Black Point Sea Trout

The Black Point area is an overlooked fishery for sea trout, redfish and some nice ladyfish during certain times of the year.

Michael, a subscriber of this site emailed me this pic of a nice gator sea trout that his friend Matt caught earlier this spring.

He didn't say what he caught the fish on, only that it was quickly released to fight another day.

However, after taking a closer look at the picture, it looks like a long soft bait hanging out of the fish's mouth.

Although I have been fishing a bit in Mobile, Al. the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Central Florida in particular still produces more huge redfish, black drum, and "gator" spotted sea trout than  anywhere I've been privileged to fish, especially when it comes to sight fishing.

The video below was taken under one of the bridges going to Dauphin Island, an area just west of Mobile.

The black drum was estimated at 40 to 50 pounds and was caught on an incoming tide on half a blue crab.

When I fished the area where the guy caught the drum, I managed to hook a couple of fish on a Berkly Rattlin Jig but both broke off around the rocks.

The people on the opposite bank were wading and pitching freshly netted finger mullet but from what I could see while I was fishing the area, they weren't doing all that well.

Like the beaches at Playalinda, the tides in the Mobile Bay area dictate the best times to fish.

Apparently, I wasn't there at the right time!

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Sea Trout In The Ditches

The sea trout in the ditches were a little harder to catch this evening but I still managed to catch and release five fish before it got too dark to fish.

I didn't bother to get out this evening until about 6:30 pm which gave me about an hour and a half fishing time.

As usual, I headed for the closest water which is in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

I took three rods with me that were rigged with a topwater bait, a soft bait, and a suspending bait I caught all of the trout on an XPS Slim Dog bait that I picked up at Bass Pro some time ago in Savannah, Ga.

The air temperature was 90 degrees when I hit the refuge and there was no wind blowing on the water.

I concentrated on fishing the "ditches" along the side of Peacocks Pocket Road, mainly because of all the weeds in the river that had blown in and lined the shoreline.

At the first couple of stops, I had only one followup that didn't seem at all interested in eating the XPS bait.

When I got close to an area my wife calls "her tree",  a breeze started blowing and I could see a storm was beginning to whip up South of Titusville.

I'm not sure if it was the breeze on the water or the barometric change in the weather that turned on the fish but they started nailing the topwater bait like they hadn't had a meal in months.

In the next hour I hooked and landed five trout and missed three more fish on the XPS bait that I'm pretty sure were also sea trout. 

All the fish caught were just at, or over the slot limit and were released to fight another day.

As it started getting towards dusk, it was almost if someone pulled a lever because the fish simply stopped biting.

I made several more casts in three more areas, but never got another fish or even a followup, so I packed up the rods and headed home.

It never did rain, but the wind had picked up considerably and I could see lightning on the horizon.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Topwater Sea Trout Action In The Refuge

The topwater sea trout action got pretty hot this evening just at dusk.

I made a late decision to go fishing this evening so about 6:30 pm I quickly packed up three spinning rods and headed to the closest are in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

I passed Peacocks Pocket boat launch and spotted a lone fisherman wading around the culverts with another rod set for redfish.

I passed him and headed towards an area where I spooked a small pod of redfish the other day and sure enough they were still in the area.

The fish were cruising slowly down the marsh canal and were totally oblivious to everything I tossed at them.

I tied on an XPS silver and black topwater bait to replace the topwater bait I lost in the trees yesterday at Patillo Creek, and started pitching it around some likely looking areas.

 It didn't take long before a slot size sea trout smacked the lure at the mouth of a shallow pond.

I quickly unhooked and released the fish to fight another day and moved to another area.

I was still playing around with the moving redfish but even with the new lure, they were not eating the bait, however, I nailed another under slot sea trout on the bait that I released.

I finally gave up trying to catch the redfish and started concentrating on sea trout.  The air temperature was in the high to mid 80s and there was almost no wind on the water where I was fishing.

When I came to "Bobcat Bay", I started pitching the XPS into the marsh canal around an island and a small pond.    After smearing the bait up with some Pro-Cure to add "incentive", the second cast into the area hooked me into this nice fat 26" sea trout.

The fish nailed the topwater bait and make two strong runs in the shallow canal before I could lip the fish out of the water,.

Both sets of trebles were in the fish so I took a couple of  quick videos, got the pliers from the truck and unhooked the fish.

It looked like it was in good shape but because there was so much brush around the bank I had to toss it back into the canal.   The fish turned upside down but was breathing,  so I took a video of it until it righted itself and swam away to fight another day.

The next spot I stopped to fish produced another 16" sea trout, again on the same XPS topwater bait.

