Easter Weekend Fishing In the Refuge

Easter weekend fishing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was pretty dismal.

Friday's scouting trip set me up for some potentially great fishing possibilities, so when Karen asked about taking the "boys" (Elmo and Odie) to the "swamp" for a fishing trip, I readily agreed.

We stopped by the bait shop and picked up a dozen finger mullet and headed to Peacocks Pocket Road to try a few spots.

We decided to fish two small ponds where I spotted some oversize redfish yesterday, so I bypassed several likely looking spots in favor of one area.

When we got to the area I set up four rods along the bank all rigged with sliding sinker rigs and live finger mullet.

The ponds we fished were relatively shallow but the redfish were there.  They were busting on baitfish but they were out of casting range.

I started tossing a Chug Bug around until a 9 foot gator got interested in it and started following the bait.

Like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, I lured the gator down the marsh canal out of range of our beloved canines.

Although I am not usually a bait fishermen, I decided to give it a shot this afternoon.  We waited till almost dusk for a bite that never materialized on any of our rods.

It was the most frustrating afternoon fishing that I've had in a long while.  Big redfish and a couple of huge sea trout were hitting baits all over the place but they would not come in to hit our baits.

When the mosquitoes started to do their thing, both Karen and myself were ready to call it a day.

We fished Saturday afternoon for three hours and never had a bite.  Totally skunked!

I let the finger mullet that were still alive out to fend for themselves and took a few pics of the area and sunset before heading home.

Despite the fact that we didn't catch anything, we still had a good time in the refuge; especially Elmo and Odie.

Till next time, Tight Lines.