Thunderstorm Sea Trout Fishing

Didn't get any fishing in this weekend because of a problem with my truck but I did manage to nail a few sea trout this evening just before the thunderstorm started to roll in.

Friday afternoon on the way back from Jacksonville, Fl. I lost the steering and brakes in my Silverado.

They went out around the St. Augustine exit and I managed to baby the truck back to Titusville on a wing and a prayer or two.

Hopefully it will be repaired tomorrow but in the meanwhile I had to use my wife's vehicle to get out of the house and wet a line on the Indian River.

I loaded up three spinning rods late this evening and drove into East Gator Creek to see if there was any topwater action going on.

After several dozen unfruitful casts with a Chug Bug, I decided to move into the Catfish Creek area and give it a try.,

There was a lot of vehicle traffic this evening, but few fishermen out on the water.

When the air temperature started dropping and the wind started picking up I decided to fish a culvert on the Indian River that is usually productive close to dusk, and this evening was no exception.

I tossed the Chug Bug several times and had two followups and one short strike so I decided to switch over to a gold Johnsons Sprite.

The spoon did the trick.  After only a few casts around some milling finger mullet, I nailed an undersize sea trout which I quickly released.

Several more casts yielded two more fish that were a bit larger but still under the 15" minimum.

As the storm moved in and it started getting dark, I spotted a couple of nice swirls so I tossed the spoon past them and got a hookup with a nice redfish.  The fish hit the spoon on the drop, swam about ten yards and the hook pulled out.

Undaunted, I continued fan casting the spoon and missed two more trout before getting another hit from a redfish.

The fish nailed the spoon about ten feet from the bank and pulled drag off the reel, but again the hook pulled out.

It was almost dark and the wind was getting stronger so I decided to call it a day and head for home.

In about an hour of fishing I managed to land three sea trout, missed at least three more and miss two nice redfish.

I've got to remember to let them eat the spoon when they hit instead of trying to immediately set the hook.

Till next time, Tight Lines.