New Summertime Refuge Hours Are In Effect

Apparently new summertime refuge hours are in effect in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

When I finally got a chance to wet a line this evening, it was around 6:30 pm before I left the house for Peacocks Pocket Road.

The air temperature was 84 degrees and there was just a slight breeze blowing over the Indian River.

Since I got a late start, I only brought one rod with a topwater Chug Bug and a box of topwater baits to use for sea trout.

I entered the refuge via East Gator Creek Road and stopped at the first culvert to toss the Chug Bug at a couple of wakes I spotted in the shallow water.

My first cast spooked a fish when the lure landed right on it's head, so I reeled in and made another cast towards the shallow area where the fish was holding.

As I worked the bait towards the culvert, a gator decided that it looked like something good to eat and started after the lure.  I quickly reeled past the gator and moved on to try another area.

There were several fishermen taking up the usual spots dunking cut baits and shrimp, but nobody I spoke with was catching any fish as far as I could tell.

As I slowly drove around the unimproved road looking for signs of feeding fish, I stopped at several of my favorite spots to blind cast the Chug Bug around the banks in the marsh canal.

I had several follow ups and caught a few under size sea trout which I promptly returned to the water and missed a nice oversize redfish right at the bank in a deeper area of the marsh canal.

As I was working my way out of the refuge, I stopped at one of my favorite ponds and started working the Chug Bug around the mangrove roots.

I picked up another couple of really small sea trout and as I was putting the last fish into the water, a fish and game officer pulled up to check my license and let me know that the refuge was closed.

I was under the impression that it closed at dusk, and even then I've seen groups of bank fishermen staying well after dark.  I normally leave before it gets dark, and I don't ever carry a watch when I fish.

He said that the new summertime refuge hours were 8:00 pm and 6:00 pm in the winter; NOT AT DUSK.

Anyway, we had a long discussion about why the "powers that be" close the refuge just when the fishing gets good.  About this time, he took my drivers license and "put me in the system" with a warning for being in the refuge after hours.  He told me he didn't make the rules, just enforces them.

I took his pic and was going to put it on the website but I decided against it.  Some of the real bad guys might look him up.

Anyway, I packed up my rod and headed for home.  It was 8:29 pm when I left the refuge, and it was still light.

You gotta wonder who makes these absurd rules.

Till next time,
Tight Lines

 

Successful Falcon 9 Launch The Second Time Around

SpaceX enjoyed a successful Falcon 9 launch the second time around this evening from Cape Canaveral.

Despite the windy conditions, fishermen and onlookers along the Indian River  were treated to a successful launch at 5:39 pm this evening.

After the scrubbed launch yesterday evening, I wasn't sure if I should waste my time trying to get some pics of the liftoff, but after my Doctor's appointment, I decided to load up a couple of rods and try for a redfish or two along Peacocks Pocket road just for the hell of it.

I drove up to the same spot where I got skunked yesterday and put out two rods baited with a half of a frozen mullet, and a half of a blue crab.  I unfolded a portable seat I had in the bed of the truck and sat back to wait for either a fish to strike, or the Falcon 9 to lift off the pad.

About five minutes after I sat down, Don Ogray and his wife pulled up to where I was fishing to see  the launch.

Yesterday, we waited in vain but this evening all went as scheduled.

Don asked if I had any hits and I told him I had just set out my baits.  The wind wasn't  blowing enough  to affect the launch, but it did make detecting a bite an iffy proposition.

I had a GoPro clone on my visor, and my cell phone camera at the ready to take pics of the launch.   As I turned on the video on my smart phone and asked Don how much time before the launch window, the Falcon 9 lifted off  and punched through the clouds without a hitch.

I took these videos of the launch from both angles for those of you who might be interested.

After the launch, Don and his wife took off leaving me to my fishing.

I was about to call it a day and hit Wally's World for some groceries when I got a nice hit on the rod with the mullet bait.

The fish didn't leave any doubt as to what it was.  It picked up the bait and took off like a shot.

Since I was fishing on the Indian River side of the road, the redfish didn't have any place to go.  It made several nice runs before I could finally land and released the fish, which was just over the slot.

I took this quick pic before releasing it back into the river.

After releasing the red, I packed up my gear and headed towards the Pocket boat ramp and the grocery store.

On the way out of the refuge, I spotted these spoonbills in the marsh with their backs to the wind.

Another group of fishermen were set up at the culverts, but they didn't seem to be catching anything as I drove past them.

Anyway, it's a hoot catching redfish while watching a successful Falcon 9 launch the second time around.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.

Scrubbed Launch At The Cape

The scrubbed launch at the Cape this evening put a damper on my fishing plans but I still enjoyed the brief trip to the wildlife refuge.

On the way home from work this afternoon, I heard on the radio about the 5:40 pm launch that was planned at Cape Canaveral later on in the evening.

I immediately decided to make it coincide with a fishing outing I had planned around Peacocks Pocket road, but unfortunately the launch was scrubbed due to communication problems.

I got home with almost an hour to spare, greeted my wife and our two dogs, unloaded the truck and headed to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to find a suitable spot to view the launch.

