Beacon 42 Scouting Trip

Odie and Elmo were driving me crazy this afternoon so I decided to take them for a ride up to Shiloh Road to see if any tarpon were in the creeks.

They almost ran me over getting into the truck and immediately got into their cruising mode all the way up to the entrance of Shiloh Road.

When I crossed the bridge and made the turn into the unimproved dirt road, there were "men working" signs at the entrance.

I drove past the signs to talk to one of the guys who happened to be the supervisor for the work crew and asked him about what was going on.

He said that they were working on repairing the hurricane damage and widening the road.  They started at the Patillo Creek entrance to Shiloh Road and were over half way finished with their work.  Now they were completing it and were starting work at the Northern entrance.

He told me that they had just completed work on Bio Lab road and after I asked about Peacocks Pocket road, he said that there were discussions about it.

I thanked him for the information and although he said I could fish the first set of culverts, I decided to head back the "long way" and check out some other areas.

The dogs were enjoying their ride so I decided to drive into the Beacon 42 boat ramp and check it out.

There was only one trailer parked in the area and I was surprised to see that they had improved the ramp and added an aluminium walkway.

The last time I launched my Maverick here, I almost couldn't pull the boat back out.  The concrete bed was a mess and if you didn't load the boat in the middle, getting out was a 50/50 proposition.

I took some pics and let the guys out to run around for awhile before leaving the area.

I decided to head home but wanted to check out Catfish Creek Loop on the way so I took the long route and pulled into Gator Creek to make the run around the loop.

Nobody was fishing and the air temperature was in the low 90's so I understood why.

I took some pics of the area and a friendly Osprey before heading home and calling it a day.

May go out tomorrow.
Till then
Tight Lines

Playalinda Beach In October

Playalinda Beach in October can be productive for Pompano when the water temperatures drop, but with the weather we have been enjoying so far, the sea has not been cool enough to get the larger schools moving out of the river to the surf.

Regardless, I decided to take a ride down to the beach after my dentist appointment to see if anybody was catching fish.

I didn't expect a lot of people at the beach, but I was dead wrong.  Evidently, Monday was seniors day and most of the lots had at least a few cars parked.  

Lot #1 had a senior tour bus parked in the lot so I didn't bother stopping there.

Click On Pic Below

I stopped at lots #7, #8, and #10 and saw anglers fishing at all three areas.

The guys were catching whiting and juvenile black drum on sand fleas and clam flavored Fishbites.

I took a few pics at each stop and rode around Eddy Creek to check out the shallow boat launch.

Nobody was fishing on the new pier and only one kayak was out on the lagoon.

I didn't bother fishing any of the areas until I started heading out of the seashore. 

I just had to try my luck along the Vistas to see if I could hook into a juvenile tarpon or two but I struck out at every spot.

It was high noon when I started fishing the Vistas which is probably why I couldn't buy a bite.

When I got to the last small pond just before the ticket booth, I spotted a lot of mullet schooling in the shallows and when I pulled alongside the spot, I saw a nice gator size sea trout busting on a mullet.

Click on Pic Below

I started fishing a Chug Bug smeared up with some Pro-Cure and after wearing out my casting arm, I changed over to a mullet size XPS Slim Dog topwater bait.

I fished around the mullet schools for the next half hour or so and had only one hit which I believe was a large sea trout.

There were definitely fish in the area, but they had a case of lockjaw.   I believe that if I could fish them early in the morning, I would have had better luck.

Anyway, I packed up my rods and headed home for a much needed lunch.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.

Juvenile Tarpon In The Creeks

Catching juvenile tarpon in the creeks is always a blast and although late October is usually at the end of the bite, this afternoon turned out to be worthwhile.

It was raining off and on all morning and I just had to get out of the house to wet a line.   I asked Karen if she wanted to go fishing with me, knowing that she doesn't like fishing in the rain, and when she said she would sit this one out, I tossed my rods into the truck and headed out to the MINWR.

I thought about fishing Gator Creek but since it was Saturday, I assumed that there would be a lot of pressure in that area, so I headed to the Volusia County line to fish the shallow creeks in the northern part of the Indian River.

It was around 4:00 pm when I got to the first culverts and it was raining just enough for me to put on my Frog Toggs.

