Fishing The Open Culverts

Went to the river to check out the water levels yesterday and decided to try fishing the open culverts for a sea trout or red.

I took along three spinning rods rigged with a topwater bait, a paddle tail jerk bait and a gold Johnson Sprite spoon, just in case everything else failed.

The water levels in the marsh and in the lagoons are the highest I have ever seen and the fish are taking advantage of the situation by foraging in areas where they seldom swim.

I spotted several nice size redfish in the marsh areas off of Peacocks Pocket Road foraging with their backs out of the water in the marsh grass.

The weather was great for bird watching but not so great for fishing topwater baits.  The temperature was in the 80s and there was almost no wind blowing in the marsh.  A slight breeze was blowing on the Indian River side just enough to make a small ripple.

I was surprised at the number of bank fishermen in the refuge.  I counted at least a dozen vehicles parked along the river and many more fishermen dunking cut baits and live mullet for redfish.

Two of the guys I spoke with said they caught several catfish and only a couple of reds, but the redfish were definitely biting.

As I drove along Peacocks Pocket road, I stopped several times to blind cast at likely looking areas but got not action.  The fish were spooky and foraging far off from the road beyond casting distance.

As I passed a couple of culverts, I decided to concentrate on fishing the open culverts instead of my usual areas.

From past experience, I knew that the fish concentrate around the culverts to pick off small baitfish and crustaceans that are flushed into either the river or the "swamp" when they are open and today several had strong flows.

At the first spot I fished, I got a hit on a paddle tail bait but no hookup, so I moved on to the next set.

At that spot I pulled over and slowly edged up through the high grass to take a peek at the area.

At first there wasn't much action but after a minute or two I spotted several large sea trout right at the bank picking off finger mullet at the open culverts.  The fish didn't appear to be in a hurry and at times their backs were out of the water.

I took this video of the action before pulling out my fishing rod.

There were at least half a dozen sea trout at the culverts that were in the 20" to 30" category but they were in no mood to hit any of my baits.

I had a bump on the paddle tail bait but nothing on the topwater lure so I decided to go to my favorite Johnson Sprite gold spoon.

That did the trick.  On the second cast along the bank, a nice long (but skinny) 26" sea trout nailed the spoon.  The fish put up a short fight as I horsed it up the bank to take a couple of pics.

The fish was a female that had just come off the spawn, so I quickly released her to fight another day.

After a short wait to let things die down, I flipped the spoon around the other culvert and after a few casts hooked up with another sea trout about the same size as the first fish.

I released the second fish and continued fishing but the fish were spooked.

As I was being eaten alive by the gnats, I was ready to head for home but when I saw a gator trout of at least 30 inches swimming up to the culvert, I had to give it at least a few more casts.

On the third cast in front of the fish, another smaller sea trout nailed the spoon and after a brief tussle was hoisted up the bank.

I kept casting the spoon and the paddle tail bait into the area but the fish were put down and had quit biting.

At this point, home seemed like a good idea, so I slowly drove towards the Kayak launch towards home.

On the way out of the refuge, it seemed like every good spot on the road had a bank fishermen on it.  Most had several rods out, and everyone seemed to be having a good time.   I hope they were catching redfish but for me, I prefer fishing the open culverts.

Till next time, Tight Lines.  

Fishing The Open Culverts

Fishing the open culverts is always a good option regardless of the time of year.

When I got home from work this evening, I loaded up three spinning rods, Odie and Elmo, and headed for Peacocks Pocket Road to see if anything was happening.

I didn't plan on taking the dogs along but they both looked like they were going to cry when I headed for the door so I gave in.

I drove into East Gator Creek road to see if there was ;any activity in the area but I didn't see any fish so I headed towards Peacocks Pocket Road where I hooked an lost a big Snook last weekend.

The spot didn't pan out so I continued to stop, make a few quick casts and then move to another area.

After letting Elmo and Odie out to do their duty, I continued driving past several other fishermen until I noticed an open culvert in the marsh canal.

There was a good bit of activity and I spotted several slot sized sea trout and a couple of over size redfish busting mullet around the culvert.

I tied on a small Creme Paddletail soft plastic bait and immediately hooked up with a sea trout that got off at the bank.  Encouraged, I smeared on some Pro-Cure Inshore formula and continued fishing the bait.

