The Shrimp Are Running

When I went down to visit the fishing piers this evening at the A. Max Brewer Bridge to see if the shrimp are running in the Indian River, I ran into a Friday night block party, complete with a live band.

I drove down to the bridge at around 8:30pm and had to run around the parking lot twice before I lucked up on a parking space.

The cars were lined up almost to the park, and there were a ton of people shrimping, fishing, drinking, and generally having a blast at the pavilion.

I noticed several people cast netting for shrimp along the seawall, which is unusual for this area.

You normally see fishermen cast netting for shrimp when they bait a spot.   This is common practice farther up north in the Jacksonville, Fl. area, but I guess they brought the practice down here.

Anyway, the guys on the seawall were cast netting a few shrimp on almost every cast.  The shrimp were in the medium to large category, but they guys told me they usually get a few jumbos every night.

I took some pics for this site and moved on down to the lower fishing pier to see how the guys who were dip netting shrimp were faring.

 Just about everybody had some shrimp in their 5 gallon buckets.  

A few guys had almost a half a pull, and one guy had a garbage can loaded with a bunch of shrimp.

It seemed like the guys dip netting closer to the sea wall were getting the majority of the shrimp, possibly because it was windy and the water was choppy.

The air temperature was in the low 70s, which made shrimping tonight pretty enjoyable and with the live band that was playing, who could complain.

I took a couple of videos, some more pics, and moved up to the higher fishing pier to see how the guys over there were doing.

Again, everybody had some shrimp in their buckets, with a couple of the "regulars" doing much better.  Everybody on the upper pier was dip netting.  I believe you're not allowed to cast net from the piers.

I brought along a rod with a DOA Bait buster and tossed it around a bit.  Got a couple of strikes and hooked two slot size sea trout that I shook off before landing them.

Most of the trout were small in the area, and I didn't want to interfere with the shrimpers so after the second trout, I decided to head back to the house.

I talked to a couple of sport shrimpers on the way out who told me that the shrimping had been going gangbusters for the past month or so and they expected it to continue throughout March.

I compiled this video of the evenings  shrimping, complete with the band.

It almost makes me want to grab my cast net and stake out a spot on the seawall.

As long as the shrimp are running, I might just give it a try.

Till next time, Tight  Lines.

Walking Peacocks Pocket Road

After trying several times to contact someone in authority at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, I decided to try walking Peacocks Pocket road to see if it was really as messed up as I had been told.

I put on my shorts and brought along two spinning rods tipped with a DOA Baitbuster and my top water bait of choice, a Chug Bug.

Since I planned on walking at least half way through Peacocks Pocket road, I didn't burden myself with a lot of excess gear.  I put a couple more Baitbusters in my pocket along with another Chug Bug and a weedless Johnsons silver spoon to cover the water column.

I parked at the barrier at the entrance to Catfish Creek Loop and started walking the unimproved road.

I was immediately surprised how low the water levels were in the marsh.

The small ponds I love to fish in the fall and early spring were now dark mud dotted with bird and gator tracks.

The water in the marsh canal along the road was at least two or more feet lower than what is expected for this time of the year.  Either the management people were draining the "swamp", or there was a hell of a lot of evaporation going on.

As I walked along the first stretch, I spotted a couple of sea trout chasing bait fish in the canal and came up on a huge gator sunning itself on the bank. 

 As I was taking it's pic, the gator slithered into the water looking right at me.

I took a short video and moved on up the road looking for signs of fish.

About a mile up the road, past areas where there used to be good ponds to fish, I finally spotted an oversize redfish busting baitfish along the bank.

I fired the DOA Baitbuster to it but the fish spooked and continued up the canal.

All along the walk, I took pics of the areas where I used to catch some very nice fish but today, things had changed.

The fish were all concentrated in the deeper areas of the canal, but they were super spooky.

I managed to catch a couple of sea trout that were right on the slot and I spooked a couple more oversize redfish before deciding to turn around.  It was getting late and I didn't want to kill myself walking back to the truck before dusk.

Although I had walked at least half way up Peacocks Pocket Road, I still didn't come across any areas that would have prevented the normal flow of vehicle traffic.

