Windy Afternoon On The Grass Flats

Went out this afternoon to Bio Lab road but it was a windy afternoon on the grass flats and my intention of fishing topwater baits in the area Karen and I hit the other day vanished.

I quickly made my way to the grass flats around East Gator Creek and started pitching a gold Johnsons Silver Minnow that I smeared up with some Pro-Cure.

The wind wasn't near as bad in that area, so after several dozen casts without a hit or followup, I switched rods and started fishing a topwater XPS Slim Dog that I also smeared up with some Pro-Cure Inshore formula.

The change evidently was the ticket because after only a few casts I picked up a nice sea trout on the lure.

I unhooked the fish and after taking a couple of pics, put it back into the clear water.

Several casts later I picked up a small ladyfish followed by another smaller sea trout which I returned to the flats.

There was a gator that kept following my topwater baits in the one area I like to fish best, but after awhile I had to move to keep him from following my baits.

I took this brief video before moving to another spot.

Around 7:00 pm the wind started to die down a bit and for some reason, so did the bite.

I fished several areas until around 7:30 pm with the Slim Dog and a small Chug Bug, but only got a couple of followups and short strikes.

.Besides the gator, there was a horse fly that followed me to every stop and kept biting my legs to the point of torture, so I decided to head home early and get some dinner.

I'm not sure why God made horse flies, gnats, or mosquitoes.  If anyone knows, please comment on it.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Lady On The Flats

After I finished with the chores and some light bush hogging in the back area, I packed a few rods and headed out to sample the evening bite and get in some topwater fishing at East Gator Creek.

It was almost 7:00 pm when I drove past the culverts and the air temperature was still in the low 80s. 

There was a light breeze over the water and except for one guy who insisted on telling me where the fish were, I had the area entirely to myself.

I started fishing the shallow flats with a Chug Bug smeared up with some Pro-Cure gel and almost immediately started getting followups and eventually some solid hits.

I was blind casting over the grass and experimenting with several retrieves before finding the right one.

After about 10 casts and a couple of followups, I finally hooked into a small ladyfish which I quickly released.

Another 3 or 4 casts into another area produced a small undersize sea trout which I also released.

I was going to move up the road to a calm area that I knew always holds fish but there was a gator in the area that always gives me grief when I use topwater baits, so I opted on blind casting over the shallow grass beds instead.

I made several well placed casts before hooking into a very large ladyfish.  I was using a fast chugging retrieve and stopping for a few seconds before continuing the pattern.

The fish hit the Chug Bug when it was at rest and immediately jumped about 4 feet into the air and peeled off about 50 yards of line and again jumping.

I had my drag set light for a change and just followed the fish as it continued jumping all over the flat.

Finally, the fish tired and I managed to lead it to a spot where I could land it between the mangrove roots.

As I was fighting the fish, I thought it was a juvenile tarpon until I got it close to the bank.

I landed the fish and took a few quick pics along with this selfie before returning it to the water.

I continued fishing and caught one more fish before I decided to head back home.  I figured that 3 ladyfish and one small sea trout in a little over an hour was enough fishing for one evening.

On the way out of the refuge, I took this pic of the beautiful sunset.

Hope to get out tomorrow after my Doctors appointment.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.

Memorial Day Bio Lab Road Scouting Trip

Karen and I waited until 5:30 pm this afternoon before deciding on a Bio Lab Road scouting trip.

Every time I picked up my truck keys, Elmo and Odie started going crazy so we decided to take them for a ride before my ear drums gave out.

The air temperature was 93 degrees and there was very little to no wind over the water in the Mosquito Lagoon when we got to the entrance of  Bio Lab Road.

Near the boat launch, the water clarity left a lot to be desired; but as we drove closer to the Whale Tail flats, the water started to clean up quite a bit making sight fishing possible.

I stopped at a couple of spots to cast a Johnson weedless spoon and a small size topwater Chug Bug around some bait pods, but I never got a hit but Elmo and Odie didn't care much.

They both had a ball at every stop enjoying the day.

