Tarpon Hunting On The Fly

Late Saturday afternoon I decided to go Tarpon hunting in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

I've been out of town for a few weeks and with another hurricane brewing in the Gulf, I decided to take advantage of the high water levels, the Harvest Moon, and the barometer to get some much needed fishing in.

The last time I tried Tarpon hunting, conventional lures were pretty much useless, so this time I brought along my 8 wt fly rod and a few flies to augment the 7' spinning rod that I always carry in the truck.

As I crossed the A. Max Brewer Causeway bridge I was beginning to think I made a drastic mistake. There were tons of people on both sides of the causeway fishing and kite surfing.

Although the wind was brisk, the weather was gorgeous so I continued driving past the refuge entrance towards Bio Lab Road.

The barriers are still up on Gator Creek, East Gator Creek, Catfish Creek Loop, and Peacocks Pocket roads, and although you can still walk the areas, nobody had cars parked so I can only assume that nobody was bothering to walk the areas.

Too bad, there's some great fishing along most of the roads, especially when the water levels are up like they are right now.

Park your butt next to a flowing culvert and you usually have some good fishing in store.

I drove past Black Point Wildlife Drive towards Bio Lab road and was surprised at how many parked vehicles there were along the road.    Probably due to hunting season..

Anyway, the water levels in the Mosquito Lagoon were way up and because there were people fishing the creek at the Bio Lab boat launch,  I decided to head towards Patillo Creek to see if the barricades were still up there.

 

I noticed that Beacon 42 boat ramp road was still closed and when I made the left turn into Patillo Creek, it also was closed to vehicle traffic at the second entrance.

I stopped at the barrier, strung up my fly rod, tied on a black and white Lefty's Deceiver and headed towards the first set of culverts.

When I lived in Pennsylvania as a youth, I grew up with a fly rod in my hand and even though I'm out of practice and don't use a fly rod all that much in saltwater, I picked it up almost immediately.

My first cast into the area at the culvert hooked my up with an almost gator sea trout of about 25 to 27 inches. The fish hit the deceiver on the second or third strip and after a very brief run, broke off in the brush along the bank.

Lesson number 1. Use a heavy leader in salt water.

I made several more casts with another deceiver fly on both sides of the culvert but the fish weren't interested, so I headed back to the truck and decided to run towards North Shiloh Road.

As I drove up Shiloh Road, I spotted a group of fishermen about to leave the area I planned to fish.

When I asked them how they were doing, they said they hit a few small tarpon that would not take anything but a small original floating Rapala.    The one guy said he caught a tarpon in the 24 inch category and the other wasn't specific about the size.

When they saw me pull out my fly rod, they both said that the fish were hitting small minnows and that they wished they had brought along theirs.

After the group left, I started casting against the wind into the open culvert side where I expected the larger fish to be holding, but after making what seemed like a million casts, I never got a hit.

The other side of the culvert was where all the activity seemed to be.   There were dimples in the water with rolling tarpon all over the place and occasionally, a larger fish would blow up along the submerged banks to attack the baitfish that were holding there.

I spotted several redfish or snook wakes along the banks, but most of the fish in the area were Tarpon. Just what I was interested in.

I started pitching another deceiver pattern with a blue back and white feathers into the area and almost immediately had a juvenile tarpon hit the fly, jump, and break the fly off the leader.

I was silently cussing myself for not bringing along my GoPro.   It's impossible trying to get a video of jumping tarpon on a smart phone when you have a fly rod on one hand and the line in the other.

I tied on another streamer pattern that was in a redfish and speckled trout selection of saltwater flies from  Orvis and after several more casts suffered the same results.   A larger juvenile tarpon of around two feet jumped once and immediately broke off the fly.

During the course of the next hour and a half, I hooked six more juvenile tarpon which broke off after jumping or after making short runs, and had a slot size snook follow this white Conehead Bunny Muddler.

The snook followed the minnow imitation all the way up to the culvert but turned off twice. I guess it saw me?

