October Marsh Fishing

October marsh fishing usually picks up when water temperatures start to drop.

This month the water table in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge has risen considerably and the areas where I normally catch fish this time of the year aren't as productive.

The redfish and larger sea trout are feeding in the newly flooded shallows chasing finger mullet, eating crabs and other crustaceans.

Because of time constraints, I didn't get a chance to do any real fishing this weekend.

Friday night Karen and I took Elmo our "wonder dog" out for a spin in the marsh just to see what was shaking. We were surprised at the number of people out there fishing and taking pictures.

The sunset was beautiful enough for me to take these photos.

       

 

Unfortunately, the fishing wasn't so great. Karen had a couple of hits and I never got a bite.

I started out using a gold spoon to locate fish and after a while switched to a jerk bait.

Karen was using dead jumbo shrimp and later we both changed over to live finger mullet.

We fished about an hour and a half until the mosquitoes drove us off.

Saturday, I spent most of the day working around the house and trying to fix our riding lawn mower's steering.

We didn't get out until about six in the afternoon and the water was dead calm on both the river side and marsh side of the road.

We saw four fishermen in the area and the only people who were catching anything were an older couple fishing at the "duck blind", a spot Karen and I occasionally frequent.

The gentleman had just landed an upper slot redfish that he caught on a live finger mullet.

All his wife could say was "finally"!

Saturday evening's sunset was awesome as you can see from the pics below.

 

Hopefully, next week the water levels will be down a bit and the fish will come back out of the shallows into their normal feeding areas.

Till next time.

Tight Lines.

Early October Marsh Fishing

October marsh fishing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge usually picks up when the weather starts to get cooler.

Because the water levels are above normal for this time of year, the redfish and sea trout are foraging around the weedy islands chasing bait fish into the shallows and up onto the grassy shorelines.

If you can cast a weedless spoon, jerk bait or top water plug into these grassy areas, there is a good chance you will hook up with a nice red or sea trout.

On Saturday afternoon, Karen, Elmo and I decided to fish Gator Creek and run Peacocks Pocket road.

The weather was great. It was a cool 77 degrees but there was a gusty wind blowing that made casting into the marsh areas extremely challenging.

Gator Creek was loaded with finger mullet schools that were being blasted by either redfish or trout.

I tried several artificial lures without any success and Karen didn't even bother baiting up with her go to fresh dead shrimp bait.

We stopped at several likely looking places along the Pocket road, but casting in most of the areas proved to be next to impossible.

We finally stopped at a location where I saw some fish pushing surface wakes.

Karen pitched out a Billy Bay bobber baited with a jumbo shrimp and I started pitching a gold Bagley hammered spoon.

I missed one redfish and had a couple of bumps that were probably small sea trout.

Meanwhile Karen yelled to me that she hooked a redfish.

I picked up the camera and took this short video of her slot fish. It was gut hooked so we decided to take it home for dinner.

Instead of the wind dying down like it usually does in the evening; it continued to make casting difficult.

I couldn't stand being eaten by the mosquitoes any longer and the bite slowed down, so I asked Karen if she had enough for one day.

She was also being bitten up so we packed our gear and made a hasty departure.

The fish were definitely all over the area this afternoon but the conditions made it hard to detect a bite.

I know I missed at least four fish that swirled around my lure but I never felt the hits.

Anyway, till next time.

Tight Lines!