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.

Snook on Zara

After a couple of months working in Highlands, N.C., it was definitely time to wet a line and try to catch some fish at home.

I made a couple of scouting trips the last time I was home but I didn't have time to fish the area..  This afternoon, I decided to hit several areas in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to see if anything was interested in hitting my lures.

Armed with two spinning rods tipped with a topwater baits, I started at East Gator creek and wound up north of Haulover Canal fishing a secluded spot on the Indian River.

The water in East Gator Creek was clear as glass and there was a slight wind blowing enough to mess up topwater fishing.  

There were tons of gators and waterfowl in the area; mud hens, ibis, coots, egrets, and even a couple of lost pelicans.

I tossed a Chug Bug around for awhile and managed a followup and eventually a hookup with a medium sized ladyfish.  The fish jumped like small tarpon until I dragged him to the bank and shook it off.

Several other areas that I fished in this spot proved to be a waste of time.

I did notice that Peacocks Pocket Road was somewhat open.  The wire rope barrier was gone but someone put a tape across to let everyone know it is still impassable.

I drove around Catfish Creek Loop and headed to Haulover Canal to see what was happening around that area.

Instead of wasting time driving into the canal, I drove over the bridge, psst the entrances and took a seldom used road that meanders along the Indian River.

I tossed the Chug Bug around in several areas and missed a couple of fish so when I spotted a larger fish busting on something tight along the bank, I decided to switch baits and toss a Zara Spook to the spot.

The second cast was a charm and I hooked up with a nice snook that I almost lost along the mangrove roots.

I took a quick pic of the fish before releasing it and continued fishing the area with the Zara Spook.

After enduring some wrist pain from casting the plug into several areas without as much as a follow up, I decided to back out of the area and head for home.

I stopped at Lil Ceaser's for a pizza and passed it up when I saw a crowd through the window.

No hot and ready's today.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Cruising Bio Lab Road

The weather was so nice today that when my wife got home from playing with her horse, we decided to try cruising Bio Lab Road with Elmo and Odie.

We didn't leave the house until around 2:30 pm and after stopping at Arby's for some eats, didn't get down to Bio Lab until a little after 3:00 pm.  By then the air temperature had dropped a couple of degreesto from 73 to 69 and with the wind blowing, it was pretty chilly.

As we drove into Bio Lab road past the first culverts, I spotted a small tarpon in the algae brown colored water apparently after small baitfish.  

On the other side of the road, a guy was tending to some crab lines and a small crab trap.

We passed by and were surprised to see the road ahead cluttered with bank fishermen.

 I asked a couple of anglers about the bite and was told that the black drum usually didn't start hitting until around 3:30 in the afternoon.  

Everybody I spoke with was fishing with dead shrimp, which is obviously the bait of choice for these fish, especially in the algae stained water.

 Karen and I passed by several other bank fishermen who had enough rods staked out that they could snag a drum if they didn't bite.

We decided to hit a spot I like to fish where I saw a dead alligator the other day.

When we got to the spot, another angler was tossing an artificial around the area.  

We parked away from him to give him room and I walked up the unimproved road past the barriers to where I hooked and lost a large snook two days ago.

 
I brought enough white Creme Spoiler Shad paddletail baits along with me so I didn't have to worry about running out if I lost one.

I was using a light rod with 8 pound test fluorocarbon main line and on my third cast, lost the bait on a stickup.  I tied on another bait and added some Pro-Cure.

After a couple more casts, I hooked into a very small tarpon that I released after taking his pic.

A couple more casts later I hooked and released a juvenile snook so small, I had to have Karen take a pic before releasing it.  

It has to be my record SMALL snook of the year.

The other angler was apparently not getting any action and left, so Karen let Elmo and Odie out to do their duty while I rigged another rod for her to fish with.

We spent about 45 minutes in the area fishing several spots and I picked up two more small tarpon and one more juvie snook a little larger than the first one I caught.

Karen wasn't getting any action and was getting cold and I wasn't doing much better.  

The air temperature had dropped to 63 and the wind started to pick up making it feel much colder, so we packed up the rods with the dogs and headed home.

On the way out, I had to pull over and take this shot of the sunset.  Awesome....