Anyway, as it started getting toward dusk, I ran out of flies and decided to start pitching a Johnson's Sprite gold spoon that I had on my other rod.

I had two or three bumps on the spoon, but no solid hits.    I believe if I had a smaller sized spoon, I would have caught something, but the 3 1/2" gold spoon just didn't "match the hatch".

As the sun started to set, two guys on the way out asked me what I had caught.   I told them and they replied that they caught a tarpon of about 26" and a small snook, both on a fly.

The mosquitoes were finally driving me crazy, so I packed up, turned the truck around and headed home.

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.

Fishing Port Canaveral

Fishing Port Canaveral isn't my usual forte' but since the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge has been closed until further notice, it seemed the thing to do this Weekend.

I heard from several readers that fishing in and around Port Canaveral was getting better, probably because of the fall baitfish run.  So, after I finished working in our spare beedroom, Karen and I packed some rods,  our two "wonder dogs" and some drinks into the truck and headed for a drive.

We confirmed that the barriers were still up in the refuge and took Banana River Drive to see the scenery along the river.

I was surprised that Paul's Steak House and Corky Belles were both out of business.  Probably because of the crappy economy.

We didn't see many fishermen on the river so we headed down the causeway to Coco Beach.

There were more fishermen on the Banana River but nobody seemed to be catching anything of any consequence.

After we stopped at Micky Ds for some grub, we decided to head to the port to see what was happening there.

It was a pleasant day Saturday and by the time we got to the Port, it was around 5:00 pm; just in time for the party boats to come in.

As we passed the Miss Cape Canaveral, people were unloading their gear but Karen didn't want to stick around and wait for them to unload the fish.

The one guy I spoke to said they did pretty good on the usual bottom species, so we decided to head to the bridge at the boat ramp to see if anybody was fishing there.

The Disney Micky Mouse cruise ship was just leaving port so we stopped to take a few pics and this short video.  You don't realize just how huge these vessels are until you're up close and personal.

At the bridge to the cruise ship basin, several fishermen were dunking cut baits and dead shrimp.     

Although I saw several schools of mullet near the locks, no one was freelining a live bait.

I was thinking about flipping a spoon around the bridge pilings to see what I could stir up but the dogs were driving us crazy so I decided to just make this trip a photo outing.

The guys in the boat with an umbrella were fishing for flounder and as far as I could determine were dunking live mullet.

All the time we were there, only one person caught anything.  She was happy with a sailor's choice.

As we crossed the Banana River towards the house, there were a lot of fishermen along the bank cast netting mullet and fishing.

Apparently the sea wall next to the bridge seems to be a hot spot.

Anyway, Karen and I were both tired so we headed to the comfort of our Hacienda for a good meal.

Till next time,

Tight Lines!

September Fishing In The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

September fishing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge can be productive if you can adjust to the weather.

This afternoon I didn't plan on going out but I decided to see if Shiloh Marsh Road was open.

When I left the house it was around 5:30 pm and by the time I crossed the bridge at the entrance to Shiloh Marsh Road, it had started to rain.

I drove down the road towards the gate and found that the powers that be still had the barrier up.  No motor vehicle traffic today.

On the way out, I noticed some action in the shallow creek that is the northernmost portion of the Indian River Lagoon.  Several casts with a silver spoon, a gold Johnson's Sprite and a Zara Spook Jr. didn't produce any hits, so I decided to head for Bio Lab road where a fellow angler said he caught a tarpon yesterday afternoon.

I started down the road towards Haulover Canal and had to turn around because the bridge was being worked on.  The sign said it would be closed until Sept.6th or the 9th., I'm not sure which.

Anyway, I had to drive down to Titusville to get to Bio Lab road so I did.  I was interested in playing with a tarpon or two.

When I drove to the shallow water boat launch, I was treated to a beautiful rainbow over the Mosquito Lagoon.  I took a few pics and drove around looking for tarpon.

 

After checking out all possibilities, I was sure there were none in the area today.  I saw some ladyfish chasing baitfish in the shallow pond so I pulled out a Chug Bug and managed to catch two before I decided to move on.