It was getting dark so I made one last stop at an old duck blind to fish another pond entrance before heading home.

I missed three sea trout on the same bait and finally hooked an landed a Garfish that was about 22 inches long just as the sun was setting.

I took a couple of quick pics of the fish before releasing it into the river.

Since it was too dark to land a fish if I caught one, I decided to pack it in for the night.

As I was heading to the main road, an out of town angler partially drove into the marsh at the last set of culverts.  Fortunately a guy in a Jeep had a chain an pulled him out so everyone could head home.

Every day fishing is a good day but when the topwater sea trout action is hot, it makes a good day a great day.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Cabazon

Up until last Sunday, I had never heard of a Cabazon (below), but when I received an email from Craig and Mary I decided to post a picture of it along with some of the other fish they caught in Washington State while on vacation.

I posted some pics of his vacation on "Topwater Redfish In The Marsh", the rest are below along with his email comment on the 37" Redfish On A Chug Bug post I made last month.

John,

            Good to read you made it back home. Nice looking Red!

            We went over Saturday evening. I only got one bite.

            The fish in the marsh were not doing much. The bite I got was on the river side.

            Big trout smashed my swim bait waking it on top but missed it.

`          How ever, Mary and I went on vacation for a couple weeks to Washington State.

            We fished a couple days. One day in the San Juan Islands and one day off the coast at Westport.

            I attached a photo of a fish called a Cabzon. Not many fish are legal these days up that way. This one is and so we made some fish and chips.

            We caught a small pink salmon about 5 pounds. Grilled him up that night.

            I caught a real nice lingcod. The season for those in that area closed so back over the side he went.

            Our second day of fishing was at Westport for salmon. The captain told us that the ocean is too warm closer to shore so we ran a couple hours west.

            The captain said the salmon were in the bottom 50 feet in 270 feet of water. 10 ounces of lead was required to get the bait down that far.

            I caught 3 nice little king salmon pretty quick early in the morning. Then it slowed down.

            Fishing that deep you never know what your going to get on fresh herring.

            I caught 50 and 30 pound halibut back to back. From 270 feet, my arm was toast. Lots of heavy lifting for halibut out of season.

            The mate cut the leader pretty quick and I didn’t get any big halibut pix.

            Mary, my son and I got a good picture of our Salmon at the dock when we got back.

            I have to say, not many days do I get enough fish that my arms worn out. That was one of them.

            We froze some fillets in zip locks and brought them home for the freezer.

            Mary caught a nice keeper Lingcod at Westport that was in season. They are so tasty!

            I was hoping for a big one out there in the deep. The guy next to me landed a 20 pounder. Cool looking sea monster.

            Well that’s the latest. We hope to get in another trip next weekend rain permitting. Perhaps we will see you out there.

            Keep your tip up!

The Cabzon has a blue mouth with blue flesh and according Craig is excellent eating.

I know that Ling Cod are top notch table fare, as are fresh caught Salmon of any species.

Nice fishing trip!  If we ever get the chance and the time; Karen and I would love to try that type of fishing, at least for a few days.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Patillo Creek Tarpon Fishing

Late yesterday afternoon I had originally planned on doing some Patillo Creek Tarpon fishing, but decided instead to fish closer to home around Peacocks Pocket road.

As it turned out, I would have probably done better fishing the Patillo Creek area.

Last Sunday evening while I was fishing Peacocks Pocket Road, Craig Bates told me about the fish he and Mary were catching on their vacation as well as that day in the Pocket area.  He sent me an email along with some pics of fish he caught in that area this past Monday which I thought I'd share with you below.

"When we saw you Sunday night on our way out, we told you about hooking some tarpon in the river side of the access road.

At home Monday morning I was thinking on being slapped to the curb by that handsome 3 footer.
A couple cups of coffee later I was loading up and heading back over for a chance at redemption. Maybe a little OCD?

Last summer we saw lots of baby Tarpon in Patillo Creek so I drove in there first. Sure enough, fish were rolling all over in the finger.

I launched the canoe and quickly observed 3 manitee’s munching mangrove branches hanging in the water. I took several pictures and backed away.

My forest green canoe must have looked like the next meal as 2 of the manitees came over to me and were nudging me and floating right next the canoe.

They have some stinky breath! One of them was so close I could have touched him.

I counted 10 manitee’s in the canal I wanted to fish. I had to be carefull where I cast to. Tarpon were rolling and splashing everywhere but would not take an artificial.

I tried small minnow plugs, swim baits, jerk baits and suspending baits. A slot sized Redfish picked up the Yozuri3D suspending plug. But those tarpon were not feeding.

