Scouting Trip Around The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Because of the hurricane and the fact that I've been out of town most of this month, my fishing posts have been less than stellar. So, this afternoon, I embarked on a scouting trip around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to see what I've been missing.

I loaded four rods into the truck and headed over the bridge to see what was shaking in the marsh.

As I topped the bridge, I noticed that no cars were in the refuge and everyone seemed to be fishing along both sides of the causeway.

The water as expected was way up from the storm and also as expected, the barriers were up on East Gator Creek, Gator Creek, Peacocks Pocket, and most all of the other roads.

I decided to drive into BioLab Road to fish the flats.  As I drove into the entrance, I noticed some activity at the open culverts so I pulled over and pulled out a rod with a Johnsons Sprite gold spoon.

After making several casts it was apparent that the fish were not going for the spoon.

There were tons of small glass minnows being flushed out of the open culvert and there were several large juvenile tarpon and at least two snook actively feeding on them.

I did not come prepared with small baits or my fly rod, which would have been perfect for the situation, so all I could do was take some pics of the area and the fish that were gorging on the small anchovies.

When two cars pulled into the area, I decided to move on to see what else was going on along the drive to the beach.

BioLab Road was full of crabbers and fishermen.  Most of the pull overs were occupied but I didn't see anyone actually catching fish.

I spotted a guide poling along the near flats, but almost everybody was bank fishing.

I stopped at a couple of likely looking spots to toss a jerk bait but at 2:00 pm I didn't really expect to catch a mess of fish.

I decided to head to the beach to see if the mullet were in the surf.  They were due, and I was hoping that the spoon would pick up a blue or Spanish mackerel if the baitfish were here.

I drove past the first parking areas into Eddy Creek to see how much damage the hurricane had done to the old wood fishing pier.   When I got there, I immediately noticed that the pier was being rebuilt.
There were new pilings out, but not much else.

I spotted a nice lady in a kayak that had just come in and asked her if anybody had caught any fish.  She told me that everybody she came across when she was out said they got "skunked".

I thanked her and left to see if there were any mullet in the surf.

When I checked out lots #9 and #10, it was high tide and no fishermen were anywhere.  The surf was super rough and fishing with my outfit would have been a waste of time so I decided to run over to Haulover Canal.

Haulover Canal had been closed to bank fishermen but it was evidently now open.  Both sides of the canal were lined with bank fishermen dunking a variety of baits.

I spotted some kayaks and my "fantasy" boat going down the canal but decided not to bother fishing.

My next stop was Beacon 42 boat launch but there was a barrier across the road.  When I drove into Patillo Creek, it also had a barrier up.   Evidently, the hurricane really messed up the roads in the refuge.

Since it was getting late, I decided to head towards US1 and drive into Shiloh Road if it was open.

There is a spot there that I catch juvenile tarpon on a regular basis, so I gave it a try.

As luck would have it, the road was open so I headed to my favorite spot.  As I got close to the area, it was apparent that I wasn't the only one aware of it's potential.

Three guys were already there fishing for tarpon.  One guy was using a plastic soft bait and two others were tossing flies at the fish.

I didn't want to horn in on their territory, so I took these pics and a short video of the action.

The one guy had a small tarpon and missed a couple of other fish on a white fly and the other two guys didn't do as well.

After taking the pics, I decided to head for the hacienda and get something to eat.

I made a mental note to bring along my fly rod next time I decided to go on a scouting trip around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.