September is supposed to be the cooling down month but today the air temp was still in the low 90s until the rain dropped it into the 80s.  It was hot and balmy.

I decided to hit Peacocks Pocket on the way home and entered the eastern entrance.  As I drove past the kayak launching area, I saw the only other fishermen other than myself in the refuge today. 

The two guys were tossing Chug Bugs into the marsh canal at the first set of culverts and were not catching anything that I could see. 

I started fishing with the gold Johnson's Sprite and after not getting any hits, I changed over to a frog pattern Chug Bug.

It started blowing too hard to make a decent presentation with the top water bait, so I changed rods and fished the gold spoon for the balance of the time I was in the refuge..

I caught a couple of ladyfish and two sea trout that just made the slot, and released them all to grow up and fight another day.

It was tough fishing this afternoon but at least I didn't get skunked.

As the rain started, I decided to head home, get something to eat and watch Breaking Bad.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Dog Days Fishing In The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Well it was definitely dog days fishing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge this evening.

After working around the house all day, I was dog tired but not beat up enough to pass up the possibility of catching a redfish or big sea trout in the refuge.

I left the house at a little after 6:00 pm and headed straight to the closest entrance to Peacocks Pocket road.

The air temperature when I left the house was 92 degrees and there was no wind blowing.

When I got to the entrance of Peacocks Pocket road the air temperature dropped down to 82 degrees and a light wind was blowing across the Indian River.

Compared to the heat we endured all day, it was down right pleasant.

Although I brought my usual array of rods, I decided to fish with top water Chug Bugs and gold spoons to eliminate smaller fish.

I briefly fished a few ditches with a gold Johnson The Original Sprite Spoon and picked up a ladyfish and an undersized sea trout.

As I was pulling the fish out of the water, I noticed a big gator under a bush on the opposite bank that was getting interested in what I was doing.  I took a couple of pics and decided to move on up the road.

Fishing was much easier this evening because the powers that be finally mowed both sides of the unimproved road.

The high grass caused me to lose almost as many fish as I landed.  Anyway, since it was getting late, I headed towards a shallow pond in the marsh where I missed some nice sea trout last week.

There were a flock of roseate spoonbills feeding in the area but there were also fish busting baits on the surface so I started pitching a black back/silver Chug Bug around the ditch.

My second cast hooked me up briefly with a small sea trout that flipped off after the first jump.

Two casts later and I landed a small ladyfish on the same Chug Bug.

I decided to pass on the smaller fish and try for another gator trout in a small pond farther up the road.

When I got to the spot I started pitching the Johnson's spoon from the opposite shallow flat across a dropoff where I usually pick up some fish.

I had a couple of bumps but no hookups so I switched back to the Chug Bug.

It was getting late and I stupidly stepped onto an ant hill.  The nasty buggers bit the hell out of my feet before I knew they were there so I pulled off my sneakers and continued fishing.

After several casts I was about to call it a day but I decided to try the "one last cast" and I'm glad I did.

I pitched the Chug Bug as far out into the middle of the pond as I could towards where a fish blasted some baitfish.  The lure didn't travel more than two rod lengths before a nice sized sea trout blasted the bait.

The fish put up a nice fight and I could tell there was some weight on it as I slowly steered it to the bank.

I had to skinny down the bank to land the fish and would up in the water.  I gilled the fish and took these pics before releasing it to fight another day.

The fish measured in at 23 inches and was a nice female loaded with eggs.

I went back down the bank and revived the fish and watched it slowly swim off into the coffee stained water.

The mosquitoes were beginning to get nasty and I was still stinging from the ant bites so when my wife called me to tell me it was getting dark, I didn't argue.  I just headed for the hacienda.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Another Windy Saturday Afternoon In The Swamp

Another windy Saturday afternoon in the swamp hunting for reds and sea trout.

This afternoon I didn't get a chance to hit the river until about 3:30 pm.

The air temperature was a pleasant  70 degrees and the wind was blowing enough to make casting a problem in most areas.

