Skunked

Sunday afternoon was the first time I had a chance to wet a line in the past month and although the weather and scenery was great, the fish

Sunday afternoon in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was perfect for viewing wildlife.  Not so great for fishing.

I left the house in a hurry with only two rods.  Both had topwater baits attached; a Chug Bug and an odd colored XPS Slim Dog I picked up on sale at Bass Pro.

East Gator Creek was the closest location so I started tossing the Chug Bug around the culverts, the shallow flats, and the slightly deeper canal.

There was a slight breeze on the water and the air temperature was in the high 60s, so it should have been a decent day for topwater fishing.

After getting only one half hearted followup by a sea trout, I switched rods and finished the day tossing the Slim Dog around various likely looking spots.

As dusk approached, I slowly drove to a shallow pond that I like to fish but was surprised to see an angler already fishing the area in a small boat powered by a trolling motor.

He was in the middle of the pond tossing a jerk bait towards the bank, apparently without much success.

I took a few pics as he was fishing and tossed the Slim Dog around a bit before moving up the road to the entrance of Peacocks Pocket road.

I switched to the Chug Bug and fished until it started getting too chilly.

Getting a case of Pneumonia was definitely not on my agenda for the holidays.

On the way out I saw the fisherman loading his little boat back on the trailer.   I was going to stop and ask him if he had caught anything, but I decided to head for the house and some dinner.

On the way out of the refuge, I took a few more pics of the scenery and the awesome sunset.

Skunked!

Well I got skunked this evening. Not a first, but hopefully not the norm.

I didn't get home from work until around 6:30 pm but before 7:00 pm, I was on the water.

I packed several rods into the truck along with a cast net and some lures, and headed for East Gator Creek road to pick up some finger mullet.

My first cast near a culvert snagged me a half dozen 8 to 10 inch mullet which I promptly dropped into a  5 gallon bucket before heading to a spot where I hoped I could catch a red or a gator sea trout.

I passed several spots that I normally would have stopped to fish but  since it was late, I focused on getting to an area on the Indian River where I know big reds feed.

I passed several fishermen before finally pulling up to where I wanted to fish. 

I put two live mullet on casting rods and cut one mullet unto chunks for bait to use on my Okuma bait runner spinning rod.

The air temperature was in the high 60s and the wind was blowing too much for me to mess around with the 9 weight fly rod I brought along, so I started blind casting a gold Johnson's sprite around the marsh canal on the other side of Peacocks Pocket road.

After a half hour without a bite, I was beginning to think I was jinxed but since I seldom fish with live or fresh dead baits,  I decided to give this type fishing a reasonable shot.

About this time a sea osprey picked up one of my live mullet.  I saw the line peeling off the reel on the casting rod  and thought I had a "bull redfish" on until I noticed that the line was going up to the sky.

I got to the truck where the rod was and pulled the mullet away from the Osprey but it wouldn't let go.  Finally, I pulled the ornery bird into the water with a plop, and it still didn't let go of the mullet.

When I started reeling the bird in, I thought I had hooked it but finally the eagle let go of his dinner.

I reeled in the mullet to put some line back onto the spool and decided to let the bait sit far out in the river.

Damned if the Osprey didn't pick up the same mullet again.  This time when I yanked it, the bird dropped the bait and kept flying on it's merry way.

As it turned out, that was to be my only catch of the day.

More waiting and no bites on the other rods.  I finally switched out the gold spoon to a topwater "speckled trout" pattern Skitter Walk and started blind casting the river side around some baitfish pods in hopes of picking off a gator sea trout.

I finally got a hit on the bait from a small sea trout which almost immediately flipped off the plug.

Another fishermen had pulled up a few yards up the road from me with his girlfriend or wife and was also doing the "bait fishing" thing.

He fished until almost 8:00 pm before giving it up.  As they passed me, he said he hadn't gotten any bites and was trying another spot.

I told him about my bad luck and started packing up my gear to also get out of the area.

About the time I finished putting the rods back into the truck, a rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Center got my attention.

 

I headed for the truck to get my camera but by the time I set it up, I missed most of the launch.

This afternoon I couldn't even get a good video of the launch.  It just wasn't my day.

On the way out of the refuge, I spotted a pod of black drum swimming up the canal.  I tried to entice them with a jerk bait but again, no bites.

I did manage to get some shots of some roseatte spoonbills and an American crocodile which is uncommon in our area.

 

 


The crocodiles have a very narrow snout and are larger than our alligators.

This one was about 14 feet long and wasn't afraid of anybody.

After finally admitting to myself that I got skunked, I decided to head for home and some dinner.

