Juvenile Tarpon Fishing

This afternoon seemed like a good time to do some juvenile tarpon fishing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The air temperature was in the low 90s and there was enough of a breeze to make fishing in the heat enjoyable.

I decided on riding down Bio Lab road and was genuinely surprised to find nobody fishing along the banks or in the lagoon.

The water looked clearer about 100 yards from the shoreline but in general the water closer to shore was devoid of sea grasses.

I stopped to pitch a paddletail bait on two occasions with no luck and wound up fishing the mangrove roots in the southernmost portion of the lagoon near Pelican Island.

A lone fisherman had launched his canoe and was fishing the area so I started pitching a Creme paddletail bait around several shallow areas where fish were busting glass minnows along the bank.

I hooked and shook off a large garfish that chewed up my bait so much I had to replace it.

After tying on a new lure, I moved to a shallow pond that had a lot of activity.

Immediately I started hooking up with  juvenile tarpon.  The fish were in the two to four foot category and were hitting my bait right on the bank.

I was using light 8 pound test fluorocarbon line and since I wasn't planning to keep any fish, I played them to the bank where I shook them off if they didn't already toss my bait.  

Most of the fish tossed my soft plastic lure back to me after the second or third jump but I managed to take a selfie of this one before returning it.

I spent almost two hours hooking and fighting juvenile tarpon in the area before a large manatee invaded the area and killed the bite.

 

Click on the pic to see the video

I decided to walk the unimproved road that runs along the lagoon and spent a lot  of time fan casting the areas I could access.  

I got one hit that I missed and spooked two nice size redfish that were right tight on the bank.  

After I had enough exercise, I turned around and headed to the air conditioning of my truck.

On the way out towards Playalinda beach road, I decided to hit a few parking lots to see if anybody was surf fishing.

The tide was out and at every lot I stopped at, sun worshippers were on the sand getting baked but I didn't see one surf angler.

Hope to get out again tomorrow to wet a line when I finish up around the hours.

Tight Lines.

New Redfish Rule Changes In Our Area

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) approved proposed management regions and regulation changes for redfish in state waters. 

The proposed rule changes at it's May meeting would:

Modify the redfish management regions. (See figure 1 below)

Prohibit captain and crew from retaining a bag limit when on a for-hire trip.

Reduce the off-the-water transport limit from six to four fish per person.

Increase the bag limit for the Big Bend region from one to two fish per person

Reduce the eight-fish vessel limit in each of the proposed management regions:

Panhandle, Big Bend, Northeast: four fish.

Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay, Charlotte Harbor, Southwest, Southeast: two fish.

Allow only catch-and-release fishing for redfish in the Indian River Lagoon region.  

The FWC staff plans to continue to gather input on the proposed rules and will return to the Commission for a Final Rule Hearing later this year.

For more information, including the May 2022 Commission meeting presentation, visit MyFWC.com/Commission and click on “Commission Meetings.”

For current recreational redfish regulations, visit MyFWC.com/Marine and click on “Recreational Regulations” and “Redfish.” This page will be updated with the new regulations when they take effect.

Tight Lines.

Port Canaveral Trip

After spending the entire morning at Health First in the Coco Beach Hospital getting an echo and stress test, I decided to take the long route home and check out the fishing at Port Canaveral.

I had my "river rods" with me but no lures so I didn't expect to do any serious fishing.

There were several fishermen and fisher ladies along the sea walls enjoying the afternoon air dunking shrimp and cut baits but nobody was catching anything but "sailors choice".

The buy below was doing the best out of his comfy chair.

After talking to a few people, I found that the tide was flat and just beginning to come in which is why nobody was filling their coolers.

Around the rocks in the shallows there were several schools of large mullet that I would have netted up for dinner if I had brought along my cast net.  (Click on pic below)

I took several pics of the bridge and locks and briefly tossed around a couple of baits before packing it in and heading for the house.  

I plan on getting out to the refuge later on in the afternoon to see if I could pick up a red or a big sea trout closed to dusk.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Tilapia In The Marsh

After undergoing a stress test this morning in Coco, I decided to try tossing some baits around the shallows in East Gator Creek.

I didn't expect to find Tilapias in the marsh but that's exactly what started nailing the Creme paddletail baits that I was fishing in the area.

The water was a bit choppy when I first drove into the refuge so I didn't bother fishing a topwater bait.  I pulled out the lightest rod I had with be that was spooled with 8 pound fluorocarbon and tied on one of the Creme Paddletail baits I have recently been catching fish with.

It didn't take more than a couple of casts before I hooked up with a chunky little tilapia.  I was under the impression that the Cichlids were herbivores but the ones in this area are apparently omnivorous.

I continued casting around the area and picked up a couple more fish around the same size that I promptly released.

As I meandered down the road, I continued getting hits and landed a couple of dink sea trout that I also put back.  

As I slowly drove around the road, I tossed the swim bait around several areas and picked up another trout in the shallow ditch going into a small pond near Catfish Creek loop.

When the wind died down and the water got almost glassy, I changed rods and started pitching a Chug 

Bug over the grass beds.

This pond holds some very large sea trout and redfish that beat the shorlines near dusk.

I fan cast the area for about a half hour and around 5:30 pm or so I hooked into a very large sea trout.

The fish hit the Chug Bug about 25 feet from the bank, smashed the bait completely out of the water, and ate it the second it hit the water again.

I fought the fish close to the bank and as I was getting ready to land it, the rear treble hook pulled out and the fish swam off.

I was going to release the fish anyway, but I wanted to take a pic before doing it, so to say the least I was disappointed.

I waited a while for the water to calm back down and started tossing the Chug Bug around to see if any other fish were interested.

About a dozen casts later, an oversize redfish hit the bait and took off into the grass bed.  I fought the red for a couple of runs before the hooks pulled out.

I was batting 2 for 2 today losing big fish but I continued casting around the area until my wrist couldn't take it anymore.

I drove up to the entrance of Peacocks Pocket Road to turn around and ran into a flock of Spoonbills feeding in the shallows along the right side of the road.

I took this video of the group before turning around and calling it a day.  (Click on pic)

Hope you enjoy the pics,

Till next time, Tight Lines.

   

Indian River Fishing Report

With quite a bit more mullet in the lagoon system, I decided to hit the water and wet a line to see what I could catch. 

The other day when I was fishing the shallows of East Gator Creek, I noticed several tarpon rolling on the surface in the deeper cut that runs along the opposite side of the road. 

 The fish were spooky and wouldn't hit my topwater baits but I did manage to hook and lose a large tarpon along the bank on a Creame paddletail bait. 

The tarpon was in the 5 foot category and rolled once before breaking the lure off my 8 pound mono. 

After losing the only Creme paddletail bait I had with me to the tarpon, I started tossing a Tsunami paddletail bait and an old, well worn Chug Bug around the flats on heavier line. 

After an hour of working out my casting wrist tossing lures without a decent hit, I realized that the fish were just not in the mood to be caught so I made a run around the refuge to see if anybody else was having any luck. 

 A couple of bank fishermen I spoke with said they had caught a couple keeper black drum earlier along with a small snook in deeper water using live shrimp for bait. 

A couple of other guys fishing along the Indian River and the bend of Catfish Creek Loop said that the redfish bite has been good on cut mullet and ladyfish. 

The reds were in close towards the shoreline in shallower water. 

Both groups of anglers said that the trout bite has been sporadic in both the Indian River and the Mosquito Lagoon with the best action in the early morning hours.