Catching Gators

Catching gators was the last thing I intended to do this afternoon but that's exactly what happened today when Odie and I went for a drive to scout out some of my favorite fishing spots.

It was well after noon when we left the house and the weather was just fantastic.  Very little wind, zero chance of rain, and a pleasant 74 degrees.

My plan was to drive over to Haulover Canal to check out the fishing and then heading out to Patillio Creek before heading back to the house.

Because Odie was with me, I really didn't plan on doing any serious fishing but as usual, I hade several rods with me in case I ran across some signs of fish.

As we crossed the bridge and Odie directed me into the entrance to Haulover Canal, I noticed several boats anchored at the mouth of the Mosquito Lagoon fishing the deep holes for reds and black drum.  

Several boats were anchored just off the bank with fishermen tossing lures and dunking baits, and a ton of people were fishing from the bank.   

A couple of kayak fishermen were also paddling along the bank of the canal getting in the way of the bank anglers.

We drove past the people fishing along the bank towards the turn around where the kayak rentals were located and found more fishermen trying their luck at the mouth of the Indian River.

I found that most of the anglers fishing from the bank were using dead shrimp for bait and were catching some Mangrove Snapper and a few black drum.

I located a spot near the bridge and let Odie out to do his business while I tossed a gold Johnson Sprite spoon around for awhile. 

I never got a hit but I did see some baitfish in the canal getting busted on by diving pelicans, so the fish had to be there.

After a few minutes, I loaded up Odie and we headed towards Patillio Creek.

We drove around several areas and found a few fishermen dunking shrimp trying for black drum before heading out to north Shiloh Road.

It was late when we got to the first set of culverts.  The water was dead calm and there was no sign of any topwater activity, so I decided to toss around a gold Johnson Sprite in the off chance I could pick up a redfish.

After several casts on both sides of the culvert, I had a bump on the spoon but missed the fish.  As  I was jumping the spoon off the bottom and letting it flutter back, I hooked up with what I thought was a snag.  

As I started pulling the spoon out of the "snag", it slowly started moving away from me in the narrow creek.

I thought I had a big red or a turtle on, but as I pulled the spoon closer, I was surprised to see that I had hooked a large gator.

The gator was apparently lethargic from the recent cold snap which made it relatively easy to gently pull it to the bank.  I could clearly see the lure hooked on it's back, so I skinned down the bank and after getting it closer, unhooked the gator.

I took several pics to show my wife before the gator slowly turned around and swam away.

I got back up the bank, loaded Odie up into the truck, and decided to head for the house.  I had enough fun for one day.

Till next time, Happy New Year & Tight Lines.

Cruising Bio Lab Road

The weather was so nice today that when my wife got home from playing with her horse, we decided to try cruising Bio Lab Road with Elmo and Odie.

We didn't leave the house until around 2:30 pm and after stopping at Arby's for some eats, didn't get down to Bio Lab until a little after 3:00 pm.  By then the air temperature had dropped a couple of degreesto from 73 to 69 and with the wind blowing, it was pretty chilly.

As we drove into Bio Lab road past the first culverts, I spotted a small tarpon in the algae brown colored water apparently after small baitfish.  

On the other side of the road, a guy was tending to some crab lines and a small crab trap.

We passed by and were surprised to see the road ahead cluttered with bank fishermen.

 I asked a couple of anglers about the bite and was told that the black drum usually didn't start hitting until around 3:30 in the afternoon.  

Everybody I spoke with was fishing with dead shrimp, which is obviously the bait of choice for these fish, especially in the algae stained water.

 Karen and I passed by several other bank fishermen who had enough rods staked out that they could snag a drum if they didn't bite.

We decided to hit a spot I like to fish where I saw a dead alligator the other day.

When we got to the spot, another angler was tossing an artificial around the area.  

We parked away from him to give him room and I walked up the unimproved road past the barriers to where I hooked and lost a large snook two days ago.

 
I brought enough white Creme Spoiler Shad paddletail baits along with me so I didn't have to worry about running out if I lost one.

I was using a light rod with 8 pound test fluorocarbon main line and on my third cast, lost the bait on a stickup.  I tied on another bait and added some Pro-Cure.

After a couple more casts, I hooked into a very small tarpon that I released after taking his pic.