At one spot around some old submerged pilings, I spotted a large sea trout busting on some fingerling mullet and about 100 yards farther down the road, I saw a snook holding close to the mangrove roots.

I tossed a bait at both fish with no results.

With the weather this hot this early, I really didn't expect a bite.

We left Bio Lab Road and headed to Titusville, but I decided to check out Peacocks Pocket road to see if anybody was at the kayak launch.

Because it was Memorial Day, I expected to see a lot of fishermen on the water along Bio Lab and Peacocks Pocket, but we passed three groups on Bio Lab and only one person leaving the Pocket road as we were entering it.

When we got to the barrier, I parked and started casting the gold spoon around the marsh canal but  I never got a hit on the spoon.

Karen was using the other rod with the Chug Bug on the Indian River side, so I pulled the other spinning rod with an XPS Slim Dog and started casting the plug into the canal.

On the second cast, a large ladyfish busted on the bait, made one jump and spit the hooks.

I made another cast into the same area but a large gator decided to make my live miserable by following every cast.

After two more casts without a hit, I gave up the spot to the gator.  It was in the 8' to 9' category and I didn't feel like messing with it.

Karen wasn't having any luck on the river side, so we decided to head for the house and some dinner.

On the way back to the bridge, the banks of the Indian River were still packed with people enjoying the long Memorial Day weekend.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.

Late Afternoon Sea Trout Action

After yesterday's scouting trip around the refuge, I decided to try and get in some sea trout action in the refuge.

I changed the water in the tropical fish tanks and took care of some business before deciding to get out and wet a line.

It was around 6:30 pm when I loaded up a few rods into the truck and head out to the nearest water.

The causeway was loaded with people celebrating Memorial Day and fishing along the banks.

I was going to try and fish Peacocks Pocket by the kayak launch but decided to try East Gator
Creek instead.  It was closer and would give me more time on the water.

The first culvert looked "fishy" but it was extremely shallow so I tied on a gold  1/8th oz. Johnson Silver Minnow, smeared it up with some Pro-Cure Inshore formula and made of casts around the mangrove roots.

I had a hit but missed the fish so I moved on to another spot up the road.

The second area looked uninteresting but I stopped anyway and started casting the gold spoon across the shallow grass flats.  The water was tannin stained but clear and I spotted a couple big black drum along the deeper trough just at the bank.

After several casts I again missed a fish before finally connecting with a slot size sea trout.

I took a pic, released the fish , and continued casting.

I walked up the road blind casting across the shallow grass and managed to hook up with three more sea trout about the same size as the first one.

I released all the fish and moved up to another area where I landed a nice juvenile tarpon last year.

Unfortunately, no tarpon today.  I switched to a topwater Chug Bug and started casting into the flat waters hoping for a larger sea trout.

I had a couple of followups but no hookups except for a very large gator that kept following my Chug Bug, so I switched rods and started casting the spoon again across the shallow grass.

As I was about to give up for the day, I hooked into another sea trout a little smaller than the others I was catching up the road.

I took a quick pic, released the fish, and decided to head for the house and get some dinner,.

I took a pic of the sunset and hit the road.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Saturday Scouting Trip

Got out late Saturday afternoon for a scouting trip around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

I was going to take my two best friends, Elmo and Odie, but they both needed their summer haircuts and it was way too hot for them in the truck.

I didn't plan on fishing but I took a few spinning rods along, just in case something interesting was happening.

I got on Hwy 46 to I-95 North and headed towards Shiloh Road to see if any juvenile tarpon were still in the creeks.

When I drove into the dirt road, I spotted some wild pigs along the side of the road which immediately took off.

I pulled out my cell phone and set it on camera in case anything other wildlife was interested in getting it's picture taken.

When I drove up to the culvert and stopped to see if there was any fish activity in the area. There were a few small glass minnows along the bank but other than a couple of mullet, nothing was happening.

The water on the Indian River side was brown and although the marsh side was clearer, there was a lot of floating algae on the water.

I drove up to the barricade to North Shiloh Road to turn around and only saw a couple catching crabs along the bank.  It was around 4:30 pm and the air temperature was in the high 80s, so I really didn't expect many fishermen in the area.

