Windy Conditions On The River

The windy conditions on the river today evidently prevented a lot of people from fishing. It did not however stop the wind surfers from enjoying their sport.

Despite the conditions, I decided to try my luck this afternoon on the Indian River for some redfish.

Unlike yesterday's fishing trip the fishing today proved challenging to say the least.

The temperature was in the low 90s and the wind was blowing the river into a light chop which made casting difficult. Not only that, the fish had lockjaw; Big Time!

I fished with artificial jerk baits, top water STORM Rattlin' Chug Bug - 3.25" - Gizzard Shad, SkitterWalks and finally live baits without having any outstanding results to brag about.

On the way into the Merritt Island National Wildlife Preserve I netted a few finger mullet and small ladyfish for bait in case the artificial lures I prefer to use didn't produce. And I'm glad I did.

If it wasn't for the live bait, I probably would have been skunked. Even with the live mullet and ladyfish, the fishing was pretty slow.

I fished three areas today. The flats around Bio Lab road, the shallows around Gator Creek Road and finally Peacocks Pocket road.

Although I spotted fish moving around in the afternoon, I couldn't get anything to bite.

The flats around Gator Creek and Bio Lab road proved to be a waste of time. Perhaps if I had tried fishing these areas later in the day, they might have produced a red or two but in the heat of the early afternoon; the fishing was pretty dismal.

About 6:30 I decided to try my luck at the Pocket. On the way in I netted some bait at a culvert and because it was later in the day I was anticipating better luck .

I drove almost half the length of the road looking for signs of fish and blind casting artificial baits with no success. There were some baitfish being busted by something big but I couldn't get them to hit my lures.

At the fourth stop I switched to a 7" ladyfish and free lined it around a milling bait pod.

After a few minutes the bait took off and I thought I had hooked a large trout. I gave the fish some line before setting the hook and immediately got a jumping fish.

Much to my surprise the fish turned out to be a longnose Garfish.

I fought the fish until it tired and then gingerly pulled it out onto the bank. I took these pics before letting it go back into the depths.

I was really surprised how well the fish fought but was disappointed it wasn't a sea trout.

I moved up the road and fished the same places Karen and I fished yesterday without getting even a nibble.

I finally moved to a place I call Snook Point, for obvious reasons and threw out my last finger mullet.

After about 15 minutes I finally hooked an under sized "Rat" redfish that swallowed the hook.

The fish was bleeding when I got it on the bank so instead of salvaging the hook, I cut the line and released the fish hoping it would survive the day.

With all the alligators I saw in the canal today; I believe that was wishful thinking.

Anyway, I took several pics of the beautiful spoonbills and egrets that were in the area before pulling up stakes and calling it a day.

The windy conditions on the river today proved to be more than I cared for.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

Till then, Tight Lines.

Birthday Fishing Trip

My wife and I decided to celebrate my birthday today by going fishing. Like we never do!

Although all the fishing reports I've received from the local guides I know tell me that the fish are biting like crazy; today's birthday fishing trip did not confirm their reports.

Anyway, for a change, we decided to start at Gator Creek to try and avoid some of the out of state traffic we have been encountering on the other unimproved roads.

The water in Gator Creek was lower than usual, yet very clear for this time of year.

When you enter the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge at the second most eastern entrance to Gator Creek; you will find an expanse of grassy shallows no more than 3 feet deep in any place.

From the deeper trough that parallel the road, the water becomes shallower towards the middle and then gets deeper on the opposite side of the creek.

The deeper troughs are where the redfish and black drum usually travel and then move up to the weedy shallower areas to ambush bait fish or crustaceans.



This afternoon even though we saw several pods of bait fish being busted by sea trout or redfish, the fish just weren't cooperating.

My wife Karen fished fresh large fresh dead shrimp on the bottom in several areas with only a couple of blue crabs to show for her efforts.

I fished D.O.A. Jerkbaits, Creme Paddletail lures, several colors of jigs, Johnson Gold spoons and even a Rapala top water with absolutely no results.

