Topwater Fishing Before The Storm

Left the house this afternoon ito get in some topwater fishing before the storm that was rolling into the area.

The air temperature dropped significantly, well into the 70s, and the wind,which was blowing relatively strong all day was beginning to pick up yet more.

As I crossed the A. Max Brewer causeway bridge, I could see that even the wind surfers were on the banks of the Indian River.  Apparently the wind was too much even for them.

Since ;I was already close to a fishing spot, I decided to brave the lousy conditions and toss what has become my favorite topwater bait around a bit.

As I drove past the wind surfers, there were whitecaps on the water but I was determined to find a spot sheltered enough to fish without too much difficulty.

I entered East Gator Creek road and pulled over at the first bend past the culverts I was treated to a beautiful rainbow, so I took a few pics before starting to toss my XPS Slim Dog around the area.

Although the wind was making a good presentation impossible, I still managed to hook into a small ladyfish that got off after the second jump.

I moved farther into the refuge and started casting into a relatively sheltered spot that I usually manage to hook into fish.

On the third or forth cast I hooked into an undersized sea trout which I quickly released.

The wind was still dragging the Slim Dog bait around but I managed to hook and release three more small trout in the same area.

It started raining so I put on my Frog Togs that were in the truck before continuing.

The rain didn't let up but the wind did, so I started fishing a bend in the creek where I caught a juvenile tarpon last month.

On the first cast to the opposite bank, the Slim Dog was blown out of the water by a sea trout of at least 6 or 7 pounds.    The fish was as long as most of the oversize redfish I catch in the refuge.

In any event, I was so startled by the hit that I literally pulled the bait out of the fish's mouth.

I reeled the topwater bait back and made several more casts into and around the area, but the big trout was not stupid enough to get stung twice.

I caught one more small sea trout before the rain started really coming down, so I released the fish and headed back home for dinner.

I plan on hitting the spot again tomorrow evening.  Maybe the fish will still be hanging around, who knows?

Tight Lines.

Shiloh Road Is Stil Hot

Shiloh Road is still hot as of this date.

I've been in Mobile, Al for the past week but spent some time in Bainbridge, Ga. after the hurricane trying to clean up the mess and keep everything afloat.

After sleeping in my truck for 4 nights, my back was giving out but after a day resting and just taking it easy, I finally decided to head out and try some topwater fishing in the refuge.

The air temperature today was in the low 70s and it was windy enough to give me reservations about tossing a topwater bait around, but around 5:00 pm, I finally decided to give it a shot.

I was going to try East Gator Creek but after gassing up my truck, I decided to see if the shallow creeks around North Shiloh Road were worth fishing.

When I got there, nobody was in sight and it looked like I had the area to myself.

I pulled up to the culverts and found the water level extremely low on the Indian River side of the road.

There was absolutely no sign of fish in that area, however, the other side of the road looked good enough to me to start tossing a topwater bait around.

I had one rod in my truck.  It was a Penn Fierce II live liner combo I picked up a couple of weeks ago at Bass Pro in Mobile, Al.

It was tipped with an XPS Slim Dog topwater bait that I smeared up with some Pro-Cure super gel.

The wind had created some manageable ripples on the water so I started casting the Slim Dog into the shallows and walking the dog back to the culvert.

The first cast had a couple of missed hits, but the second cast hooked me up with a ladyfish of almost 2 feet in length.  I took a pic, released the fish, and continued casting around the area.

The next fish was a small spotted sea trout that acted like a miniature Gator trout.  I released the fish and on the next cast caught it's big brother.

That sea trout was about 18" and put up a decent fight before giving it up.  I released the fish and on the next cast picked up another ladyfish much smaller than the previous one.

To make a long story short, I spent the next couple of hours catching and releasing at least a dozen ladyfish and 7 spotted sea trout of various size.

When it started getting dark, the bite mysteriously stopped and on que, the mosquitoes started sucking my blood.

I took a couple of pics of the area, called Lil Ceasers to order a couple of hot and ready pizzas, and headed for the house.

I'll be home this week and hope to get a few more shots at this area and several others that I love to fish.  

I'm definitely planning a trip to Bio Lab road to check out the flats for reds and bigger sea trout.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.