I packed up a few rods and decided to target sea trout in the swamp area of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

It would have been a stellar day to hit the Mosquito Lagoon flats but my boat and trailer is being worked on by the Float On manufacturer in Vero.

Driving into the refuge, I had to stop to take a few pics of the beautiful rosette spoonbills that were feeding in the area.

 The refuge is a great place for "birders" especially during the early months of spring.

Since I got a late start, I didn't bother to bring along my cast net and instead decided to fish spoons and paddle tail baits to cover more water.

I stopped by the first set of culverts going toward Peacocks Pocket road and tied on a Johnson Sprite gold spoon.

The first cast hooked me up with a juvenile sea trout that was just a tad bit bigger than my spoon.

Oh well, a fish is a fish!

I proceeded up Peacocks Pocket road to scout the area and for a while I thought that the small sea trout would be my only fish.

Since nothing was moving around much along the banks, I started blind casting with the gold spoon to several areas that looked promising.

At my third "honey hole" I finally hooked up with another under slot sea trout that I promptly released.

The wind wasn't letting up and it was hard to keep the spoon from skipping on the surface so I changed rods to start fishing a Fire Tiger pattern Bagley swim bait.

I had several more taps and missed several more sea trout before moving up to a spot where I knew harbored some nice redfish.

I switched back to the Johnson Sprite gold spoon and after several casts into a small pond area at a drop off, I got a good hit from another sea trout that acted a lot like a red.

This fish was a keeper and after a brief fight I put it in the cooler for dinner.

The wind was dying down a bit and a couple of oversize redfish were busting baits outside of casting distance so I decided to give it up for the afternoon and head for home.

The sun was beginning to set and it was getting chilly, so I took a few photographs of the sunset and packed it in for the day.

Although it was just another windy Saturday afternoon in the swamp, at least I didn't get skunked.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Another Great Day Fishing The Cold Fronts In December

My wife and I went out earlier than usual Wednesday to enjoy the beautiful weather and catch a few redfish.

We scouted several areas around the Mosquito Lagoon and decided on fishing the Indian River marsh areas where we usually have some success.

The temperature was in the low 70s and there was almost no wind to speak of. The water was like glass in the shallows and in the middle of the river, only a slight chop.

The alligators were out in force sunning themselves on the banks.  This is probably why there were so many visitors in the refuge today.  It looked like "Grand Central" with all the traffic.

I rigged a pencil float on Karen's rod with a 4/0 hook. She was using frozen shrimp while I opted for my favorite beat up Bagley gold spoon.

Because the water was so calm, I didn't really expect to catch many fish, so we slowly drove around Peacocks Pocket road from the first entrance to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge looking for signs of fish activity.

All I spotted were some cute little diving ducks that looked like feeding redfish.

We finally stopped at one of our favorite spots and started fishing.  I started fan casting in deeper water, working my gold Bagley spoon as slowly as possible and Karen cast her shrimp close to a weedy island.

Since a cold front came through the area yesterday when I was fishing Playalinda Beach, I correctly assumed that the water temperature dropped and the fish would start heading for deeper water.

Redfish and sea trout get sluggish during colder weather and don't like to chase after speeding baits.

My strategy was apparently right on because after a few casts, I hooked up to a nice 17" sea trout that I unceremoniously dragged from the marsh canal, just as a man and his dog were walking by.

Bob and his neat dog "Buck" stopped and we chatted a while about fishing the marsh and a couple of other areas I didn't know about.

He said that fishermen were now catching big Black Drum in Haulover Canal at the entrance to the Mosquito Lagoon.

Bob and Buck had walked all the way from the new bridge past where we were fishing and was on his way back when I picked up another sea trout that was a clone to the first one.

The sea trout were holding in deeper water and were viciously nailing the gold spoon on a slow drop.

I caught a couple more fish before we moved on to try a few other areas.

The trout were cooperating but we couldn't find any redfish until we came to "Bobcat Bay".

Karen parked herself at a culvert and tossed out her shrimp bait, while I walked around the bend to fish the Indian River side of the road.