Several people stopped to see if we were catching any fish and we told everyone the same sad story.

A couple of disappointed fishermen from the Tampa area said they wade fished the Eddy Creek flats of the Mosquito Lagoon, but didn't catch anything except sea trout using shrimp under a float. Apparently they were after some of the bull redfish that the Mosquito Lagoon is famous for.

Although they asked for advice, there wasn't much I could offer today except that some of the best redfish I have caught were almost exclusively on gold spoons. Specifically the Strike King gold "hammered" type spoon in the larger size.

The large size spoon displaces more water surface area and can be fished much slower than the smaller sized spoon. I believe it also more closely resembles the baitfish that the larger redfish feed on in the Lagoon.

Shortly after they left, Karen and I packed up and moved on to Peacocks Pocket road to fish the marsh canals.

On the way out of Gator Creek I took this quick video of some Spoonbills that always seem to be in the area.



We stopped and thoroughly fished three spots until we finally decided to leave.

Karen missed a couple of trout and caught a blue crab using her shrimp.

I kept tossing every lure combination I had in my truck to fish that were targeting and busting up finger mullet along the bank.

Just as the wind started to die down, I tossed a #7 offset hook embedded in a Strike King jerkbait to a fish that created a huge swirl on the bank.

The fish swirled on it and picked up the lure immediately as it hit the water. As my line started moving up the canal, I gave the fish a second and then set the hook.

As luck would have it, the redfish wasn't hooked well enough. It made a run towards the bank where I could see it and then departed for parts unknown.

The fish was well over the slot limit and closer to 32".

After the commotion, neither Karen or I had another hit for the rest of the time we fished the area.

I'm not sure whether the full moon has anything to do with it or if the cold snap this past winter put the kibosh on it, but lately the fishing has been nothing short of crappy from shore compared to the same time last year.

Anyway, the weather was beautiful and birds of all types were all over the Preserve.

I consoled myself by taking several short videos and pics of the areas we fished.

The beautiful sunset and the full moon over the Space Center almost made up for the redfish I missed.



Hopefully, tomorrow the fishing will be better.

Till next time.

Tight Lines!

P.S.: To the two guys from Tampa.

Believe me, the fishing in the Mosquito Lagoon around Whales Tail, the back of the clinker islands, the flats along the eastern shores of the southern lagoon and both the no motor zones are why they call it the redfish capital of the world.

You need a boat to access these areas or a guide for the day.

Friday Evening Picture Outing

Friday evening seemed to be a good time for a picture outing after a trying work week and a 4 1/2 hour drive home.

Karen and I packed up a couple of rods, just in case, along with Elmo our "wonder dog" and headed for the nearest water.

Catfish Creek loop and several other areas in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge provided plenty of photo opportunities as well as a shot at a sea trout or redfish for dinner.

The scenery was picture perfect and there are at this time of the year, tons of different types of waterfowl in the area.

I took several short videos and pics before deciding to try our luck at any fishing. Hope you enjoy these.

It was late so we just "jump fished" the marsh canals.

I fished primarily D.O.A. CAL Jerkbaits and Creme Paddletail lures in several colors and only got two bites and one nice sea trout that I returned to fight another day.

My wife fished with old dead shrimp and only picked up a blue crab for her efforts.

The area was loaded with visitors and the fish were spooky. Only one person I spoke with caught a redfish which he said measured out at 24".

We weren't so lucky and after getting bitten by too many swamp mosquitoes, we both decided to head for home and some dinner other than fish.

On the way out we saw this poor guy pushing his boat out of way too shallow water. I can't laugh about it too much since I've been there a couple of times myself without a push pole.

Hope to get out tomorrow after doing some chores.

Till then,

Tight Lines.

Christmas Eve Sea Trout

Christmas Eve sea trout fishing was something I didn't really plan on doing today, but since I had to go to the store to pick up some items to finish out our Christmas dinner, I decided to drive through the Merritt Island National Wildlife preserve to see what was happening.

The sun was out, the wind was blowing briskly and the air temperature was a cool 59 degrees at about 2:30 this afternoon when I got to the "swamp".

