Space X Satellite Launch

Fishing Peacocks Pocket seemed like a good idea this afternoon, especially when I heard about the Space X Satellite Launch that was supposed to lift off at 4:14 pm.

Yesterday, I spend a couple of hours shooting the bull with a couple of military vets waiting for the launch that never occurred, so his afternoon I decided to pack a couple of fishing rods in the truck and see if I could combine the launch with some topwater fishing.

I hadn't been to Peacocks Pocket road lately, and when I started walking the washed out road past the barrier, I knew why.

The road was totally trashed from the last hurricane.  The water in the Indian River was low and in the marsh, it was even lower.

I selected a spinning rod loaded with 30# Power Pro braid and a topwater Zara Spook Jr. and started negotiating the treacherous road.

At the first set of culverts where the refuge managers had piled a lot of granite rocks along the bank of the Indian River to minimize erosion, I spent a little time casting around the schools of mullet with no success.. 

I had some time to kill before the launch so I walked the road and started fishing the marsh canal, blind casting as I walked.

I had a couple of sea trout hits and finally landed a fish that was almost at the slot which I immediately released..

The water in the marsh canal was an ugly brown color from the brown algae bloom, but the water on the river side was actually pretty clear.   I walked up on several small schools of fingerling mullet that were holding tight along the bank, scattering as I walked the road.

Evidently, the fish were too spooky in the clear water.  After many casts, I never got even a followup.

The marsh canal was another story.   As I blind cast the canal to likely looking spots, I managed two fish in about an hour and missed two more on the Zara Spook, Jr.

I was getting tired from walking through the high grass and across the uneven terrain and since it was getting close to launch time, I turned around and headed back to my truck.

I spotted a couple of guys in kayaks fishing around an offshore island and as I headed back to a spot I picked to watch the launch and got out of the truck, the launch was in progress.

I quickly took this short video of the launch that was in progress.

I waited for a while to see if the boosters would return to the launch pad but from where I was parked, it was impossible to see anything.

After a short wait, I decided to hit the road and drive over to Wally's World to get something for dinner and call it a day.

The weather was hot and even though there had been a slight breeze over the water, it was not ideal conditions for topwater fishing.

Hopefully, before I head out of town again, I'll be able to get in some quality fishing.

Till then, Tight Lines and Bent Rods.

Walking The Pocket

When I took Elmo and Odie for a ride on Wednesday afternoon, I spent a little time fishing at the entrance to Peacocks Pocket Road but walking the Pocket was impossible with them along, so I decided to put it off until this afternoon.

When I finally decided to head out, it was around 3:30p.m. and the air temperature was a balmy 73 degrees.

There were strong wind gusts out of the northeast and even the wind surfers were putting their gear up.  When I finally got to the barricade at Peacocks Pocket,  I was almost sorry I decided to go fishing.   The wind chill made the temperature feel like 60 degrees, and it probably was.
 
I didn't bring along a backpack, so I hooked a small box of replacement lures to my belt hook, grabbed a rod with a Chug Bug and a second with a gold Johnson's Sprite spoon, and started walking the Pocket.

I started fishing with the gold Spoon mainly because it was easier to handle in the wind, as I cast into several areas to find fish.

The fishing along the road was tough to impossible in most areas.  The heavy growth along the side of the road was high making casting extremely limited. 

 Even then if you did hook up with a fish, landing it was almost impossible unless you had a lot of luck on your side.

The water in the marsh canal was low and the shallow ponds that used to be there, were not.   But despite the conditions, I still managed to hook up with three slot size redfish in the 20 to 22 inch range, and land two of them.

 

I also missed hookups with at least four other fish that were probably reds.

I was the only person fishing the area and it was obvious that nobody had been there in quite some time.

The grass was high, there were no human footprints anywhere, and the fish were hitting the Johnson Sprite spoon like they never saw one before.   It was almost like fishing a pristine wilderness area, but without the wilderness.

I walked a few miles up the road casting where I could without getting snagged and took some pics of several areas that because of erosion, made the road impassable to vehicle traffic.

I hope that management will eventually repair the roads, but I'm skeptical at this point.

