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!