As I was driving out of the area towards US-1,  I spotted a large bobcat in the middle of the road walking towards my truck.  As I slowed down to grab my call phone for a pic, the bobcat waked off to the side of the road and quickly disappeared in the grass along the marsh.

I got a quick video of the large cat which was definitely not one of my better shots.

Closer to the main road, I spotted a couple of raccoons crossing the road which also disappeared in the brush when I got closer to them.

I was low on gas so I decided to head into the Kennedy Space Center to check out Haulover Canal.

About a mile past the entrance sign, I spotted a group of Sandhill Cranes along the side of the road.

I pulled over and took these pics which I made into a short video.

The cranes kept walking up the road as I drove toward Haulover to check out the area.

When I got to the bridge, there were several boats in the canal but relatively few fishermen on the banks.  I didn't bother to drive down and check out the catch because my gas gauge was on empty.

It was late and I decided to hit the closest gas station and grab a Lil Ceasars pizza for dinner.

I never bothered wetting a line this afternoon, but the scouting trip did produce a lot of wildlife sightings.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Catching Big Drum

Aubrey was catching big drum yesterday in Heron Bay and when he sent me the pics I just had to post them for you to enjoy.

Dauphin Island has a ton of good fishing areas if you bother to make the rounds and find them and since I've been working in this area, I managed to find one or two where anglers can fish from the bank.

Aubrey and his fishing buddy caught these in Heron Bay while fishing from a kayak in the same area I fished last weekend.

The big black drum above was about 40 pounds and was caught on an outgoing tide using blue crab for bait.

The fish below were also caught mostly on blue crab in the same general area.

The flounder in the pic below was caught by Kyle, Aubrey's friend, on a "bull minnow" which is what we call a "mud minnow" in our area.   The redfish in the back was also caught by Kyle on a finger mullet.

The redfish in the front and below was caught by Aubrey on a live croaker that was about 6" long.  A great bait in this area as well as in the Mosquito Lagoon.,

After seeing these fish I plan to get out over the weekend to see what I can dredge up from Heron Bay.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.

Fishing The Causeway

Although we had bad weather in Mobile this morning, I decided to get out and try fishing the causeway for a couple of hours this afternoon and to see what was going on.

I took a cooler full of ice and the leftover shrimp I had for bait yesterday and headed for the tunnel to fish the causeway around battleship park.

The wind was blowing steady and it rained lightly but the temperature was in the 70s and all in all it was a nice day to be on the water.

I pulled up to an empty spot near the restaurants and put out two of my Penn Fierce II spinning outfits baited with large shrimp.

I'd like to report that I caught a mess of fish but for almost two hours I sat around watching the rods without ever getting a bite.  

The only action I had was from the blue crabs that were hacking the shrimp to pieces.

I was berating myself for not going back to the spot I fished yesterday at Dauphin Island, but it was too late to make the drive and after two hours of having wind in my face, I was ready to head to the hacienda.

Hope to get out sometime next week.   Maybe the fish will be more accommodating.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.

Fishing Heron Bay

This afternoon I decided to get out of the apartment and try to catch a redfish or two at the Heron Bay cutoff on the way to Dauphin Island, Alabama.

I picked up a couple pounds of shrimp at Jemison's Bait-N-Tackle and chatted a bit about the fishing.

I was told that with the windy conditions, the best places to catch reds this afternoon was inside the bay so the obvious choice for me was the bridge at Heron Bay cutoff.

When I crossed the bridge, I spotted several boats fishing inside the bay so I immediately had high expectations.

I pulled into the road next to the bridge and was surprised to see only one other truck parked there.  

Since nobody was fishing around the wooden pilings, I figured that the person in the truck was fishing under the bridge, so I baited up a heavyweight Penn outfit with a large shrimp and a second smaller Penn Fierce II outfit with a small piece of peeled shrimp.

I fished under the bridge once before and knew that the fishing was good there but the rocks can quickly eat up a lot of lead weights.

I immediately started getting bites but the fish kept stealing my baits.  After losing three  or four shrimp, I put on smaller pieces and started catching and releasing Croaker on almost every cast.

