July 4th Gator Creek Outing

July 4th. was Independence Day and a free day for me to get out and wet a line.

I was going to take out the kayak but the wind was up and I didn't want to mess around paddling instead of fishing so I headed for East Gator Creek road to try the shallows for some sea trout.

I got there late in the afternoon, and as the winds calmed down I started pitching a Chug Bug around the crystal clear shallows.

At the first culvert, I hooked onto a two foot long ladyfish that jumped all over the shallow trough where I hooked it.  I almost lost it in the mangrove roots but I finally managed to land it and decided to release it.

This afternoon, ladyfish became the target of the day.  I spotted a couple of nice sea trout hitting baitfish on the surface, but every time I made a cast with the Chug Bug, either a ladyfish hit the bait or a gator would start chasing the plug until I had to move on.

I planned to fish some other areas, but the fish were cooperating and I was having a ball catching all sizes of ladyfish, some just a bit larger than the Chug Bug I was using.

At a deeper area in the creek, I spotted a couple of juvenile tarpon rolling on the surface, but they had lockjaw and wouldn't hit my topwater bait or the gold Johnson Sprite spoon I was also using so I moved on.

It was getting close to sunset so I ran around Catfish Creek Loop road where I spotted another juvenile tarpon around 4 feet long in the shallows of the Indian River.  I stopped to make a few casts to the fish but it would not hit any of my offerings.  Another case of lockjaw.

Finally I put up the rods and as it was getting dark, I decided to mingle with the mass of humanity along the Indian River at Parrish Park to watch the fireworks.

I made a rather lengthy video of the proceedings and the area where I spotted the tarpon rolling, if anybody is interested.,

When the fireworks ended, I tried to get out of the parking lot fast, but it proved to be a futile effort.

It took me at least 25 minutes to get back to the house and wash off the rods.

Hopefully, I'll be able to wet another line before I get back out of town.

Tight Lines.