Two casts later I hooked up with another sea trout that was under the slot.  I released the fish and was going to continue casting the bait when a nice redfish busted some mullet right at my feet.

I went over to the truck and switched rods to fish a 2 1/2" Johnson's Sprite gold spoon in hopes of catching the red.

The first cast into the area hooked me up with an 18" sea trout that I decided to keep for dinner.  The treble hooks got the fish in the gills and it was bleeding to badly to release.

Two casts later and I got a clone to the first fish which I also decided to keep.

I caught four more sea trout in the same size range that I released all around the open culvert.

While I was fishing the area a small school of black drum pushed through the marsh canal.  I could hear them grunting as they swam by.

I was ready to hit the road with my two sea trout when another redfish swirled around the open culvert.  I flipped a cast across the marsh canal and brought it past where I spotted the fish and another big sea trout nailed the gold spoon.

This fish put up a nice fight and at first I thought I hooked the redfish, but I quickly realized it was a big sea trout.

The fish was also hooked deeply so I decided to keep this one for dinner along with the other two fish.

This fish measured in at just under 20".

With three nice sea trout for dinner, I decided to quit while I was ahead and head for the house.

I passed Beatrice, a fellow angler who usually catches fish in the area and asked her how she was doing while talking to my wife on the phone. . She said she had caught a redfish yesterday but nothing today so I wished her well and left the area.

The weather this evening was perfect for fishing topwater baits, but the fish simply did not want a topwater this evening.  When I left the area, it was 82 degrees and there was very little to no wind blowing over the water.

The most productive bait this evening was  2 1/2" Johnson's Sprite gold spoon which is also my "go to" bait for redfish and large sea trout.

As Elmo and Odie got into their cruising positions, I headed home to clean the fish and eat dinner.


 


Fishing the open culverts was the ticket for a successful fishing trip this evening; try it next time you go fishing.

Till next time,  Tight Lines to you all. 

Mediocre Fishing Weekend

Although it was a mediocre fishing weekend, my wife and I still enjoyed getting out on the water to do some fishing.

When I got home from work Friday evening, I loaded up my rods and decided to drive to Peacocks Pocket road to see if it was open.   It had been closed for repairs for the past couple of weeks and when I saw that the barriers were down, I headed in to fish the ponds.

The road crews did a great job.  The potholes and numerous bumps in the unimproved road were filled and both entrances to Peacocks Pocket Road are now almost a joy to drive.

Friday evening proved to be a bust.  I fished Chug Bugs exclusively and missed at least seven sea trout and a slot red in an hour and a half of fishing the open culverts.  The biggest propblem Friday was the gators that kept following my baits at almost every stop.

The fish were following the Chug Bugs and short striking for some reason.  One redfish grabbed the Chug Bug sideways in it's mouth and swam by me in the marsh canal.  I was sure that the fish was hooked but it just dropped the bait when I put it to the fish and tried to set the hooks.

I did manage to catch two 24" ladyfish for bait on topwater lures, but I could not hook a sea trout or a redfish to save my life on Friday.

Saturday afternoon Karen and I decided to take Elmo and Odie to the "swamp" for an outing. 

As usual, they enjoyed hanging their heads out of the truck during the ride to and from Peacocks Pocket road.  The rest of the time, Odie was a pain and Elmo just sat in the truck waiting for us to get done fishing.

Karen and I both fished with cut ladyfish at a couple of spots, while I tossed a Chug Bug around the marsh canals.

I missed several fish before finally hooking up with this slot redfish on a Chug Bug.  The fish nailed the lure coming off a bank at the entrance of a small pond.

I released the fish and a few minutes later hooked up with another smaller version. 

The "rat" red followed the Chug Bug to the bank and nailed it as I was pulling it out of the water.

Karen took this pic before I released the fish.  Please excuse the outfit.

We both missed a couple of redfish each on the cut baits but didn't land any fish.

The mosquitoes and "noseeums" finally forced us out of the refuge.

Sunday afternoon we decided to leave the dogs at home and headed to the same area where we kept missing redfish the day before.

