Sea Trout, Redfish and Drum

Fished Bobcat Bay this afternoon for Sea Trout, Redfish or Drum and got two out of three for dinner.

Since it was Palm Sunday and a day of rest, I thought Peacocks Pocket road would be relatively free from visitor traffic this afternoon so I asked Karen if she wanted to go fishing with me, Elmo, and Odie.

I had some mud minnows left over from yesterday's fishing trip but decided to pick up some more in case the fish were biting.   So, we headed to Mosquito Lagoon Bait and Tackle, grabbed a dozen more mud minnows and headed to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Karen wanted to see if any alligators were out so we entered the refuge via East Gator Creek Road.

From the time we entered to the Catfish Creek Loop we spotted a total of seven alligators either in the water or sunning on the bank.

The peaceful afternoon we were hoping for was obviously not in the cards today.  There were a lot of people traveling the refuge looking at the waterfowl, gawking at the gators, and even fishing.

It was a beautiful day and the air temperature was a pleasant 72 degrees.  There was little to no wind blowing and both sides of the road were being fished by a variety of people using a variety of baits.

We passed one guy filleting a black drum he had just caught and it looked like everyone was having a great time on the river.

Karen wanted to fish Bobcat Bay so we headed there hoping that on one took her spot.

As luck would have it, nobody was at her spot so I angled into a spot, parked and set out several rods baited up with the mud minnows we had on hand.

Karen wanted to fish "her spot" in the marsh canal, so she took off with Odie and a couple of mud minnows.

Since I was going back to work tomorrow, I really didn't care if I caught anything today so I unfolded a portable sports chair, turned on the radio and waited for something to bite.

Karen missed a couple of bites and finally picked up this nice 24" spotted sea trout. 

It was gut hooked and it's gills were bleeding so we decided to take it home for dinner. 

Odie can be seen giving his approval in this pic.

He loves to fish and be with us, unfortunately Elmo just sits in the truck like a lump of clay. 

She went back to her spot and about the time she got there, I had a hit that I missed on a minnow.  The line peeled off the Okuma Avenger baitrunner I was using but as I picked up the rod, the fish dropped the bait.

I pulled in a bare hook , but on a fresh mud minnow and sat down to enjoy the afternoon.

Some rain clouds were on the horizon and it started to briefly sprinkle just when I got another hit.  It was a large hard head catfish.

I baited up again and tossed out the minnow closer to shore..  This time I picked up a nice slot redfish that was also destined for the dinner table.

Karen, missed another sea trout and I picked up another smaller red that I released before we decided to head for home.

I'm sure we could have caught more fish but I didn't want to stay till dark.  I had to clean and cook the fish and I was hungry, so we packed it in and headed towards Peacocks Pocket kayak launch.

There were still several fishermen trying their luck on both sides of the road as we left the refuge.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

P.S.  As I make this post, I can honestly tell you that nothing beats freshly caught fish on the table.

Fishing Patillo Creek

Fishing Patillo Creek is often productive before a weather change so this afternoon I decided to pack a couple of rods and give it a try.

I didn't bring along any live bait today.  Instead I planned to give topwater baits a shot.

The weather was in the high 70s and when I left my house there was only a slight breeze blowing.

I drove up I-95 and took the Scotsmoor exit to US1 and headed for Shiloh Road to see if by some act of congress, it would be open.  The last time I scouted the area, the barriers were still up and vehicle traffic was prohibited.  I was hoping that it was open, but when I got to the end of the unimproved road there was a truck parked at the wire rope barrier with nobody in sight.

I was looking for signs of sea trout or redfish cruising the area but the only life in sight was a flock of white Pelicans and a plethora of waterfowl.

I spotted something pushing a wake in a small creek that sometimes holds juvenile tarpon in the summertime, but after several casts with an XPS topwater bait, I gave up and continued to Patillo Creek.

As I approached the entrance, the weather began to change.  The wind started picking up and the air temperature dropped down to around 71degrees F.

I tossed the topwater bait at the first culvert and into the pond on the right side of the road before the first turn, with no luck.

Since there was nobody around the area, I drove right to the dead end turnaround, parked the truck and started walking the bank casting the XPS plug.