After catching 6 or 7 Croaker, I was beginning to believe that the reds were in another area but an angler in a boat in the area I was fishing landed two fish, the second of which was a small redfish.

I was taking short videos of the area and got one of him landing the redfish.

As I landed yet another small croaker, the angler under the bridge came back to his truck.  He told me he caught a red on the way back to his spot.

I continued fishing and kept a couple  of croaker for bait.  I put a small one on the heavy duty rod just as the angler came by with his redfish.

I introduced myself and took a couple of pics of his fish which was just the right size for dinner.

I found that the larger "bull" reds have mushy flesh, especially during the summer months.

Anyway, we swapped numbers and  Aubrey showed me pics of some of the other fish he caught in the area.  I asked him to text me a few for this blog.

I assume all the fish were caught on shrimp but I could be wrong.  I do know that they were all caught in the same area in Heron Bay.

About 15 minutes after Aubrey left, I hooked into a big fish on the small Penn outfit that was loaded with 10 pound mono.

I had a small live croaker on that rod and when the fish hit and started running, I never slowed it down.   When I saw that I was almost spooled, I tightened up the drag as much as I could and the line snapped.

I don't know what the fish was but it was big.   Possibly a big red or a shark.

Anyway,  I fished live croaker on the other rod for about another half hour without a bite before I decided to pack it in and head back to the apartment.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.

Space X ISS Supply Launch

Went down to the river this morning to check out the Space X ISS Supply Launch that was rescheduled yesterday.

There were relatively few people along the shoreline so it was easy to grab a parking spot and a place to view the launch.

I got down there with five minutes to spare and took the video below of the launch and recovery of the booster.

The launch went off without a hitch and since I was already up I decided to check out the fishing piers to see how many people were shrimping.

When I got there, I was surprised to see how many people were shrimping at 3:00 am.

The lower fishing pier was the most crowded this evening and most everyone  had varying amounts of shrimp in their buckets.

The people on the upper fishing pier were not doing as well as the shrimpers on the lower pier which was surprising to me because the upper pier is usually more productive.

A few of the sport shrimpers had a second bucket for blue crabs that they were dipping up as they drifted by in the current.

I don't believe they bothered to read the fishing regulations for blue crab, anyway, the shrimping this evening was slow and the speckled sea trout were eating more shrimp than the shrimpers were dipping up.

I took a few videos of the fish in several areas (above).  

Almost every submerged light had schools of sea trout over the lights which is probably why the shrimpers were not loading up their buckets.

After talking to several of the shrimpers about the "run" or lack of a significant "run", I decided to pack it in for the night.

Till next time,

Tight Lines

Peacocks Pocket Fishing

This afternoon Karen wanted to take Elmo and Odie for a ride around the "swamp", so we packed up a couple of rods, some water for the dogs, and headed to East Gator Creek to see what was happening.

We stopped to get a couple of ice cream cones and then drove across the bridge to the refuge.

The first entrance to Gator Creek had a barricade across the entrance, but East Gator Creek was open. We drove around the area as we ate our cones and didn't bother wetting a line.

Nobody was in the area, so I figured the first entrance was closed because of the Space X Launch scheduled for tomorrow morning.

As we left the area, I decided to see if Peacocks Pocket Road was open and, after a short drive discovered that it was.

It had been raining and the road was puddled but I drove slowly towards the kayak launch. At the first bend we jumped a doe whitetail deer. She ran a few yards up the road and stood staring at us. I was getting my cell phone ready to take a pic but she disappeared into the brush before I could open the camera app.

When we got to the kayak launch I was surprised that we were the only people in the area.

I parked and picked up a rod to start casting the area.

I was using a Chug Bug and Karen picked up the rod with the Slim Dog bait and started casting it around the launching area.  The water was to choppy to properly "walk the dog" so she eventually started working the marsh canal, below.

I walked past the barrier and started making long casts with the Chug Bug that I had smeared up with Pro-Cure.

After a short time I picked up an under size  sea trout that nailed the bait.  I took  a quick pic and released the fish.

