A. Max Brewer Causeway Restoration Project

For those of you who have been wondering about the huge triangular shaped concrete objects along the road and the work that is being done along the A. Max Brewer Memorial Parkway causeway in Titusville; here is a brief synopsis. 

Since I relocated to Titusville over 30 years ago, the wave action from tropical storms and hurricanes in the Indian River Lagoon has been steadily eroding the shoreline acreage along the dike roads and the causeways, particularly during tropical storms and hurricanes. 

Peacocks Pocket Road and several other "dike" roads used to be a great drive for bank fishermen before the hurricanes washed them out making them unsafe for vehicle traffic. 

Finally the erosion along the causeway is being addressed by the powers that be. 

DRMP engineers of Gainesville designed the $4.2 million project that is being built by the aquatic restoration firm Sea & Shoreline. 

The project involves removing the rip-rap rocks along the shoreline and installing approximately 2,000 feet of large pyramid shaped concrete structures called Wave Attenuation Devices or WADs. 

The WADS are are now being located about 400 feet off the shoreline to break up the waves before they hit the causeway and will be visible about a foot and a half above the water at high water levels. 

They are expected to absorb the wave energy generated during hurricanes and tropical storms, and should promote the accumulation of sediment. 

The hollow pyramid shaped concrete WADs are being installed with enough space for manatees and dolphin to swim through and will have navigational lights for boater safety.    

After the concrete WAD installation has been completed, the project includes the restoration of approximately 4,150 cubic yards of sandy material along the existing shoreline along with the planting of new palm and mangrove trees, the planting of approximately four acres of seagrass, and the seeding of one million clams to filter and purify the water in the lagoon. 

After completion, which is expected to be in the spring of next year, the project will be monitored for a three year period to see how well the WADs, seagrass planting, and clam seeding have affected the area. 

Seagrass is the underwater rainforest habitat that provides the diversified underwater nursery for fish, shrimp, mollusks, and crustaceans in our lagoon system. 

We sincerely hope the project works as projected. 

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Snook In The Mangroves

After my dentist appointment this afternoon, I finally got a chance to wet a line in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge>

I brought four rods tipped with plastic swim baits, a Chug Bug, and a Badonk-A-Donk topwater lure and headed to the nearest water which happens to be Gator Creek.

At 4:15 pm the air temperature was around 70 degrees and dropping. There was a good breeze over the water which made for a chilly outing.

There were plenty of fishermen on the banks dunking fingerling mullet, live and dead shrimp but nobody I spoke with had caught anything.

After fishing with Creme paddletail swimbaits at several spots with only one hit, I decided to drive around East Gator Creek to fish the mangroves along the opposite side of the creek.

I switched to the Badonk-A-Donk and started tossing the bait as close to the opposite side of the bank as possible without catching a limb.

I started tossing the bait around the mangroves and retrieving it as slowly as possible around several spots until, I got an immediate hit when the bait landed just underneath a mangrove.

The fish jumped completely out of the water and pulled drag for a second or two until it shook the bait.

I immediately recognized it as a snook of about 30 inches or so.

The bite was unexpected to say the least so I waited a few minutes before tossing the bait around the same area.

After about 15 minutes or so, I got around to fishing the same spot.  This time a fish  of about the same size hit the bait as it hit the water and again jumped completely out of the water.  

I had the snook on for two more jumps before it pulled off.

I waited a while before casting to the same area again but the fish was definitely spooked, so I moved on down the road to try another spot.

I had a boil under another mangrove bush but after making several more casts, never got another hookup.

As I was leaving East Gator Creek, I stopped to talk to another fishermen who said the fish were hitting but the weather was crazy.  Although he and his daughter were from Orlando, he said he fished this area for over 20 years.

I forgot his name but he told me that the bite for black drum, redfish, and snook bite was on fire.

The upcoming cold front should only improve the fishing on the muddy shallow flats along the area.

As I was leaving the refuge, I crossed the bridge and took a pic of the temperature inversion over Titusville.  The cold front is upon us.....

With any kind of luck I'll be able to get a few more days of fishing in before the new year.

Until next time,

Tight Lines and Merry Christmas