On the way I made a brief stop at East Gator Creek Road to see if I could pick up a fresh ladyfish for bait.  The culverts were flowing and fish were hitting bait but I couldn't get a ladyfish to hit the bait.

I did get a hit from this shortnose garfish that I landed and released before heading to Peacocks Pocket Road.

I made a couple of quick stops to pitch topwater baits into likely looking spots and missed a gator sea
trout of at least 30" in the marsh canal at the entrance to a small pond. 

The fish hit this XPS topwater bait that I picked up at Bass Pro in Savannah last week but I couldn't hook the fish.

The XPS bait is great for "walking the dog" and apparently looks like a real finger mullet to the fish.

Karen and I fished a large pond and finally moved to a smaller pond where we fished until it got dark.

We both missed a couple of redfish each on the cut ladyfish, but all we landed on Sunday afternoon was this large hard head catfish.

The fish were not hitting topwater baits at all.  The were following the lures but either short striking or veering off at the last minute.

The air temperature this evening was in the mid to low 70s and the breeze that was blowing all afternoon was still present as the sun was setting over the Indian River.

Fishing artificial baits was challenging this afternoon.  The breeze made good presentations difficult and the damn gators had a habit of following my topwater baits until I had to move.

The sunset as usual was awesome and although it was a mediocre fishing weekend, Karen and I had a great time fishing.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Fishing The Open Culverts

Normally, fishing the open culverts in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is done earlier in the Spring; but because of all the rain we have had for the past few weeks, the water levels in the marsh are higher than usual and most of the culverts have been opened up.

Needless to say, fishing the open culverts is usually extremely productive regardless of the time of year.

Saturday afternoon Karen and I decided to leave our dogs home and try to catch some redfish.

We left late in the afternoon, loaded up the truck with several rods and the ladyfish I caught for bait yesterday evening and headed out to fish some of the marsh ponds.

We decided to go past Peacocks Pocket boat launch and fish both sides of the road North towards Catfish Creek Loop.

When we hit the boat launch the culvert was open and tons of water was entering the Indian River from the flooded marsh.  Evidently a lot of baitfish was also being flushed through the culverts because there were all types of predatory fish waiting for a free meal.

I pulled off and started pitching a Chug Bug close to the water flow and immediately picked up a large needlefish on the second cast.

Karen wanted to fish with the ladyfish steaks but didn't want to fish here so I told her it would be a quick stop.

I made several casts into the area and spotted a juvenile Tarpon apparently after the needlefish, several sea trout and redfish farther out in the water flow.

Several casts later with the Chug Bug hooked me up with small "rat" redfish which I promptly released.

I missed a small Tarpon and hooked up with a ladyfish which I also released.

Karen wanted to hit the pond so I decided to pitch a Johnson Sprite gold spoon around just for the hell of it.

The second cast hooked me up with this sea trout.  I finally broke down and took out my sports cam but the bite was slowing down.   I was getting followups but no hookups.

We moved off to the pond Karen wanted to fish and pitched out three rods baited with ladyfish steaks that I smeared up with some Pro-Cure "for spice".

I pitched around the Chug Bug while waiting for a bite on the ladyfish steaks and got several followups and one small sea trout.

As I was walking back to check my rod, Karen hooked a bull redfish that was well over 30 inches.

The fish was running with a school down the marsh canal, picked up her bait and never stopped to look back.

Karen tried to stop the fish from running but it was next to impossible.  When she asked me to help her out, I tightened up her drag but the fish kept running.

Finally, Karen asked me to take the rod and fight the fish for her.  I took the rod and finally turned the fish around.  The school was spooked and came back by us but her redfish was still almost 100 yards up the canal.

After another 5 minutes or so I battled the redfish till it was around 30 feet away.  The fish then headed to some brush on the bank where it got hopelessly tangled up.  I tried to get it loose but the line finally broke at the leader.

I shot a video of Karen fighting the fish but unfortunately that's all.

I tied on another piece of 30# fluorocarbon and a 6/0 Owner Circle Hook, re-baited with another ladyfish steak and continued fishing.

During the commotion, the bait on my rod was taken by another red which dropped the bait before I could set the hook.

We fished until dusk and missed three more redfish before calling it a day.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.  We plan to take out Odie and Elmo.  That should be a treat!

Tight Lines.