Catfish Creek Redfish

Catfish Creek Loop is always a good area to target redfish and sea trout.

This afternoon, Javier Cuazo picked up this nice redfish on a live shrimp in the same general area where I usually fish Chug Bugs.

He was kind enough to send me this short video of his catch.

Can't wait till I get home again.

Nice job Javier,
Tight Lines

Fishing The Ditches In East Gator Creek

After the first set of storms blew through our area this afternoon, I decided to try fishing the ditches in East Gator Creek with topwater baits.

I already had my rods in the truck so I didn't waste any time getting to the first set of culverts.

As I drove over the A. Max Brewer Causeway Bridge, I wasn't sure topwater baits would be a good choice.  There were whitecaps on the river and a few dudes were windsurfing along the north side of the road.

I stopped at the culverts and started fishing a gold Johnson Sprite spoon to see if the fish were hitting deep.

After several casts without a hit I changed rods and started pitching my "baby bass" patterned Chug Bug.

The wind made fishing the bait tough, but after the third cast I had a nice hit from a big sea trout.  The fish nailed the plug out of the water but didn't get hooked up.

I switched sides and started tossing the Chug Bug into the shallower mud flats on the east side of the road and got a hookup with a nice ladyfish that put up a surprisingly good fight.

I forgot my Samsung smart phone at the house, so I couldn't take any pics but I remembered to take my GoPro so I compiled this short video of some of the catches.

I changed sides and started casting into the deeper areas around the flowing culvert and hooked up with a slot size sea trout that I also released.

In an hour of fishing, I managed to catch two ladyfish and three sea trout that were all in the slot.

The one fish I missed just before I quit fishing was a very large sea trout that hit the Chug Bug out of the water right at the base of the culvert.   The fish was at least 25 inches but I couldn't get a hook into the fish.

I made about a dozen casts back into the area, but the fish was gone for the day.

It was getting dark and the wind was picking up so I decided to head for the house.

As I drove around East Gator Creek road on the way out of the refuge, I stopped to cast a couple of areas just for the hell of it, but the high wind made it almost impossible to make the plug look natural so I gave it up for the day.

Till next time,
Tight Lines and Bent Rods.

Rat Reds In The Creeks

This afternoon I found out that there were a lot of rat reds in the creeks around Shiloh Road.

I packed up a couple of rods and around 4:00 pm headed out to Shiloh Road to see if I could get in some topwater fishing.

The culverts were still flowing and the water levels are still up.  The water in the creeks were dead calm and absolutely nothing was happening when I pulled up to the first set of culverts.

I was beginning to think I should have stayed at home, but I decided to toss around my favorite Chug Bug for awhile to see if I could rattle up something.

After a few casts I quickly realized that the first set of culverts were not going to be productive with topwater baits.  A small gator kept following my lure trying to eat it at every cast.

Since it was getting late and I didn't want to waste any more time trying to keep my plug away from the gator, I moved up the road to a bend in the creek to give it a try.

Yesterday I briefly got into a juvenile tarpon, but today when I pulled up and parked there wasn't a wake in sight.

I walked down to the water and started casting my Chug Bug as parallel to the banks as I could without getting hung up.

After several casts, I had a hit from a fish but missed the hookup.

I started fan casting around the area and varied my retrieves to mimic an injured fingerling mullet and after several (many) casts, I finally hooked into a redfish of about 22" that I landed and released.

The fish put up a nice fight for it's size and  I didn't feel like cleaning any fish tonight.

After letting the area calm down a bit, I started casting the Chug Bug again using the same "injured mullet" retrieve and after letting the bait pause on one of my casts, another rat red nailed the plug.

This time I pulled out my cell phone and tried to take a video of the action as I was trying to land the fish.  I thought it was a big sea trout at first, but as it got closer I saw the familiar reddish bronze tint of a redfish.

The video was shaky but I managed to get at least part of the fight below.

I unhooked the fish and released it to grow up and fight another day.

The mosquitoes were getting to me so I decided to head for home.

As I was walking to the car, I was telling myself to put my Go Pro Hero 5 in the truck as soon as I got home.

Maybe next time!

Tight Lines.

Shiloh Road Topwater Fishing

Shiloh Road topwater fishing can be especially productive for juvenile tarpon and snook during the month of June so, this afternoon I packed up three spinning rods, my 8 wt. fly rod, and headed to the refuge.

I originally planned to fish the area early this morning, but I had a ton of catch up work to do around the house. When the storm clouds started moving in at the house this afternoon, I decided to sneak out and wet a line.

The water levels in the creeks are up and the culverts are open to drain the excess water from the marsh areas into the Indian River. 

Open flowing culverts often provide excellent fishing opportunities.

When I got to the culverts at Shiloh Road, I parked and watched the water for a while looking for signs of fish.  After about 15 minutes I spotted a couple of fish after baitfish along the bend in the creek.

The water on the side of the road that I was fishing was dead calm, so I started casting a Johnson's Sprite gold spoon to the banks to see if there were any takers.

About 10 minutes of fruitless casting caused me to switch rods and baits.  I picked up my all time favorite Chug Bug "baby bass" lure and started casting into the grass and hopping the bait into the water.

After six or seven casts, I flipped the Chug Bug into the grass, hopped it into the water and let it set as I was unraveling a minor tangle on the spool.

Evidently, that pause did the trick.  I heard a "slurp" as a big redfish sucked in the bait and started swimming up the creek.