It was getting late and the temperature was dropping. It was in the high 50s before I finally got a hit from a redfish.

The fish nailed my spoon on a slow drop but I missed the strike. Several casts later in the same general area I again had a tap on the spoon.

This time I jerked too soon and missed the fish, but as I quickly reeled in to re-cast, the fish swirled around and hit the spoon a second time. 

This time it hooked itself and took off like a shot but after only a couple of feet, the hook pulled loose.

As the big redfish swam by me only a few feet away in about a foot of water, I could see that it was well over 30" long.

I was going to keep fishing but Karen drove the truck up to where I was and wanted to move.

It was getting really cold and I didn't have my jacket on so we decided to call it a day.

Karen hooked a couple of fish but lost one that swam under a rock and another that made for a stickup and pulled loose.
.
For a change we left the refuge early and saw several more gators on the way out.

The sunset this evening was awesome as you can see by the pics below.

 

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Reds In October

The best time to fish for Reds in October is whenever you can get out to do it!

My wife and I took Elmo out for our Saturday outing to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on the north Indian River lagoon to see if we could catch some redfish.

The weather was a pleasant 75 degrees and there was a brisk wind blowing most of the afternoon which made casting a challenge.

We went out about 2:30 p.m. and stopped at a couple culverts to cast net some finger mullet but today there were none to be had.

Undaunted, I decided to use artificial lures and fortunately Karen brought along some fresh jumbo shrimp to use in case we didn't net up any live bait.

We fished at a couple of stops along Peacocks Pocket road and neither one of us got a hit

The water levels in the marsh were at the highest levels I've seen this year and what had been dry mud flats this summer were now under at least a foot of water.  This is where the redfish were feeding.

The next stop was in an area like this.  I was using a gold Bagley spoon with a red tag and Karen was using shrimp under a chartreuse  clacker bobber.

On the fourth cast I missed what I thought was a nice redfish and two casts later I hooked up with a nice fat 24" redfish that belted the spoon right in the weeds.

 

 The fish put up a nice fight on the 10# rig I was using and after landing it and taking the pics below, I returned it to fight another day.

Several more casts later I had another hit but missed the red.  Karen wasn't having much fun casting into the wind and the alligator below was getting too interested in what we were doing so we decided to move on up the road to a more sheltered spot.

We stopped briefly at the "duck blind" where Karen missed a redfish.  I fished both sides of the road without getting a hit so we decided to move to another spot.

 

At the next spot, I dropped Karen off and walked back to fish about a 150 yard stretch of weed lines in the marsh.

After about two dozen unproductive casts, I finally nailed another sassy redfish.  The fish was a clone to the first one I caught and after taking it's picture, I released it to fight another day.

Karen missed two redfish and I missed two fish that were probably reds right in the weeds.

It was starting to get chilly and the wind never did let up much so we decided to call it a day and get an earlier start tomorrow.

There is a redfish tournament next week in this area and for good reason.  Fishing for Reds in October for me is the best time of the year.

The temperature makes for comfortable fishing, the mosquitoes aren't out in force and the fish are generally more active before the colder weather sets in.

Till next time, Tight Lines!

Indian River Fishing Report For Week of August 20, 2011

This Indian River fishing report is for the week of August 20, 2011. 

The water levels in both lagoon systems has risen over the last couple of weeks and has opened up some fishing areas, particularly in the marsh areas,  that were previously on dry land.

The best bite has been early in the morning for sea trout that are targeting the schools of bait fish that can now be found in good numbers in both the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River.

Top water plugs or a live ladyfish or finger mullet free lined on the surface will get the larger fish.

As the water gets warmer in the late morning, the trout have been moving into the 3 and 4 foot depths around large pot holes and over the sea grass.

You can catch them using a variety of baits but the one "do nothing" rig that works well that my wife Karen swears by, is a Cajun Thunder clacking bobber rig with either a D.O.A. shrimp or a plastic paddle tail bait under about 12" to 18" of fluorocarbon leader.