Anyway, I jumped a 10 foot gator that was sunning itself along the bank but as I reached for my cell phone to take a pic, he quickly disappeared into the canal.

When the wind picked up and it started getting colder, I decided to turn around and head back to the truck.  It was close to 6:00 p.m. when I got to the truck and stowed my gear, and I felt like it was much colder than the low 60s.

As I headed out of the refuge, I took a couple of pics of the beautiful sunset.  I'll never get tired of our sunsets.

Till next time, Tight Lines and bent rods.

Catfish Creek Redfish

Today was the first time since I got home that I could wet a line in about three weeks, so this afternoon I packed up Elmo, Odie and two spinning rods and headed to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to see if I could pick up a sea trout or two.

The air temperature this afternoon was a cool 72 degrees but with the wind chill factor, it felt like 60.

Although this trip was really for the dogs, I had high hopes of catching a fish or two for dinner, so when I drove into East Gator Creek road and saw a couple of nice wakes in the shallows, I pulled out my short river rod and started tossing a Z-man paddletail on a jig that I had rigged up.

I fan cast the area for several minutes and had a small hit, but I didn't get a hookup so I moved on to scout out the rest of the area.

There were tons of Coot in the refuge and a couple of large gators in the shallows around East Gator Creek, but after trying my luck in several areas, I was beginning to lose faith in catching anything.

The dogs were having fun watching all the Coot so I continued slowly driving around the refuge looking for signs of fish.

As I got to the first pond before Catfish Creek Loop, I pulled over to fish around a small island where I had caught reds last year about this time.

I walked the bank casting across to the other side and started retrieving slower to see if that would change my luck and after about a dozen casts, a fish picked up the bait on the drop.

There was no doubt in my mind that it was a redfish.  The fish immediately took off towards Peacocks Pocket road and I almost lost it around the brush at the culvert, but after a decent fight and a few good runs, I managed to land the red.

The fish measured roughly in at about 32 inches, so I unhooked the Z-Mann bait and released it to fight again another day.

Things were looking up!   

I fan cast the stretch for about 20 minutes without another hit before finally giving up to move on down the road.

As we drove into Catfish Creek Loop, we passed by Peacocks Pocket road with the closed sign still up and a bunch of vultures ominously standing guard at the entrance.

 

 I continued to fish likely looking areas without any luck until I finally decided to head for the house.  A cold front was moving in, the air temperature had dropped down into the high 60s, and I was getting chilly.

I stopped one last time to let Elmo and Odie do their duty before heading out.

 Hopefully, I'll get a chance to get the boat out before Christmas. 

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Culvert Fishing For Redfish

Culvert fishing for redfish in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge excels during October and November.

Late this afternoon I decided to hit the ditches to see if the sea trout bite was still on.

I brought along three rods with artificial baits and took along another medium action rod to fish cut baits for redfish.  I loaded up the gear and a cooler with some bottled water and one large frozen ladyfish that I caught this past month for bait.

The cool weather was attracting the sightseers and Peacocks Pocket road was beginning to resemble I-95.  There was a steady stream of visitors driving through the refuge, as well as a number of fishermen along the banks of the Indian River.

Most were bait fishermen, but a couple of guys I see in the area on a regular basis were fishing paddle tail baits for trout and redfish.

I entered the refuge via East Gator Creek Road and tossed an XPS Slim Dog topwater bait around the first culvert  to see if  I could pick up another fresh ladyfish for bait.but they weren't in the area today.

I kept fishing the top water bait in several other areas with no luck and no followups.  After an hour  of fishing with absolutely no bites, I was beginning to think today was going to be a bust, so I decided to try fishing a culvert in the southern end of Peacocks Pocket  road close to the kayak launch.

The area is very narrow and when the water is running can be a good spot for sea trout and big redfish.

It was a little after 6:30 pm when I pulled up to the culvert I planned to fish and I was happy to see that it was slightly open.  Water was flowing from the Indian River into the marsh canals slow enough to keep the "hatches" closed but just enough to stir up the water.

I cut a 2" chunk from the middle of the frozen ladyfish and hooked it on a 5/0 Owner hook.  I was using 20# Power Pro with a 30# fluorocarbon leader and no weight.

