Mosquito Lagoon And Indian River Fishing During Thunderstorms

Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River fishing during thunderstorms isn't something I recommend unless you want to catch a mess of fish and you're as crazy about fishing as I am.

I started mowing the lawn and had to give it up before I finished because of the predicted thunderstorm activity around the Space Coast.

Since I couldn't work around the house I decided to grab some poles and get some quality fishing time in.

My wife sensibly decided to stay home and bid me farewell to the mosquitoes and rain.

I drove into Bio Lab road to see what the conditions were on the Mosquito Lagoon flats and decided to gun up to Peacocks Pocket road instead. The wind was blowing the rain much too hard to do any serious wade fishing on the west side of the Mosquito Lagoon today.

I drove past the shallow water boat launch at Peacocks Pocket where there were a couple of fishermen tossing artificial jerk baits. Both guys said they had just started fishing and didn't have anything yet.

At the culverts around the bend from the boat launch, two families were dunking live finger mullet trying to catch some of the big trout in the Indian River that were targeting bait pods in the area.

Again, no one was having any luck.

I wished them well and drove down the soggy road in search of sea trout or redfish in the marsh.

The rain was coming down steady and the temperature was a mild 72 degrees at about 5:30 pm.

I decided to fish the marsh areas today mainly because the water levels were way up from last week.

My first two stops didn't produce anything but a couple of taps and a followup but down the road around a bend where I knew there was a deep hole,  I hooked up with this  slot sea trout on a Fire Tiger  Berkley PowerBait Swim Shad Swimbaits - 4'' - 5 8 oz. - 3 pack - Bunker - Softbait.

The fish put up a brief scuffle, after which I took it's picture and let  it go to grow into a gator sea trout for me to catch another day.

A few more casts produced another hit but no fish.

I moved down to another hole and started casting to the opposite bank of the marsh canal.  I was putting the baits as close to the grass as possible and slowly pulling the lure into deeper water giving it a lifelike jerk every now and then.

The third cast produced a slight tap and a followup but the fish was skittish and wouldn't eat.

I cast away from the follow up into the same area and had another hit. 

This time the fish picked up the bait on the drop and swam directly to me.

I thought I hooked a redfish as the fish pulled line off the drag but after a couple nice runs I realized it was a big sea trout.

The fish put up a great fight and I managed to get a "wet foot" as I slipped down the bank trying to land the trout.

I finally "gilled" the fish and tossed it onto the bank as I ungracefully pulled myself up onto the road.

The stocky fish measured in at a little over 26" and was nice and fat.  A typical June "almost gator trout."

I took it's picture and decided to keep the fish for dinner.  Something I rarely do.

 

It was raining off and on and as I put  the fish into the truck, the rain really started coming down in buckets.  The thunderstorm was moving over towards the Cape complete with sporadic lightning.

I waited in the truck for the rain to slow down and moved off towards another spot that Karen and I sometimes find productive.

Here I picked up another slot size sea trout again using the same Fire Tiger bait.

 The mosquitoes seem to be particularly vicious  during thunderstorms and this evening was no exception.

I'm not sure what is worse.  Suffering from blood loss due to mosquito bites or inhaling the bug spray.  Anyway, I continued fishing until I couldn't take the bites any more.

I only fished about a third of Peacocks Pocket road and in a three hour period managed to catch six keeper sea trout and one under size fish.

I missed several trout and a nice redfish in an area where Karen caught one a couple of weeks ago.  The red picked up the Fire Tiger paddle tail bait as it was coming off the bank and just took off upstream.

The rod I was using was a light weight action and I didn't set the hook properly.  I thought the fish was a sea trout and as I felt the weight of the fish and tried to set the hook, it simply dropped the bait.

When the fish felt the tension of the rod, it swirled around and I could see that it was well over the slot.

I caught two more slot sea trout after I missed the red and decided I had enough of the mosquitoes and rain for one day.

On the way out of the refuge, I almost ran over an alligator that was sitting in the middle of the road.  As I turned the corner I'm not sure who was surprised the most.  Anyway, it reared up and scooted off into the river.

Usually, Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River fishing during thunderstorms produces some nice fish if you can put up with the mosquitoes and don't mind getting soaked.

I do it every chance I can.

Till next time, Tight Lines!
 

It Pays To Fish The Fronts

Despite the 6 1/2 hour drive that I made today from Columbia, S.C.,  I decided to fish the fronts that were coming through the Central part of the country, primarily around "Tornado Alley".

The hazardous weather conditions that were spawning the tornadoes out west were also having an effect on the Space Coast.

I knew from experience that fishing can be dynamite during these fronts and today's experience was no exception; the fish were moving around and biting savagely when you could cast to them.

I didn't get out to the Indian River lagoon until about 3:30 pm and the weather was balmy to say the least.

The temperature was a pleasant 76 degrees, it was beginning to rain,  and the wind was making it difficult to cast in most of the areas that I was fishing.

I brought four rods today each rigged with different baits.  A top water Heddon Zara Spook, a Tsunami "redfish" paddle tail swim bait, a Johnson's gold spoon and a D.O.A. jerkbait.

The fish were biting on both sides of Peacocks Pocket road but I caught most of my fish today on the marsh side.

The sea trout below was the one exception.  I caught this one on the gold Johnson's spoon near a partially open culvert on the Indian River side.

I noticed a swirl that I thought was a redfish, but when the fish nailed the spoon, it turned out to be a 26" sea trout.