A couple more casts later I hooked and released a juvenile snook so small, I had to have Karen take a pic before releasing it.  

It has to be my record SMALL snook of the year.

The other angler was apparently not getting any action and left, so Karen let Elmo and Odie out to do their duty while I rigged another rod for her to fish with.

We spent about 45 minutes in the area fishing several spots and I picked up two more small tarpon and one more juvie snook a little larger than the first one I caught.

Karen wasn't getting any action and was getting cold and I wasn't doing much better.  

The air temperature had dropped to 63 and the wind started to pick up making it feel much colder, so we packed up the rods with the dogs and headed home.

On the way out, I had to pull over and take this shot of the sunset.  Awesome....

Today's outing was short and although they were small, we managed to get some action.

Hopefully, I'll get a chance to get out again this week,

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Fishing Bio Lab Road

After putting the Christmas turkey in the oven, I had several hours to kill so I decided to try fishing Bio Lab Road.

A cold front is expected to roll in this evening so it was a good time to wet a line.

I thought about bring Elmo and Odie along but I couldn't do any serious fishing and still watch out for them at the same time, so I left them home.

When I left the house, the air temperature was about 78 degrees and the wind was blowing enough to make casting a problem.

As I crossed the A. Max Brewer bridge, the sky to the north of the causeway had several parasails in view.

I usually try out East Gator Creek but today I headed straight for Bio Lab road.

As I past the first set of culverts, I noticed a guy with a crab trap trying to toss a paddletail bait at a large gator.  

I past him up I found the banks of the Mosquito Lagoon pretty active with bank fishermen.

I stopped and asked several anglers how the bite was going and quickly discovered that the black drum were on fire.

The first guy said he caught two small fish in the 15 to 16 inch category; the second couple of anglers caught five fish in the 19 inch category, and a couple of other fishermen said they caught 3 or 4 fish about the same length.

All the black drum were caught on dead or fresh dead shrimp.

I passed the bank fishermen and started casting a topwater Badonk A Donk around a few of the culverts.

I had a couple of hits but no nookups so I continued down the road to fish an area where I picked up a few snook the other day.

When I got to the spot, I noticed a bloated alligator carcass in the area I planned to fish.  I made several casts and never got even a follow up, so I switched to a white Creme paddletail bait that I smeared up with some Pro-Cure gel and walked up to another area where the water was cleaner.

On my first cast around a submerged tree, I had a hit from something but no hookup.  On my second cast to almost the exact location, I hooked into a nice Snook about 25 or 26 inches.  The fish inhaled the plastic bait and made a nice run.  I fought the fish close enough to the bank to see how big it was and as soon as it saw me, it took off like a shot right into the tree branches.

I tried to pressure it out of the stickup but the fish took off again and broke off with my bait.

I tied on another paddletail bait with a clear body and blue/black back and started casting to the same general area.

I had a couple of bumps but no hookups so when I saw something hitting baitfish on the surface, I switched rods and continued casting the  Badonk A Donk  around the mangroves.

I hooked, landed, and released three juvenile tarpon about the same size as the first fish I caught (below) before the bite stopped.

The wind picked up and it started getting chilly, so I packed up my tackle and headed home to see if the turkey was done.

All in all it was a short but fruitful trip.

Not bad for Christmas Eve.

Till next time, Tight LInes and Merry Christmas.

 

Bio Lab Snook

I was planning to hit the beach this morning, but around 9:00 am, a Space X launch rumbled the house so I thought that it would be closed.

After mowing the lawn this morning and taking care of some chores, my wife asked me if I wanted to grab some fast food and take the boys for a ride in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge if it was open.

I was hungry and readily agreed; so we packed up Elmo and Odie and headed to Arby's for some grub.

With a bag of food in hand we headed for the closest spot where we could eat, which was Gator Creek.  

Gator creek was cordoned off, apparently because of work they were doing on the culverts, but East Gator Creek was open.  

We took the turn and were stopped briefly by a couple of guys who were pulling out their Gheenoe.  

When I asked if they had caught anything, the guy said they were fly fishing and caught no fish.  They told me that they spotted several black drum and a lone redfish but all the fish had lockjaw.

