Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge Hogs

Thanksgiving Day was the first time in a couple of months I was able to wet a line along Bio Lab Road in the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge.

Odie and I loaded up a couple of rods and headed to the Patillo Creek area to see if anyone was having luck with the black drum that usually inhabit the area this time of the year.

Several anglers were bank fishing with live and fresh dead shrimp but only one fisherman reported having any luck.  The water was dead flat and the bite was slow.

After surveying the area and tossing a Creme paddletail bait around several likely looking spots without even a tap, I decided to move on to Haulover Canal to see if anybody there was catching fish.

The water in the canal was barely moving and although I spotted several anglers fishing around the bridge fenders and north side of the canal from the bank, only a couple of guys reported catching mangrove snapper.   Nobody was catching redfish or black drum from the bank.

There were a couple of boats anchored at the mouth of the canal on the Mosquito Lagoon side fishing the deep holes but I couldn't see if anyone had any fish.

I moved on to Bio Lab Road and found the water levels there way down.  The Mosquito Lagoon looked like a mirror with only an occasional surface commotion from feeding sea trout.

I stopped at several areas to fish a Chug Bug and the Creme paddletail bait that I had with me and had only one half hearted strike on the topwater bait.

Odie and I continued on Bio Lab road until we spotted a commotion along the bank which turned out to be two sow hogs and a trio of piglets.  

I've always known about the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge Hogs, but until the refuge managers cut down the vegetation along the road, I have never actually seen them.   The hogs were totally unafraid of  humans and acted almost domesticated.

I took a couple of pics and a short video of the pigs before moving on to fish another spot.   Click on the pic below to see the video.

After tossing my baits into a couple more "fishy" looking areas, I decided to head home and grab some turkey for dinner.

Hopefully I won't have to wait another month or so to get out and do some more fishing in the area.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Topwater Ladyfish

This afternoon was perfect for topwater ladyfish in the wildlife refuge.

I left the house with a couple of spinning rods and since it was late, decided to head right over to East Gator Creek.  It was around 6:00 pm when I drove into the wet dirt road at the second entrance.

I planned to fish the culverts if they were open and hit the shallow flats if they were not.

At the first culvert, the water was moving a bit so I pulled over to fish a Creme Paddletail bait.

After several casts, I finally had a brief hookup with a ladyfish that got off after a couple of quick jumps.

About that time, I noticed a very large gator along the bank next to the water level gauge, so I grabbed my cell phone and took a few pics of the reptile.

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I made a few more casts with the paddletail bait but when I started casting the Chug Bug I had on my other rod, the gator started paying too much attention to the bait, so I decided to look for another spot.

I drove into East Gator Creek road and stopped at a couple of areas where I could cast a lure.

On my second stop, I hooked into a large ladyfish of about 25 inches or so.  The fish hit the Chug Bug after the second or third gurgle and put up a great fight.   

Because of the heavy mangroves along the bank, landing the fish was touch and go.  The fish swam into the brush two times but I managed to lead it out into open water where it eventually tired out enough for me to pull it onto the bank.

I took a couple of pics of the fish before releasing it to fight another day.

I smeared ;up the bait with some Pro-Cure Inshore Formula Gel and continued casting it across toward the other bank and slowly retrieving it.  

The water surface was almost glassy and a slow stop and go retrieve seemed to be the ticket today.

After a few casts I hooked into another small ladyfish that I immediately released.

Several casts later, and another mid size ladyfish hooked itself into an arc.  I retrieved the fish without much of a fight and after taking this pic released it.

I caught a couple more ladyfish at this spot before moving to another area.   

Another gator was getting way too interested in my topwater Chug Bug so I decided to move to a spot where I caught tarpon in the past.     

It was getting dark and as I was pulling the bait along the mangrove lined bank, a large fish that I believe was a sea trout smacked the Chug Bug when it was completely motionless.

I was wearing Crocs and like a damn fool stepped into an ant mound.  The trout hit as I was shaking off the ants from my feet.

Anyway, I was in pain from the numerous ant bites so I decided to pick up and head to the house.

Tomorrow is another day.

Till then,

Tight Lines.

Culvert Fishing

Went to Gator Creek this afternoon with Odie to take advantage of some culvert fishing.

We left the house armed with three rods and a box of lures hoping to catch anything along the dirt roads in the reserve.

When we got to Gator Creek Road, I stopped at a spot where I usually catch fish in the shallows, especially when the culverts are open and the water is running.

I spotted a lot of action around the shallow grassy area adjacent to the road so I decided to toss a few lures to see what was biting.

