and the fish weren't hitting. 

When I pulled up to see if Chuck was catching anything, he had just unhooked a nice 20" sea trout that he caught on a cut finger mullet bait.

As I took these pics, Chuck told me that he caught two reds yesterday on cut mullet in the same area.

The redfish were 30" and 33" respectively but today, other than the sea trout pictured above, he had not yet caught any redfish.

The sea trout was nice and fat and was going to make a fine dinner.

Another vehicle was trying to get past me so I pulled up the road and continued looking for fishermen who were "catching".

I talked to two more fishermen before heading out of the refuge and both were just setting up.

The one lady I spoke with said she and her husband fished Playalinda Beach and caught several nice whiting yesterday.  I commented that they are great eating but she told me they gave them away. 

Too bad I wasn't around.  Anyway, after talking with her I decided to head for the house. 

The air temperature on the way out of the refuge was a mild 74 degrees and there was almost no breeze.  It was a perfect afternoon for fishing, bird watching or just getting out to enjoy nature; which is exactly what I did.

I plan on finishing up my tank stand next weekend and also to wet a line.  Late February and March is noted for big sea trout in our area and I plan on picking up a few on top water baits.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.