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.