Another 33 Inch Redfish

Well, Karen did it again with another 33 inch redfish.

If I didn't know better, I'd say she caught the same fish as the last time we were in this area, but I know better.

The air temperature in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge this afternoon was 93 degrees when we entered Peacocks Pocket Road and the slight breeze that was blowing across the water was just enough to make fishing pleasant.

After doing some clean up work in a closet packed with fishing tackle I didn't even know I had, we decided to go fishing late this afternoon to see if we could get a sea trout or two and possibly a redfish.

We stopped at Mosquito Lagoon Bait and Tackle to pick some live mullet for bait and I got a dozen mixed size mullet with a couple of pinfish thrown in for good luck.

Karen wanted to fish an area we call "Bobcat Bay" so I didn't wast time trying to catch some of the sea trout that were busting baitfish along the marsh canal.

Because of my neck problem, I decided to bank fish with live bait along with Karen, so I baited up with a pinfish and loaded Karen's rod up with a 5" mullet.

The phone kept ringing while I was waiting for a bite and I managed to get in some work associated business before Karen called out to me that she had a big fish on.

I walked over to where she was fishing and took this video of her landing the fish.

My wife lost several nice redfish and sea trout on the brush pile at her feet that she for some reason insists on leading the fish into.   I was "directing" her to lead the fish away from it so I could grip it out of the water.

This time she won the fight and landed a nice 33 inch redfish below.

The circle hook got the red in the corner of it's mouth as it is intended to and the fish was released none the worse for wear.

Since it was getting late and my neck was hurting, we decided to call it a day and head for the house.

On the way out of the refuge, we spotted several areas where the waterfowl were congregating, but all the time we were in the refuge, we only saw one other vehicle and nobody fishing.

I'm hoping to get out on the water again during the week to catch some sea trout for my buddy Lou in Highlands, N.C.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Redfish In The Salt Marsh

After unloading the truck when I got home from work Friday afternoon, I decided to make a quick scouting trip out to Peacocks Pocket road in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to see if I could locate any of the oversize redfish in the salt marsh.

As I entered East Gator Creek road, I noticed that the water levels in the marsh were up.

I only brought along two spinning rods with topwater baits and I forgot my Nikon, so I resigned myself to not catching anything.

The air temperature was 92 degrees and there was a slight wind blowing over the Indian River.  Not great for topwater fishing......

I tossed a Chug Bug around a couple of areas, and as I drove up to a large pond I spotted several large reds in very shallow water.  They were well over the slot limit and looked to be in the 33" to 35" range.

The fish were in a grassy area busting on mullet, so I switched from the Chug Bug to the rod with a 6" blue backed topwater "walk the dog" bait smeared with Pro-Cure Inshore formula and started casting out to the fish.

The fish were just beyond casting range, and I must have made at least a hundred or so casts before I got a tremendous hit from a large sea trout that was in the 30" class.    The fish busted on the bait as soon as it hit the water but somehow didn't get a hook in him.

I continued casting to the reds and got another hit from a smaller redfish that again, didn't get hooked.

I must have been holding my mouth wrong.

Anyway, it was around 6:30 pm when I decided to head home and tend to my neck, which has been giving me problems.  Bone spurs, if you've never had them, are painful as hell.

As I was driving out of the refuge, I saw several sea trout hitting bait in the marsh canal and a school of newly hatched turtles on the surface that I tried to get a pic of with my smart phone.

The only people I saw in the refuge during the time I was fishing, were some out of town folks looking for alligators and waterfowl.  The only fishermen I spotted were on my way out of the refuge and they were just setting up for reds on the Indian River side of the road.

If my neck problem gets better, I may get out early and try for one of those big reds but until next time, Tight Lines.

Fishing The Cullasaja River In Franklin, N.C.

Fishing the Cullasaja River In Franklin, N.C. proved to be great fun this afternoon.

Although I'd much rather be fishing for reds and spotted sea trout in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, nailing a few trout, perch, and chubs is better than not fishing at all.

When I decided to go on a scouting trip to find some good trout fishing in the area, I picked up a map from the Franklin, N.C. Chamber of Commerce and started picking likely looking spots.