The D.O.A. Deadly Combo Lure, Oval Float, Gold Glitter works just as well and is less expensive but be sure to use a loop knot when you fish it and give the bait time to settle between jerks.

Flip the rig out and twitch it.  When the bobber sits upright in the water,  wait a second or two and twitch it again.  Every time it flips upright, the shrimp drops slowly to the bottom and this is usually when you get the hit.

This rig is really deadly using live shrimp.

The grass beds that are in 3 to 5 feet of water in the northern part of the Indian River are loaded with good sized sea trout right now and there's not much fishing pressure in this area.

I've got a few reports about the Dummit Cove area being full of big sea trout feeding over the grass beds and some guys catching nice sized redfish in the shallows throughout that area.

The grass flats that parallel the Western shore of the Indian River from Titusville north have always been a relatively under fished area for schools of big redfish in depths from 1 to 3 feet

Some really big redfish in the 30 pound plus class are now being caught on the flats south of Titusville by sight fishermen.  I talked to a couple of guys at The Fly Fisherman who pick them off with Dahlberg Divers.

These fish are spooky right now and require longer casts with lighter line.

The eastern shores of the Indian River in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge from  Peacocks Pocket south, is still hot for redfish in the shallows and sea trout in the early mornings and late evening.

My wife and I have only been able to get out just before dusk but we have been spotting some really big redfish and sea trout throughout this area.

Again the best baits are live finger mullet, ladyfish, D.O.A. jerkbaits or top water baits.

Yesterday evening we picked up several trout, a garfish and missed three over sized redfish in only a little over an hour of fishing. 

I caught the trout on top water STORM Rattlin' Chug Bug - 3.25" - Gizzard Shad and missed all the reds on large finger mullet.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get more time on the water on Sunday.

Till then, Tight Lines.

Fishing Peacocks Pocket Road

Fishing Peacocks Pocket road is becoming a habit for me and my wife.

Every Friday evening after I return home from work I'm usually jonesing to go fishing and the closest place is the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge around Peacocks Pocket road.

The thunderstorms this afternoon died down at about 5:30 p.m. so we packed up a few rods, netted some bait and headed for a couple of our favorite spots.

Our first stop netted me a couple slot sized sea trout. One was caught on a live finger mullet and the other on a CAL DOA white paddle tail bait fished just off the bottom.

The water was almost dead calm this afternoon and longer casts generated more hits than the usual lobs I use when fishing this area.

There were plenty of finger mullet in the marsh side of the road and because of last weeks incessant rains, the water levels were up a bit from where they were last week.

Karen was fishing live finger mullet for a change and when we were almost out of bait changed over to 6" live ladyfish.

At our second stop, Karen missed a nice redfish that ate her finger mullet and pulled off.

Several minutes later she hooked this nice slot size 20" sea trout on a free lined ladyfish, which she promptly released.

At our second stop I missed a nice redfish and landed another slot size sea trout that I also released.

A couple stopped to talk to me about the fishing and the bird life in the area and while I was talking to them, I didn't realize I was standing on an anthill.

As they left, I started feeling real pain in my leg all the way up to my crotch as the angry ants chewed away at me. I got rid of my sneakers and swatted away the ants but I was in real agony for awhile.

It was getting late but we continued to fish even though I was feeling miserable from the ant bites and just as I was ready to ask Karen to call it a day, she missed another redfish on a live ladyfish.

We finally decided to give it up and come back tomorrow for another try.

As we were leaving, I stopped to talk to the only other fisherman we saw in the preserve. I noticed him casting a CAL type jerkbait up the road from where we were fishing and decided to ask if he had any luck.

He told me he caught three sea trout and two smaller redfish which he released. I didn't get his name but I did give him the name of this website.

Jokingly, he asked me if I wanted to by his flats boat. He said he didn't need it with the fishing as good as it was in this area.

I told him that I have a Maverick I seldom use, for exactly the same reason.

One this is for sure, fishing Peacocks Pocket road is getting better if you know how to fish it and hit it at the right time.

I'll never get over the beautiful sunsets.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Fishing The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge After Discovery

The Discovery space shuttle launch this Thursday drew a lot of out of town visitors to the Kennedy Space Center.

