Cold Day At The Beach

It was a windy, cold day at the beach at Playalinda but it was worth the trip to see what was being caught.

Karen and I decided to take Elmo and Odie for a scouting trip around the refuge yesterday, before the cold front moved into our area.

The weather was chilly and windy, but not as cold as was this afternoon.

We drove down Bio Lab road to see if anyone was wade fishing on the flats and saw only one other vehicle that was coming in from the other direction, close to the exit at  Playalinda beach road,

I later learned from the ranger at the pay station entrance that Bio Lab road is one way from the boat launch up to about 3/4 of a mile from the beach road where it then turns into a two lane dirt road.

It would be nice if it was marked, but what the hey.

I briefly thought about fishing a couple of places on the flats but the wind was coming across the Mosquito Lagoon too strong to bother fishing.   There were actually whitecaps on the water.

When we got to Playalinda Beach road, we decided to check out the beach and see if anybody was surf fishing.

There were a lot more vehicles than I expected in the area, but it nobody seemed to be interested in fishing the surf except for three guys at lot #8 at Eddy Creek.

We walked to the beach and checked out a few spots and I was genuinely surprised that no one else was fishing.   Karen thought that most people still believed that the beach was still closed due to the government shutdown, which is likely.

I expected the surf to be rough, but the tide was on the way out and the surf was relatively calm.  I watched a rip at lot #8 for a while and took a few pics of the three guys fishing before heading out to check out some of the other areas.  They had the entire beach to themselves.

It would have been a good day to surf fish but all I had with me was a couple of river rods with topwater lures and no live bait.

We ran up to #13, turned around and decided to run up to Haulover Canal and then Patillo Creek.

There were a few fishermen close to the bridge at Haulover fishing for black drum but they were packing up their gear to leave when we got there.

We left Haulover and drove over to Patillo Creek and found a group dunking baits for redfish.

I shot a few casts around several areas with a Chug Bug and a DOA Jerkbait without any luck and let the dogs run around the area for a bit before we decided to head for the house.

The wind had died down and the water was like glass by the time we decided to head out.

It was getting late and Karen and I were both getting cold and  ready for dinner so we decided to head home.

The cold front is supposed to pass by us by the weekend and I plan to wet a line as soon as my bones thaw out from this weather.

Till next time,
Tight Liens