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.