I started fan casting the area targeting the near and opposite bank of the deep trough.  After several casts I walked back to the truck for some Pro-Cure to smear up the plug with.

Evidently, that did the truck because after several casts I was surprised by a big sea trout blasting the plug completely out of the water.  I missed the fish but continued casting into the area hoping to score another hit.

It was over a half an hour before I got another hit from a juvenile tarpon that wasn't supposed to be in the area this time of the year.  Apparently, there are still some stragglers that haven't moved out for the winter.

Anyway, the wind continued and it started to rain so I drove to another spot farther south and started pitching the bait into the Indian River shallows at the mouth of Patillo Creek.

The water is extremely shallow there but I gave it a shot anyway and again missed a nice sea trout.

The fish didn't seem to be feeding, they were just pissed at the bait and seemed to be nosing the lure, not eating it.

I finally got tired of casting and getting wet so I packed it in and headed towards home.

On the way back I drove into the Boy Scout camping area to give it a try, but there were several people already in the spots I planned to fish.

I was mentally cussing myself for not bringing along my Gheneoe.

Anyway, although I got skunked this afternoon, I plan to fish the area again.  There were some really nice trout missing my topwater plug.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Fishing With Live Mullet

Fishing with live mullet will usually produce fish if you have the patience to wait for a bite.

I usually fish with artificial lures but when I have my two "pooches" with me, I revert to bait fishing.

Since Elmo and Odie went with Karen and I to the refuge, fishing with live mullet was the agenda for this afternoon's trip.

The air temperature was 90 degrees when we left the house and there was very little wind on the water when we drove into Peacocks Pocket road.

Armed with a dozen finger mullet and several spinning rods, Karen and I planned to get some sea trout or redfish for dinner.

Since we had poor luck the other day, we tried a "new" spot that I often see dedicated live mullet fishermen inhabiting.

It was a nice spot where you can back right up to the Indian River and fish from the back of the truck.

Karen took Odie with her and fished a large pond in the marsh while I stayed with Elmo and fished the river and marsh canal.

I took 8 rods with me and set every one of them out with either live mullet or chunked ladyfish.

It was late in the day and we only had a couple of hours to fish.  I unloaded a portable sport chair, took my spot and waited for something to run into my baits.

I get bored easily and even though it was a stellar day, I was getting bored waiting for a bite.

About the time I was about to snooze off, a fish took one of the 6" mullet I baited up with and started  peeled off line from the reel.  I almost killed myself trying to get to the rod and as I picked it up; the fish pulled off.

Apparently I missed one of the oversize redfish that the area is noted for.

Pissed off at myself for not paying better attention to the task at hand, I baited up with another 7" mullet, put out the bait and waited.

I expected another hit but nothing was happening until it started getting dark.

Karen gave up her spot and said she never got a hit.  I suggested she fish the Indian River side so she tossed out her mullet and within five minutes landed this nice 20" spotted sea trout.

It was gut hooked and headed for the dinner table.  I baited her up with another smaller finger mullet and pitched out her bait.

This time it took about 15 minutes before she got another smaller sea trout which we released to grow

up into a "gator".

She had two more sea trout landed before we decided to head for home.

When the skeeters got intolerable, we decided to head for home.

The rods I had set in the marsh canal never got a hit and the baits were all still very lively.  I spotted a large redfish pushing bait up on the bank but other than that saw no other fish in the area.

Whether it was the front coming in or the glassy water, the fish in the marsh today were not cooperating.

I took a couple of pics of the sunset, packed up all the gear and headed home to clean the fish for dinner.

Till next time, Tight Lines. 

Fishing Bobcat Bay With The Gators

Late Monday afternoon my wife asked if I was interested in fishing Bobcat Bay in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and as usual, it didn't take me long to pack up some rods and the bait bucket for the trip.

Karen wanted to take Elmo and Odie along to get some exercise and since I didn't plan on fishing artificial baits this afternoon, I didn't object.

We stopped at the bait shop for some mud minnows, but all they had were some finger mullet and shrimp, so I picked up a half dozen mullet and some medium sized shrimp and headed for the refuge.

We entered via East Gator Creek Road and almost ran across a gator that was sunning itself in the middle of the road.  It was the first of many we spotted before we got to where Karen wanted to fish.

