Ladyfish On The Flats

After walking across the A. Max Brewer Bridge twice, I decided to try catching some ladyfish on the flats in East Gator Creek. 

 As I drove across the bridge, I took a pic of the crowd on the north side of the causeway.  Despite the windy conditions, there were tons of people out today wind boarding, fishing, cooking out and generally having a good time. 

It was around 5:30 pm when I drove into the entrance of East Gator Creek.  I drove slowly watching for fish busting on baitfish in the grass.

About a hundred yards down the road, I spotted some action on the eastern side of the flats along a drop off, so I parked and pulled out my rods.

I had some luck on a Bass Pro Special Tourney Popper a couple of days ago so I decided to try it first.

I smeared the bait with some Pro-Cure and on my first cast across the flats hooked and landed a small ladyfish that danced across the water several times on it's tail.

I released the fish and continued casting around the area and hooked into a second fish about the same size as the first.

After several more casts closer in on the grass, I hooked and lost a medium sized sea trout that nailed the popper at the edge of the grass.

I spent about an hour at the spot and managed to hook and release five ladyfish before calling it a day.  

I missed or lost at least seven fish in the same area.

There was a lot of vehicle traffic on the road but for some reason nobody was fishing the area.

On the way out just past the culverts, there was a group fishing on the mud bank at the entrance to Catfish Creek Loop with on idiot swimming with his fishing rod chest deep in the middle of the area.  

I was going to stop to take his picture and tell him about the 10 foot gator that calls this area home, but I decided that it probably wouldn't do any good.

Hope I don't read about him in the news tomorrow.....

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

May 1, 2021 Species Re openings

On May 1st. season for grouper, hogfish, and blueline tilefish will reopen in Atlantic federal and Florida State waters.

Hogfish will stay open through Oct. 31, 2021, on the east coast of Florida as well as south and east of Cape Sable on the Gulf coast.

Blueline tilefish will remain open through Aug. 31, 2021.

On the east coast of Florida and the state waters off Monroe County;  Gag grouper, Red grouper, Black Grouper, Yellowmouth and Yellowfin grouper, Scamp, Red Hind, Coney, and Graysby grouper will remain open through December 31st.

Additional information on Grouper size limits and gear restrictions is available HERE.    

SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Launch Over the Indian River

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon space capsule lifted off Pad 39A this morning from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fl. and I was fortunate to be home to take this video.

The launch went off without a snag but the coolest part of the launch was separation and re-entry of the reusable rocket.

Unlike some of the more common supply and satellite launches, this one had four astronauts aboard which attracted an unbelievable amount of visitors to the banks of the Indian River.

I was up at 5:00 am and planned to do some fishing with topwater plugs before daylight but when I saw the amount of vehicle traffic and visitors along the bank of the river, I quickly ditched my plans.

The video was taken on my Samsung Galaxy S10+ but the quality of my night videos leaves a lot to be desired.  Obviously there is a learning curve I need to pay attention to,

Hope to get out to do some actual fishing this weekend.  The big gator trout are hitting on the shallow flats and I love pitching topwater baits.

Till next time,
Tight Lines. 

Gator Creek Ladyfish

After the SpaceX launch this morning, I made a quick trip down to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to see if I could pick up a few Gator Creek ladyfish on topwater baits.

It was around 4:30pm when I finished my walk over the A. Max Brewer bridge and headed out to East Gator Creek.

There was some fish activity around the first culvert but because of the time, I moved on to the shallow flats where I had seen schools of predatory ladyfish the other day.

I had three rods with me tipped with a Badadonk, a trout pattern Skitterwalk, and a Bass Pro Shop Popper that I picked up on sale last week in their Mobile, Al. store.

I smeared up some Pro-Cure on the popper and on my first cast hooked and landed a ladyfish around 14".  The fish jumped several times like a small tarpon and immediately headed towards the mangrove roots that line the unimproved roadway in the refuge.

I gave the fish line and it veered away from shore to open water where I then horsed it onto the bank for a release.

I briefly thought about keeping it for redfish bait but I didn't have a cooler with me so I released the fish to fight another day.

Several casts later around the same area I missed a larger fish and after a few more casts finally hooked and released another ladyfish that was a clone to the first one.

I missed two more fish before moving down the road to fish another location.

At this spot I switched baits and started tossing the Skitterwalk across the shallow grassy flats.

After a dozen or so casts I picked up a small birds nest from casting into the wind and while I was trying to untangle the damn thing, either a sea trout or a redfish busted on the bait.

The fish splashed a bit and somehow got off the hook.

After finally untangling the snarl on my reel, I switched to the BadaDonk and after at least a couple of dozen blind casts without a hit or a followup, decided to head back home for dinner.

Hopefully I'll be able to get out a bit tomorrow,

Till next time, Tight LInes.

Scouting Bio Lab Road

Went out today scouting Bio Lab Road and a few other spots to see if the sea trout and juvenile tarpon were hitting.

Karen and I loaded Elmo and Odie and a few rods, just in case, and headed out to north Shiloh Road.

There was a lot of vehicle traffic at almost every area we visited but only a few bank fishermen.

As we drove into Shiloh Road, we were greeted with a group of pink Roseatte Spoonbills that were feeding in the shallows at the first culvert.

The water was colored a dingy brown and although we spotted a couple fish cruising the shallow creek busting on baitfish along the bank, nobody was fishing the creek area.

At the Shiloh Road barrier, a couple of people were crabbing but nothing was happening so we turned around and headed for Bio Lab road.

On the way out of the area we spotted tons of waterfowl.  Mud hens, coots, canvasbacks, snowy egrets, spoonbills, and the usual birds we see every day were out in numbers.

As we drove over Haulover Canal we saw the usual array of bank fishermen dunking baits for reds and black drum.

We entered Bio Lab road and were greeted by the large alligator who makes the first culvert his home.  

The water in the southern part of the Mosquito Lagoon was brown from the algae bloom and had a light chop from the wind.   The conditions killed any ideas I had of tossing a topwater bait around for a big sea trout.

Travelling down Bio Lab Road, I was surprised at how few bank fishermen were taking advantage of the beautiful day.  We spotted five groups of people fishing and that was it.

When we got to the two way portion of the road where I normally drive into the southernmost portion of the lagoon to fish;  the road was blocked by a concrete barrier.  Apparently the powers that be had enough of people littering around the area.

About this time, Karen suggested we head for home so I pulled onto Playalinda Beach road and headed towards Titusville.

When we got to East Gator Creek Road, I pulled in to see if there was any topwater activity on the shallow flats.

The water here was a clear and tannin stained so I parked the truck and let the "boys" out to do their duty.

While they were out I pulled out a topwater rod with a Zara Spook and started blind casting around the deeper areas surrounding the shallow flats.

After about a half dozen casts, I had a hit from either a ladyfish or a sea trout.  The fish swirled on the plug but didn't get hooked up.   Several casts later without a hit or a swirl, I packed it and the dogs up and headed for the house and dinner.

Hope to get out a few times this week to wet a line and do some serious fishing.

Till then, Tight Lines.