Shiloh Road Tarpon Fishing

This afternoon I decided to get out and do some Shiloh Road tarpon fishing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Last year around this time of the year there were loads of juvenile tarpon in the northernmost feeder creeks to the Indian River, so I brought along an 8 Wt fly rod with some Deceivers and a couple of poppers, and three spinning rods with topwater and plastic swim baits.

The air temperature was 91 degrees F. when I crossed the bridge to make my way into north Shiloh Road and there was a breeze on the water which made fly fishing somewhat difficult.

It was around 4:00 pm  when I got to the culverts and although there was some activity, I didn't spot any tarpon rolling on the surface.

I strung up my fly rod and started blind casting on both sides of the culvert.  After about a half hour with only one take (which I missed) I decided to see what was going on behind the barrier at the next set of culverts.

A couple trucks passed me while I was dunking my Deceiver, and I was interested in what, if anything they were catching.

I parked at the barrier and made a few half hearted castes with my spinning rod to see if I could entice a sea trout, but nothing was taking my bait.

I started walking up the road to where two guys were fishing and stopped to chat.

I introduced myself to Rick Mellott and his friend who were dunking ladyfish and live mullet for redfish.

We talked a bit about the redfish fishing in the area and about several other spots that we knew some catches were being made.

While we were talking, Rick and his friend caught a couple catfish but no reds.

Rick said that the best time for reds in this area was in the early mornings.  Usually things go south around 9:00 or 10:00 am during the summer months.

We swapped phone numbers and after a while I decided to fish the creek down the road.

I pulled up to the area and the water was like glass.  I watched for fish and saw one large wake but I decided to give it a shot anyway.

I spent the next hour or so tossing a Chug Bug, an XPS Slim Dog, a small SkitterWalk, and finally a paddletail bait that I had along with me, all smeared up with some Pro-Cure Inshore Formula..

I had two followups on the Chug Bug, and a nice hit that I missed on the paddletail bait.

The gnats were getting to me, so I moved on down the road to fish the culverts as dusk was approaching.

That magic half hour or so just before dark paid off.  I managed to hook and release 4 spotted sea trout on the small size SkitterWalk; and I briefly hooked into a tarpon about 3 feet long.  

I hooked the tarpon on a large paddletail bait but after the second jump, it tossed the bait back at me.

When dusk hit, the fish stopped biting.  But the bugs didn't.

I packed up my rods and headed home for dinner (which turned out to be a Pizza).

Till next time,

Tight Lines.