Playalinda Beach In December

Fishing Playalinda Beach in December can be a lonely experience, especially during the week.

Late this afternoon, I decided to head to the beach to see if anyone was catching fish.  I tool along a mid-sized "river" rod and my Okuma surf rig just in case the Pompano were hitting.

Before hitting the bridge, I stopped at Mosquito Lagoon Bait & Tackle to pick up some sand fleas and a small bag of fresh dead shrimp for bait.  They were busy so I didn't bother asking about the beach fishing but I should have.....

When I got to the guard shack at the beach, they had a sign out stating that only lots 1 through 4 were open.  The other lots were closed to clear off boats and debris that had supposedly washed up onto the beach.

I almost turned around but I decided to give it a shot anyway.   As I drove past Lot #4, I decided to hit Eddy Creek so I continued up the road and quickly found that the sign had lied.  Most of the other lots were open.

As I drove up to Lot #9, there were very only a couple of cars in the lot so I decided to give it a try.

As I trudged up the walkway and got to the steps leading to the beach, I knew it would be a bad day for fishing.  The tide had just gone out and there was very little water moving.  Not a great time to catch fish....

Since I was already there, I decided to give it a shot so I skewered a peeled shrimp along with an unpeeled version on one rod, and a couple of sand fleas on the other rig.  With no water movement, a 1oz. pyramid sinker was all that was necessary to hold bottom.

There was a wash in one area that was pulling out shells and sand, so I targeted that area hoping for a bite from a late comer.

To make a short story shorter, I spent the next hour and a half enjoying the fresh air on the beach without a bite and making friends with the seagulls.  I've been skunked before, but never this bad.

The only people on the beach were picking sea shells and sunbathing.  A couple of fishermen who walked up from Lot #10 said they missed a fish but it "wasn't anything great".  Other than that, there was almost no one on the beach for miles.

I took some pics, packed up my gear and headed back via BioLab Road to see if anyone was doing any better in the Mosquito Lagoon.

The water levels were up but it was close to 6:00 pm and no one was fishing the lagoon.  There were a lot of sightseers but no fishermen.

I headed towards the refuge to see if anybody there had caught any fish and although there were a lot of bank fishermen in the area, nobody seemed to be catching any redfish.

About this time, I didn't even bother wetting a line.  I just drove around Catfish Creek Loop and headed home.

The bite, for whatever reason wasn't happening today but at least I got some fresh air.

I've got the rest of the week off, hope I do better later in the week.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

35 Inch Catfish Creek Redfish

The 35 Inch Catfish Creek Redfish below was caught on a fresh dead frozen shrimp along with a mixed bag in only an hour and a half.

When my wife suggested we take Elmo and Odie for a ride around the "swamp" this afternoon, it didn't take long for me to agree to the idea.

Since this was an unplanned, spur of the moment outing, I decided to take along some rods at the last minute.    I picked a bag of shrimp out of the freezer, loaded the small ice chest and a few rods into the truck, and headed out to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

It was late in the afternoon and we only had a couple of hours before sunset so I headed for a spot along Catfish Creek Loop that would keep Elmo and Odie away from any vehicle traffic and give us a good chance of catching a few fish.

As we drove by the Indian River, Karen wanted to try a spot where she caught redfish in the past.  We stopped and put out her bait but I realized that I forgot to bring along any tackle.  Other than what was already tied onto the rods, I had no spare hooks or sinkers.

Karen had a sliding sinker rig on her rod, so she cast out as far as she could and waited for a fish to hit.  I had a 5/0 Owner hook on my rod with 30 pound Power Pro and a fluorocarbon leader but no sinker.

I tried casting with a rock for weight but it didn't work out so well.  The rocks kept slipping out of the loop knot.

I remembered that I had a had a bag of 1 oz. sinkers somewhere in the truck and after wasting ten minutes of so tearing the truck apart, I finally found them in the truck bed.

I tied on a sinker and used a small piece of stick as a stop and I was in business.

Karen caught the first fish, a small whiting.  It was big enough to take home for dinner but she wanted to release it.

I had a bite shortly after she released her whiting and picked up a hard head catfish that I also released.

At this point it started to rain so we decided to move to another spot.  As we were loading our rods, a Fish and Game Warden I knew drove by.

When we got to our spot it stopped drizzling and we set out our rods with fresh dead frozen shrimp for bait.

Karen got the first fish and landed this very small croaker.

We had a good laugh about the size of the fish and I was going to use it for bait, but I released the fish and continued fishing.

She cast out again and after a couple of minutes I had a hit on my rod, which turned out to be the first redfish of the day.

The fish came in easily at first but when it realized it was hooked, it took off on a long run that peeled the Power Pro from my reel. 

I knew it was a heavy fish so I played it carefully.  After three long runs, I asked Karen to get my smart phone from the truck and take a video of the action.

She took the video below as I landed, measured, and quickly released the fish to fight another day.

I give my wife Karen kudos for being a great photographer.  She did a stellar job holding the phone steady during most of the video.  Anyway, the redfish measured in at 35 inches without the tail being "pinched".

I released the fish, skewered on another shrimp, and continued fishing.  

It wasn't long before I had another hit which I thought was a catfish, but as I got it close to the bank it turned out to be a small stingray.

I got my pliers, snapped off the tip of the stinger, unhooked and quickly released the fish.

Meanwhile Karen had another bite but missed the fish.  The head of the shrimp was gone so she thought it was probably a sea trout.   

It was getting dark and the bite slowed down so we decided to head for home. 

It turned out to be a fine day in the refuge.  Elmo and Odie had a great time and we were happy getting out to wet a line and catch a mixed bag of fish.

With Christmas around the corner, I'm hoping for a repeat performance.

Till next time.  Tight Lines.

December Fishing Around Titusville, Fl.

December fishing around Titusville, Fl. can be rewarding when conditions are favorable but this afternoon with a cold front moving through the area, the conditions were definitely less than favorable.

I've been out of pocket for the past few weeks, so when I got home this afternoon, I decided to make a quick scouting trip around some of the areas in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Although I packed a couple of spinning rods for the trip, I only bothered casting in one area where I spotted a redfish tailing in the shallows.

I made a few casts to the redfish with a gold Johnson Sprite spoon that didn't stir any interest, and the topwater plug I used afterward didn't fare any better.

As I headed out to Peacocks Pocket Road, I remembered that it was closed for the hunting season until February 15th.

The blocked entrance immediately reminded me!

I continued scouting the area for reds or sea trout, and as I drove around Catfish Creek Loop I expected to see the usual groups of bank fishermen however, I spotted only one hardy angler fishing for black drum.

He had several rods staked out baited with shrimp and cut baits but hadn't had a bite.

The reason could have been the weather.  A good steady breeze was blowing out of the North and the air temperature had dropped considerably since I had left the house.

The sheltered areas in the refuge harbored a lot of waterfowl, mostly common Moorhen and Coot with some ducks mixed in.  The usual compliment of wading birds were also out in force.  I grabbed a few pics with my cell phone, below.

As I drove through East Gator Creek Road on the way out of the refuge, there was no visible surface activity and I didn't spot any wakes so I decided to head for home.

When I drove onto the main road I spotted these duck hunters pulled off to the side.   I noticed a couple of hunters on the way into the refuge and assumed they were waiting for the fish and game people to check out their bag but I really have no idea what they were doing.

They did have nice rigs for fishing the shallow marsh areas though.

Hopefully, the weather will allow a couple of good days for fishing before I have to head back out of town.

Till next time, Tight Lines.