Although I didn't catch any fish this evening, it was still great to get out and enjoy the wildlife in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Skunked!

Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River fishing is starting to pick up again if you get out early enough to take advantage of the bite.

As the weather starts to warm up and the bait fish start to invade the lagoons, the top water action for sea trout especially starts to get really good.

Unfortunately, this weekend I didn't get the opportunity to take advantage of the topwater action.  I had to spend some time working around the house fixing things and redoing our Koi pond.

Friday evening, after the long drive home from work, my wife and I took our two "best friends" for a quick scouting trip around Peacocks Pocket road. 

Elmo and Odie were in the truck even before we had a chance to load up the rods and bait.

There were a few fishermen dunking cut baits and live finger mullet hoping for a redfish catch, but none of the people we spoke with were catching anything.

Karen wanted to try one of her "secret" spots, so we spent time dunking baits along with everyone else for an hour or so.

On the way to her spot we saw several cars pulled over to the side of the road.  At first we thought the people were watching an alligator but instead they were all watching a huge wild boar in the swamp.

I managed to get this shot as it moved away from the crowd.

She was using her Cajun Thunder Oval Float with a jumbo frozen shrimp and I was tossing around some lures.

The wind was up just enough to make topwater fishing a problem so I spent most of my time tossing a gold gold Johnson The Original Sprite Spoon and a Bagley paddle tail bait.

I got a couple of hits on the spoon but never got a hookup, and the paddle tail bait turned out to be a complete waste of time.

Karen missed the first fish that was probably a red, and finally hooked up with a large stingray in the marsh canal.

 

The red hit the Cajun Thunder rig and started down the marsh canal like a freight train but as soon as the fish felt resistance, it dropped the bait.  Karen wasn't paying attention but at least she didn't get skunked.

I on the other hand, got skunked!

On Saturday I had good intentions to wet a line but I would up repairing some wood work around the house.  By the time I was finished, fishing was the last thing on my mind.

Sunday was a clone of Saturday.  No fishing.

Made a mental note to take the Maverick flats boat next weekend to fish Tiger Shoals on the Mosquito Lagoon.  

A friend of mine who fishes the area a lot said the reds that were in the area were hitting well.

Live shrimp and cut baits seem to be the best baits right now.

Till next time, Tight lines.

Skunked During The Super Moon

Although Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River fishing has been hot for gator sea trout and reds this month, yesterday afternoon my wife and I both got skunked.

The hype about the "super moon" being great for fishing didn't really pan out for us yesterday evening.

Since the local fair was in town, I expected everyone to be spending their time there.

Karen and I originally planned to fish Shiloh Marsh Road but the barriers were up on the northern entrance preventing vehicle traffic into the area.

According to the powers that be, they have the road closed for "improvements" and it will remain so until further notice.

So much for getting a chance at really big bull redfish and sow gator sea trout that frequent this area.

Unless you have a kayak or canoe, the only way to fish this area now, is by biking or walking the road.

We backtracked to the main road and drove into the Patillo Creek area but decided to move on when we saw how low the water levels were.

Karen and Elmo finally persuaded me to fish Peacocks Pocket road until dusk.

I planned on fishing top water "Chug Bugs" later on in the evening when the "super moon" was lighting up the river, but the windy conditions made fishing a top water lure unappealing.

The water levels were down about 6" since the last time we fished the marsh area and the fish were concentrated in the deeper channels and small ponds.

This canoeist had to get out and walk his canoe across some really mucky water when he literally ran out of water to paddle.

 

Karen had a couple of hits from small sea trout and crabs while I was throwing gold spoons, soft plastic paddletail baits and a DOA shrimp.

I had several followups on the Johnson's Gold Spoon and one hit on a Creme paddletail bait but I never did land a fish.

Despite the heavy fishing pressure that this area has been getting lately, some fish were actively feeding in a few areas.

Everyone I spoke with who was fishing mullet from the bank said they weren't getting much action.

A few waders were picking up sea trout by casting soft baits and silver spoons, but no one was catching anything really impressive trout or redfish.

I haven't been skunked for quite a while, so I guess I was due.

Anyway, the weather was great and viewing the sunset from the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was awesome as usual as you can see from the pics below.

We hope to get out again late Sunday afternoon if I get done with all my chores.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Skunked

My wife and I went fishing late Friday afternoon mainly to get out of the house and get some fresh air.

We didn't have any fresh bait so I brought my cast net along in case there were any finger mullet in the shallows...

We fished Peacocks Pocket road and started at the eastern entrance where I know a few holes that are frequented by ladyfish and finger mullet.

On the way in we saw an young otter swimming in the ditch that parallels the road.

