Redfish In The Marsh Canals

When I left the house this afternoon I was hell bent on catching redfish in the marsh canals.

The weather was in the 90s today so I didn't even think of going fishing until about 6:00 pm.

I picked out four spinning rods and headed out to fishing Peacocks Pocket in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The water levels in the marsh are super low right now.  This is good and bad.  It concentrates the fish in deeper areas of the marsh but the fish are extremely spooky and savvy to artificial baits.

I started off driving slowly down Peacocks Pocket Road watching the water for signs of fish.

It didn't take long for me to spot some feeding sea trout in the marsh canal so I pulled off to the side of the road and started pitching a Chug Bug that was liberally coated with Pro-Cure.

The first stop proved to be fruitless, but at the second stop when I worked the Chug Bug down the canal, I picked up a nice slot size sea trout which I promptly released.

The afternoon heat had dissipated and the air temperature was about 79 degrees.  A little breeze was blowing but not enough to screw up the casting.

I decided to fish an area where I normally catch some sea trout but as I continued casting the Chug Bug at the bank, I spotted a nice redfish cruising down the canal.

A well placed cast got me a bump on the bait but the fish didn't get hooked and continued up the canal.

I switched rods and decided on fishing a Johnsons Sprite that is my "go to" lure for big redfish.

I jumped into the truck and drove past where the fish was pushing it's wake and again pulled off the road.  This time I shot a cast across the opposite bank with the gold Johnsons Sprite and slowly jiggled the spoon back to me.  On the second cast with the gold spoon the redfish hit the lure almost gently.

It took a second before I realized the fish didn't spit out the bait and for the fish to realize it was hooked but it did, it took off down the marsh canal in second gear.

I fought the fish for about 15 minutes or more before it finally tired enough for me to try and land it.  At the last minute, it headed for some brush and got tangled in the branches.

The fish was solidly hooked so I decided to go in after the red and retrieve the fish.

I got a wet foot but finally broke off the spoon and brought the redfish to the bank.

It measured in at almost 35" and is one of the biggest ones I've landed in this area.

My Samsung camera is broken so I had to take these pics on my cell phone.  I couldn't get the fish into the "selfie" but you can get an idea of its size in the pics.

Anyway, I unhooked the redfish and took a great deal of time to revive it before releasing it to fight another day.

The red straightened out one of the treble hooks on the spoon so I tied on another one and continued fishing.

I caught two more sea trout on the spoon and released them both before heading to the house.

On the way out I spotted two more big redfish pushing a wake down the marsh canal but I didn't bother trying for them.

The redfish in the marsh canals are all mostly over the slot but they are great fun to catch.

Hopefully, next week I'll pick up another one.

Till then, Tight Lines.

Gators In The Ditches

The gators in the ditches this afternoon were gator sea trout, not the alligators you would expect to see in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

After mowing the lawn and doing some chores around the house, I decided to take a quick trip around the wildlife refuge to see if the bank fishermen were catching anything worth noting.

I packed up three spinning rods and headed towards Peacocks Pocket Road.

It was about 6:30 pm when I left the house and it had just finished raining.  The air temperature was in the high 80s and there was a slight breeze blowing over the river.

The usual memorial day crowd was out in force.  People were picnicking, fishing, boating and generally having a good time on both sides of the causeway.

I passed a couple of bird watchers and as I entered Peacocks Pocket road and as I slowly drove past Catfish Creek,  I didn't have any expectations of catching a memorable fish.   

The water was still low despite the off and on again rain we had during this past week.  The deepest part of the marsh area was the marsh canal and some of the larger ponds.

As I scouted the area I saw a bank fisherman on the Indian River side of the road with a couple of rods trying for redfish.  Just opposite him I spotted something busting baitfish in the canal so I pulled over and tied on a well used Chug Bug.  I smeared it up with some Pro-Cure scent and started fan casting down the marsh canal.

About ten yards past where the bank fisherman was doing his thing, I got a hit from a very large sea trout.  The fish tried twice to hit the lure before moving off down the canal.

I made several casts in the area and was about to give up when another large sea trout nailed the Chug Bug.

The fish was solidly hooked and as I played the fish away from numerous stickups along the bank, a guy in a red SUV stopped and called me a "show off"; I guess for catching the sea trout.