I watched the water for a while but there was no sign of fish in the narrow canal but since the water was moving, I dropped the ladyfish chunk into the middle of the canal.  It was so narrow, a cast was unnecessary.

Within a couple of minutes the line started slowly moving, so I tightened up on the line and set the hook.

At first, the fish didn't realize it was hooked but after a couple of seconds it decided to head up the canal.  There was no way I could stop the first run.  The drag was tightened up as much as possible but the fish kept going.  I was silently cussing myself for not bringing the GoPro to record the action but I was having my hands full trying to land the fish.

After a while I pumped the fish back to the culvert and it headed the other direction on another long run.  I was beginning to realize that this redfish was not the average for this area.  It was one of the larger ones in the marsh.

After several smaller runs I finally managed to land the fish and pull it onto the bank for a couple of pics.  I estimate the length at 38 inches.  The base of this rod to the black guide wrap in the picture above is exactly 40".

These cell phone pics don't do the fish justice but it's all I had today.

I released the fish and decided to try my luck again at the same spot. With all the commotion, I didn't really expect to get another redfish at the same spot but I gave it a try anyway.

Another chunk of frozen ladyfish, another plop into the middle of the canal, and bang... another redfish.

The second redfish hit the ladyfish chunk almost immediately and headed up the canal in the opposite direction from the first fish.    This one felt as big as the first red but when I eventually landed it, it was about an inch shorter.  I took a couple of "selfies" of the fish and a short video before releasing it.

 

The fish looked like a clone of the first one.

About this time I it was getting kind of chilly out.  I was going to head home but I thought I'd try one more chunk of ladyfish "for the road".

I tossed another chunk towards the far bank of the canal and waited.  This time it was about ten minutes before I got another bite.

This fish didn't dawdle.  It picked up the bait on the run and kept on going.  I didn't have to set the hook but I did just to be sure.

This fish took at least fifty yards of line up the canal before I could slow it down.  I pumped the big red for quite a while until it turned around and headed back towards where I was fishing.

This fish acted bigger than the other two but I couldn't be sure.  I never got to land it.  As I got it close to the bank the third time, it broke off the hook around a brush pile and kept on going.

If I was a gambling man I would bet this fish was close to 40 inches or better but since I never got the Boca Grip on the fish, I'll never know.

Anyway, it was getting dark so I decided to "fish" up the road towards home.

I stopped at two more spots and picked up a nice sea trout in one of my favorite areas with the topwater XPS before calling it a day.

The sunset was awesome, so I took  a couple of pics of the blood red horizon before making my way home.

I hope my next trip is as productive as today's was.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Redfish In The Marsh Canals

When I left the house this afternoon I was hell bent on catching redfish in the marsh canals.

The weather was in the 90s today so I didn't even think of going fishing until about 6:00 pm.

I picked out four spinning rods and headed out to fishing Peacocks Pocket in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The water levels in the marsh are super low right now.  This is good and bad.  It concentrates the fish in deeper areas of the marsh but the fish are extremely spooky and savvy to artificial baits.

I started off driving slowly down Peacocks Pocket Road watching the water for signs of fish.

It didn't take long for me to spot some feeding sea trout in the marsh canal so I pulled off to the side of the road and started pitching a Chug Bug that was liberally coated with Pro-Cure.

The first stop proved to be fruitless, but at the second stop when I worked the Chug Bug down the canal, I picked up a nice slot size sea trout which I promptly released.

The afternoon heat had dissipated and the air temperature was about 79 degrees.  A little breeze was blowing but not enough to screw up the casting.

I decided to fish an area where I normally catch some sea trout but as I continued casting the Chug Bug at the bank, I spotted a nice redfish cruising down the canal.

A well placed cast got me a bump on the bait but the fish didn't get hooked and continued up the canal.

I switched rods and decided on fishing a Johnsons Sprite that is my "go to" lure for big redfish.

I jumped into the truck and drove past where the fish was pushing it's wake and again pulled off the road.  This time I shot a cast across the opposite bank with the gold Johnsons Sprite and slowly jiggled the spoon back to me.  On the second cast with the gold spoon the redfish hit the lure almost gently.