There was a lot of topwater activity on the south side of the culvert which looked like a school of juvenile tarpon.

When I spotted the fins breaking the surface, I was positive and pulled out a spinning rod with a small Chug Bug.  (Click on the pic above.)

I smeared up the plug with some Pro-Cure Inshore formula gel and on my first cast briefly hooked into a small tarpon which I shook off at the bank.

After hooking up and losing three more fish, they lost interest in the Chug Bug, so I switched to a green and black patterned Creme paddletail bait.

After several casts around the rolling tarpon, I finally hooked into another larger  tarpon that I took a quick pic of and also released.

When the fish lost interest in that bait, I tied on a Mirrorlure suspending twitchbait that I picked up in Mobile, Al. at the Bass Pro shop there.

Evidently the tarpon hadn't seen one of these baits because my first cast picked up a larger tarpon that was about 3 feet long.  The fish jumped four times before throwing the bait back to me.

After another couple of casts, I landed and released a smaller version of the fish that got away.  After taking a quick pic, I released the fish and continued fishing.

When the rain stopped, the water became dead calm and the tarpon bite came to an abrupt halt.  It was like someone turned off the switch because I couldn't buy a bite.

Finally, when the gnats started getting to me, I decided to head back to the house.

I took a couple of pics of the area before leaving which are below.

Till next time,
Tight Lines.

Spanish Macs Off The Pier

Haven't been on the water much since I've been back to Mobile, but this afternoon I decided to wet a line and try for some Spanish Macs, "white trout", or redfish off the Dauphin Island jetties.

I left my apartment around noon and the weather was great.  There was no wind and the air temperature was 80 degrees when I crossed the bridge going to the island.

The tide looked like it was low but still moving and although I didn't bother to pick up any live bait, I decided to use DOA Shrimp and some Kastmaster spoons that I had stashed in my center console.

I checked out the beach and as usual for a Sunday afternoon, it was loaded with people enjoying the water. 

There was nobody fishing off the jetties which led me to believe that the bite, if any, was off.

I took a bunch of pics before pulling up to the fishing pier where a lone angler was sitting on one of the benches dunking live shrimp under a Cajun Thunder type float.

I picked up a light rod along with a couple of lures and headed out to talk to the gent.

He told me he was fishing for spotted trout which, according to him, come in close to the rocks during low tide periods.

He also said he hadn't had a bite since he started fishing, so consider the source.

Anyway, although there was a lot of boating activity in the area, I started blind casting a small Kastmaster spoon around the rocks and as far out as I could reach.

These little spoons are heavy enough to get some distance on a cast and have an enticing wiggle on the retrieve if you fish them correctly.

After several dozen casts a school of fish came by and much to my surprise, I hooked up to a Spanish mackerel.

I was going to release the fish but I decided to keep it for dinner instead.

I kept casting the lure around hoping for another mackerel to fill me up but instead picked up a "white trout" that I might have snagged.

I kept that fish just to see what it tasted like and kept on casting.

After wearing out my casting arm, I told my fishing buddy I had enough for one day and headed to the truck with my dinner.

When I got back, I cleaned both fish and had a taste of what a fish dinner should be like.  I didn't have enough to fill me up, so I pan fried some shrimp that I defrosted which did the trick.

Till next time,
Tight Lines

Next time I get out, I will definitely keep more than two fish

Pond Gator

When my wife called me last week and said that there was a gator in our koi pond, I didn't think much about it when she said it was only a couple of feet long.

She was afraid that it would eat our fish but because our koi are all over two feet long, I told her to leave it alone and wait until I got home to catch and relocate it.

When I got home, the gator was more like 3 feet plus long, and it seemed to like it's new home.

Karen said it had grown accustomed to eating the koi food she was feeding our fish. 

It sat on the bank until I got a net to catch it and immediately disappeared into the pond.

The other day when Karen was cleaning out the overflow, we found where the gator was hiding.  It crunched itself into the overflow and almost bit my wife when she pulled off the lid.   She was very very lucky.

Anyway, we managed to net the gator and put it in the back of a steel trailer until we could transport it to another location.

We finally agreed to move it to Fox Lake where a ton of other gators reside.