I shinnied down the bank, landed the fish and crawled back onto the road.  I showed the guy the trout as I walked to the truck for pliers to unhook the fish.  I took a couple of pics on my cell phone before putting the gator trout back into the canal, much to the dismay of my one man audience.

The sea trout (above) measured in at 27" and definitely made my day.

I continued fishing the ditches of the marsh canal and had another dozen or so hits from marauding sea trout on the Chug Bug.  The problem was that the fish were not getting hooked.

I had one sea trout hit knock the bait out of the water and hit it three more times before I got the bait back to the bank.   You would expect one of the treble hooks to land into some meat but the fish never got hooked.

I landed three more fish in the 20" slot category before calling it a day.

As I drove out of the refuge a small school of redfish swam up the marsh canal.  I tried casting several baits ahead of the fish but they were not in their feeding mode.

As it got dark, it was like someone turned off a switch.  The gators in the ditches suddenly stopped foraging on the mullet.  All the way out of the refuge I never saw another sea trout bust on baitfish.

I've got work to do tomorrow but hopefully Monday, I'll get a chance to wet another line.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Dog Days Of May???

I've always been aware of the Dog Days of August, but the Dog Days of May were apparently upon us this evening.

After my Doctor's appointment, I was told not to lift anything heavier than 10 pounds for another couple of weeks. That pretty much kills any serious fishing, not to mention work that I'm accustomed to doing.

Anyway, I asked Karen if she wanted to take a quick spin around Peacocks Pocket road to see what the fishing conditions were like and she agreed to go if we took Odie and Elmo along.

I realized that with the dogs I wasn't going to get much fishing done so I agreed. I loaded up three spinning rods and we proceeded to drive down to the Indian River.

We went into the easternmost entrance and headed towards Peacocks Pocket kayak launch.  When we drove up to the area, the water was totally flat and there were sporadic ripples of finger mullet on the surface but no sign of sea trout or redfish activity.

I let the dogs out to do their duty while a made several casts with a Chug Bug to no avail.  If there were any fish in the vicinity, they were not hitting top water baits.

We moved along the road and as we passed several bank fishermen, I asked each if they were catching or fishing.  To a man (and woman) they said nothing was hitting.

I drove slowly down the road watching for signs of fish activity and spotted several large redfish tailing in the deeper ponds but they were all too far away to get a cast to them.

We saw three large fish swirling in the marsh canal that were probably gator sea trout but they were spooky and would not hit my Chug Bug.

The air temperature was 90 degrees and there was no wind blowing at all.  The water on both sides of the road was flat and extremely shallow for this time of year.

The Indian River water levels are low and the water was dotted with sea grass out to about 100 yards from the shore.  The pics below depicts the average conditions.

 

The marsh water levels were also extremely low as you can see from these pics.

  

Areas that held fish a couple of months ago are now either high and dry or close to it.  Weeds abound and make casting an artificial bait a chore.  The fish seem to be concentrated in the marsh canals and the deeper ponds.  They are also extremely spooky and savvy to what most fishermen are throwing at them.  

As we continued to slowly drive through Peacocks Pocket road, Karen and I spotted several small sea trout chasing baitfish and a couple of potential Gator Sea Trout that pushed a ton of water and disappeared down the canal.

The areas I caught sea trout and redfish at last week were apparently void of fish today.  The culverts were closed and there was no water running into or out of the marsh areas.

Hopefully over the Memorial Day weekend, I'll be able to spend some quality time trying to fool one of the big ones I spotted Thursday evening.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Fishing The Open Culverts

Fishing the open culverts is always a good option regardless of the time of year.

When I got home from work this evening, I loaded up three spinning rods, Odie and Elmo, and headed for Peacocks Pocket Road to see if anything was happening.

I didn't plan on taking the dogs along but they both looked like they were going to cry when I headed for the door so I gave in.

I drove into East Gator Creek road to see if there was ;any activity in the area but I didn't see any fish so I headed towards Peacocks Pocket Road where I hooked an lost a big Snook last weekend.

The spot didn't pan out so I continued to stop, make a few quick casts and then move to another area.

After letting Elmo and Odie out to do their duty, I continued driving past several other fishermen until I noticed an open culvert in the marsh canal.

There was a good bit of activity and I spotted several slot sized sea trout and a couple of over size redfish busting mullet around the culvert.

I tied on a small Creme Paddletail soft plastic bait and immediately hooked up with a sea trout that got off at the bank.  Encouraged, I smeared on some Pro-Cure Inshore formula and continued fishing the bait.