Although I didn't plan on fishing, I did take my fishing rods along, "just in case".

As I drove through the area, I just had to pull over at a spot where I thought I saw the tell tale swirl of a redfish right up on the bank. I pulled out the closest rod that happened to have a Bagley gold spoon tied on it and made a quick cast ahead of where I saw the swirl.

Almost immediately I hooked up to a sea trout that was obviously a keeper.

I fought the fish until it tired, then unceremoniously hauled it out onto the bank and put it in the back of the truck while I looked for my camera.

When it stopped flopping around, I took a picture of the fish that you see here and then put it back into the tannin colored water.

Several other casts in the same area didn't yield any more fish, so I moved on up the road.

I passed the only other people I saw in the area today. They had a blue kayak on top of their vehicle and looked like they were going to call it a day as I passed them.

Because I still had groceries in the back of the truck, I hastily made my way out out of the area until I spied another swirl that made me stop the truck and again pick up a rod.

I cast the spoon almost to the spot where I saw the fish swirl and again hooked up to a sea trout that was a little larger than the first one. This one measured in at 19" and was beautifully colored; as are all the fish in these waters.

I fought the fish to shore and lifted it out onto the road where I took it's picture before letting it go.

The people with the blue kayak passed me as I got back into the truck and made my way out of the preserve.

My wife called to see where I was at, so I decided to get my butt back home to unload the groceries.

I probably could have eventually picked up a redfish but decided that since it was Christmas Eve, I needed to put down the fishing rods and thank the Lord for another year.

Till next time, Tight Lines and a Very Merry Christmas to you all.

Went Walking The Dog This Afternoon

This afternoon my wife and I decided to get out and try for some of the slot sized redfish that abound in the Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River.

We got a late start and decided not to take the boat because of the Redfish Tournament and the local fair that is ending this weekend. Parking spaces are hard to come by.

For some reason, Peacocks Pocket road was still closed; so instead, we fished a small feeder creek that empties into a larger shallow marsh area that almost everybody passes up when entering the wildlife refuge.

We jumped two nice sized redfish in water that was no more than a foot deep, but they weren't interested in our offerings.

We moved on and fished a point on the Indian River side for about an hour with no luck except for a large catfish that my wife picked up on her Cajun Thunder rig.

I was wading , the wind was picking up, and I was clammy, so when some rude people decided to park their car directly next to ours, we decided to leave.

On the way out of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Preserve we decided to give our first spot one last shot, so we pulled alongside the area which now had a flock of spoonbills feeding in it, and resumed our fishing.



My wife was using fresh frozen xlarge shrimp, and I was "walking the dog" with my Heddon Super Spook, Jr. top water.

In about an hours worth of fishing before dusk, I landed six slot sized trout, and missed at least three or four others, including one huge fish that blew the plug right out of the water.



There were 5 or 6 very large redfish busting baitfish in the shallows, almost into the grass. I tried casting to them, but they were way out of range and with the gators in the area, I decided to use discretion and not go wading in after them.

My wife didn't fare so well this trip, but we enjoyed the day none the less.

On the way back home, we saw at least a dozen shrimpers setting up for night shrimping on the Indian River, so we decided to stop and see how they were doing.

Guy and Cathy who regularly shrimp the area said the shrimp were "on and off" again. Guy got about 50 large shrimp the previous night and some of the other people I spoke with on the bridge reported about the same or less.



I promised to post their pictures, so here they are. Last time I spoke with them, I took a picture of a Jumbo shrimp in his hand and neglected to post his pic. Hope he can find my website!

Anyway, I took some pics and wished everyone well with their shrimping.

With any kind of luck, my wife and I (and of course our wonder dog Elmo) will get to wet a line tomorrow.

Till then, Tight Lines!

March Indian River Lagoon Redfish

Saturday afternoon on the Indian River Lagoon was just breathtaking. The weather was in the 70s and the fish were biting.

My wife and I decided to load up the truck and hit the marsh canals in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in hopes of getting a redfish or two.

I also took a ton of pictures of the wildlife that was out in droves.



