Shiloh Marsh Road Fishing Trip

My wife and I decided to take our wonder dog Elmo for a trip to the North Indian River Shiloh Marsh Road area to see what we could pick up for dinner.

After I mowing the lawn and getting drenched by a mid afternoon thundershower, I was more than ready willing and eager to get some fishing in.

Because the wind was blowing in from the northeast; we opted to fish the Indian River's Shiloh Marsh Rd area instead of the flats around Mosquito Lagoon's Bio Lab road.

It had been raining and the road was sloppy, but we hoped that the rain would promote the redfish bite, so we plodded on looking for signs of fish.

I noticed some finger mullet activity in the very shallow waters on the marsh side of the road so we stopped to try our luck.

Another fisherman and his family stopped to see how we were doing and after talking to him a bit, discovered that he was a reader of this website. Small world!

I should have gotten his name but I didn't think about it at the time. Anyway, he was definitely in the right area to fish, especially with the kayak or canoe he had in his truck. I'm not sure which it was.

He left and we continued fishing.

My wife put on her usual dead shrimp under a Cajun Thunder bobber rig and I tried a Johnson gold spoon.

After several casts without even a follow, I tied on a top water Zara Spook Jr. that looked like a pretty good imitation of the silver mullet in the shallows. Several casts later, I lost the lure to the swamp.

After a few choice cuss words, I decided to try a frozen finger mullet that we brought along from our last trip. I cut the tail off and stabbed it several times to get the "juices" flowing and pitched it into the area I though there should be redfish.

Meanwhile, my wife called out to me that she had caught a trout. I put my Okuma bait runner on free-line and went over to where she was fishing to help her out and take a couple of pictures.

The slot sized trout looked like dinner to me, but my wife wanted me to release it, so like any obliging husband I acquiesced to her wishes.

The water was high and both redfish and sea trout were in extremely shallow waters chasing down mullet and other crustaceans.

I walked farther down the road after spotting a redfish chasing something in water that was less than 6" deep. He was tailing and sloshing around enough for me to shoot the finger mullet right into the swirl.

The fish immediately picked up the bait and started running down the narrow creek. After a respectable battle and several strong runs, I finally managed to lip it out of the water.

The fish was gut hooked so deep that I decided to make fish sandwiches out of it. It measured out at 26" which was just enough for my wife and I to eat for dinner.

We moved out to another prime area where an open culvert was flowing. Karen chucked out her rig and I put on another gold spoon and started casting. I had a few hits from what probably were small trout and my wife lost another trout on her rig.

Since I already had my fish, I pulled out my Nikon CoolPix 8700 and started taking pics of the awesome sunset you get to see here.




There were some nice trout feeding in the running culvert but my wife was fishing the other side and I was just enjoying the sunset.

After losing some baits to trout, we decided to call it an evening and head for home.

Hope you enjoy the pics and until next time; Tight Lines!

Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing Report For August 2010

Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing has been explosive during the full moon and is expected to continue throughout the month of August.

Fish the potholes in all the flats early in the morning and later on in the evening towards dusk and look for schools of bait fish on the surface getting pounded by schools of redfish and large trout. Getting out on the water before first light is essential if you want to see a lot of action.

Unless the weather is overcast, the early morning bite will only last until a couple of hours and usually you can go home for a late breakfast without losing any quality fishing time.

The North Indian River near Scottsmoor has been especially productive for larger sized sea trout and a few nice gator trout, for those of us who like to "walk the dog" using small top water baits.

Any top water lure that resembles a struggling finger mullet will get you plenty of action on the grass flats early in the morning at first light and later on towards sunset.

I'm partial to the small size Zara Spook Jr, Chug Bug, and Rapala Skitter Walk. I recently started using the Donka Donk with some success in the smaller size, when my bum shoulder allows me to toss them.

Most of the trout during the upcoming month will be in the 3# to 6# range, however you can still run into a 9# - 10# plus Sow Gator trout if you get out early, night fish, and practice stealth fishing tactics.

In the Indian River north of Titusville, redfish measuring well over 30 inches have been caught and released during the early mid morning hours in shallow depths of less than three feet.

August is the month when you can see thousands of Bull Redfish in 50 to over 100 fish shcools
in water just 2 to 3 feet deep.

The lower water conditions during August make the drop offs just off the shallow flats the best bet for finding redfish schools of 40" plus fish.

Yesterday at the Mims boat launch, I talked to several fishermen who all scored redfish in the over 40" category. They were using top water plugs before first light and switched to gold spoons and live pigfish as the morning progressed.

There were several small schools of large reds and some singles, moving mostly around the east side of the river, north and south of Mims above the railroad bridge.

Bank bait fishermen can catch them with blue crabs, pigfish, cut ladyfish, pinfish, finger mullet, or artificials.

DOA lures in the "hot chicken" and darker colors work well, as do Gold Crocodile or Johnson Sprite spoons, Bass Assassin or DOA jerk baits with gold color, DOA or Blurp shrimp in gold or root beer color, and of course the top water Zara Spooks or Skitter Walks in gold or black and silver colors.

A medium action 7' rod loaded with 10# braid and about 3 feet of 15# fluorocarbon leader will give you a rush with these bull reds.

When sight fishing for these bull redfish, be quiet and patient. They spook easily in shallow water and have seen every type of bait known to fishermen at one time or another. That's how they get this big!

Haulover Canal will be a hotspot for oversized bull reds this coming month. The fish use the canal as a marine Interstate Highway between the Mosquito Lagoon and the north Indian River.

During the hot weather the fish congregate in the mouth of the canal and can be caught using blue crabs, whole ladyfish, pigfish, grunt, live pinfish or mullet and by jigging gold spoons off the bottom. Haulover Canal is always good fishing, but August is a prime month.

Last weekend, my wife and our wonder dog Elmo stopped by Haulover as an alternate fishing spot to Shiloh Road and spotted some trout and a large snook busting baitfish along the north bank in very shallow water.

We didn't do any serious fishing but I still picked up some small mangrove snapper and trout on shrimp.

Farther south, the sea trout bite on the Banana River on the west side of the thousand islands around Coco Beach has been phenomenal and will continue through August.

Right now the guides I know are reporting 60 to over 100 trout catches per trip.

Skitter walks, #8 size XRaps, and DOA shrimp under a bobber or Cajun Thunder rigs are producing early and late.

Fly fishermen are also scarfing up on the trout using pink or chartreuse Clouser Minnows.

I can't wait for my rotator cuff to heal up so I can get back to some serious fishing, but until then; Tight Lines to All!