Odie sat in the truck with the A/C going while I started tossing a Storm paddletail bait around the milling baitfish.  The lure was apparently way too small so I tied on a larger version and almost immediately started getting hits.

On the third or fourth cast with the 3" Creme paddletail bait. I briefly hooked a ladyfish that shook off the bait after the third jump.  

I continued casting into the grassy area and hooked a couple more ladyfish that I promptly relesed.

I let Odie out of the truck to do his duty and started casting a small topwater bait around the area with no success.  

It was around 5:00 pm and the fish should have been interested in the bait but today they were only interested in paddle tail baits.

I switched to another Creme paddle tail bait and after a few casts hooked into a small redfish that I quickly released.

Several casts later, I hooked into another red that I took a pic of before releasing.

The action around the open culvert continued for about a half  hour or so before I decided to try another spot.  Odie was in the truck and I didn't want to leave him alone too long.

We headed to East Gator Creek where I tossed around a Chug Bug and a Badonk-A-Donk top water bait.

I had a couple of hits on the Chug Bug but couldn't get a hookup, so I switched back to the smaller paddle tail baits.

I spooked a good redfish that I walked up on along the bank and after getting a brief bump on another fish decided to move on up the road.

The next spot I stopped at produced a couple of Mayan Cichlids that wanted to murder the paddle tail bait I was fishing with.   I kept getting good hits but I couldn't get a hookup.

Finally, a Mayan nailed the plastic bait enough to hook itself.  The fish put up a surprisingly goods fight for its size so I took its pic before releasing it.

After landing a second fish, I decided to get back home.  

Odie was getting antsy and I couldn't watch him while I was tossing lures.   Way too many gators in the area for him to get too close to the bank.

The tally for the short time I was on the water was 3 ladyfish, 2 redfish, and 2 Mayan Cichlids.

Not bad for an hour and a half of fishing.

Till next time,

Tight Lines. 

A "ride" In The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Despite the 90 degree plus temperatures this afternoon, my wife and I took Odie for a "ride" in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge along Bio Lab Road.

Odie had just undergone oral surgery and was pretty sore but he perked up a lot when we asked him if he wanted to go for a ride.

The air temperature was 93 degrees when we left the house around 2:30 pm which is undoubtedly the worst time to do any fishing, but I brought along a few rods "just in case" we came upon any tarpon.

Bio Lab Road was where I wanted to scout out to see if there were any tarpon in the area.  

The water in the lagoon was down and the water clarity was better than I expected.  You could easily see the dark splotches of grass among the bottom in the shallow flats along the road.  

There wasn't much baitfish activity on the flats and although we saw several fish hitting bait on the surface at the deep edge of the flats, I didn't bother to fish the area.

We drove to the southernmost section and pulled into an area we call "manatee bay"

and spotted several manatees in the area.

I started tossing a topwater plug along the mangroves hoping for a snook or tarpon and after several blind casts had a brief hookup with what looked like a juvenile tarpon.

The fish smashed the lure and almost immediately shook off.

Because of the heat, Karen wanted to head for home so we meandered out of Bio Lab Road towards Playalinda Beach and hit a couple of Vistas before leaving.

All three of the Vistas we stopped at were void of any fish.  I had expected to see some tarpon or ladyfish but nothing was hitting any of my baits.

I tossed a sub surface Mirr-O-Lure, Johnson Sprite gold spoon, and a Tsunami Paddletail bait for several casts at each spot with only one follow.

At this point, Odie was panting and my wife was getting very uncomfortable, so I decided to head for home.

Till next time

Tight Lines

Space X Night Shot

Went down to the fishing pier around 9:00 pm to see what was happening and was told that another Space X night shot was going off shortly, so I moved across the bridge to hopefully get a decent video of the launch.

At the bridge, I was assaulted by a group of marauding coons that were looking for a free handout.

I took a short video of the group of coons before scaring them off and was going to wet a line before takeoff, but a couple from France said that the launch was rescheduled in a couple of minutes.

I put away my rod and took this video of the launch before heading home.

I was going to toss a Chug Bug around for a while along the shoreline for a wandering sea trout but it was getting late, so I decided to try tomorrow night instead.

Till next time,

Tight Lines 

Another Space X Launch

Went out this afternoon to see if the sea trout were hitting and got to see another Space X launch over Gator Creek.

The water levels in the flats are down considerably and even though the fish that are still in the area, they were not hitting.  

I left the house at around 5:30 pm to toss around a Tsunami paddle tail bait and after about a half hour of fishing only got one hit, which I missed.