Two casts later I hooked up with another sea trout that was under the slot.  I released the fish and was going to continue casting the bait when a nice redfish busted some mullet right at my feet.

I went over to the truck and switched rods to fish a 2 1/2" Johnson's Sprite gold spoon in hopes of catching the red.

The first cast into the area hooked me up with an 18" sea trout that I decided to keep for dinner.  The treble hooks got the fish in the gills and it was bleeding to badly to release.

Two casts later and I got a clone to the first fish which I also decided to keep.

I caught four more sea trout in the same size range that I released all around the open culvert.

While I was fishing the area a small school of black drum pushed through the marsh canal.  I could hear them grunting as they swam by.

I was ready to hit the road with my two sea trout when another redfish swirled around the open culvert.  I flipped a cast across the marsh canal and brought it past where I spotted the fish and another big sea trout nailed the gold spoon.

This fish put up a nice fight and at first I thought I hooked the redfish, but I quickly realized it was a big sea trout.

The fish was also hooked deeply so I decided to keep this one for dinner along with the other two fish.

This fish measured in at just under 20".

With three nice sea trout for dinner, I decided to quit while I was ahead and head for the house.

I passed Beatrice, a fellow angler who usually catches fish in the area and asked her how she was doing while talking to my wife on the phone. . She said she had caught a redfish yesterday but nothing today so I wished her well and left the area.

The weather this evening was perfect for fishing topwater baits, but the fish simply did not want a topwater this evening.  When I left the area, it was 82 degrees and there was very little to no wind blowing over the water.

The most productive bait this evening was  2 1/2" Johnson's Sprite gold spoon which is also my "go to" bait for redfish and large sea trout.

As Elmo and Odie got into their cruising positions, I headed home to clean the fish and eat dinner.


 


Fishing the open culverts was the ticket for a successful fishing trip this evening; try it next time you go fishing.

Till next time,  Tight Lines to you all. 

Lackluster Fishing Weekend

Evidently the full moon was part of the reason for the lackluster fishing weekend but my wife and I gave it our best shot and we still got skunked.

I've been recovering for gall bladder surgery and Saturday was the first time I felt like going fishing or actually doing anything outdoors.

I scouted Peacocks Picket road late Saturday afternoon and stopped at a few areas where I normally catch fish.

The water was down in the marsh areas and the wind was making fishing a pain in most areas but I managed to hook a couple of sea trout and missed a Snook that looked to be at least 30 inches.

I was casting a gold Johnsons Sprite in the marsh canal when a large pod of finger mullet moved into a small cove.  I noticed some commotion so I tossed the spoon just outside of the bait pod.

The spoon didn't go more than six feet before the Snook nailed the bait and jumped completely out of the water.  At first I thought I hooked a juvenile Tarpon but when the fish jumped the second time I saw the distinctive line sides.  The second jump was when the fish spit out the spoon.

I tried to duplicate the hookup with a number of casts to the same area but the fish was gone.

Other than the two other undersize sea trout that I hooked, Saturday was a bust.

Sunday afternoon my wife asked if I felt like taking the "kids" (Elmo and Odie) out to the "swamp" for a ride.

I agreed and loaded the truck up with a few rods and my cast net, Just in case.

We stopped at a couple of culverts looking for bait but drew a blank.  At a spot we call "the duck blind", there were several huge pods of mullet in the shallows being chased by what was probably Jack Crevalle on the Indian River side of the road.

The baitfish were all over the place so I netted up a half dozen or so and we put out three rods to see if we could stir up a bite.

There was a moderate wind on the water and the temperature was in the low 80s.  A perfect day for fishing and looking at all the wildlife.

We sat at the spot for an hour and except for a puffer that gutted Karen's bait, we didn't get a single hit.

We stopped at a couple of other places without any luck and everyone I talked to who was bank fishing had the same report.  No bites.  The only guys who were having any luck were a couple who were sight fishing out of an aluminum punt boat.  They caught several sea trout and some redfish.

The out of town sight seers were driving us nuts.  Most did not know how to drive in the refuge and even though they had enough room to pass when I was pulled off to the side of the road to fish; a couple of vehicles still managed to push in my mirror as they passed by.

Although fish were not biting for us this afternoon, watching all the wildlife and enjoying the weather was well worth the trip.  Odie and Elmo certainly enjoyed themselves.

Till next time, Tight Lines.