Skunked

Sunday afternoon was the first time I had a chance to wet a line in the past month and although the weather and scenery was great, the fish

Sunday afternoon in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was perfect for viewing wildlife.  Not so great for fishing.

I left the house in a hurry with only two rods.  Both had topwater baits attached; a Chug Bug and an odd colored XPS Slim Dog I picked up on sale at Bass Pro.

East Gator Creek was the closest location so I started tossing the Chug Bug around the culverts, the shallow flats, and the slightly deeper canal.

There was a slight breeze on the water and the air temperature was in the high 60s, so it should have been a decent day for topwater fishing.

After getting only one half hearted followup by a sea trout, I switched rods and finished the day tossing the Slim Dog around various likely looking spots.

As dusk approached, I slowly drove to a shallow pond that I like to fish but was surprised to see an angler already fishing the area in a small boat powered by a trolling motor.

He was in the middle of the pond tossing a jerk bait towards the bank, apparently without much success.

I took a few pics as he was fishing and tossed the Slim Dog around a bit before moving up the road to the entrance of Peacocks Pocket road.

I switched to the Chug Bug and fished until it started getting too chilly.

Getting a case of Pneumonia was definitely not on my agenda for the holidays.

On the way out I saw the fisherman loading his little boat back on the trailer.   I was going to stop and ask him if he had caught anything, but I decided to head for the house and some dinner.

On the way out of the refuge, I took a few more pics of the scenery and the awesome sunset.