Patillo Creek Tarpon

Sunday afternoon was looking a lot like Monsoon season in Southeast Asia, but despite the conditions, I decided to give Patillo Creek Tarpon a try.

Patillo Creek during the summer months is a great area to try your luck at juvenile tarpon.  The area is usually not over crowded and this afternoon was no exception.

When I left the house, the air temperature was in the high 80s and there was a slight breeze blowing.

I took my usual array of spinning rods and headed to Shiloh Marsh Road to check out a couple of spots where I've spotted juvenile tarpon in the past.  Unfortunately, this afternoon the water levels were so low that nothing but a few small sea trout were in the area.

Undaunted, I drove into the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and headed toward Patillo Creek.

By the time I got to the area, it was thundering and lightning.  The air temperature had dropped to 79 degrees and the wind was blowing steadily.

I stopped at a couple of culverts and briefly pitched a Chug Bug, a DOA jerkbait, a gold Johnsons Sprite spoon and even a Creme paddletail spoiler shad bait, all with no success.  Apparently the fish just weren't there today.

I decided to try the deep water canal and was pleasantly surprised to find only two other fishermen in the area.  One fellow had pitched a tent like shelter and was sitting on a lounge chair watching a couple of rods.  He apparently didn't care if the fish were biting, just having a good time.

The other fellow had a baited rod out and was pitching a paddletail bait around the opposite bank of the canal.

I gave them a wide berth and parked several yards away from them.

The canal was sheltered from the wind and was relatively calm.  At first I didn't spot any fish but after a few minutes I saw a small school of juvenile tarpon in the 3 foot category meandering around the middle and opposite bank.  .

The fish were sporadically surfacing and rolling, but after an hour of pitching lures to them and around them, nothing was biting.   It would have been a perfect day to bring along my 9 wt fly rod but as usual, I left it home.

When the weather started getting really nasty, I decided to head for home.

On the way I decided to make a quick run around Peacocks Pocket road.

I drove in from the eastern entrance and when I got to the unimproved boat launch I wasn't especially surprised to find no one in the area.

As I drove down "Pocket Road" I spotted several redfish cruising the marsh canal but no sea trout.

I followed one large redfish and made several casts to it, only to spook the fish.  I spotted another fish up the road a bit from the first fish but that red also spooked when I made a misplaced cast.

When the thunder clouds pushed overhead and the lightning began to get really close, I decided to get my butt out of there and head for home.  I'm getting too old to chance a lightning strike.

I left the fish for the birds to gobble up.

Got skunked today but had a good time scouting the area.  Maybe next time I'll catch, instead of fish.

Tight Lines