I tried to take a pic but by the time I got my Nikkon, the otter was going up the bank and all I got was a short video of it's tail going through the underbrush.

The water on the Indian River was dead flat.  The air temperature was 68 degrees and it was a beautiful day in the refuge.

 
Perfectly flat conditions make fishing this area challenging to say the least and today was a perfect example.

Since there were no finger mullet in the area to cast net for, Karen was using fresh dead shrimp that I picked up at the bait shop and I was using a variety of soft baits and my favorite Bagley gold spoon.

We saw some spoonbills, lots of coot, and about a dozen alligators sunning themselves on the bank but no sign of fish.

I was hoping we wouldn't get skunked but the longer we fished, the more it seemed like we weren't going to do much catching.

There was a lot of vehicle traffic which made the fishing much more difficult.  The fish I did spot were spooky and were not interested in biting.

After a while I decided to turn the trip into a photo opportunity and started taking pics of the abundant wildlife.

There were kayakers around the island where several resident schools of black drum always frequent, but none of them were catching any fish.

  

There were also a few wade fishermen out in the river that didn't seem to be catching anything either.

   

As it neared dusk and the battery in my camera gave up the ghost, Karen had enough of the mosquitoes and I was ready to go home and make some dinner.  Anyway, the sunset was awesome.



It's been a while since we both got skunked, but it happens to the best of us.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Skunked

My wife and I decided to try Peacocks Pocket road Saturday evening to see if we could rustle up a few sea trout or a redfish and we both got skunked!

I guess it was overdue. We have been catching instead of fishing on every outing ever since I can remember, but this evening was unbelievable. We both couldn't hold our mouths right.

I netted some small ladyfish and a couple of large finger mullet for bait at the entrance to Peacocks Pocket road before proceeding to a couple of spots we regularly fish.

Karen baited up with a small 6" ladyfish and I started flipping damn near every lure I had with me in the truck.

I had a couple of hits on a small gold Johnson's spoon from small trout and one half hearted topwater hit on a chartreuse colored Chug Bug, but other than those two hits my artificial lures were not attracting any attention.

We moved several times and finally settled on a spot about half way through the road near a culvert and small backwater pond where I hoped we could pick up a redfish before dark.

I baited up with one of the large finger mullet while Karen put on another smaller sized ladyfish on a Cajun Thunder rig.

There was a lot of activity in the water. Fish were being chased all over the place but the bite just wasn't there.

Karen missed three bites and lost all three ladyfish and I finally lost my finger mullet to a redfish that was cruising down the canal. I saw it's wake as it was swimming towards the mullet and as it hit, I tried to set the hook too quickly and lost the bait.

I guess I'm not much of a live bait fisherman.

The scenery was beautiful despite the fact that the temperature was hovering in the low 90s, but it was the mosquitoes that finally ran us out of the preserve.

Poor Elmo wouldn't come out of the truck because of the skeeters.

Anyway, here are some pics of the area sans fish this time around.

That's why they call it fishing folks!

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Skunked

It's been some time since I've been Skunked, but today was just one of those days.

My wife, Elmo and I went to try the northern Indian River Lagoon shallows around Shiloh Marsh road.

We left the house around 3:00 p.m. and didn't get on to the potholed road until about 3:30 or so.

There was a mild breeze blowing and the temperature was in the high 70s.

I fished mostly D.O.A. C.A.L. Series Shad Tails and jerk baits with a couple of gold spoons scattered in just for grins. Karen fished dead shrimp under a Cajun Thunder.

We stopped in several likely looking places and both of us fished hard without even a bite until just before we decided to pack up and leave.

There were a lot of people in the area today and the ones I spoke with weren't having any better luck than we were.

One gentleman and his wife said he fished for several hours in several places where fish were roiling the surface, but never got a bite.

I could relate. In a couple of spots we stopped at, there were tons of finger mullet milling around and every once in a while a large fish would roil just below the surface. If the water was warmer, I would have bet that the fish were small tarpon but I just couldn't tell.

I'm not sure what or if they were feeding, but it sure wasn't anything resembling any of my offerings.

Top water baits, jerk baits, spoons, live bait, and even a tried and true Creme paddle tail bait never got a tap, until about 7:00 p.m.

I was casting into an open culvert with a D.O.A. Jerkbait where finger mullet were milling around and after the third cast or so I missed a hard strike that I was totally unprepared for. It was probably a large sea trout but I can't be sure.

Anyway, so much for catching!

Karen and I still had a nice time just enjoying the area, wearing out Elmo with his Mr. Gear toy and taking pictures of the scenery. Here is a short compilation of the area.

Man, I have got to get my boat out.

Till next time,

Tight Lines!