I didn't set the hook on the fish and as I was slowly trying to bring it to the back to the road, it finally realized it was hooked and took off like a shot.    After a short run along the bank, it straightened out one of the treble hooks and got off.

To say I was disappointed is an understatement, but I pulled in the bait, reset the hook with my pliers, and continued fishing.

The commotion put down the fishing in the area so I drove up the road to another section of the creek and continued fishing.

This section of the creek is deeper and holds snook, juvenile tarpon, reds, and sea trout.

Fan casting the Chug Bug attracted one small sea trout that I released.

As the thunderclouds started getting closer and the lightning strikes got my attention I was going to call it a day, but I spotted a big wake coming up the creek so I made one of my famous "one last casts" ahead of the fish.

 I let the Chug Bug sit and waited for the fish to hit and just as I gave it a little twitch, the fish exploded on the bait.

The tarpon was about 3 feet long as it cleared the water and after the first jump, it was gone.

This was one time I wish I had worn my GoPro.  It would have made a great video.

Anyway, the wind picked up and the air temperature dropped several degrees as the storm hit.  You could actually see it coming down the road.

I threw the rods into the back of the truck, headed to the barrier to Shiloh Road to turn around, and headed into the refuge towards Haulover Canal to get home.

By the time I got to the Max Brewer bridge, the rods were washed down and I was ready for dinner.

Till next time,
Tight Lines

Catfish Creek Loop Is Open

On the way back home from my dentist appointment this morning, I decided to take a short drive around the refuge and was pleasantly surprised to see that Catfish Creek Loop, Gator Creek, and East Gator Creek roads were all open to vehicle traffic.

The last two times I tried to fish the area, both access roads were closed to vehicle traffic, apparently due to road repairs.

When I drove into Gator Creek today it was almost high noon and the air temperature was 84 degrees.  The water levels in the marsh areas are up and there was almost no breeze on the water.

I only had one rod with me which I always carry in the truck.  It is a 7 ' medium heavy action Bass Pro spinning outfit loaded with 30 pound Power Pro main line,  15 pound fluorocarbon leader, and a gold Johnson Sprite spoon.  The rig has become my "go to" outfit for finding redfish, sea trout, and any other predator that targets baitfish.

The barrier across the road was down and the water around Gator Creek was clear and calm.  There was some finger mullet activity but the fish were apparently being ignored by predators.

I fan cast several areas around Gator Creek and Catfish Creek with no success but since we are basically in the summer cycle, I didn't expect to catch anything this late in the day anyway.

As I cruised around Catfish Creek Loop I took a video of a porpoise that was rounding up some fish for lunch.

As I got close to the mouth of the creek, I spotted a couple of juvenile tarpon rolling into the area from the middle of the river, but they were too far out to make a reasonable cast.

The road was overgrown with grass and weeds but you could see that it had been worked on.

As I got to Peacocks Pocket Road, the barrier was still up and will probably be impassable into the near future.  Too bad, it was one of my favorite areas for big sea trout and redfish.

On the way out I drove around East Gator Creek and shot several casts at some Longnose Garfish around the first culvert.   I had two hits but I couldn't keep a fish on the treble hooks.

I took a few pics of some vultures and a lone duck before heading back to the house.

Not much to report on the fishing front, but the scenery was just what I needed after a couple of weeks out of town.

I'll plan on going out tomorrow morning to target some sea trout on topwater baits if they're in the mood.

Till next time, Tight  Lines.

Dauphin Island Fishing Derby

When I left the apartment this afternoon, I had no idea that the Dauphin Island Fishing Derby would be going on in full force.

The weather was great for a fishing trip so I loaded up a couple of rods, a cooler, and headed for Dauphin Island to see if the jetties were open.

I knew by the amount of traffic that something was going on and when I stopped at Jamison's Bait Shop to pick up some fresh shrimp for bait, I discovered that the fishing derby was going on.

As I crossed the first bridge and saw that nobody was fishing the area, I pulled over and baited up my surf rod with a large shrimp to see if I could interest a redfish or big black drum. 

When I spotted a large red snapper carcass on the shore that someone had cleaned, I thought this might be a good area to fish.

I set the rod, baited up my other rod with a piece of shrimp and tossed it out around the pilings to see if I could pick up a sheepshead or flounder.

Instead, I immediately hooked up with a small croaker that was just the right size for bait.

I reeled in the surf rod, changed baits, and sat down to enjoy the fresh air.

There was a lot of small craft activity around the area and it looked like the tide was on it's way out. 

I spent just short of an hour fishing the area without a bite, so I pulled my bait in, released it and headed for the jetties.

When I crossed the large bridge to the island, I could see a mass of humanity on the island.   

There were two police cruisers with blue lights on observing all the activity at the entrance to the island and parked boat trailers all along the road to the ferry and beach area.   My hopes of fishing the jetties were fading quickly the closer I got to the ferry.

As I passed the launch areas, I could see that the fishing pier had been repaired and the barriers to the beach parking area were down. 

There were a few people fishing on the pier who said they were catching sand trout, croakers, whiting, etc. but nobody I spoke with was fishing for reds.

People were out on the jetties but no one was fishing.  The beach was crowded with people and the few fishermen I did see fishing didn't seem to be catching anything.

There were no parking spots available anywhere, and after making the second trip around the parking lot looking for a spot, I decided to call it an afternoon and come back when there were fewer people.

Tight Lines