While fishing, I took a breather and a little after 6:00 pm, this shot took place.

After the traffic in Gator Creek Road tapered off, I tried wetting a line at East Gator creek on the way out of the refuge.

I fished a couple of my favorite spots with the paddletail bait and a gold spoon I had in the truck without any hits.

The water levels on the flats were so low I didn't bother fishing the left side of the area at all.

After taking a couple of pics, I packed it in and headed for the hacienda for some dinner.

Hopefully, Ill be able to get out a few more times this week before heading back to work in N.C.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Windy Scouting Trip In The Refuge

After a week without wetting a line, my wife and I decided to take Odie for a scouting trip in the refuge.

The weather was great.  Air temps at around 72 degrees, sunny skies, and enough wind to make topwater bait fishing out of the question.

We drove around Bio Lab Road, Peacocks Pocket Road, Patillo Creek Road and finally around Haulover Canal wetting a line in a couple of areas without any success.

 Bio Lab road was one way only to Playalinda Beach road but since my last trip, the powers that be have taken down the signs and allowed two way traffic throughout.

Along Bio Lab, we saw several people fishing, but nobody seemed to be catching anything.  The water in the Mosquito Lagoon is very low and almost crystal clear throughout the southernmost section.

We drove into an area close to the beach road that holds juvenile tarpon and snook during the summer months, but after many casts around the area with a Storm Creme Spoiler Shad bait and a Chug Bug, it was apparent that the fish were not in the area.

Karen and I spotted a group of 8 manatees that were cruising the area and a gator that up along the bank that was extremely lethargic.

Karen thought that it was sick but it could have just been waiting for dinner.

The three groups who were fishing that area said they never even had a nibble, so I didn't feel too bad about being skunked.

We moved to Patillo Creek Road and found several groups of fishermen covering all the best bank fishing spots.  The people I spoke with also said that the bite was non existent.

From there we drove over to Peacocks Pocket Road to see if the refuge managers had opened it up.  A couple of years ago, they said the road would be open in the spring of 2023.  We're still waiting.,...

Anyway, several vehicles were parked around the shallow water boat launch and a few people were fishing the banks without any success.  The water around the boat launch was crystal clear, but after scanning the water for a while for signs of fish or baitfish activity, I didn't even bother to wet a line at any of the spots I used to fish but decided instead to head home

Despite the skunk, out scouting trip in the refuge was worth the price of the gas we burned.  The weather was beautiful and like just about everybody we spoke with; Me, Odie, Karen were glad to get out of the house and enjoy the day.

Till next time,

Tight LInes.

Trout In The Culverts

Haven't had time to fish much these days but I decided to head down to Gator Creek to wet a line while waiting for the Space X launch this evening. 

As I rolled into Gator Creek Road, I took a couple of pics of some nice artwork on the concrete barriers that stop people from pulling up close to the water.

I had what I thought was an hour or so to wait so I pulled up to an open culvert where I had luck catching rat reds in the past. 

There were what looked like trout in the culverts feeding in the shallows on small newly hatched baitfish, so I tied on a 3" Cream Spoiler Shad bait that I had with me and started tossing it around the weeds.

I had a bump on the first cast and missed the fish so I continued fan casting the area.

In about 15 minutes of fishing, I had three more hits and missed every single fish.

I cut off the bait and started rooting around my truck to find a smaller lure that would hopefully get a solid hookup.  

After tearing apart my center console, I found a small white Cream Spoiler Shad about an inch or so long that I tied on.

After the first cast, I hooked into a nice slot size sea trout that put up a decent fight for its size.

I took a pic, released the fish, and continued tossing the small bait around the area.

A couple of casts later, I caught another sea trout that was a clone to the first one.

In the next half hour, I managed to land two more fish and missed about the same before I packed up the rod in expectation of the Space X launch.

It took a few minutes and a search on my cell phone for me to realize the launch was going to be delayed again till around 8:00 pm.

I didn't feel like waiting around for another possible letdown, so I headed to the house.

As it turned out, the launch did go off around 8:30 pm but I videoed it from my back yard.

Not the best vantage point, but it was still cool.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Space X Launch From Backyard

Went down to Gator Creek road to watch the launch that was supposed to fire up around 6:34 pm but after two delays, I headed home and managed to video the shot on my cell phone around 8:21 pm. from my backyard.

I'll post the time I spent fishing separately.

Tight Lines. 

Herd of Manatees

Check out this herd of Manatees I discovered in the southern part of the Mosquito Lagoon.

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Didn't get many bites but sure got some giggles watching the manatees.

Click the pic above.

Till next time

Tight Lines.