Pocket Road Mini Slam

Finally got out this afternoon to wet a line in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge around Peacock Pocket Road.

It was around 3:00 pm when I pulled up to the barrier at the lower end of Peacocks Pocket and the air temperature was a cool 90 degrees.

I originally planned to fish Bio Lab Road at the southern end near Pelican Island but when I drove into Gator Creek Road, I decided to walk Pocket Road instead.

There is a lot of vegetation around the banks of the road making casting and landing a fish pretty tough.  Here are a few pics of the area to let you know how difficult the fishing can be.

I was using soft Creme paddletail baits, a Tsunami shrimp, and a small Chug Bug to cover the entire water column.

After tossing lures in several spots prior to parking at the barrier without any action, a walk up the road seemed like a good idea.   I figured I would get my walking in for the day and maybe catch a few decent fish.

My first cast around the culverts hooked me up with a dink rat redfish like the one below.  

The little fish hit the paddletail bait at the bank near the culvert and put up a short fight before I released it to grow up.  

There are a lot of oversize reds that cruise the shoreline along the road, but they are not usually active until dusk or at daybreak.  During the heat of the day I didn't expect to catch any lunkers.

I continued fishing up the road in several spots where I could cast the soft bait and managed to hook into a couple of dink sea trout like the one below.

I lost three more trout around the brush at the bank before hooking into this snook.

The fish hit the lure at the bank and put up a decent fight before I could land and release it.  The snook was in the 20 inch plus category which is unusual for this area.

As I walked down the road tossing baits into areas where I could without getting hung up, I managed to get several more hookups but the fish kept getting off in the heavy brush along the bank.

When I got a relatively clean area near a small pond where I used to catch some nice redfish before the road was closed, I hooked into another snook that I managed to land and release.  The fish wrapped around some submerged brush twice, but each time I gave it slack and it pulled off without breaking off.

This fish was a bit smaller but good sport to catch and release.  

I continued casting the area and lost another sea trout before hooking into a ladyfish that jumped all over the place before I could land and release it.

As the bite stopped I moved up the road to another secluded spot and hooked into another trout that broke off my lure in the brush.  This was my last paddletail bait so I decided to head back to the truck and head home.

With the heat and skinning up and down the bank to get a good casting spot to fish, I was pretty beat.  I had walked about two miles down Peacocks Pocket road and had not brought any water along to rehydrate, so heading back seemed a prudent option.

When I got back to the culvert at the barrier, I was soaked with sweat and light headed.

The air conditioner in the truck was definitely a live saver today.

All in all I had a productive day on the water.  I managed an inshore "mini slam" of redfish, sea trout, snook, and ladyfish, if you count them.

Not Bad....

Till next time,

Tight Lines.