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!