Rumbling of impending showers told me it was time to relocate so I loaded up the canoe and drove over to Peackocks Pocket.

It started raining and blowing pretty hard as I drove around towards where I wanted to look for Tarpon. 
 
I waited out the storm as the radar showed it wouldn’t last long.

I pulled up to where I saw them the previous day. Sure enough there they were, rolling within a cast from the beach.

It was still sprinkling lightly as I geared up. Tied on a new 25# leader with a 3/0 screw lock hook and a Kietech 4” Easy Shiner.  I like the Kietech Silver Flash Minnow and Bluegill Flash colors. Both are Squid scented. Trout, Reds, Snook like them too.
 
A nice one rolled right in front of me. Led him by 10 feet, cranked twice and BANG! The fish instantly went into the air about 5 feet.

On the 4th jump the fish tossed the hook. One cast! Incredible!

I let the area cool down for about 15 minutes and the fish started to come back in. I checked my hook and saw that the hook was bent open and my leader was chaffed.

Tied on a new hook and another bait. I made some random casts but tried to wait for a fish to roll and cast in the direction he appeared to be headed.

This worked pretty well. You gotta love it when you cast to specific fish and hook them up.

I landed 2 nice fish and jumped off a couple more. Even jumped one on a top water prop bait.
The floating grass was really heavy so the weedless swim bait was much better.

I’m including a shot of one of the Tarpon I was landing when some friendly fisher folks drove up.
The other is a nice snook caught Sunday while fishing the same spot for Tarpon with the swim bait.

I think you wrote a story a while back where you fished the marsh right after a storm blew through.
It’s amazing how crazy the fish get. Yesterday some really nice fish were hammering the mullet in the river for about an hour after the storm.

Hope you get back soon."

The pics below were included with his email.

 

Patillo Creek and several other areas around Peacocks Pocket road have always been good spots for river Tarpon and Snook, and this year is no exception.

Tight Lines.

Sunset Fishing From Peacocks Pocket Road

I hit Peacocks Pocket late yesterday afternoon with hopes of landing a redfish or two, but except for a lone sea trout, got skunked instead.

I didn't get to Peacocks Pocket Road until around 6:30 pm and the water was like glass on both sides of the road.  The air temperature was in the low 80s, and I could hear lightning in the distance.  There were occasional sprinkles on my windshield but not the rain I expected.

I started out by "jump fishing" the marsh canal, casting a Chug Bug at swirling fish and likely looking areas but after several stops, I only got one followup.  I spotted a couple of juvenile tarpon in one area but they weren't taking topwater baits.

I tried using a Yo-Zuri 3DB topwater plug that I caught a redfish on the previous day, but except for the lone sea trout below, that also proved to be a bust.

Finally, I started pitching a 4" swimbait and a gold Johnson Sprite spoon and started getting hits, but again, no hookups until dusk.

As the sun started to go down, the redfish in the canal started moving into the marsh ponds, so I changed tactics and started pitching an "Electric Chicken" colored H&H Swagger tail Shad that I smeared up with some Pro-Cure.

The change in tactics worked.  When I noticed some fish moving into a pond in an area my wife and I named the "duck blinds", I had a nice hit from what looked like a slot redfish.  The fish hit some brush and immediately broke off,  but it was enough to improve my disposition.

I got two more hard hits on the river side from sea trout, but somehow both fish never got hooked.

I spotted several nice size redfish, but the fish were spooky and were not interested in my artificial baits.

Finally the mosquitoes got to me and I decided to give it up for the evening and head for home.

I took a couple of pics of the sunset before leaving and vowed to come back again tomorrow.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Topwater Redfish In The Marsh

Got a chance to get out and wet a line this afternoon with some mixed results.

I didn't get out until late in the afternoon when the weather was finally cooperating.  The air temperature in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was in the mid 80s and there was almost no air movement on the water.

When I entered East Gator Creek Road, I tossed a Chug Bug around the first set of culverts (which were closed) and managed to hookup with a couple of ladyfish which I promptly released.

Fishing the shallow water flats around the rest of the area produced a couple of follow ups from sea trout, but no hookups.  So, I decided to fish the marsh and Indian River shallows around Peacocks Pocket road to see if I could pick up another Snook or big sea trout.  

The water in the marsh was dead flat.  Fishing topwater baits was not the best option today but I decided that if I couldn't catch fish on a Chug Bug or gold Johnson Sprite spoon, I wasn't going to catch anything.

I slowly fished the marsh canal with no luck and only a couple of half hearted follow ups by small sea trout, but I kept at it hoping for a dumb fish or two.

As I was tossing my Chug Bug around, Craig and Mary drove up with their canoe on top of their SUV and we started chatting about the fishing.

