Catfish Creek Loop

My wife told me yesterday that Catfish Creek Loop was open, so when she asked if we wanted to take the "boys" for a ride around the swamp, I loaded up a few rods, packed Elmo and Odie into the truck and headed to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

As we were driving into East Gator Creek road, the wind along the causeway was strong enough to bring out a crowd of wind surfing enthusiasts.

There were several groups of people watching the wind surfers and several more fishing along the causeway for redfish and black drum that are running right now.

Karen and I didn't bring along any bait, but I had my back seat stocked with tons of artificial baits that I always carry around.

We stopped at a couple of spots to blind cast Chug Bugs and Slim Dogs but the wind made working a good presentation almost impossible so we drove past the small pond towards Peacock Pocket road into Catfish Creek Loop.

The wind slowed down a bit so I started bind casting a small size Chug Bug smeared up with Pro-Cure and had a couple of hits from pint sized sea trout.

As we drove around the loop, I complimented the refuge managers for doing a good job fixing up the road.  They filled in the ruts and apparently installed a couple of new culverts.

We fished a couple of spots without any luck and saw a few people driving around going way over the speed limit.   

It's a shame to report that after being open only a short time, people have already started leaving their garbage around the fishing spots instead of taking it with them.

As we were leaving the refuge, Karen spotted a large sea trout busting on the surface but because of the wind, I didn't bother casting to the fish.

I'm glad that Catfish Creek Loop road is finally open to vehicle traffic and plan to fish the area later in the week during the evening to see if I can raise a Redfish or two.

Till next time,

Tight Lines

  

Fishing The Right Bait

Fishing the right bait has a lot to do with what you catch and this Sunday proved the point, again.

I decided to take a ride down to Dauphin Island this afternoon to wet a line and check out the bite in the area.

When got down to Jamison's bait shop, I picked up a bag of ice and some freshly netted shrimp for bait.

The tide was almost at flood and although I planned to fish the jetties around the Fort past the Mobile Ferry, I wound up fishing around the bridge just past the bait shop.

When I pulled into a dirt road that led to the bridge, there were several other vehicles parked at the spot, so I naturally assumed that the bite had to be on.

I intended to fish under the bridge but a few anglers were already there and I didn't feel like encroaching on their territory, so I grabbed a spot near some pilings where a flock of Pelicans were enjoying the afternoon sun,

I skewered on a shrimp and had bites almost immediately when the bait hit the bottom.

I started catching small sail cats and progressed to catching some nice "brown mullet" aka Whiting; all of which I released.

I was hoping to pick up a redfish or two but all I could entice this afternoon were more whiting and catfish.

I got bored catching fish on almost every cast so I decided to move on to another spot.   As I moved to my truck, I spotted a guy with a nice stringer of fish so I decided to see what they were.

When I got up to where the stringer was tethered on a rock, I took a short video of three nice redfish that somebody had caught.

As I was getting ready to leave, the fisherman who caught the fish introduced himself and we started chatting about fishing spots, conditions, and baits.

Terry was sharing his knowledge of the area with me and we had a nice conversation about catching baitfish and using them for reds.

The fish he had on the stringer were caught on live fingerling mullet under the bridge in the deepest area.

Terry said that you could avoid the rocks by casting in a specific location underneath the middle of the bridge and usually during an incoming tide, you could hit redfish after redfish at that spot.

Terry also said that live finger mullet on a sliding sinker rig was by far the best bait for this area.

I took some pics of him and the fish he caught and told him I would post them on my site, so here we go..

As I was preparing to leave, Terry said he had a freezer full of fish and didn't feel like cleaning his catch so he offered them to me if I wanted them.

At first I hesitated, but decided I liked fresh redfish better than trying the jetties with some shrimp for bait.

I loaded up the reds into my cooler, packed up my rods, and headed back to my apartment to clean some redfish for dinner.

Next time I hit the area, I'll be fishing with live mullet.

Till then,
Tight Lines

Bayou Redfish

I decided to take it easy Saturday and lay around the apartment but I just can't seem to stay put for long without doing something, so I packed up a couple of spinning rods, picked up a cooler and headed for some salt water to wet a line.

I thought about going down to the causeway off of I-10 but decided to head down to Dauphin Island instead.

I brought along some frozen shrimp that were left over from my last jaunt and as I was driving down the causeway to the Island, I decided to drive over to Bayou La Batre instead.

I hadn't been there in a while so I didn't know what to expect.

I pulled into the road before the first bridge where the ships were being built and pulled off at a couple of spots to see if I could snag a Bayou Redfish, or anything for that matter.

The water was like glass and although some fish were occasionally dimpling the surface, the area did not look really "fishy".

I tossed in a shrimp with one rod and started casting a white Creme swimbait with the other rig.

I hooked and released a small catfish and continued tossing the creme swimbait around the sea walls where the boats were anchored.

I thought the bait had snagged on the bottom and gave it a jerk when to my surprise, I was hooked up to a slot red.

The fish made a couple of nice runs and after a short time I managed to "lip" it out of the water.

The leader was frayed from the oyster shells on the bottom where I was fishing and I could have very easily lost the fish if I hadn't horsed it in like I did.

Anyway, I took a couple of selfies with the fish before releasing it.

I continued fishing both rods for another half hour or so and only caught some small catfish before heading back to the apartment.

In 90 degree weather with a slack tide, I think the red was probably the only one left in the area.

Till next time,
Tight Lines

Fishing A Full Tide

Fishing Dauphin Island can be productive if you hit the tide right but this afternoon the tide was full and the only thing biting were sail cats and hard heads.

I hit Jamison's bait shop to pick up a couple pounds of freshly caught shrimp before heading to Dauphin Island.

The guys at the bait shop said that black drum and redfish were hitting a moving tide at the nearest bridge but be prepared to lose a lot of tackle.

I knew from past trips that about half the time I was trying to fish around the bridge, I was wasting re-tying terminal tackle but I decided to give it a try anyway.

When I got to a spot at the bridge, I pulled out a spinning rod with an Okuma bait runner reel spooled with 12 pound Cajun Red line.

There were a couple of anglers in boats who were fishing the grassy shoreline with live shrimp under floats who seemed to be catching fish, so I baited up with a fresh dead shrimp and flipped out a cast toward the deeper water in the channel.

The last time I fished this area, I caught a ton of small croaker and one nice redfish.  Today was a different story.

As soon as my bait hit the bottom I had a good hit and missed the fish. 

I put on a new bait and cast to the same spot with the same results. 

Finally, after losing a few baits I got the hang of it and landed a small Gaf Topsail catfish.

The sailcat was almost too small to eat the 4/0 Owner hook but I unhooked the little guy and continued fishing.

I spent about an hour at the spot and caught at least a dozen sail cats and hardheads from 6 inches to about a foot and a half before calling it a day and moving on.

While I was fishing, a couple of friendly feral cats came by to watch me fish, so I gave them some shrimp which they seemed to really enjoy.

As I left the area, I gave them a few more to keep them happy.

I drove down to the jetties at Fort Morgan to see if anyone was fishing and to my surprise, nobody was on the rocks.

I stopped to ask an angler who was packing up to go and was told that until the tide turned, it was "pretty much a waste of time and bait" to fish.

I took some pics of the area and the oil rigs offshore before heading back.

On the way, I pulled up to the short fishing pier where some people were sitting with cane poles and shrimp fishing for "white trout".   We call them sand trout in our area.

Anyway, they were catching fish but I was in the market for larger game and since it was late, I decided to head back to Mobile.

Next time I fish the area, I'll check the tide tables.  Something I don't bother with in the wildlife refuge.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.