The roseatte spoonbills, purple ibis, white pelicans, and numerous duck and heron species were all over the swamp shallows competing for food and squatting rights.

The gators were also out sunning themselves; and I counted over 20, in only a 6 mile stretch.

We started fishing by looking for active fish feeding in the shallows, and almost immediately rolled up on a large redfish busting the bank after some baitfish.

I pulled ahead of the fish, stopped the truck and started casting but the fish was not interested in my offering. A small Johnson gold spoon.

I continued with the spoon until I finally lost confidence, so I tied on a new "Mann's" soft bodied lure that resembles and swims like the original Heddon Soinc lures.

After a few casts to likely looking spots and several misses, I finally picked up a keeper trout that I released to fight another day. See pic.



My wife kept our wonder dog Elmo in the car, being somewhat paranoid of the gators getting their chops around him. Some we saw could devour a human with very little effort.

Karen was fishing a dead shrimp under a Cajun Thunder bobber setup, and was catching some pretty nice sized catfish. We moved several times and finally came to one of her favorite "hot spots" where we decided to fish until it was time to leave.

She hadn't caught a decent redfish in a while, so I left her to her spot and continued with my lures hoping to catch a larger trout or passing redfish.

After about 20 minutes I heard her yelling and knew she finally hooked up with a red, so I grabbed my camera and captured the results below for all to comment on.

The fish was over the slot limit so we returned it to grow even larger and catch it another day.

On the way out of the refuge, we decided to explore a road right at Peacock Pocket, that I've never seen open to traffic. The cable barrier was down, so we proceeded with caution and found the neatest wildlife drive ever. The only problem was that it went nowhere.

After venturing in over 5 miles, the scenic trail finally came to a dead end near the entrance to Gator Creek. The swamp trail was kind of eerie, and there was absolutely no one else around except for the birds, buzzards, and gators.

I turned the truck around and retraced our steps back to the "Pocket" with new knowledge under our belt.

Personally, I'm glad that the road is normally closed to traffic. There was no litter anywhere, like in the openly traveled sections, and the beauty of the swamp will remain pristine, at least for now.

Till next time.
Tight Lines!

Indian River Fishing - Fishing The Mud Bottom Shallows

February is a good month for Indian River Fishing, especially when fishing the the mud bottom shallows on the northeast portion of the river.

This weekend was the first really warm weekend in a long time that my wife, my wonder dog Elmo, and I got to enjoy fishing both the lagoons without taking a chance of contracting a case of pneumonia.

The fish are cruising the shallows over mud bottom areas around the Merritt Island National Wildlife refuge, and they are very spooky.

If you care to wade these areas and are careful about not making too much commotion; you can pick up slot sized redfish in singles and small schools using fresh cut bait, live shrimp, and slow moving soft baits.

I watched one wade fishermen catch a nice sized black drum on a white CAL bait wading north of Peacock Pocket, and just south of Catfish Creek. A couple other fishermen, not so interested in getting their feet wet, picked up slot redfish in the same area.

I was targeting sea trout for a friend of mine who wanted the fish and didn't fare so well. I picked up a couple of undersized fish on a natural colored Creme paddle tail bait, along with on legal fish of about 17" that I didn't bother keeping.

The trout weren't biting in their normal haunts for this time of year, which I believe is partially due to the recent cold snap fish kill. Last year, I was picking up good numbers of sea trout and even a couple of snook during this time period.

I predict when the water warms up a bit, the fish will move back into their old hunting grounds.

Towards evening I started targeting redfish that were cruising the mud bottom shallows. I tried gold spoons, a new Rapala "twitch" bait, and the usual array of soft bodied baits. I missed one slot redfish on a DOA CAL white paddletail swimbait and spooked two others because of badly placed casts.

On the way out of our fishing area, we found the road closed at the causeway bridge and had to get home via the long route over Haulover canal. Thank the Lord that the new bridge construction and fishing pier construction seems to be going full speed ahead. It seems like the every other week they can't get the turnstyle bridge to close and they have to redirect traffic.