I pulled up to a spot adjacent to the launching pad where I could toss a lure around in hopes of scraping up a sea trout or redfish.   The rocket can be seen between the two towers to the right of the small white building on the right of the VAB in the picture below.

There was a couple parked nearby listening to the radio waiting for the lift off, and after a couple of minutes after the opening of the launch window I asked him if he knew anything about the delay.

Initially, there was no information about the delay but after we talked awhile about fishing, etc.  we learned about the communication problem.

I spent the time casting a topwater bait around the marsh canal hoping for a sea trout but I only had one half hearted hit from a small fish that was as long as the lure.

When we learned about the scrubbed launch, he took off and I was right behind him.

I didn't come prepared to seriously fish, but on the way out I made several short stops to cast at a few likely looking areas.

When I rounded a bend at a favorite fishing spot of mine, I spotted Toly taking a picture of a nice slot size black drum he had just caught.  He had his daughter pose with the fish and was taking a picture when I asked if I could also take one and put him in my blog.

He agreed, so here are the pics.

 

Unfortunately, I forgot to ask Toly what he was using for bait.

On the way out of  the refuge, I planted a few more casts into likely looking spots but never got a follow up or a hit.

Maybe after my doctors appointment tomorrow, I'll get a chance to do some serious fishing.

I'm due.

Till then, Tight Lines.

Night Launch Over The Indian River

Decided to try for some redfish Friday evening and stayed late to catch the late night launch over the Indian River.

The fishing earlier was sporadic. Since the roads in the refuge were closed for repairs, I decided to beat the day crowd and try some night fishing along the causeway.

I put out a couple of spinning rods with chunks of ladyfish and picked up a slot red along with a couple of hard head catfish that hit as the sun went down over the horizon.

It was windy and I missed at least two other redfish that I hit before they fully took the baits.   I'm not a live bait fishermen but with the wind, it was the only option this evening.  I seem to have a penchant for striking the fish too early. 

Anyway, since the launch wasn't due to execute until 1:21 am, I took a drive over to the fishing piers to see how the shrimpers were doing. There weren't a lot of folks shrimping and the ones I saw were not doing well. There were a few shrimp in the buckets, but nobody made a "full pull" tonight.

I tried dunking a half of a blue crab from the lower fishing pier around a piling but didn't get a bite so around 1:00 am, I got back in the truck and drove over to where I caught the slot red earlier.

A car pulled in next to me almost about the time the launch was due and asked what time it was going off. I told him now, just as I clicked on my video camera on my cell phone.

The results are not great but in a rush, you make due with what you got...

After the shot, I packed up my rods and headed for the house.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Peacocks Pocket Road Closure

The Peacocks Pocket road closure was a total surprise for me this past weekend.

When I got back to town, the first thing Karen and I did was to take our two "best friends" for a scouting trip to see how the locals were doing with the redfish and sea trout.

When we got to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and saw that the barriers were up, I was not a happy camper.  We drove down towards Peacocks Pocket kayak launch hoping that the gate was open, but it too was chained and closed.

Since the weather was great, we decided to see if any of the other areas in the refuge were open to fishing and vehicle traffic.  We drove towards L Pond Road and as usual it too was chained, so we took a ride towards Haulover Canal and managed to check out most of the unimproved roads leading to the Indian River around Dummit Cove.

We found a couple of people fishing at the Boy Scout camping area but they weren't having any luck.

I pretty much resigned myself to a fishless afternoon, so Karen and I decided to head over to Bairs Cove boat launch.

When we got there, we were happy to see that a large group of sea manatees were in the cove playing around.  I stopped the truck and took a video of their antics before moving on to check out some other potential fishing areas.

We crossed Haulover Canal bridge and checked out the fishermen who were bank fishing on the side opposite the boat launch.  The three guys I spoke with were catching sting rays, catfish, and one had a redfish on which he lost at the bank.

I wished them all good luck and headed towards Patillo Creek and Shiloh Road to see if anybody was fishing that area.

We only saw three fishermen fishing and wading the flats south of the deeper canal and I didn't bother them to find out if they were fishing or catching.  Instead, we let the dogs out to do their "duty" while I cast a topwater XPS walk the dog bait to see if I could stir up a sea trout or two.

After thirty casts or so, I resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to catch any fish this afternoon.

We drove up to Shiloh Road where again, another barrier was blocking vehicle traffic.

I took several pictures of the areas we scouted out and headed to the hacienda for dinner.

When I got home, I called the Fish and Wildlife people to see why the roads were blocked off to vehicle traffic.

The third lady I spoke with told me that Peacocks Pocket Road would be closed until May 15th. because of road repairs.   She said it could be opened earlier but that it was doubtful.

I asked her about the possibility of Shiloh Road and L. Pond Road being opened, and was told that both roads were closed indefinitely.  The funding was not available to repair the unimproved roads and is not likely to be available anytime in the near future.

She told me that both roads could be fished by hiking or biking, but vehicles were prohibited.

I politely thanked her for the information and hung up wondering what is being done with the revenues from our license fees.  With the national debt heading towards 20 trillion dollars and government waste in the billions, I wonder why nobody in our government can't scrape up enough money to fix a couple of great fishing access roads.

Till next time, Tight Lines.