When we got to "Bobcat Bay", we picked our spots, baited up and waited for some action.

I fished the Indian River side of the road while Karen fished the marsh canal.

After Elmo christened several spots in the area, he went back to the truck and spent almost all the time there.  Odie, on the other hand spent most of the time alternating between watching Karen and me fish and scouting out the area.

I had one rod out with live shrimp and another with a live mullet but because of the wind it was difficult detecting a bite.  I missed several fish before I finally started catching hard head catfish.

After the 5th or 6th cat, I finally decided to fish only live mullet.

Karen had a live mullet on an Okuma Avenger Baitrunner outfit I bought for her, but she wasn't getting any bites.

The wind never let up. so I finally moved over to the marsh canal where Karen was fishing just to keep it out of my face.

There was virtually no action until dusk when Karen finally picked up a nice size sea trout on her mullet.

After I unhooked and released her fish, I missed a good fish on my rod.

The line briefly peeled off the reel but the fish dropped the bait before I could set the hook.

I re-baited and within a few minutes picked up a spotted sea trout about the same size as Karen's fish.

We were getting eaten up by mosquitoes, so we both agreed to head for the house and call it a day.

The sunset was beautiful as usual so I took a couple of quick pics.

 
On the way out of the refuge, I almost ran across a gator that refused to get off the road.

I got out of the truck and took these pics as it hissed at me and finally retreated into the marsh canal.

The gators were definitely out in force today, especially around Gator Creek road.  I guess that's why they gave it the name.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

March Weekend Fishing Report

After trying to find a March weekend fishing report for the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on Google, I decided to write my own Peacocks Pocket fishing report for this weekend.

It's hard to get reliable information about local fishing in the refuge, and although I usually don't often bother looking looking for it on the Internet,  I didn't want to wast time fishing this afternoon if the fish weren't cooperating.

I was looking for table fare today so when I couldn't find an up to date report, I asked Karen if she was interested in taking Odie and Elmo out for a ride in the refuge to see if we could pick up a sea trout or a redfish for dinner.

She readily agreed, so I loaded up several rods and pulled out a relatively fresh ladyfish I caught a couple of weeks ago and froze for just such an occasion.

We headed out to the "swamp" and saw several vehicles around Gator Creek looking at the Roseatte Spoonbills, Snipe, Purple Ibis, and other water fowl.

The air temperature was in the mid 70s and the wind was blowing enough to make casting a problem.

When I saw the first fisherman at Catfish Creek Loop, I stopped and asked him if he was fishing or catching.  He smiled and said he caught a 27" sea trout on a live shrimp and an oversize redfish on a chunk of ladyfish.

Armed with the good news, we headed towards the middle of Peacocks Pocket road to one of Karen's favorite spots.

We picked our spots, put out a couple of rods with shrimp and cut  ladyfish for bait, and sat down to wait.

I was fishing the river side and Karen was fishing the marsh canal.

It was no more than 5 minutes before the bait runner started peeling out line and I had a redfish on the cut bait.  The fish put up a nice fight before I landed and dispatched it.  The redfish was in the slot at 25", just the right size for supper.

As I walked back from stashing the fish in the truck, the other rod was bent and a fish was peeling off line almost as fast as the first fish.

I brought the fish towards the bank and thought I had it in the bag but the hook pulled out just as I bent over to land the fish.  The red was still green and took off like a flash.

Since I caught these two reds in less than a half hour, I thought another fish was a cinch, but I was dead wrong.

I fished for another couple of hours and only managed to hook and release several hard head catfish.

Karen missed a fish and caught a nice catfish in the marsh canal but the redfish were just not in the area she was fishing this evening.

        

Just at dusk I switched to fishing a gold Johnson Sprite spoon and caught three extremely small potted sea trout (above) which I promptly released to grow up into "gators".

Odie was out and about, but Elmo as usual, spent most of the time in the truck.

Odie loves the refuge and likes to keep tabs on the rods.  A born fisherdog..... 

Close to sunset, Karen caught another catfish and after that one, we decided to call it a day.

We packed up, gutted the redfish and headed for home.

Hopefully, the wind will die down some tomorrow and we can try it again.

Till next time, Tight Lines.