I spotted a ton of wildlife that included gators, pelicans, roseatte spoonbills, a variety of herons and even a couple of wood storks but the best part of the journey was the complete absence of vehicle traffic.

I was literally the only human being walking the area and it was wonderful.

On the way back to the truck, I jumped a small group of drum that were pushing water down the canal and as I got to the truck, I was treated to a nice sunset.

I plan to be walking Peacocks Pocket road again this week from the other entrance to see exactly where all the damage to the road is.

Till my next report, Tight Lines.

Bio Lab Road Boat Ramp

Sunday afternoon was the first chance I got to get out of the house and check out the fishing in our area.

My wife wanted to take Elmo and Odie for a ride, so we decided to see if Peacocks Pocket Road was open for vehicle traffic.  It was supposed to reopen on the 15th, but I had my doubts.

Karen didn't want to fish but I packed a rod with a DOA Baitbuster along anyway, just in case.

As we drove around East Gator Creek road, we were surprised at how low the water levels were in the marsh.  The water was down at least a couple of feet since the last time I made the circle, which was about three weeks ago.

There was a rocket launch early Sunday morning, which was probably why the area was full of people.  The fair was also closing down on Sunday, which also brought in a lot of people; plus the weather was beautiful.

We drove to the entrance to Peacocks Pocket and saw that the barrier was still in place.  The reason given for the closure was unsafe road conditions caused by the last hurricane.

You would think they could have repaired the road by now, but after calling the Refuge people, I discovered they apparently did not have the funds to repair the road.  At least that's what I was told.

We drove around Catfish Creek Loop and watched a bank fisherman land an under slot redfish before moving on.   I was going to take a pic of the fish, but there was traffic behind us so we moved on.

We saw several more bank fishermen dunking shrimp, but didn't notice anybody else catching anything.

As we left the refuge, we decided to check out Bio Lab road to see if they had finished the shallow water boat launch.

There were signs up warning that the Haulover Canal bridge was closed, so as we headed to Bio Lab road, we decided to check out Haulover afterwards.

The boat ramp at Bio Lab road was finished and there was a brand new dock to boot.

I took several pics of the ramp and the general area before heading out to Haulover.  The results are in the short video above.

We drove into Bairs Cove boat ramp where several people were fishing and a bunch of people in kayaks were having  great time.

I talked with one couple who was fishing with shrimp along the sea wall who said he caught a few sea trout on live shrimp under a DOA float.   He showed me a pic of the fish that he took on his cell phone which looked to be well over the slot.

He said there were a ton of Manatees in the Cove which they had been watching all afternoon.

While Karen and I were there, we didn't see any but they are almost always in the area.

On the way out of the boat launch I stopped to take a pic of the bridge.  I couldn't tell what they were working on but they had scaffolds all over the place, which means that the road was probably going to be closed for a while.

It was getting late, so we decided to head for the house and get something for dinner.

Now that they have the boat ramp in at Bio Lab road, I'll probably start taking out my Maverick flats boat.

It seems that every fishing area in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge has been closed, or is being closed to vehicle traffic for some reason or another.

Since I have been living in the Titusville, Fl. area, they closed Shiloh Road, Long Pond Road,  the access roads to Granny's Cove, Pumphouse Road, the Southeast road along Haulover Canal, the dirt road along Pelican Island, and now possibly Peacocks Pocket Road.

All I want to know is what are they doing with the money.

They obviously are not "fixing" the roads and year after year, the bank fishing opportunities we once enjoyed have disappeared.

Tight Lines, if you can find a place to wet them!

Winter Sea Trout Fishing

Winter Sea Trout fishing in our lagoon systems is second to none for large Gator Sea Trout when conditions line up.

Although I have not been able to take advantage of the fishing in our "neck of the woods", many of our readers have sent in pics of their fall and winter catches, some of which are below.

All the fish above were caught in the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River lagoon systems during the winter months, on artificial and live baits.

The trick to catching large sea trout and bull redfish is stealth approaches, persistence, and in many cases, some blind luck.

Craig and Mary caught their fish on weedless Jerk Baits, and I picked mine up on a topwater Chug Bug, all during the winter months.

Next week I hope to get out on the water again and do what I love to do most, wet a line.

Tight Lines.