Today's outing was short and although they were small, we managed to get some action.

Hopefully, I'll get a chance to get out again this week,

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Fishing Bio Lab Road

After putting the Christmas turkey in the oven, I had several hours to kill so I decided to try fishing Bio Lab Road.

A cold front is expected to roll in this evening so it was a good time to wet a line.

I thought about bring Elmo and Odie along but I couldn't do any serious fishing and still watch out for them at the same time, so I left them home.

When I left the house, the air temperature was about 78 degrees and the wind was blowing enough to make casting a problem.

As I crossed the A. Max Brewer bridge, the sky to the north of the causeway had several parasails in view.

I usually try out East Gator Creek but today I headed straight for Bio Lab road.

As I past the first set of culverts, I noticed a guy with a crab trap trying to toss a paddletail bait at a large gator.  

I past him up I found the banks of the Mosquito Lagoon pretty active with bank fishermen.

I stopped and asked several anglers how the bite was going and quickly discovered that the black drum were on fire.

The first guy said he caught two small fish in the 15 to 16 inch category; the second couple of anglers caught five fish in the 19 inch category, and a couple of other fishermen said they caught 3 or 4 fish about the same length.

All the black drum were caught on dead or fresh dead shrimp.

I passed the bank fishermen and started casting a topwater Badonk A Donk around a few of the culverts.

I had a couple of hits but no nookups so I continued down the road to fish an area where I picked up a few snook the other day.

When I got to the spot, I noticed a bloated alligator carcass in the area I planned to fish.  I made several casts and never got even a follow up, so I switched to a white Creme paddletail bait that I smeared up with some Pro-Cure gel and walked up to another area where the water was cleaner.

On my first cast around a submerged tree, I had a hit from something but no hookup.  On my second cast to almost the exact location, I hooked into a nice Snook about 25 or 26 inches.  The fish inhaled the plastic bait and made a nice run.  I fought the fish close enough to the bank to see how big it was and as soon as it saw me, it took off like a shot right into the tree branches.

I tried to pressure it out of the stickup but the fish took off again and broke off with my bait.

I tied on another paddletail bait with a clear body and blue/black back and started casting to the same general area.

I had a couple of bumps but no hookups so when I saw something hitting baitfish on the surface, I switched rods and continued casting the  Badonk A Donk  around the mangroves.

I hooked, landed, and released three juvenile tarpon about the same size as the first fish I caught (below) before the bite stopped.

The wind picked up and it started getting chilly, so I packed up my tackle and headed home to see if the turkey was done.

All in all it was a short but fruitful trip.

Not bad for Christmas Eve.

Till next time, Tight LInes and Merry Christmas.

 

Bio Lab Snook

I was planning to hit the beach this morning, but around 9:00 am, a Space X launch rumbled the house so I thought that it would be closed.

After mowing the lawn this morning and taking care of some chores, my wife asked me if I wanted to grab some fast food and take the boys for a ride in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge if it was open.

I was hungry and readily agreed; so we packed up Elmo and Odie and headed to Arby's for some grub.

With a bag of food in hand we headed for the closest spot where we could eat, which was Gator Creek.  

Gator creek was cordoned off, apparently because of work they were doing on the culverts, but East Gator Creek was open.  

We took the turn and were stopped briefly by a couple of guys who were pulling out their Gheenoe.  

When I asked if they had caught anything, the guy said they were fly fishing and caught no fish.  They told me that they spotted several black drum and a lone redfish but all the fish had lockjaw.

I wished them well and suggested that next time they should try the other side of the road where there were some nice sea trout, tarpon, and reds.

After we left them, we pulled over to enjoy our sandwiches and decided to head over to Bio Lab Road.

As we pulled into Bio Lab Road, I was surprised at how flat the water was on the Mosquito Lagoon and how many bank fishermen were along the road.

Karen said that it was probably because of the Christmas Holiday and I agreed.

We saw one little girl reeling in a small puppy drum and talked to several other bank fishermen who were using shrimp for bait that caught at least a couple of keeper drum.

I decided to head to the flats at Whale Tail to see if anyone was in that area.

We got to an area where I caught some snook a few weeks ago and although there were a couple of guys fishing with live bait in the area, decided to toss a topwater bait.  They weren't catching anything and warned us about a large alligator that was along the bank.

