Peacocks Pocket Road Is Closed

As you can see by the signs below, Peacocks Pocket Road is closed again for the waterfowl hunting season until February 15th .

 

The annual closure that began several years ago is an aggravation to anglers who like to fish the area during the winter months, but it does have the benefit of easing up on the fishing pressure.

The reds, sea trout and black drum in the wildlife refuge get beat to death during the rest of the year and since I have been fishing the area, I have noticed a declline in the amount of fish and how easy they are to catch.

Catfish Creek Loop is still open to the public and is also a good area for reds, sea trout and especially Black Drum.

The water in the marsh area is up and many areas that are normally above water are now submerged.

When I took Elmo and Odie for a drive through the area today, I stopped to ask several fishermen how they were doing.  Most were just enjoying the weather and only one lady angler said she was catching fish.

When I stopped to talk to her, she told me she caught a couple of barely legal redfish on live shrimp.  She released both fish and was in the process of rigging up a top water plug to try a change of pace.

The area she was fishing holds some nice black drum, and during the spring, sea trout.

I bid her farewell and wished her luck before driving around the rest of the refuge.

Live or fresh dead shrimp is the bait of choice this time of the year for black drum, redfish and sea trout.  Cut baits will still produce but with the cool weather and the beginning of the winter shrimp run, shrimp is definitely the bait of choice.

On my little scouting drive I noticed only one redfish that was pushing a wake in shallow water and since I didn't bring a fishing rod along, I made a mental note of the area and headed back home to rest my back an have another portion of turkey.

Maybe Karen and I will take the "boys" out tomorrow and wet a line.

Till next time,  Tight Lines and don't eat too much turkey.

Peacocks Pocket Road Is Closed

Unfortunately Peacocks Pocket road is closed to vehicle traffic from November 1st thru February 15th of this year.

I say unfortunately, because this is the time of the year when redfish in the marsh areas seem to bite the best.

My wife wisely decided to stay home this afternoon and work on a stained glass project, so I packed  up some spinning and bait casting rods that I just picked up and headed for Peacocks Pocket road.

When I entered Gator Creek road, I decided to try out the bait casters to see if I made a bad deal on the rods.

I stopped just past the first set of culverts at East Gator Creek road and tried out the rods with spoons, top water plugs and a suspended Mirror Lure.

I'm happy to report that I didn't get screwed.

I was returning from Vidalia, Ga. Friday evening and decided to stop by a vacant parking lot in Callahan, Fl. where this guy always has a ton of new and used fishing rods set up by the road.

I spotted several nice bait casters and finally settled on an Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 5000A, 6000, 5600C4 and a high speed Ultra Cast.  All were in good shape and on graphite rods or Ugly Sticks.

The guy wanted $40.00 each but settled on $150.00 for all four outfits.

None of the reels had problems that some oil and some regular use couldn't cure.

As I was checking out the Ultra Cast with a gold spoon I hooked a slot sea trout that I promptly released.  Several casts later and I hooked up with a ladyfish that I shook off at the bank.


About this time, a friend of mine who fishes the refuge regularly was on his way out and stopped to tell me that Peacocks Pocket road is closed.

He said that a ranger told him that people were complaining about BBs hitting them.  (From duck hunters in the area)

He also told me that he had fished the marsh area around Catfish Creek Loop road using live finger mullet but didn't hook up with anything however, he did see one fishermen catching a redfish on a live finger mullet in the same area.

I decided to drive down Catfish Creek Loop road and give it a try.

The wind today was moderate and there was a good chop on the water all the while I was in the area.

The air temperature when I entered the refuge was a pleasant 73 degrees and when I left at about 4:30 pm, it had dropped to 69 degrees.

I stayed with gold Johnson Sprite spoons but never hooked up with a red.  I did manage to snag another small sea trout that was under the 15" minimum which I promptly released.

I stopped to talk to several fishermen and noted that a couple of them were catching reds in the slot.

The guy in this picture caught what looked like a slot red while I was talking to another fishermen down the road.  

Another couple I talked to said they were "killing" the redfish using fresh chunked ladyfish on a sliding sinker rig, but today, since they couldn't catch a ladyfish for bait, they were using live finger mullet.

They said they only caught one redfish today, which I assume they released..

I wished them well and moved down to the point where I saw this guy in his boat fishing the same area.  As I watched, I saw him miss a fish but I obviously couldn't make out what it was.

Blind casting into the Indian River shallows wasn't producing anything but weeds on every other cast and it was getting chilly. 

I didn't feel like battling the wind with hardware until dusk and since it was getting cooler I decided to give it up for today and come better prepared for live bait fishing tomorrow.

As I was leaving the area, I noticed that someone evidently had a great day fishing for sheepshead.

Several cleaned sheepshead remains were left on the bank for the vultures to scavenge.

Who knows, maybe tomorrow I'll catch a ladyfish and sit on the bank with Karen waiting for a redfish to bite like everyone else was doing today.

It does look relaxing.

Till next time, Tight Lines.