Well, we hope to get out Sunday providing the bridge is open. Perhaps I'll have a better report.

In the meantime, enjoy the pics.

By the way, I have absolutely no idea why the house was being pushed down the ICW. If anyone knows about this please post a comment, I'd love to know.

Meanwhile, Tight Lines To All!

October? - More Like August Fishing!

The mid October weather, in central Florida, has lately seemed more like August, and the fish seem to love it.

The Titusville, Fl. weather has been hovering in the mid 90s, with a heat index topping the low hundreds.

Fishing the Indian River this weekend was productive, despite the humid weather, no see ums, and Dracula like mosquitoes that give the Mosquito Lagoon its name.

The mosquitoes get particularly aggressive toward dusk, in and around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which is also the best time to catch a nice redfish or gator trout.

My wife, Elmo (our wonder dog) and yours truly, hit the river Friday and Saturday evening to get in some late fishing.



Saturday was a tournament day for the October Hunt For Reds, however for the amount of fishermen on the water, you'd never know it.

We didn't do to well on Friday, but managed to catch a few on Saturday in an area we call the "duck blind".

The wind was blowing baitfish from the Indian River into a sheltered cove, where the redfish, trout, catfish, rays, and black drum were being chased by a lone dolphin trying for an afternoon meal.



My wife Karen, immediately picked up a nice redfish, some catfish, and a small stingray, all on fresh dead shrimp.



I was playing around with my usual top water lures, having some fun with small trout on one rod, and catching a small redfish on a second.

On another rod that I usually use for jigs; I tied on a #5/0 owner hook, and impaled a large fresh dead shrimp for bait.

I switched to a Johnson gold spoon with a red tag on my third rod, and started throwing it to the many swirls in the cove.

The lone dolphin had stirred up the fish in the cove, and got them moving around a bit.

After a short time, I hooked up to a large black drum that put up a very respectable fight on the 10 lb. line I was using.

About 15 minutes later, I got the bruiser close to shore, where I had planned on getting my wife to take a picture or two for the website.

As I got the drum close to the bank, I tried to multitask, and show Karen how to turn on the camera.

Unfortunately the drum didn't want it's picture taken and he took off for parts unknown along with my gold Johnson spoon.

After that, the action slowed down some, and when the mosquitoes got to the point where even Elmo decided to sit in the car for some relief, we called it a night and went home.

Tight lines to all!

Early June Culvert Fishing On The Indian River

Early spring is the time to load up on Gator trout, as well as slot sized dinner fare.
These were caught using D.O.A. watermelon jerk baits, and D.O.A. jig heads, with 4" Gulp "Nuclear Chicken" jerk baits.

This slot sized trout fell for a black and silver Rapala floating diver.
You can jump fish these trout around likely looking culverts, that are used to control the water levels in the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge area.

The drives that boarder the Indian River, in the Wildlife Refuge, offer the opportunity for some fine wading ,or bank fishing when they are open for traffic.
High water levels, that cause flooding of the drives, and the launching of a space shuttle, cause closures of the drives for safety and security reasons.

There are times, when the powers that be, close the drives for no apparent reason except to piss off the local anglers.

I also enjoy taking pictures of the breathtaking scenery in and around the Wildlife Refuge. Some of the sunsets are here for your enjoyment.

The photograph below was taken north of Haulover Canal at a "secret" fishing spot my wife and I frequent.

The photo below was taken last week, around the Indian River, in an area where I occasionally pick up Snook or two.

Both pictures were taken using my Nikon Cool Pix 8700, 8X optical zoom that I picked up for a steal on an Ebay auction. The pics were taken without the need for a tripod at dusk.

There are times when life is just plain enjoyable; and being on the Indian River fishing, or taking pics. with my wife and wonder dog Elmo, makes all the rest of the BS that is going on in our country irrelevant.

The shuttle that was going up this morning didn't make it because of fueling problems, so I imagine that the Refuge area will be closed. When I get a report, it will be posted today or tomorrow at the latest.
Good Fishing And Tight Lines To You All!