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.