I wished them well and suggested that next time they should try the other side of the road where there were some nice sea trout, tarpon, and reds.

After we left them, we pulled over to enjoy our sandwiches and decided to head over to Bio Lab Road.

As we pulled into Bio Lab Road, I was surprised at how flat the water was on the Mosquito Lagoon and how many bank fishermen were along the road.

Karen said that it was probably because of the Christmas Holiday and I agreed.

We saw one little girl reeling in a small puppy drum and talked to several other bank fishermen who were using shrimp for bait that caught at least a couple of keeper drum.

I decided to head to the flats at Whale Tail to see if anyone was in that area.

We got to an area where I caught some snook a few weeks ago and although there were a couple of guys fishing with live bait in the area, decided to toss a topwater bait.  They weren't catching anything and warned us about a large alligator that was along the bank.

Karen immediately went after Odie and Elmo and put them in the truck to make sure they didn't become dinner for the gator.

I chose a rod that had a Badonk A Donk on and started casting along the mangrove roots.

On my first cast  I missed a fish that hit the bait as I was pulling it out of the water for another cast.

Several casts later I had a nice hit from a slot size snook and after a decent fight took a pic and released the fish.

I continued fishing and after 5 or 6 more casts into another area, got another hookup with a smaller snook that I also released.  

Karen took the pic below of the fish before I returned it.

I caught and released two more snook before a guy in a Kayak came into the area and put down the bite.

He was casting what looked like a white swimbait but he didn't seem to be having any luck.  Anyway, the fish stopped hitting my topwater bait so I took a couple of pics of the area before packing it in.

We left Bio Lab Road and exited via Playalinda Beach road to head back home.

Karen was getting tired and I was ready to call it a day.

Might get out tomorrow to hit the beach or try for some more snook.

Till next time,

Tight Lines. 

Pomps Are In The Surf

Finally, the Pomps are in the surf in good numbers.    

Although I tried wetting my lines in Playalinda before I headed back to work in Mobile, Al., the water temperatures and conditions in the surf made pompano fishing a hit or miss situation.  And, for me it was more of a miss.

A neighbor of mine said sent me an email and said that the larger schools of Pomps are in the surf again which he attributes to the most recent cold fronts.

I'll be on vacation around Christmas and can't wait to do some productive surf fishing for a change.

If the pic he sent above is any indication, we might need more freezer space.

He said they caught most of the keepers on an incoming tide with sand fleas he had salted down and a couple of different flavors of fishbites .

Till next time,

Tight Lines

Snook In The Culverts

Happy Thanksgiving...

After eating a great Thanksgiving meal, my wife suggested that we take the "boys" for a ride around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

I readily agreed and loaded up some rods along with Elmo and Odie who were ready to go.

The temperature was in the low 80s and for a change the wind wasn't blowing so I expected a lot of anglers to be out and about.

We crossed the A. Max Brewer Bridge and I was disappointed to see that there was a barrier up at the entrance to Gator Creek.

As we drove past the entrance, I was surprised to see that there was no barrier to East Gator Creek road but since I was going at a good clip, we voted on checking out the area around Peacocks Pocket boat launch.

We entered Pocket road and as we got to the shallow water launch, only one car was parked in the area. 

The water was calm so I pulled out a rod to briefly toss a small Chug Bug around the area while Karen watched the dogs.

Nothing was happening on top or on the Jerkbait I switched over to, so we loaded up and took off to check out Bio Lab Road.

The water in the lagoon is still brown from algae but is clearing up in some areas.

We traveled down Bio Lab and spotted a couple of fishermen on the bank fishing for redfish with live mullet and another group of people just having a good time at a pullover.

As we got close to the road to Playalinda Beach, I noticed that a barrier to a turnoff was taken down so I drove along the southernmost part of the lagoon to a spot where I used to fish for sea trout and snook.

 

I parked the truck and let the dogs loose to do their thing while Karen and I started fishing.

The culvert was open and flushing plenty of water and baitfish into the backwater.

I tossed out a D.O.A. Jerkbait a short distance in front of the culvert where some small baitfish were scattering and immediately hooked up with a small snook.

 

The fish put up a good fight for it's size so after taking a brief pic I released the fish.

