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.