Fishing The Marsh Canals

Fishing the marsh canals in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in December is one of my favorite pastimes.

Yesterday's outing was not much fun despite the fact that I picked up a nice 34" redfish. Fortunately, this afternoon's trip was much more pleasant.

I didn't start fishing until about 3:30 pm and the weather was great for this time of year. The temperature was 73 degrees and the wind was negligible.

Since time was not on my side, I made only one stop before going to the area where I caught my fish yesterday.

On the way into the refuge, I noticed some activity in the grass next to the bank so I pulled out my favorite Bagley gold spoon and started casting into the area.  I missed a fish on the third cast and after several more into the same area, I moved on to the spot below.



There were tons of noisy "mud hens" doing their thing (above) but no redfish were interested in my lure.

I saw a swirl on the river side that I thought was a red but my first cast into the area hooked me up with a slot size sea trout.

I released the fish and moved up the road.

A fellow fisherman stopped and asked me if I wanted some finger mullet but since I didn't have a container to keep them alive, I took only one small mullet from him and hooked it up for my next spot.

He said the only thing he was catching was "hard head" catfish.

As I sped up to the last area I planned to fish this evening, I flipped out the finger mullet on my Okuma bait runner outfit and propped up the rod on free spool.

I saw some reeds moving in the grass along the opposite shore so I pitched out a second rod with a frozen shrimp.

After a few minutes I hooked up with a nice redfish on the Okuma rig.  The fish took off down the marsh canal, promptly wound around the only tree limb in the damn canal and broke off.

I was snelling another 4/0 hook on the leader when the rod with the shrimp took off.

I was in too much of a hurry and pulled the circle hook from the fishes mouth.

Being totally pissed off at myself for missing two nice reds, I pitched out both rods with baited shrimp and started flipping a D.O.A.® C.A.L. Series Shad Tail - Lures to see if I could pick up a trout or two.

The third cast hooked me up with another nice redfish, below.








I had just spooled some new Cajun Line Cajun Advantage Monofilament - 10 lb. - Terminal tackle on this rod, so I decided to take a little extra care landing this fish. 

It made several strong runs up and down the marsh canal and finally gave up the fight.

Karen wasn't fishing with me today so I took these pics before releasing the fish.  It measured a clean 27" on my tape.  A perfect tournament red.

It was around 5:30 pm so I decided to head for home and call it another perfect trip.

Fishing the marsh canals in this area is a lot like fishing for rainbow trout in the streams of Pennsylvania where I grew up.  You have to sight fish them, stalk them and get a little bit lucky.

Till next time, Tight Lines!

Gator Creek and The Marsh Canals

Today for my Sunday afternoon fishing excursion, I targeted Gator Creek and the marsh canals.

After a rainstorm moved through our area early this afternoon and the temperature dropped down into the low 80s, I decided to "jump" fish some spots that my wife and I passed by yesterday.

Gator Creek is very shallow and on the southern end totally dry for a good part of the year.

The recent weather change caused a lot of bait fish to move into the shallows along with the usual predatory species that feed on them.

I decided to start fishing with a Heddon® Saltwater Super Zara Spook™ Lure - Silver Mullet top water plug around the first culvert at the entrance to Gator Creek road.

The water was only about a foot deep, but my first cast towards a mangrove root was rewarded with an explosive strike from a large ladyfish.

The fish made several jumps before I landed and released it.

Several casts later and my plug was eaten by a Snook that looked like it was in the slot.

Unfortunately I didn't bother getting a Snook stamp this year but regardless of that fact, the fish made several wild jumps and landed on the grass on the bank.

I was debating on whether I should wade in to get the fish but before I could make a decision, the fish flipped into a mangrove root, broke off my plug and headed off to parts unknown.

Disappointed but undaunted, I tied on a 4" Rapala SkitterWalk that was in the tackle box and continued walking the dog on both sides of Gator Creek Road.

I landed 7 more ladyfish in the 17" to 25" category and missed about the same number until the sun came out and the bite stopped.

It was like somebody pulled a light switch. Nothing was biting on any of the lures I was throwing.

I moved on to Peacocks Pocket road and fished both sides with Gold Nemeyer spoons, Creme paddle tail swim baits, the SkitterWalk and finally a hammered gold Bagley spoon that I found in the back of the truck.

As I moved up the "Pocket" road the wind started picking up and there was a light ripple on the water's surface. Evidently this turned on the fish because I started getting hits again.

I passed a couple of guys fishing the Indian River side of the road with finger mullet who said they weren't catching anything.

About a hundred yards past where they were fishing, I spotted some activity in the shallows around some weeds. See the picture below.

I flipped the gold spoon towards the commotion and promptly hooked up to an over sized redfish.

The fish took off like a shot and managed to wrap itself around a tree limb that was submerged in the marsh canal. I kept the pressure on until the fish tired and finally unwound itself from the brush stickup.

I landed the fish and took these pics before returning it to the water to fight another day.

The male redfish measured a little over 34" and had a total of 15 spots on its body.

One of the guys I passed walked over to where I was still fishing and asked me if I had caught anything. I answered truthfully but I don't think he really believed me!

Anyway, as he returned to his buddy I continued casting the gold spoon into the grass and hooked up to another redfish.

This one was much larger than the one I had just released. Instead of making a run into the canal, the big redfish took off into the shallow pond that fed into the canal.

Evidently the fish wasn't hooked well and after a very short run, the fish managed to spit out the spoon.

This gator spied the commotion and started making its way into my area so I decided to leave.

It was getting late and I was getting hungry so I decided to head for the exit.

Some folks in the Indian river out from the kayak launch were catching fish but I couldn't make out what they were.

The only other fisherman I talked to said he had caught a 44" bull redfish near the culverts at Peacocks Pocket on a dead shrimp.

Normally I would take this information with a grain of salt however, today I knew for a fact that the fish were in spawning mode and in Gator Creek and the marsh canals they could easily attain that size, or even larger.

Till next time,

Tight Lines!

Fishing the Marsh Canals

Fishing the marsh canals in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is an "iffy" situation at best.

There are times when you can load up on sea trout, black drum and redfish. At other times you can fish hard all day long and can't buy a bite.

Late this afternoon my wife, Elmo and I headed for the "swamp" hoping to grab one of the over sized redfish that are now prowling the northern shallows of the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon.

I netted a few medium sized finger mullet for bait and headed for a couple of areas where I spotted some reds in the shallows last week.

Karen skewered a mullet and pitched it out to a likely spot. I decided on a top water plug and started "walking the dog" hoping for some top water action.

The Heddon Zara Spook Jr. I was using immediately attracted a sea trout in the 15" class.

I released it at the bank and continued fishing the plug while my wife patiently waited for a redfish to hit her mullet.

In about an hour of fishing, I managed to attract at least two dozen strikes on the bait.

Most of the fish were undersize sea trout and medium to large ladyfish that acted like small tarpon when hooked.

Karen missed a nice redfish that ate her finger mullet off the hook.

She re-baited and moved slightly up the road to continue fishing. I asked her if she wanted to move on to another spot but she was happy where we were, so I continued walking up the road fishing my top water plug.

I hooked a couple more ladyfish and missed two redfish in the 34" to 36" category that were cruising the bank feeding on small finger mullet.

Once they spook you might as well give up fishing the area.

Meanwhile, Karen watched a fish chase her finger mullet around the shallow canal but it never did bite.

It was getting on towards dusk and the bugs were starting to eat on us so we decided to call it an evening.

Fishing the marsh canals this evening was not a productive as I had hoped but I wouldn't give up the hectic top water action I experienced this afternoon for anything.

Till next time, Tight Lines!