Skunked!

Well I got skunked this evening. Not a first, but hopefully not the norm.

I didn't get home from work until around 6:30 pm but before 7:00 pm, I was on the water.

I packed several rods into the truck along with a cast net and some lures, and headed for East Gator Creek road to pick up some finger mullet.

My first cast near a culvert snagged me a half dozen 8 to 10 inch mullet which I promptly dropped into a  5 gallon bucket before heading to a spot where I hoped I could catch a red or a gator sea trout.

I passed several spots that I normally would have stopped to fish but  since it was late, I focused on getting to an area on the Indian River where I know big reds feed.

I passed several fishermen before finally pulling up to where I wanted to fish. 

I put two live mullet on casting rods and cut one mullet unto chunks for bait to use on my Okuma bait runner spinning rod.

The air temperature was in the high 60s and the wind was blowing too much for me to mess around with the 9 weight fly rod I brought along, so I started blind casting a gold Johnson's sprite around the marsh canal on the other side of Peacocks Pocket road.

After a half hour without a bite, I was beginning to think I was jinxed but since I seldom fish with live or fresh dead baits,  I decided to give this type fishing a reasonable shot.

About this time a sea osprey picked up one of my live mullet.  I saw the line peeling off the reel on the casting rod  and thought I had a "bull redfish" on until I noticed that the line was going up to the sky.

I got to the truck where the rod was and pulled the mullet away from the Osprey but it wouldn't let go.  Finally, I pulled the ornery bird into the water with a plop, and it still didn't let go of the mullet.

When I started reeling the bird in, I thought I had hooked it but finally the eagle let go of his dinner.

I reeled in the mullet to put some line back onto the spool and decided to let the bait sit far out in the river.

Damned if the Osprey didn't pick up the same mullet again.  This time when I yanked it, the bird dropped the bait and kept flying on it's merry way.

As it turned out, that was to be my only catch of the day.

More waiting and no bites on the other rods.  I finally switched out the gold spoon to a topwater "speckled trout" pattern Skitter Walk and started blind casting the river side around some baitfish pods in hopes of picking off a gator sea trout.

I finally got a hit on the bait from a small sea trout which almost immediately flipped off the plug.

Another fishermen had pulled up a few yards up the road from me with his girlfriend or wife and was also doing the "bait fishing" thing.

He fished until almost 8:00 pm before giving it up.  As they passed me, he said he hadn't gotten any bites and was trying another spot.

I told him about my bad luck and started packing up my gear to also get out of the area.

About the time I finished putting the rods back into the truck, a rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Center got my attention.

 

I headed for the truck to get my camera but by the time I set it up, I missed most of the launch.

This afternoon I couldn't even get a good video of the launch.  It just wasn't my day.

On the way out of the refuge, I spotted a pod of black drum swimming up the canal.  I tried to entice them with a jerk bait but again, no bites.

I did manage to get some shots of some roseatte spoonbills and an American crocodile which is uncommon in our area.

 

 


The crocodiles have a very narrow snout and are larger than our alligators.

This one was about 14 feet long and wasn't afraid of anybody.

After finally admitting to myself that I got skunked, I decided to head for home and some dinner.

Although I didn't catch any fish this evening, it was still great to get out and enjoy the wildlife in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Christmas Eve Reds

Merry Christmas to all!

Except for the mildly windy conditions, the weather looked  good enough for another fishing excursion to the Indian River Lagoon.  So, after making a quick decision, my wife and I decided to jump into the car and give it a try.

We figured that since it was Christmas Eve, not many people would be cruising around our favorite areas, and we were partially right.

There were a few anglers giving it a go, and a few tourists taking pics of the waterfowl and the scenery around the Kennedy Space Center.

We decided on doing a little "jump fishing" , and at every stop we were rewarded with something...Redfish, catfish, puffers, drum and stingrays.

My wife fished with dead shrmp under a DOA bobber rig, and later opted for free lining with a little success. 

I chose a Bagly gold spoon that I have had a lot of success with lately, and later switched to a gold Johnsons Sprite when I lost the Bagly.

The first two stops yielded puffers and catfish for my wife, and a couple of small "puppy drum" for me on the Bagly spoon.

The second stop, in an area we call  "snook point", gave up another larger redfish and two smaller clones.

The last stop we fished in was a sheltered cove where the water was no more than a foot deep.  The wind had picked up, the air temp was around 72 degrees, and the water was cool from the fronts that we experienced in the past few days.

I fished the hammered gold spoon and missed three fish before I landed another puppy redfish.  After a few more casts, I hooked into one of those oversize "bull" reds the Lagoon area is famous for.

I fought the fish for a good  five minutes or so, before it decided to head for a brushy area and wrap around a mangrove root. 

The big redfish was sloshing around and I couldn't untangle it so I decided to go in after it.  Bad Move!
I chucked my shoes, took a step into the water and landed up to my crotch in Indian River Lagoon muck.

My wife gave me a helping hand to get back out, and about that time the fish mercifully broke off, taking my favorite spoon with it,  to parts unknown.

The fish was well over the slot limit, and was the best fish of the day for me.  Although I continued fishing with a Johnson spoon, I only caught one other small redfish before it was time to leave the area and enjoy Christmas Eve with my wife.

Till next time,
Tight Lines!