The snook in the culverts and the nearby area were obviously targeting baitfish coming through the culverts but they were spooky as hell.

I watched several large snook in the 30" plus category blasting baitfish on the surface, so I started tossing a BadonkADonk around where they were hitting.  

After many unfruitful casts, I switched over to an XPS Slim Dog that more resembled the baitfish in the area but still didn't get any hookups.

 

I finally switched over to a small Creme Spoiler Shad paddletail bait and started catching small snook again.  The problem was that they were too small.

 

 

Karen was using the Jerkbait and missed a fish and then started using the paddletail bait on the opposite side of the culverts.  Unfortunately, the bite died down and the fish finally quit hitting.

 

I managed to catch and release four small snook an missed at least three more before we finally decided to pack it in.

 

When two gators about 10 to 11 feet long showed up on the scene, Karen was concerned about Elmo and Odie safety so we loaded the rods into the back of the truck and headed home.

 

It was around 5:15 pm when we drove onto Playalinda Beach road and headed to the house.

Although we didn't catch any of the really big snook, we both had a good time fishing with our "boys".

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Another Nighttime Launch

Went down to the causeway on the Indian River to toss a Chug Bug around the shoreline and wound up viewing another nighttime launch.

After about 20 minutes tossing the bait around the shoreline, I had a hit by what probably was a sea trout but the fish got off.

As more people started gathering and asking me what I had caught, I decided to quit tossing the bait and took this video as the shot went off.

The clouds stopped the viewing of the booster coming back down, but they didn't dampen the excitement of the people watching along the causeway.

I got out of the area as soon as the rocket went through the cloud cover.

Might try some fishing before Thanksgiving Day,

Till next time,

Tight Lines

SpaceX Launched Four Astronauts Tonight

SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station this evening without a hitch.

I left the house around 4:30 pm this afternoon to fish for tarpon in the Patillo Creek area but when I crossed the bridge and saw all the police in the area, I remembered that a Space X launch was going to occur this evening.

I asked the police officers who were blocking the entrance to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge if I could sneak by so I could fish Patillo Creek, but the guy was obviously not a fisherman and gave me a firm NO.

He turned me and all the other cars behind me around so I decided to put up my gear and watch the launch.

Unfortunately, the launch was around 7:30 pm so I had some time to kill.

The causeway was packed with cars and people but I managed to squeeze into an area.    I made sure my cell phone was fully charged and walked to bridge to get my exercise for the day.

I took some pics of the area as well as the beautiful sunset and parked my butt about half way down the bridge along the railing.

The Titusville Police Department limited traffic on the bridge for the launch and kept everyone occupied by playing tunes over the loudspeaker as they went back and forth over the bridge.

The liftoff was on Pad 39A and it went off without a hitch.  

The Dragon capsule with it's crew of four astronauts were headed to the Space Station with the cheers of everyone who watched the launch below.

The Titusville Police Dept need to learn more about traffic management.  It took almost 45 minutes to get back over the bridge and head back home.

Hopefully, I'll get to try out the tarpon fishing this coming week.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Patillo Creek Culvert Tarpon

It was a gloomy rainy Saturday afternoon, so I decided to wet a line at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

When I drove over the A. Max Brewer Bridge to the refuge and got to the first entrance, I was surprised to see that the roads to Gator Creek and Catfish Creek Loop were cordoned off.

I remembered that there was a SpaceX launch tomorrow, so I decided to drive over to Haulover Canal and check out some other spots.

When I got to the Haulover Bridge, there was a crowd of anglers on both sides of the canal and several boats anchored at both entrances to the canal fishing for oversize reds.

Since I hadn't been to Patillo Creek in a while, I decided to try it out.

I stopped briefly at the first set of culverts when I spotted something hitting on the surface and tossed around a small white Creme paddletail bait for a while.   

After several casts, I had a gar follow the bait and finally got a hookup with a juvenile tarpon of about 14" long.   

I shook off the fish at the bank and continued up to the next set of culverts in hopes of something larger.

When I got to the culverts, the water was really flowing strong and I saw a lot of activity on the surface.  

Tarpon of various sizes were everywhere so I parked the truck and took a couple of rods down to the culvert to fish.