They said they had been out most of the day and caught a 19" redfish, a 26" Snook, and a juvenile Tarpon about three feet long.   

 

Craig describing Tarpon

We chatted about the fishing in several areas and about the fish they caught while on vacation on the left coast.

He sent me some pics on some of the salmon they caught and a wierd "sculpin" like fish that had a blue mouth and blue flesh that he said was excellent eating.  I'll update this post when I get the rest of his pics.

He said they also caught some Pacific Halibut that were out of season and some other assorted deep water fish.  

It was getting late so we parted ways and I continued fishing and swatting mosquitoes that were unmercifully draining my legs of blood.

I continued fishing both sides of the road in several more areas with only a couple more follows.  I was beginning to feel like I couldn't hook a fish today if my life depended on it.  

Anyway,  at a medium sized pond I decided to switch baits and began to fish a Yo-Zuri 3DB topwater bait smeared up with some Pro-Cure In Shore Formula.   

I picked up the lure at a Dick's Sporting good shop in Mobile, Al. along with some other lures I have yet to try out.

Evidently the change in baits did the trick.  I was "walking the dog" slowly over a drop-off coming off a shallow pond, when this red nailed the bait.

The fish made a couple of nice bulldog runs despite the fact that I horsed the fish in as fast as possible to minimize damage.  I lipped it with my Boca Grip, took this quick pic with my cell phone and quickly released it to fight another day.  

I'm not sure how large the fish actually was, but using my rod as a guide, I'm sure it was over 30 inches.

By this time the mosquitoes were eating me alive and when my wife called to let me know "it was dark outside", I decided to pack it up and head for home.

I hope to get in some more fishing this week but the fish are getting harder to catch in the "swamp".  

I don't know if it's the increased fishing pressure, or the fact that the kayakers are fishing the shallow ponds and making the fish spookier than they already are.

I filmed these guys in a large pond right after I caught the redfish in the above pic.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Late Start For Snook Season

Well, for me it was a late start for Snook season this year, but better late than not at all.

I heard that the redfish bite in the Indian River was pretty good so late this afternoon I finally decided to go down to the river and wet a line.

I packed up two spinning rods and decided that if I couldn't catch anything on a Chug Bug or a Johnson Sprite gold spoon, I wasn't going to catch anything at all.

When I passed the "beach" just past the Marine Patrol station it was evident that the fish had to be biting.  There were a lot of fishermen out there dunking finger mullet and generally having a good time.

I entered the Wildlife Refuge at East Gator Creek Road and decided to fish the first culverts when I saw how high the water levels were in the marsh.

I pulled out my Chug Bug and made three casts before a nice ladyfish nailed the bait.  It put up a good fight and jumped around the narrow shallows before I finally landed and released the fish.  I briefly thought about keeping it for bait but I didn't want to kill it for no reason.

I missed two more ladyfish on the plug in the same area as I slowly fished up the road.  As I was fishing the eastern most shallows, a Fish and Game officer pulled up to check out my license.

I told him I didn't need one because of my age and showed my drivers license to prove it.  We talked a bit about the fishing before he moved on.  He also confirmed that the reds were biting all along the "beach" area on the river.

As I slowly drove up towards Peacocks Pocket and sight fished several promising areas, I got a couple of follow ups from sea trout but no solid hits.

A fisherman pulled up to me and told me about some juvenile tarpon that he caught at Peacocks Pocket boat launch on live mullet.  He said he got tired of fooling with them and was out for redfish.

I thanked him for the info and continued fish the area.

I passed a guy in a kayak fishing in the middle of the river who looked like he was catching something but I couldn't be sure.

Anyway, I spooked a couple of reds in the marsh ponds and missed another sea trout before deciding to head for home and getting something to eat.

The water in the marsh and the river was almost dead calm, and the air temperature was in the low 90s.  Not a good prescription for topwater fishing!

As I got close to the culverts at Peacocks Pocket, I decided to take a couple of pics of the sunset and some dolphin I spotted swimming single file down the river.

I noticed some baitfish in the river swimming for their lives so I pulled out the Chug Bug, smeared on some Pro-Cure and started working the plug around the area.

On the second cast, a Snook blasted the Chug Bug and took off on a nice run into the river.

It jumped a couple of times and made two more short runs before I landed the fish.

I quickly took some pics, a quick measurement and released the Snook to fight another day.

  It came in at 26" exactly.

Anyway, after a couple more casts with no follows, I called Lil Ceasers to order a Pizza, took another pic of the awesome sunset, and headed for the hacienda.

It was a late start for Snook season this year, but better late than not at all.

Till next time, Tight Lines.