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.