Indian River Gator Creek Sea Trout

Indian River sea trout seem to be biting after the cold front almost as good as they did before the front eased its way into the area this past weekend.

This afternoon I decided to try my luck in the Indian River marsh area around Gator Creek.



Gator Creek is one particular area that I haven't fished on a regular basis. Although several of my friends reported sporadic catches of sea trout and redfish in the deeper holes, I have never seriously pursued fishing the area.

The sun was out and the air temperature was in the high 60s. There was very little wind to speak of when I started out around noon, and later on in the day it totally died off to a dead calm.

There were several groups of roseate spoonbills in the area along with a few species of ducks and herons. All were enjoying the day as I was.



I took four rods along, each with a different lure for variety, but wound up fishing with a gold Johnson spoon and a DOA jerkbait that I had been having luck with this past week.

Unfortunately, Gator Creek didn't pan out. The only thing I spotted were several schools of large mullet that would have made the day for a commercial net fisherman.

I decided to back track and move into Peacocks Pocket road and fish the marsh canal.

Fishing was tough today because the water was so calm. I spooked three trout before I finally landed one on my green DOA jerkbait.

The fish was smaller than the ones I had been catching yesterday. It measured only 17" but put up a decent fight.

I took it's picture and returned it to the water and continued "jump" fishing up the road.

I missed 4 more trout before I hooked another one that measured in at 22". Again I took it's picture and returned it to fight another day.

It was 2:30 when I caught my third trout on the same lure. This one was also about 22" and put up a better fight than the other two trout. Again I took a picture and put it back.

I was hoping to catch a redfish, but I didn't see any tell tale signs of one in the area.

Blind casting damned near wore out my shoulder, but being the die hard fisherman that I am, I continued without any hits until about 4:00.

The water was as calm and flat as a mirror on both sides of the road as I eased into the area we named the "duck blind".

As I started casting, I spooked a redfish in the 30" range not more than 8 feet from the bank.

I continued casting to it until I just got tired and finally decided to give it up. It was about 4:30 when I made the decision to head for home and get something to eat.

As I was driving out of the area, I kept watching the water on the marsh side of the road hoping to spot a redfish. About a mile from the "duck blind", I spotted a swirl right on the
opposite bank from the road, so I quickly stopped the truck and walked back to where the fish should have been.

I lobbed the jerkbait perfectly on the bank and pulled it into the water to where I thought the fish should be.

Almost immediately a redfish churned up the water and gulped down the lure.

At first the fish didn't fight much, but when he realized he was hooked he took off up the canal on a nice run. A few minutes later I lipped the fish with the boca grip and pulled it from the water.

The redfish was only 26" and since it was in the slot I was thinking about taking it home for dinner.

Anyway, I didn't feel like cleaning it and I wasn't feeling well because of an ear infection, so I decided to let the fish go to fight another day.

About the time the fish hit the water, my wife called to see if I caught anything. After giving her an abbreviated report, I decided to pack it in and head for the Hacienda.

Hope you all enjoy the pics and until next time,

Tight Lines.

December Indian River Sea Trout

December Indian River sea trout are wary, hefty, and fun to catch.

My wife and I took our wonder dog Elmo to one of our usual fishing spots, in the hopes of catching a redfish or a sea trout.

Because I didn't get home from my job until late in the afternoon, we decided to head towards the closest productive fishing spot we could find, which happens to be the Indian River marsh area.

The temperature was in the low 50s and there was a moderate wind on the river when we got to where we wanted to fish. Because of the cold snap this past week, the water was cold and I assumed the fish would be somewhat lethargic.

We stopped at a couple of spots that normally produce, but today neither Karen or I had any hits.

We kept moving down the unimproved road and came upon a silver car, Mitsubishi I think, that had a bicycle on the rear bumper. It had apparently been driven off the road and was obviously in need of a wrecker.

We looked into the car to see if anybody needed help, but the car was empty; so we moved on to where I had caught some redfish last weekend.

Karen tossed out her usual shrimp and bobber rig to where I saw a fish swirl on some bait, and I started tossing my gold Johnson spoon with red tag that caught me fish last week.

Because of the cold water, I was fishing the gold spoon very, very slowly trying to keep it moving just off the bottom.

After several casts I hooked onto a fish that I initially thought was a redfish. It was heavy and sloshed around a bit before I saw that it was a very nice sea trout.

After a brief fight, I landed the trout and decided to take a few pictures before releasing it.

If the season would have been open, I would have had this one on the dinner table, but since November and December is closed season in Brevard County, I put the fish back to grow bigger for my next fish dinner.

I saw another fish swim by and told Karen to pitch her bait near it, but the fish apparently weren't taking shrimp today.

I walked up the river a bit to give Karen some room to fish and started blind casting the banks hoping to catch a redfish.

After about a dozen more casts at some likely looking spots, I hooked onto another very nice sea trout.

The fish was bigger than the first one and put up a respectable fight. I again took it's picture and put it back to grow into a gator trout.

It was getting dark and after about a dozen casts to both sides of the river, I decided to give it up for the afternoon.



Karen didn't even get a strike on her shrimp, which looked perfectly edible to me. (I'm a sushi fan!)

As we were packing up to leave, we saw a wrecker coming down the road to rescue the car that we passed on the way in to our fishing spot which had run off the road.

It pays to be careful and considerate when you drive these unimproved roads. In many areas there isn't enough room for two cars to easily pass by each other.

Whoever drove off the road this time apparently made it in one piece.

Hopefully, we will get to fish tomorrow earlier and get a shot at some redfish.

Till then; Tight Lines.