It took a second before I realized the fish didn't spit out the bait and for the fish to realize it was hooked but it did, it took off down the marsh canal in second gear.

I fought the fish for about 15 minutes or more before it finally tired enough for me to try and land it.  At the last minute, it headed for some brush and got tangled in the branches.

The fish was solidly hooked so I decided to go in after the red and retrieve the fish.

I got a wet foot but finally broke off the spoon and brought the redfish to the bank.

It measured in at almost 35" and is one of the biggest ones I've landed in this area.

My Samsung camera is broken so I had to take these pics on my cell phone.  I couldn't get the fish into the "selfie" but you can get an idea of its size in the pics.

Anyway, I unhooked the redfish and took a great deal of time to revive it before releasing it to fight another day.

The red straightened out one of the treble hooks on the spoon so I tied on another one and continued fishing.

I caught two more sea trout on the spoon and released them both before heading to the house.

On the way out I spotted two more big redfish pushing a wake down the marsh canal but I didn't bother trying for them.

The redfish in the marsh canals are all mostly over the slot but they are great fun to catch.

Hopefully, next week I'll pick up another one.

Till then, Tight Lines.

Sea Trout Are In The Ditches

The sea trout are in the ditches this time of the year and if you adhere to some basic cold weather fishing tactics, you can have a ball catching instead of just fishing.

Fishing Peacocks Pocket road today was definitely on the agenda and even though this morning looked like it was going to be a rainy day, it turned out to be gorgeous.

When I finally loaded up the truck with some spinning rods, it was around 1:30 pm and the air temperature was 70 degrees.

Turning into Gator Creek road was like entering the on ramp to I-95.  There were a ton of people driving around Peacocks Pocket road watching and photographing the abundant variety of birds and waterfowl that bless us this time of the year.

I briefly stopped to fish the first pond and drew a blank, so I slowly drove up the road to see if I could spot any redfish movement.

I decided to try some blind casting in areas where I caught fish last year in February, so I tied on a white Creme paddle tail swimbait and smeared it up with some Pro-Cure Inshore Saltwater formula.

It only took a few casts before I hooked up with a nice fat sea trout that just made the slot.

After taking it's picture and releasing the fish, I continued to fish the stretch to see if I could stir up some more action.

Ron Granger, a fishing bud drove up and we briefly talked about the fishing.

He said didn't score any redfish using the mud minnows he had with him and when he asked me, I told him about the sea trout I was catching in the ditches of the salt marsh.

A "traffic jam" cut our conversation short, so I move on and continued fishing the stretch.

I knew for certain that the sea trout were in the ditches when I hooked up with the third fish. 

A guy from Maine stopped to ask me what I was catching as I was unhooking the fish and when I released it, he looked genuinely shocked.

I drove up to a small pond and switched baits to a Berkley paddletail that looked more like the baitfish that are in the ditches.

It took only two casts to hook up with another sea trout that finally hit the 18" mark.

This spot had a school of agitated baitfish milling around so I decided to try something different, just for the hell of it.

I tied on a yellow with black polka dots Mepps type spinner that I used in fresh water to catch bass with.

The first cast past the baitfish got me hooked up with a slot sea trout, but the fish got off after a couple of head shakes.

I shot another cast in the same area and promptly got another hookup with another sea trout that also got off after a couple of shakes.

It was obvious that the small treble hook wasn't working too good with sea trout so, I took off the small treble hook and replaced it with a larger one that I pulled off an old plug.

I thought for sure that I had the remedy to losing any more sea trout but after making several casts into the same general area, I never got another bite.

I decided to try fishing with a gold spoon to see if I might rile up a redfish so I changed rods and started tossing around a Johnson Sprite.

I was ready to give up on the spoon when I finally hooked up with a small ladyfish. I took a quick pic

and released the fish to grow up.

During the next couple of hours I landed and released 10 more sea trout on swimbaits, hooked and lost at least 5 more sea trout, and spooked two nice redfish.

All the fish were in the ditches of the salt marsh.

My back was hurting from bending over so I decided to quit fishing and take some pics of the waterfowl that everyone else was photographing in the area.

