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