A Missile Launch And A Gator Trout In One Outing!

Went back to the north end of the Indian River Lagoon to try for some juvenile tarpon that I couldn't get to eat yesterday.

On the way in, I netted some large finger mullet, and a small ladyfish, for some insurance against fish that hate artificial lures.

As sure as the sun rises, I didn't see one blessed tarpon!

Instead I got an unplanned video of a satellite launch that was supposed to go yesterday, but was rescheduled due to weather conditions.

My wife and I tried everything to get something to bite and had absolutely no luck until we moved farther south.

We hit a stretch where some large snook were busting up on bait fish. My artificials were not doing me any good, so I tied on a lively 6" finger mullet. After about five minutes, something took my mullet in the small canal, and kept on going, only to spit it out.

That was the last bite I had all afternoon! I guess I just wasn't holding my mouth right.

On the last stop, my wife tied on a dead shrimp under a Cajun Thunder rig, and I kept on chucking my artificials. Well the results are below.

She caught a hefty 24" almost gator trout. I'm holding up the respectable fish because my wife suddenly got camera shy. To make a long story short; I still didn't get another bite all day.

Well I guess that's why they call it fishing and not catching!

I might try again tomorrow after I mow the lawn.

Tight lines to you all!

North Indian Lagoon River Fishing Report

This Friday afternoons fishing expedition proved to be pretty frustrating to say the least.
The water temperature was high and on the river side of the lagoon the water was up due to the rainfall this past week.

My wife and I fished primarily on the marsh side of Shiloh road, with little success. The water was like glass, the fish were spooky but they were feeding.

This is one trip that I tried literally every lure I had with me, with no success.

My primary target were the small tarpon and very large gator trout that I spotted in the northern part of the marsh.



There were 4 or 5 tarpon rolling, and smacking something on the surface, that I could not match with my lure selection. I tried jerk baits, top water skitter walks, jigs with gulp baits, feather jigs, creme swim baits and even my favorite D.O.A. shrimp in several colors.

All I got for my efforts was a severe case of mosquito bites and loss of blood to the little buggers.

My wife tried for several redfish that she spotted down the dirt road from where I was fishing, and had exactly the same luck that I did.

The fish were not eating what we were offering.

It looked like the tarpon were eating newly hatch fish fry of some unknown species, but even the small jigs I used to "match the hatch" didn't do any good.



With a sore arm from casting and blood loss to the mosquitoes, we left just at dusk and on the way out tried one last favorite spot.

My wife scored a trout on a dead shrimp under a popping cork and I still remained fish less.

Oh well, the scenery was great, the roseate spoonbills were in, and the sunset was awesome!

Here are some pics of the evening trip. We plan on trying again with some live bait if possible. I want one of those tarpon.


Until next time, tight lines!

North Indian River Fishing Report

The shuttle launch, that was scheduled for Saturday morning at the Cape, forced the closure of the dirt roads in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Preserve that parallel the northeast shores of the northern Indian River.

These closures included the Peacock Pocket road, SR 406, Black Point Wildlife Preserve road, Playalinda Beach road, Bio Lab road and the road to the boat ramp at Haulover Canal. The latter was closed due to paving.

The closures remain in effect until the shuttle actually launches, which is expected to happen early Wednesday morning.

These closures put a damper on the fishing for a lot of wade and bank fishermen in the area, The areas that were available accessible were pretty crowded.

My wife and I fished a "secret" area we found on Saturday with the results already posted HERE.

We erroneously assumed that the Shiloh Marsh road, from A1A to Kennedy Parkway, would also be closed; but we were wrong.

The road had not been open since before the waterfowl hunting season last fall, but this Sunday, the cables were down.

Due to the many pot holes in the drive and the primitive road conditions, this area is never overly populated. Wheel alignments aren't cheap these days.

My wife, Elmo the wonder dog, and I got a late start Sunday, and began randomly fishing the flowing culverts all the way through Shiloh road.

We spotted several large redfish in the river side, but they were beyond casting distance. The water running through the culverts produced lots of trout. Baitfish were all being jumped by the trout, and the trout were being jumped by me.

I was using green D.O.A. jig heads and jerk bait bodies in several sizes and colors. White produced the most strikes, which occurred on almost every other cast.

I caught and missed trout, and the fishing was fast and furious until we lost the light. Unfortunately, the one time I really wanted to capture the sunset and pictures of the fish, I forgot my Nikon Coolpix at home.

It should be noted, that this is the most northern part of the Indian River. It is very shallow water, and the area is noted for bull redfish, huge gator trout, and when the water gets a bit warmer; tarpon up to 100 lbs.

Most people overlook the area, but believe me, it's a sleeper for big fish.

I plan to have another go at the area next weekend, if the good lord willing.

Until then, tight lines!

North Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

The North Indian River Lagoon area north of Mims, Fl., is definitely the place to catch a heavyweight redfish this time of year.

The unusually shallow water levels of this past fall and winter are slowly disappearing and giving way to freshly covered grass and mud flats.

The dried mudflat areas are now covered with water deep enough for the large bull redfish in the area, to charge into for an easy meal of crabs, mud minnows and anything else they can get their maws around. The most active feeding time seems to be in the late afternoon and evenings.

Although the reds in the Mosquito Lagoon are longer, and are more within the slot limits, the bruisers in the north Indian River Lagoon are bulkier and weigh well over 40 pounds.

The Scottsmoor landing area is producing bull redfish as well as the 5 to 10 pound redfish that are seen tailing in medium to large sized schools, and an occasional single.

The start of the spring mullet run has made the redfish aggressive towards top water lures. My favorites are a silver and black "chug bug" and black and gold "skitter walk" plugs. A D.O.A. jerk bait rigged weedless, without a keel sinker on the hook, is also an all time favorite of mine.

My wife usually uses dead shrimp or mullet and does quite well, especially later on in the season.

The lush grass flats between Titusville, Fl. and the north end of the Indian River are famous for sight fishing for the tailing redfish as well as the gator trout that stake out their ambush spots around the sandy potholes.

I have gotten reports of sow gator trout that were caught on top water lures that weighed in at over 13 pounds this past week. Ten pounders are routinely caught in these waters and I believe the world record was also caught in the Indian River Lagoon.

For those of you not in the know, these fish can exceed 30 inches in length. It's no wonder that the Indian River Lagoon is noted as an exceptional area for these early spring tackle busters.

All this talk makes me want to go fishing. It is late Sunday afternoon; So, I think I will!

Tight lines.