Here is a short compilation of today's picture taking session.  All the pics were taken with my old Nikon CoolPix 8700 and my Samsung WB150F.


When I finally left Peacocks Pocket road at 6:00 pm the air temperature was a "chilly" 60 degrees with no wind.

I called my wife to let her know I was on the way home but as I got to the bridge the police had the closed it off from vehicle traffic.

The officer told me there was some sort of foot race going on over the bridge and that I could wait until 7:00 pm or take the long route over Haulover Canal to get home.

I opted for the latter and after making the long 20 mile plus trip, finally got home before the bridge was open.

As I crossed Haulover Canal, I noted that there were several boats anchored at the Mosquito Lagoon entrance to the canal fishing for black drum or redfish.

Although the day would have been even more perfect if I could have landed a redfish, I was happy that the sea trout are in the ditches and that I was able to catch a few today.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

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November Redfish Are In The Grass

November redfish are in the grass and they are hungry this time of the year.

I didn't get home until late this evening so I headed straight to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to get in a little fishing before dusk.

After unloading my work stuff from the truck, I packed three rods and took off to the swamp.

I decided that fishing Peacocks Pocket road from the easternmost entrance would give me the most fishing time, so I didn't waste any time getting to Peacocks Pocket and the small ponds just past the area.

This evening the air temperature was a pleasant 82 degrees and there was a slight breeze blowing.

I had one rod tipped with a Metallic Silver Black STORM Rattlin Chug Bug, one rod with a custom made DOA spinnerbait, and the third tied to a Nemire Red Ripper Spoon.

After tossing the topwater bait around several areas, I decided that the fish would probably be more interested in the gold spoon.

The Red Ripper when fished slow looks a lot like a crab and when retrieved quickly resembles a small wounded minnow.

The water was glassy in most areas so I decided to fish the newly submerged grassy areas around some small islands that were previously high and dry.

It didn't take long before I had a bump on the spoon but I missed the hookup so I decided to smear some Pro-Cure Inshore Saltwater formula on the spoon to "spice it up" a bit.

I continued moving up the road taking pot shots at every area that I thought a redfish might be searching for a crab dinner.

After several casts to likely looking spots, a redfish nailed the Red Ripper and took off  up the marsh canal.

As I fought the fish, I slipped down the bank just as a couple of guys in an SUV stopped to see what I was battling.  The one fellow asked me if I needed any help as I was on my butt, but I told him I was doing just fine.

I had the Boca Grip in one hand and was fighting the fish on my but on the bank.

Finally after three or four nice runs, the fish started getting tired.  The red headed for the brush piles alongside the bank several times, but each time I managed to slowly lead the fish away from the problem areas until I could finally lip the redfish onto the bank.

When I told the guys in the truck that the fish looked like it was too big to keep, they said it looked like a slot red to them, so I pulled out my tape to prove them wrong by one inch.

 


It turned out that the fish was a fat 28" and just oversize.

I took a couple of these pics and a brief video of the release all the while listening to the two guys telling me to keep the fish.

They departed and I kept fishing the grassy areas with the spoon until it started to get too dark to fish.

I had two more bumps and missed another redfish in the grass just at dusk before deciding to call it a day.

As I was heading out of the refuge, I spotted a familiar couple fishing in the same spot where they caught a nice gator trout last year.

As I pulled up to Craig and Mary, they immediately recognized my truck, so we shot the "bull" a bit about the fishing in the refuge.

Craig said he caught two 15" sea trout on soft baits earlier and that Mary lost two nice redfish on shrimp right before dark.

Mary told me that they went deep sea fishing out of Mayport in Jacksonville during the three day red snapper season and did quite well.

Mary caught two red snapper in the 14 pound range, an amberjack and a nice flounder.  Craig said that they also caught a bunch of black sea bass on the trip.

I fished the St. Johns River in that area several times and caught some flounder but I never took a trip on one of the "head" boats up there.  However, I may do so in the future.

Anyway, when Karen called me on my cell phone telling me it was dark,  I decided to head for home and get some dinner.