There are tons of places to fish in this area, but most are really tough to get into.  You have to be part mountain goat and have a good strong heart to walk into and back out of many areas.

This afternoon I picked a couple of new spots to fish and caught something at each.

The first was at a foot bridge that crossed the Cullasaja near Buck Creek Road.

The parking was easy for this spot and when I walked across the bridge, I spotted several decent sized fish in the deep pools.    A couple in their kayaks were floating down the river and when he mentioned that he saw a nice size fish, I decided to spend some time at the spot.

I caught a couple of bluegill on a Mepps spinner before switching to nightcrawlers.  Apparently, that's what the trout wanted because on the first cast into the riffles above a deep pool, I picked up a nice little brown trout which I quickly released.

I caught two more small trout at the spot and several small perch; all on crawlers before moving on.

I drove up towards Highlands, N.C. on Highlands Road and stopped at a pulloff next to a steep drop.  The water looked "fishy" so I skinnied down the hill and came to a neat little areas that produced a small brook trout and several creek chubs that seemed to always beat the trout to the bait.

After getting my fill of catching a mess of little creek chubs, I decided to try another spot but it started raining like crazy.

Usually the rain perks up the fishing and I was getting a couple of strong bites but after missing two more fish, I decided to hit the truck and call it a day.

I slogged back up the hill to the truck huffing, puffing, and soaking wet.

As I started up the truck, I realized that although the trout fishing in the area didn't measure up to catching a 30 " redfish in the Mosquito Lagoon, it was great fun and I thoroughly enjoyed catching these fish.  It's an entirely different type of challenge.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Fishing The Late Afternoon Thunderstorms

After yesterday's scouting trip to the wildlife refuge, fishing the late afternoon thunderstorms seemed like a good idea.

I got to East Gator Creek road just as the rain started moving in.  I managed a couple casts at the first culvert with a Chug Bug and had a follow up from a ladyfish.  I shot a couple more casts to the area as the rain started but the fish wasn't interested and since I forgot my new Frog Togs at the house, I hit the truck for shelter.

I was hoping that the storm would pass over the area quickly but it started coming down in torrents.

I slowly drove onto Peacocks Pocket road checking the water to see if anything was moving around.

I pulled up to the pond where I caught a redfish the other day and started casting the topwater bait around despite the rain that was coming down.

I picket up a small sea trout that I quickly released and went back into the truck to dry off.

The fish that were following the Chug Bug were all striking short, so when I decided to fish the bait slower, Istarted hooking up with fish.

As the rain continued, I started fishing the deeper sections of the marsh canal around the area below.

In a stretch that ran about 50 yards, I managed to hook and release three more small sea trout on the Chug Bug.  The trick seemed to be fishing the lure very slowly.  Smearing it up with Pro-Cure also helped a lot.

I didn't bother taking pics of all the fish I caught but they were all under the 15" slot except for one that I missed.

When the thunderstorm finally subsided, I pulled off the road at the pond below where there were a couple of redfish tailing in the weedy shallows.

I smeared the Chug Bug up with some more Pro-Cure and tossed the bait several feet behind the fish and let it sit.  The redfish didn't spook, and when the ripples died down, I waited a bit more and gave the lure a little twitch.  Nothing happened so I repeated the tactic and on the third or fourth twitch, the redfish let loose on the lure.  Unfortunately, it didn't get hooked up.

I reeled in and made several more casts to the reds but they were put down so I moved a bit up the canal blind casting the bank.

I caught a couple more sea trout a little bit larger than the fish above before deciding to head to the house.

On the way out of the refuge, I took a shot of this guy fishing for his evening meal.

The thunderstorm cooled down the air and got the baitfish in the marsh canal moving around.along with the sea trout and redfish.  I've found that this is one of the better times to toss around a topwater bait, regardless of the time of day.

With the 4th. of July weekend, I expected to see the refuge loaded with fishermen, but except for one other guy fish the Indian River side for redfish, I was the only one in the refuge.

Karen wants to give it shot tomorrow, so if it doesn't get too nasty, we plan to take Elmo and Odie fishig.

Tight Lines.