We fished the marsh canal and the pond for about 20 minutes and although I had a couple more fish bust on the Chug Bug, I never got another hookup.

Karen had a couple of hits on the Slim Dog with the same results and as the mosquitoes started hitting us, we both agreed to head for the house and some dinner.

On the way back, we spotted a gaggle of black vultures along the road doing what vultures do.

It was unusual seeing that many in one area, so we thought they were feeding on something quite large; possibly a pig or even a deer.

I wasn't about to drive back to find out but a couple of other cars behind us did.

Anyway, we had a nice trip, didn't get skunked, and enjoyed the afternoon with Elmo and Odie.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.

Space Coast Shrimping

Space Coast shrimping has been sporadic to date and this evening was no different.

I went down to the fishing pier this morning to see if the launch was going to materialize at the Cape and discovered that the mission was scrubbed again and rescheduled for tomorrow evening.

While I was there, I checked out the shrimping.

At 3:30 am there were only three people on the fishing pier and two of them were packing up to go

home.

The weather was typical for this time of the year.  The air temperature was in the hiigh 70s and it was windy, which was causing a chop on the water.

I briefly talked with the couple who were "regulars" and learned that shrimping had been "slow" lately.

They had the bottom of their 5 gallon bucket covered with medium to large shrimp which was just enough for a dinner for two.

I took a quick pic and walked over to talk with Kevin who was hanging over the railing watching schools of speckled sea trout eating his potential catch.

We chatted for a while and I took these videos of the sea trout over the lights.

Kevin had about 30 shrimp in his bucket but nothing to brag about.

He told me that he usually doesn't start shrimping until around midnight and for the past few weeks, the schools of trout and black drum have been eating more shrimp than he could net up.

This is also what is happening at Oak Hill where the shrimp are quite a bit smaller.

Most of the sea trout above the lights were  under the slot but after watching for awhile, I noticed that the larger fish were hanging just outside of the lights or under the smaller fish.

I spent about 20 minutes with Kevin watching the schools of fish eating shrimp before heading back home to get some much needed shuteye.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.

Catfish On Topwater Baits

Catching catfish on topwater baits wasn't exactly what I planned on this afternoon, but that's what happened when I scouted the area.

I decided to leave Elmo and Odie at home and try to get some actual fishing in this afternoon.  I left the house around 4:00 pm and headed to the creeks in the northern part of the Indian River along Shiloh Road.

The other day when I took the dogs for a ride, I drove by the area but didn't wet a line.  I spotted a couple of wakes but no topwater action and today was about the same.

The air temperature was in the low 80s, and there was a little wind blowing enough to make "walking the dog" a pain.

I tried the culverts along the road with a Chug Bug and a small Skitterwalk but never got a follow or a hit.  After 20 minutes or so, I headed to another spot and walked out to the creek to toss the same baits.

This time I brought the rod with a Bass Pro XPS Slim Dog bait along with the Chug Bug tipped rod.

The area was holding fish but I couldn't tell what they were.  The larger wakes were definitely either redfish or black drum but there were a couple of fish running the banks busting on small baitfish.

They might have been small snook, but I wasn't sure.

I carefully fished the area with both topwater baits and finally settled on the Chug Bug when the water turned glassy.

I smeared the bait with a thick layer of Pro- Cure Inshore formula and started getting followups and eventually a hit.

The trick was to let the bait sit almost motionless after the first cast.   This happened accidentally as I was unraveling a knot in my line.  A rat redfish hit the Chug Bug and after a brief fight was photographed and released.Chug Bug

Several casts later, I had a good hit that pulled drag and after a brief tussle was surprised to bring in a hardhead catfish.

I released the fish and after several casts hooked and released another clone of the first fish.

As the mosquitoes started to suck me dry, I decided I had enough of the catfish and started walking to the truck to head home.

On the way back, I drove around Haulover to see if anyone was fishing the area.

There was one lady working on a kayak and only one other fisherman along the bank so I decided to head home and put on the feed bag; Lil Ceasers Pizza.

Till next time,
Tight LInes