I put it in the bed of my pickup in the net and eventually released it into the tanin stained water of Fox Lake where it will have to start hunting for it's dinner.

I thought I had a video of the release, but it was deleted so here is the only pic I have left of the critter.

Tight Lines.

Gator Creek Trout Bite

When I heard that the Gator Creek trout bite was getting pretty good and Karen mentioned that she would like to take the dogs out for a ride, I immediately agreed.

It didn't take to long to load up the rods and the bucket of live shrimp that I had left over from yesterday's trip and it was around 5:00 pm when we finally drove into Gator Creek road.

Odie and Elmo were happy to get out again and both had their heads out of the window enjoying the ride.

Karen wanted to try a spot off of Catfish Creek Loop where she caught some nice black drum last year and since it was reopened, I agreed to bank fish for awhile.

There was a chop on the water and the air temperature was around 86 degrees when we set out our rods.

I stopped at Mosquito Lagoon Bait and Tackle to pick up a half dozen of finger mullet and baited up Karen's rod with one of them.

I had a couple of rods out with live shrimp and finger mullet.

The black drum are running all over the Indian River and the redfish bite was sporadic for slot fish, so we had high expectations.

I'd like to say that we caught a ton of fish, but until about 6:30 pm all we did was lose baits.

Elmo stayed in the truck and fell asleep and Odie stayed with Karen while she waited for something to bite.

Finally, at around 7 pm we started catching fish.  Karen got a nice hit and pulled in a slot size sea trout that hit her fingerling mullet.

I took a quick pic of the fish before releasing it to grow into a Gator Trout.

I missed two fish on live shrimp and when I switched to a small finger mullet, I finally hooked up with a clone of Karen's trout.

I'm not a patient fisherman, which is why I would rather spend my time on the water hunting for fish and tossing artificial baits.
  

It's also probably why I miss a lot of hookups with live baits.

Anyway, I missed one more fish before the gnats got so bad that my legs were getting bloody.

I took a couple of pics of the sunset before heading home for dinner and calling it a day.

Although we didn't catch a mess of fish, it was beautiful weather and just being with the dogs and watching them have such a good time made for an enjoyable trip.

Karen and I will probably go out again tomorrow and try a different spot for reds and drum.

Till then,

Tight Lines

Fishing Catfish Creek Loop

When my wife didn't feel like going out to the refuge with me, I decided to try my luck at fishing Catfish Creek Loop.

The wind was blowing, but not as hard as it was the other day when Karen and I checked out the area.

I was fishing mostly with a small frog pattern Chug Bug that I keep smeared up with Pro-Cure offshore formula and a Slim Dog topwater bait.

As I usually do, I drove into East Gator Creek first to check out the shallow grass flats.   The wind allowed me to make several casts with both baits but I never got a followup on either lure.

As I drove into a calm area, I spotted a nice fish busting the surface so I stopped and quickly tossed out my Chug Bug.

I twitched the bait twice and almost immediately it got blasted out of the water by a large ladyfish.

The fish tailwalked around the area for a few minutes until I could bring him to shore between the mangrove roots.

I took a few pics before releasing the lady and started to blind cast the area after it settled down a bit.

I caught three more smaller ladyfish and missed what looked like a slot size sea trout before moving up the road to fish Catfish Creek Loop.

As I drove into the loop, I stopped to blind cast an XPS Series topwater popper around the Indian River.   I had one followup by a large fish that was probably a red, but at the last minute the fish didn't take the bait.

As I drove around the road, I stopped at several places to toss the Chug Bug and several other lures around the area.   I picked up a small sea trout that I quickly released and at the bend of the road where the water was dead calm, I hooked into a small Garfish on the Chug Bug that wouldn't release the bait.

The Gar had the bait sideways in it's mouth and didn't release the lure until I lifted it onto the bank.

I took a couple of brief pics before releasing it.

On the way out of Catfish Creek Loop, I took a few more pics and made mental notes of where Karen and I could dunk some live baits for redfish or drum.

There are plenty of black drum in the 15 to 25 pound class cruising the banks, so Karen and I will definitely be trying for a couple of them this week before I have to get back to work.

Till next time,
Tight Lines