The wind was blowing and there was a misty rain that continued throughout the time I was fishing.  I pulled on my Frogg Toggs and started casting a black backed Badonk-A-Donk smeared up with some Pro-Cure.

On the first cast a large tarpon of about 4 feet or more smashed the topwater bait and tailwalked for a couple of jumps before sending the bait back to me.

I was surprised that fish of that size was in the area so I set my camera on video and set it up on a nail in a board to record any future action.

I started casting the Badonk-A-Donk  around the culvert discharge and had two more hits with a brief hookup before the bite died down.

I switched to the white Creme Spoiler swim bait and started getting more hits.  

After a couple of brief hookups and a lot of "bumps" I switched lures to see if I could get into some larger fish.  

The juvenile tarpon were between 18 and 24 inches or so in length, but after losing a half dozen or so fish, I was getting frustrated.   I just couldn't land a tarpon today for some reason.

Anyway, I kept changing baits and getting hits but no hookups until the rain finally ceased.  When the ran stopped, so did the tarpon bite.

The only lure that was getting any hits was a MirrOlure Heavy Dine sinking bait that I picked up at Bass Pro in Mobile, Al.  I smeared up some Pro-Cure which seemed to help, but I still couldn't manage to land a fish.

I made enough fruitless casts so that my wrist was getting tired so I decided to move to another spot to see if anybody else was catching fish.

Around the bend, I bumped into Al Bookhard and his wife who were fishing the canal for black drum.  

When I asked about his catch, he bent my ear about catching nothing but catfish.  He said that he had caught a limit of black drum when the water was colder, but not much today.

I swapped numbers with him and since I was chilled and tired, headed to the hacienda for some grub.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Another Indian River Space X Launch

We had another Indian River Space X Launch this morning, and although I was going to pass on it, I decided to get my buns down to the river and see if it would go off without being scrubbed.

The Falcon 9 rocket launched 60 Starlink satellites into orbit from Complex 40 under cloudy conditions yet despite the cloud cover, there was still a sizable crowd along the banks waiting to see the shot.

Several people were fishing along the bank of the river with shrimp and cut baits with no success and although I was thinking about wetting a line, I didn't bother tossing any lures around.

The shot went off with a slight delay and was somewhat underwhelming compared to the space shuttle launches we used to witness but it was still worth seeing, especially if you were a first time visitor.

The short video below is what transpired.

After the launch, I waited for some of the crowd to disperse and drove over to Gator Creek where I managed to catch a small sea trout on a gold YoZuri topwater plug.

It took a lot of fan casting over the grass beds but finally one stupid trout hit the bait.

I released the fish and headed home to mow the lawn.

Till next time,

Tight Lines

Barren Beach

I was privy to a barren beach when I got to Playalinda the other day.  The weather was lousy and the waves required a 5 oz. pyramid sinker to hold bottom.

When I got to Playalinda Beach, the tide was almost full.  I had a few river rods with me in the truck that I was going to use for juvenile tarpon in the Vistas, but all the Vistas were cordoned off to vehicles due to the upcoming Space X launch, so I decided to try the surf instead.

I noticed very few vehicles in the lots and decided to fish Lot #8 where I had some decent luck with whiting a couple of weeks ago.

When I got to the end of the walkway, I was the only person on the beach as far as the eye could see.

Undaunted with the heavy surf conditions, I decided to at least give it a try so I tied on a double hook pompano rig baited up with fishbites, and decided on a 4 oz pyramid sinker to hold bottom.

The first cast into the closest trough quickly made me change the sinker to a 5 oz. that I happened to have in my box.

I spent the next hour or so fighting the waves and managed to hook a couple of undersize pompano and one whiting that I released.

I took some pics of the area before I decided to head to Haulover Canal to see if anyone was catching fish over there.

The mullet run was underwhelming this year, and I guess from my experience this afternoon, was just about over.  I didn't spot any fish in the surf and the fish I did catch were by dumb luck.  

You could hardly tell when a fish was on, and I was genuinely surprised when I pulled in my first small pomp.

I left Lot #8 to the pelicans and vultures that were in the parking lot and headed to Haulover before calling it a day.

I had no bait with me and after making several casts with a gold Johnson's Sprite spoon, I packed it in and headed home.

Hope to see the next Space X launch this week.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.