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!

Shiloh Marsh Road Fishing Trip

Shiloh Marsh road was the target for this afternoon's fishing venture.

The northernmost portion of the Indian River Lagoon is lauded by local fishermen "in the know" for bull redfish, gator sea trout, and a variety of other game fish.

Today my wife and I decided to try the shallows in the marsh area to see if the tarpon were in the shallow water canals along side of the unimproved road.

Except for a mild wind, the weather was superb and schools of finger mullet were everywhere in the shallows on the Indian River side of the road. This heron got his dinner early on the marsh side.

We didn't spot any tarpon, but we did see several large gator trout killing mullet on the surface and some redfish tailing in several areas we normally fish.

With a bum shoulder, I did as little casting as possible but still managed to catch a couple of just slot sized trout on a top water SkitterWalk bait. I missed at least 10 fish before hooking up with the one in the picture.

Still using the plug, I tried to entice a couple of redfish that were swirling in the shallows of a cove we fish a lot with no luck. They seemed to be feeding on crabs or something on the bottom, and my top water plug didn't even get a follow.

My wife was fishing with Elmo and for the first hour or so only got one bite.

At around 8:00 pm the fishing started to improve and she caught a nice slot sized drum on a Cajun Thunder rig with a dead shrimp for bait. After a brief tussle, she landed and released the fish.

Using the same rig, she managed to catch and release a couple of slot sized trout and two catfish.

After landing the second catfish and because my shoulder was killing me; we decided to head for home.

We crossed Haulover Canal and noted shrimpers setting up on the north west bank and at the western mouth of the canal.

There were a few boats anchored at the mouth of the canal on Mosquito Lagoon side, with fishermen that were probably trying to catch one of those bull redfish or oversized black drum that frequent the area.

Coming towards Titusville, we noticed that the lights on the newly completed fishing pier were lit and that the restaurant and lounge was open for business. The place was loaded with customers who were obviously having a great time.

There were several shrimpers on the bridge doing their thing; along with several groups of fishermen who were also doing their thing! We didn't stop to ask them how they were doing but they were dipping up something!

The trip was a success and the weather was great. With any kind of luck and if my shoulder feels better, we hope to duplicate the trip tomorrow in another area.

Till then, Tight Lines!

P.S. I've been getting tons of mail from readers who are sharing interesting bits of information about their fishing experiences, techniques, history of the area, etc.

Although I will answer all your emails, why not just post your comments along with your photographs?

All comments are moderated, but as long as they remain on topic and benefit other readers they will probably be approved.