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