Dog Days Redfish

Got back home just in time for fishing the proverbial Dog Days of August in East Central Florida.

Unlike the Mobile, Al. area where most of the saltwater fishing is timed to tidal changes, most of the areas in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge have no tide movement to speak of.

This has it's pros and cons but generally, I prefer looking for the fish in lieu of having to wait for a tide to bring the fish come to you.

Anyway, I managed to get out yesterday for a bit to try the area around Peacocks Pocket despite the thunderstorm activity in the area.

I drove around East Gator Creek road to check out the water levels and see if there was any topwater action.  I didn't spot any actively feeding fish so I decided to scout the area around the "pocket".

The grass around the side of the unimproved road has not been cut and some of the people not used to pulling off the side of the road to pass another vehicle were obviously having trouble.

The air temperature was in the high 80s and it was raining off and on most of the time I was in the area.

I started fishing with a Yozuri 3DB topwater plug and picked up a couple of small Ladyfish around a shallow pond but nothing of any substance so I switched to a beaten up Chug Bug.

The Chug Bug got a couple of follow ups but no hits,  so I changed out the bait for a new plug and finally nailed a slot size sea trout.  

I don't know if the new lure did the trick, but after I released the fish, I never got another hit on the lure.

Despite the weather, several fishermen were trying their luck in the area, mostly for redfish using live baits and at least one guy with a topwater "walk the dog" bait.

I pulled up to a couple of fishermen who had been kayaking in the marsh canal and asked how they were doing.

One of the guys was in the water at the bank up to his waist with the kayak.  The other guy said they caught a redfish on a gold spoon, but nothing else for the day.   I was going to give him some good advise about the 10 foot gator that calls that area home, but I decided that it wouldn't do any good and moved on.

I spooked several nice redfish that were cruising down the marsh canal on the way out of the refuge and eventually picked up this oversize 30 inch redfish close to dark at the kayak launch on a gold Johnson's Sprite spoon.   

I made a bad cast from the bank and didn't expect the fish to take the lure, but it swirled around and nailed the bait as it hit the water.  The fish put up a nice fight but after a couple of good runs I managed to pull the fish from the water

I measured the fish hoping it would shrink a couple of inches so I could take it home to eat, but I put it back to grow bigger and fight another day.

The fishing in our area is vastly different from where I've been working.  In Mobile Bay, everything is geared to the tides.

Anyway, for being the Dog Days of August, the fishing wasn't half bad.  Hopefully, the rest of the week will be just as good.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.