Just about every November redfish are in the grass during the higher water periods eating shrimp, crabs and other crustaceans, and this year is no exception.

Till next time, Tight Lines. 

Fishing Peacocks Pocket for some Sea Trout Action

Fishing Peacocks Pocket for some Sea Trout action was on the agenda for me this weekend but as luck would have it, I didn't get much quality fishing time in.

After arriving home from work on Friday, my wife asked me if I wanted to take Elmo and Odie fishing.

Even though it was late and I was beat from driving 4 1/2 hours, I readily agreed to go on a "scouting" trip to the "Pocket" to see what was going on.

We loaded up the truck with five spinning outfits, the two dogs and some frozen shrimp for Karen to use for bait and headed for the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Even though it was late, the air temperature was still in the 80s and the slight breeze that was blowing across the Indian River was enough to make fishing quite enjoyable.

The birds seemed to enjoy the weather as much as Karen and I did.

We stopped at a few spots on the southern end of Peacocks Pocket road to fish with very little to show for our efforts.

Karen tossed a Cajun Thunder rig with a jumbo frozen shrimp to the opposite bank at the first stop and missed a nice redfish. 

She wasn't paying attention to her rod and by the time she saw the float zipping down the marsh canal the red dropped the bait.

That turned out to be the only fish of the afternoon.

I was using a gold Johnson Sprite and a Chug Bug.  I got a couple of short strikes on the Chug Bug and missed a nice slot sea trout on the spoon.

We drove around the road and saw a lot of vehicles but few fishermen. 

A couple of guys were wading the Indian River and a couple of others were drowning finger mullet on both sides of the road, apparently with no success.

We decided to head for home and try for some sea trout action Saturday .

Till then, Tight Lines.

Skunked Again!.

Well I got skunked again this afternoon.

It's been one hell of a week.  I've been sick with the flu all week and this weekend when I finally felt good enough to get some fishing in, I got skunked.

Saturday afternoon my wife and I took Elmo and Odie fishing around Catfish Creek.

Odie is to the left, Elmo to the right.

I figured that since Peacocks Pocket road is closed to vehicle traffic until February, we might as well try some bank fishing around Catfish Creek loop.

I netted about a dozen large mud minnows and we headed to an area that I knew would have a lot of bank fishermen trying their luck.

After we parked the truck at a likely looking spot, Karen and I put out five rods and baited them up with live mud minnows at various locations around the bank and proceeded to wait.

After about 30 minutes or so I saw a large mud minnow that was on one of my bait casting rods frantically trying to get away from a fish.  About the same time I noticed the bait, the line started peeling off the rod.

I'm used to fishing artificial lures and instead of letting the fish run with the bait, I tried to set the hook to quickly.

To make a short story shorter, I missed the fish.  When I reeled in the mud minnow, it had teeth marks half way around it's midsection.  The sign of a big redfish.

I cast out another mud minnow and proceeded to wait.

My wife asked me to cast out a mud minnow for her on a bait casting rod and after only a few minutes she had a nice 22" sea trout on the line.

She landed the fish and I took this pic.  I was going to release the fish but decided to have it for dinner instead. 

Times are getting tough!

As it turned out, the sea trout was the only fish of the day.  Karen out fished me again.

We packed up our rods as it started getting towards dusk and headed for the house and dinner.

I was going to ditch the rest of the mud minnows but decided to keep them and see if they could make it another day, and I'm happy to report they all did.

Sunday, my wife decided to ride a horse instead of going fishing and it turned out to be a great choice.

I got skunked again!

I left the house with five rods and the mud minnows in back of the truck and headed for the same general area I got skunked on Saturday.

I got to the area around 3:00 pm and tossed out three rods all baited with live mud minnows.

Mud minnows are supposed to be redfish "candy" but today either there weren't any reds in the area or they didn't like "candy".

I sat, walked around, sat some more, shot the bull with a few fishermen, sat some more and never got a bite all the time I was on the Indian River.

Clearly a crappy day for fishing.

About 5:00 pm I had enough fun and started packing up my rods. One rod was bait-less and a mud minnow on the other rod looked like it went through the war and lost.