Karen immediately went after Odie and Elmo and put them in the truck to make sure they didn't become dinner for the gator.

I chose a rod that had a Badonk A Donk on and started casting along the mangrove roots.

On my first cast  I missed a fish that hit the bait as I was pulling it out of the water for another cast.

Several casts later I had a nice hit from a slot size snook and after a decent fight took a pic and released the fish.

I continued fishing and after 5 or 6 more casts into another area, got another hookup with a smaller snook that I also released.  

Karen took the pic below of the fish before I returned it.

I caught and released two more snook before a guy in a Kayak came into the area and put down the bite.

He was casting what looked like a white swimbait but he didn't seem to be having any luck.  Anyway, the fish stopped hitting my topwater bait so I took a couple of pics of the area before packing it in.

We left Bio Lab Road and exited via Playalinda Beach road to head back home.

Karen was getting tired and I was ready to call it a day.

Might get out tomorrow to hit the beach or try for some more snook.

Till next time,

Tight Lines. 

Snook In The Culverts

Happy Thanksgiving...

After eating a great Thanksgiving meal, my wife suggested that we take the "boys" for a ride around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

I readily agreed and loaded up some rods along with Elmo and Odie who were ready to go.

The temperature was in the low 80s and for a change the wind wasn't blowing so I expected a lot of anglers to be out and about.

We crossed the A. Max Brewer Bridge and I was disappointed to see that there was a barrier up at the entrance to Gator Creek.

As we drove past the entrance, I was surprised to see that there was no barrier to East Gator Creek road but since I was going at a good clip, we voted on checking out the area around Peacocks Pocket boat launch.

We entered Pocket road and as we got to the shallow water launch, only one car was parked in the area. 

The water was calm so I pulled out a rod to briefly toss a small Chug Bug around the area while Karen watched the dogs.

Nothing was happening on top or on the Jerkbait I switched over to, so we loaded up and took off to check out Bio Lab Road.

The water in the lagoon is still brown from algae but is clearing up in some areas.

We traveled down Bio Lab and spotted a couple of fishermen on the bank fishing for redfish with live mullet and another group of people just having a good time at a pullover.

As we got close to the road to Playalinda Beach, I noticed that a barrier to a turnoff was taken down so I drove along the southernmost part of the lagoon to a spot where I used to fish for sea trout and snook.

 

I parked the truck and let the dogs loose to do their thing while Karen and I started fishing.

The culvert was open and flushing plenty of water and baitfish into the backwater.

I tossed out a D.O.A. Jerkbait a short distance in front of the culvert where some small baitfish were scattering and immediately hooked up with a small snook.

 

The fish put up a good fight for it's size so after taking a brief pic I released the fish.

The snook in the culverts and the nearby area were obviously targeting baitfish coming through the culverts but they were spooky as hell.

I watched several large snook in the 30" plus category blasting baitfish on the surface, so I started tossing a BadonkADonk around where they were hitting.  

After many unfruitful casts, I switched over to an XPS Slim Dog that more resembled the baitfish in the area but still didn't get any hookups.

 

I finally switched over to a small Creme Spoiler Shad paddletail bait and started catching small snook again.  The problem was that they were too small.

 

 

Karen was using the Jerkbait and missed a fish and then started using the paddletail bait on the opposite side of the culverts.  Unfortunately, the bite died down and the fish finally quit hitting.

 

I managed to catch and release four small snook an missed at least three more before we finally decided to pack it in.

 

When two gators about 10 to 11 feet long showed up on the scene, Karen was concerned about Elmo and Odie safety so we loaded the rods into the back of the truck and headed home.

 

It was around 5:15 pm when we drove onto Playalinda Beach road and headed to the house.

Although we didn't catch any of the really big snook, we both had a good time fishing with our "boys".

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Whale Tail Flats

Around 4:00 pm this afternoon, Karen asked me if I wanted to take the "boys" fishing for a little bit, so I hurriedly packed several spinning rods in the truck along with a pack of frozen shrimp and headed to the Whale Tail flats in the Mosquito Lagoon off of Bio Lab Road to wet a line.

