A Windy New Year

Today was the beginning of a windy new year, but I still had to get out to wet a line.

I left the house around 10:00 am with high hopes of hooking into a snook, sea trout, or redfish.  

The weather was great, 83 degrees when I got to the A. Max Brewer Bridge, but when I got to the top and saw the number of people kiteboarding along the causeway, I knew it was going to be tough fishing.

I originally planned on fishing East Gator Creek but with the number of people out today, I decided on driving down Bio Lab Road instead.

As I hoped, there were not as many people fishing off of Bio Lab.  A few guys were dunking baits for black drum and reds but it was not near as crowded as it was a couple of days ago.

I stopped to fish around several culverts using various sizes of Creme Spoiler Shad paddletail baits but I only had one small bite on the smallest size.

I gradually made my way to the southernmost part of the lagoon, south of Pelican Island, and pulled in near a culvert where three other vehicles were parked.

I expected to see fishermen but the people were walking along an unimproved trail enjoying the day. 

The wind was blowing like crazy making casting tough.  I pulled out a light weight spinning reel with 6 pound test mono and started casting the Creme baits around again.

After many casts in the water around the open culvert, I finally caught the only fish of the day.  A very small ladyfish that I took a pic of and quickly released.  The fish was almost as long as the bait.

A couple of fly fishermen came by and we talked a bit about the bite.  It was way too windy for me to use my fly rods but they both managed to find areas to cast in the wind.   

I remembered one of the gentlemen who also remembered me and my wife Karen, when we used to fish Peacock Pocket Road on a regular basis.  I'm horrible with names, but I did remember his face. 

One of the fly fishermen was using a topwater popper and the other a brown pattern that looked like a Muddler Minnow.   I was told that neither had hooked up with any fish today.

We parted ways and after they left,  I decided to fish farther up the road where I found this juvenile Manatee in the shallows.

I switched baits and started tossing a Rapala X-Rap around the mangroves until the wind managed to blow it into a stickup that looked like a Christmas tree with all the lures on it.

Not happy about losing the lure, I started walking back to the truck to head home and spotted a bloated dead gator along the bank.  

It was rotting away in the water but there's not much you can do about moving it out of the area.

I loaded up my rods and headed back to the truck to make my way home.  Saying it was a windy new year is an understatement.

Till next time,

Tight Lines