Many of these visitors also took advantage of the great weather to fish the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River.

This evening when I got home from my work, I was ready to go fishing even though I had just finished driving 3 1/2 hours.

We loaded our gear, along with Elmo our wonder dog and headed for the closest Refuge entrance.

There was definitely a lot of traffic this afternoon in the Wildlife Refuge; no doubt from the shuttle launch.

I dismissed my first thought of fishing Gator Creek and instead headed past Catfish Creek Loop.

Our first couple of stops didn't yield anything, but our third stop looked very promising.

There were small bait fish milling around the shallows in the marsh canal and some larger bait fish in the Indian River side, farther out from shore.

Karen started fishing with a large frozen shrimp and I started casting my favorite hammered gold spoon.

After about a dozen or more casts, I quickly realized that the spoon was not going to work and when I lost it on a stickup, I decided to change baits.

I picked up a green, red eyed, DOA jig head and threaded a watermelon colored Strike King jerkbait onto the business end.

Two casts later to the opposite bank yielded a barely legal "rat" redfish.

As I pulled the fish out from the brush along the bank, I saw that Karen was also fighting what looked like a decent fish on her rod.

When I got closer, I helped her get her fish out from the brush along the bank and got my Nikon from the truck to document the catch.

Her redfish was larger than mine by a few hairs but even though they were legal, we released them to grow up and fight another day.



Since it was getting late, we decided to keep fishing the area we were in instead of jump fishing the rest of the road.

I had two more really good hits before the bite stopped completely.

I walked about 30 yards down the road and saw a swirl that looked like a redfish targeting minnows in the shallows.

I eased a cast across the opposite bank and gingerly pulled the lure into the water. It didn't go more than three feet before a nice fish hit the bait and jumped clear of the water.

It was one of those times I wish I had a video camera on a tripod taking footage of the action.

After a decent fight, I landed the fish which turned out to be a nice 20" sea trout.

The fish inhaled the lure so deep and was bleeding so badly, that I decided to keep the fish for dinner.

Next to blackened redfish, I love sea trout fillets for dinner.

Because it was getting close to dark, the mosquitoes were getting really nasty. Poor Elmo barricaded himself in the back seat of the truck to get away from the pesky critters.

There were so many insects in the air, that a huge flock of swallows came into the area to feast on them. For a short time the scene was reminiscent to Hitchock's "The Birds" and I managed to get a brief clip of them here.

Anyway, Karen missed two more fish and I picked up a couple more taps before we decided to call it a day.

All in all it was a good late afternoon fishing trip. We were both happy with our catch and the beautiful weather.

After I get my work around the house done tomorrow, I hope to at least duplicate this evenings trip in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Till next time,

Tight Lines!

Indian River Lagoon Fishing - The Fishing Is Getting Better!

Late Friday, my wife and our wonder dog Elmo took me fishing on the Indian River near Peacocks Pocket.

The wind was blowing just enough to make fishing difficult but not enough to prevent anybody from trying their luck.

The unimproved road was crowded with fishermen trying to catch whatever they could catch.

My wife used her tried and proven dead shrimp, Cajun Thunder rig for redfish and I used a variety of soft baits trying to get a trout or two to bite.

After fishing only about 15 minutes, I picked up a nice keeper trout on a Mann's soft bodied lure that resembles a small mud minnow.

I missed several more trout and because of the wind, decided to trade my spinning reel for my Nikon Cool Pix 8700 camera and take some pics of the beautiful birds in the area.

There were white pelicans, roseatte spoonbills, storks, all kinds of ducks, herons, and egrets all over the place feeding and just having a great time in the shallow marsh area.

Some of the pics are here for your enjoyment.



My wife gave up fishing at her favorite spot, when a 10 foot alligator decided to check out what she was doing.



For some reason the redfish were not in the same area that she caught her red in last week, so after an hour or so without any action, we decided to call it a day.

I hope I never get used to the scenery in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Till next time,

Tight Lines!