Sea Trout, Redfish and Drum

Fished Bobcat Bay this afternoon for Sea Trout, Redfish or Drum and got two out of three for dinner.

Since it was Palm Sunday and a day of rest, I thought Peacocks Pocket road would be relatively free from visitor traffic this afternoon so I asked Karen if she wanted to go fishing with me, Elmo, and Odie.

I had some mud minnows left over from yesterday's fishing trip but decided to pick up some more in case the fish were biting.   So, we headed to Mosquito Lagoon Bait and Tackle, grabbed a dozen more mud minnows and headed to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Karen wanted to see if any alligators were out so we entered the refuge via East Gator Creek Road.

From the time we entered to the Catfish Creek Loop we spotted a total of seven alligators either in the water or sunning on the bank.

The peaceful afternoon we were hoping for was obviously not in the cards today.  There were a lot of people traveling the refuge looking at the waterfowl, gawking at the gators, and even fishing.

It was a beautiful day and the air temperature was a pleasant 72 degrees.  There was little to no wind blowing and both sides of the road were being fished by a variety of people using a variety of baits.

We passed one guy filleting a black drum he had just caught and it looked like everyone was having a great time on the river.

Karen wanted to fish Bobcat Bay so we headed there hoping that on one took her spot.

As luck would have it, nobody was at her spot so I angled into a spot, parked and set out several rods baited up with the mud minnows we had on hand.

Karen wanted to fish "her spot" in the marsh canal, so she took off with Odie and a couple of mud minnows.

Since I was going back to work tomorrow, I really didn't care if I caught anything today so I unfolded a portable sports chair, turned on the radio and waited for something to bite.

Karen missed a couple of bites and finally picked up this nice 24" spotted sea trout. 

It was gut hooked and it's gills were bleeding so we decided to take it home for dinner. 

Odie can be seen giving his approval in this pic.

He loves to fish and be with us, unfortunately Elmo just sits in the truck like a lump of clay. 

She went back to her spot and about the time she got there, I had a hit that I missed on a minnow.  The line peeled off the Okuma Avenger baitrunner I was using but as I picked up the rod, the fish dropped the bait.

I pulled in a bare hook , but on a fresh mud minnow and sat down to enjoy the afternoon.

Some rain clouds were on the horizon and it started to briefly sprinkle just when I got another hit.  It was a large hard head catfish.

I baited up again and tossed out the minnow closer to shore..  This time I picked up a nice slot redfish that was also destined for the dinner table.

Karen, missed another sea trout and I picked up another smaller red that I released before we decided to head for home.

I'm sure we could have caught more fish but I didn't want to stay till dark.  I had to clean and cook the fish and I was hungry, so we packed it in and headed towards Peacocks Pocket kayak launch.

There were still several fishermen trying their luck on both sides of the road as we left the refuge.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

P.S.  As I make this post, I can honestly tell you that nothing beats freshly caught fish on the table.

Drum, Drum and More Drum

Drum, Drum and more Drum has been the name of the game for the past few weeks on the northern part of the Indian River.

Several fishing fanatics that I talk to on a semi regular basis said that everyone fishing shrimp was catching Black Drum  in the river, so I decided to see if I could pick up  a couple.

Late this afternoon I finally decided to check out the river and see what was being caught in the area.

I hastily packed a few rods, some bait and my cameras and headed for Catfish Creek.

I left the house around 4:30 pm and got to the river about 10 minutes later.

On the way into the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge I spotted a pair of Great Blue Herons doing their mating ritual.

I stopped to take a pic but before I could pull out a camera, the female took off and left the male courting himself.

I took this quick pic and continued up Gator Creek towards where I hoped to get a fishing spot.

There were a surprising number of fishermen on the Indian River and around both sides of Catfish Creek had fishermen staked out at their favorite spots.

At one spot I hoped to fish I spotted Bernice, a fishing acquaintance who always seems to catch some fish.

She was fishing next to a couple of other guys and when I asked her if she was catching anything, she show me these pics of juvenile Black Drum that she had been catching for the past couple of weeks.

 

I took these copies from her actual photos and continued down the dirt path looking for a spot to fish.

The next opening was free and since it was almost dark I decided to put out my poles and fish with frozen cut bait and shrimp.

There was a mild wind blowing and all my rods were rigged without sinkers.  I baited up one outfit with a medium fresh dead shrimp and was going to add a sinker to hold bottom when I realized I didn't bring along any tackle. In my haste to get out of the house, I forgot everything so I tossed the bait out as far as possible and let it set.

I baited the second rod with a cut ladyfish steak and again tossed it out as far as I could and sat down to enjoy the overcast weather.

After several minutes, it was evident I needed a sinker.  I was fishing braid and it acted like a float pulling the baits with the wind.  Not a good way to fish for reds or drum!

I saw a couple of guys fishing the entrance of Catfish Creek with artificial baits in a shallow draft boat so I decided to give that a try.

I pulled out another rod and tied on a gold spoon hoping to entice a cruising redfish, but after a couple dozen casts, I realized it was a losing proposition.

It was around 5:30 pm when I finally decided to put everything up and head home.  

As I drove around the loop a kayaker was loading up his kayak so I asked him if he was catching or fishing.   He tole me he caught a  few small sea trout but had no luck with the Black Drum or the redfish.

I thanked him for his report and headed home for some more turkey.

Maybe tomorrow I'll get out earlier and pick up some drum for dinner.

Till next time, Tight Lines.