We saw several fishermen along BioLab road dunking shrimp and cut baits for redfish but the group I spoke with said they were only catching stingrays and catfish.

 I wished them well and drove to a spot we visited earlier along the southernmost banks of the lagoon.

I rigged Karen's rod with a popping float and split shot to keep her shrimp just off the bottom, and a second rod with a sliding sinker rig to hug bottom for redfish.

Karen took Odie with her to fish "her spot" while I rigged an XPS Slim Dog topwater bait to fish along the mangrove roots on both sides of the culverts.

The cold front was moving through the area and the air temperature dropped from 86 degrees F to 67 degrees F in the span of an hour or so.

I fan cast the area and had only one hit and two followups in an hour's time.

I spotted several families of Manatee moving into the area and finally stopped fishing to take some pics of the gentle animals.  

A family group moved right up to the culverts I was fishing and just stared at me, so I recorded this short video of the oglers.

The video ended with the manatees quickly disappearing when a large snook of about 30" spooked them.   I didn't know that Manatees could move that fast.

The snook was chasing baitfish right up to the deeper water around the culvert and hit one of the Manatees.  

About this time Karen walked back to the truck with Odie and told me that she lost two big fish in the mangrove roots along the bank.

She thought that the fish on the float was a large sea trout and the one on the bottom a redfish.

Regardless, the terminal tackle on both of her rods was gone and since it was almost 6:00 pm, we packed up our gear and headed to Playalinda Beach road to get out of the area before the refuge managers locked the barriers to the road.

They close BioLab and the beach at 6:00 pm, promptly.

We plan to get out again this week to catch what Karen lost in the mangrove roots.

Till next time,

Tight Lines

Topwater Snook

After changing the water in our aquariums,mowing part of the front lawn, and fixing Karen's bumper on her truck, I decided that I needed to hit one of my favorite areas to try and catch a few topwater snook.

I left the house at 7:10 pm and got to the spot in about 15 minutes via I-95.

I planned to fish using my new 8wt fly rod I picked up last week at Bass Pro in Mobile, Al. but there wasn't much time to fish and since I already had my topwater spinning rods loaded and ready for bear; I used those instead.

The water in the area was dead calm, the air temperature was in the mid 80s and it was beginning to get dark with the afternoon thunderheads rolling in.

"Snook Creek"

I started out fishing a flowing culvert with my baby bass Chug Bug that I had smeared up with some Pro-Cure Inshore Formula and after the third cast lost my favorite bait ever on a large snook that blasted the bait and headed for parts unknown.

The big fish hit the Chug Bug as soon as it hit the water and as it headed toward the first bend in the creek, the fluorocarbon leader parted at the barrel knot to the 10 pound Cajun Red line I had spooled on the reel.

I was not a happy camper after losing the fish and my favorite bait, but I marshaled on and picked up my other spinning rod to continue fishing.

This outfit had a Saltwater Super Spook Jr. tied on so I smeared it up with some more Pro-Cure and started walking the dog around the spot.

After several casts with no hits, I decided to move down the road and walk out to the bend in the creek to try my luck there.

The water was still dead calm and I wasn't sure a walk the dog retrieve would match my Chug Bug action but I gave it a shot anyway.

Much to my surprise, on the second cast along the bank, I hooked up with a small snook that seemed to really like my bait.

The fish made a couple of short jumps and a nice run before I landed it.  I thought it was a sea trout until I got it close to the bank.

After taking a pic I released the fish and continued casting the Super Spook Jr. in another area of the creek.

I spooked two fish before hooking up with another snook that was a bit larger than the first one.

Again I released the fish and continued fishing.

I caught one more Snook in the same general area and spooked two more before the gnats and mosquitoes started munching on my body.

Almost like clockwork, when it gets dark in the marsh, the bugs come out.  That's when I leave.

I plan on coming back to the area this week with my fly rod to pick up a few more fish.  That should really be a blast.

Till next time,
Tight Lines 

Puckett Creek

Javier Cuazo sent this pic of a nice redfish he caught in Puckett Creek today.

He said he also picked up a 31" Snook, some smaller reds and a few sea trout in the same area.

Send me the pics Javier.....

Till I get back in town, Tight Lines.