Anyway, I loaded up the truck, said my farewells to Neil Clark and his neighbor and continued down the loop to head for home.

I talked to several fishermen who were using either finger mullet or shrimp and no one except one guy caught anything.

The one fisherman who caught the slot redfish said he was fishing since 1:30 pm and this was his only fish.

I'm not sure whether it was the cold front or what, but the fish definitely were not in the feeding mood today or yesterday.

It's times like this that make me remember why I prefer fishing artificial lures.

Oh well, at least there was a beautiful sunset.

Till next time,

Tight Lines!

Another Rainy Afternoon Fishing Trip

It was another rainy afternoon fishing trip in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and I was definitely stoked for it.

Karen wanted to work on one of her stained glass projects so I decided to pack some rods and head for the Indian River to catch some sea trout.

Since I couldn't mow a wet lawn, I left relatively early today. It was about 3:30 pm when I got to Peacocks Pocket road and it was drizzling. 

The air temperature was  75 degrees and there was almost no wind blowing on the water in the marsh area.  Almost perfect conditions for catching sea trout on a top water plug.

There were no small gators on the road to rescue this afternoon so I headed for the spot where I lost a big sea trout and my favorite Chug Bug yesterday.

Today there was almost no action in this area so after about 15 minutes I decided to move on up the road to find another likely looking spot.

I stopped at an area where I caught some nice fish last week and started casting another baby bass Chug Bug that I picked up at Bass Pro. 

I caught and released several medium to large ladyfish before moving up to fish a bend in the marsh canal where I caught an almost gator sea trout the week before.

I had been using Pro Cure on the Chug Bug and it seemed to work better than fishing the plug without any scent. 

My second cast along the canal hooked me up with a sea trout that was at least 5 pounds.

The fish smashed the Chug Bug as I stopped the bait.  The fish was following the lure so I paused the retrieve and let the plug sit for a couple of seconds.  As I twitched the bait, the sea trout inhaled it and made a lightning fast run down the canal.

The fish ran about 20 yards in just a few seconds, stopped and then ran the other direction.  I was frantically reeling in the slack and the trout turned around and took off again.  This time I started running down the dirt road trying to keep the big trout out of the brush along side of the road.

I thought I was going to have a trophy picture for this site but the trout got into the bushes and pulled out the treble hooks.

I reeled in the plug and I'm sure I mumbled something to myself about the crappy luck I was having.

Several more casts into this area yielded a smaller 20" sea trout, so I moved up to try another spot a few yards up the canal.

The rain stopped and the bite slowed down along with the rain.

Undaunted, I continued pitching my Pro Cure coated Chug Bug to likely looking cuts and indentations in the marsh canal until I hooked up with this 27" sea trout.

My cast was slowed down by the overgrown grass that now lines the entire length of Peacocks Pocket road and the fish blasted the bait as soon as the short cast hit the water.

The sea trout made two nice runs before I pulled it on to the bank to take it's picture and release it.

 

I moved to fish a small pond and caught a couple more sea trout, two more ladyfish and a needlefish which obviously had high expectations.

The needlefish was only a bit larger than my Chug Bug.

As the afternoon wore on, the bite slowed down.  I had several more followups and caught another large ladyfish before I decided to call it a day.

On the way out of the refuge, I spotted a redfish in the canal pushing a nice wake so I just had to give it a try.  I cast the top water bait well ahead of the fish and twitched the lure as it got close.

The fish turned around to inspect the bait and literally "slurped" in the plug.

I broke one of my rules on top water bait fishing and set the hook too quickly.

I learned many years ago when I used to fish for largemouth bass that you should count to three before setting the hook with a top water bait.  I didn't and I lost the fish.

I took these pics of the sunset before leaving the refuge.

As I was driving past one of my favorite spots on the way out, I met up with Ashford and his fishing buddy.  They said that today they weren't catching anything but that during the past week Ashford caught several sea trout in the 20" to 25" category.  He had not been catching anything for the past few days.

I told him that today I caught several sea trout on the Chug Bug that were all at least 20" long and some ladyfish.

Even though it was another rainy afternoon fishing trip, the sunset was awesome regardless of the catch.

Till next time, Tight Lines.