The post spawn female put up a good fight but was gill hooked, so I had to keep it for dinner.

I caught two more trout on the "swamp" side of the road and released both fish to fight another day.

I made at least two dozen stops trying to catch a redfish before coming to one of my "all time" favorite spots.

I spied some finger mullet in a shallow pond area that looked like they were being chased, so I flipped out the paddle tail bait and promptly hooked up with a nice oversize redfish.

The fish made a couple of strong long runs before I could finally ease it to shore.  But as I was bending down to "lip" the red onto the bank, the small hook worked loose and the fish took off to parts unknown.

Undaunted, I kept fishing with the same bait and after a few more casts hooked up with another redfish around the same area.

This go around I took my time and didn't try to horse the fish in.  After a couple of nice runs I managed to grab the redfish by the lip and land it.

I got my pliers out of the truck and was trying to unhook the fish as a fellow photographer drove up to check out the scene.

He introduced himself as Dell Pamplin and as I unhooked the slot redfish, we swapped information.

Since he was also a shutterbug, I asked him if he wouldn't mind taking a picture of me holding the redfish.  And, he readily agreed. The results are below.

When my wife isn't fishing with me, I'm destined to take pictures of my catches on the grass or in the back of the truck.  Boring!

We chatted for a while about the fishing and when I asked him if he wouldn't mind having his picture being put on the website, he agreed.

We talked a bit more as I continued casting to another "swirl" before parting company.

I made several more casts into the same area to likely targets but the fish were stirred up and I only had one more light "tap" before I decided to move on.

It was getting late and as I slowly drove towards Peacocks Pocket boat launch and headed for the exit, I passed a couple of gators sunning themselves on the bank and managed to take a few quick pics of some spoonbills and a blue heron.

When you can tt pays to fish the fronts even when casting to the fish is a challenge.

Till next time, Tight Lines!

Post Hurricane Irene Fishing Report

Thankfully hurricane Irene bypassed the Space Coast this time around and as of the last report is heading towards New York city via the outer banks of North Carolina.

The weather around Titusville late this afternoon felt like the calm after the storm.  The air temperature hovered around 88 degrees and there was very little wind on the water.

My wife and I packed up our fishing rods and Elmo our wonder dog for a brief fishing excursion around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

We didn't hit the water until about 7:00 p.m. and the water where we began fishing was dead calm.

There was very little visible fish activity in the first area we stopped to fish but it looked "fishy" and I was aching to try out a couple of new top water plugs.

I started fishing  a 100 yard stretch of very shallow water that led into a saltwater pond which usually holds a redfish or two and only got two strikes for my efforts. 

My wife was fishing with a dead shrimp and I was "walking the dog" using my new black and silver
Heddon Super Spook Jr. top water plug I picked up at Bass Pro.

Karen wasn't getting any action so we moved up the road a bit to try the brackish water pond.

On the second cast I hooked this under size sea trout.

The plug I was using was almost as big as the trout!

Two casts late and I caught a twin to the first trout.  At least the lure was working.

Karen wasn't having much luck and after missing three more fish, we decided to move to another area about a quarter mile up the road.

There were fish moving about but the big ones were out of casting range.

As I was considering wading out to within casting range, Karen spotted a large gator that immediately changed my mind.  This one was at least 9 feet long and could definitely do some damage.

I managed two more small sea trout and missed a small redfish before the sun set. 

The weather was just beautiful this evening and it was hard to imagine that hurricane Irene had just passed us.

Tomorrow is supposed to be 105 degrees plus according to the weatherman, so if I get a chance to go fishing tomorrow, it won't be until late in the afternoon when things cool down a bit.

Till then, Tight Lines!

Shiloh Road Fishing Trip

Sunday afternoon was rainy and dreary on the Space Coast, so around three o' clock this afternoon, I gathered my wife and Elmo our wonder dog, and headed for the Indian River to try our luck.

We traveled light. I took only one rod for a change, loaded with a Heddon topwater plug and a small box with some Creme paddle tail lures.

My wife grabbed her favorite Cajun Thunder rig and a small bag of shrimp, and we were off.

We decided on driving up to Shiloh Road to see if it was open for fishing and as luck would have it, it was. It was probably a bad omen when two vultures greeted us into the drive, but we had nothing else to do in the rain but go fishing.

The rain was steady but light enough for us to try several spots along the marsh and the shallows of the north Indian River.

The water was almost dead calm and we saw only a couple of redfish and zero trout.

My wife fished her shrimp and missed one nice sized trout in a spot where she caught an "almost gator trout" last year. That was the only good fish she had on all afternoon.

I "walked the dog" until my arm got tired and had absolutely no hits, so I switched to a white and brown Creme paddletail bait.

After almost wearing out my casting arm, I finally hooked on to either a super large gator trout, or a juvenile tarpon.

I was swimming the lure to the bank when I thought I'd hooked onto a snag. Then the "snag" started moving; FAST.

The fish ran up and down the narrow slough twice before it broke off. I could see that the fish was at least 36" long and that it looked silverish in the murky water, but I couldn't make out what species it was.

I know it was not a redfish because of the way it fought, so the only possible species left was either a big trout, or a small tarpon.

Whatever it was, losing the fish was my fault. When I replaced my topwater plug with the swimbait, I tied it on haphazardly and was in a hurry. Definitely a recipe for losing a fish.
On top of that, I had my drag tightened down way too heavy for 10# mono.

As I told my wife, that's why they call it fishing and not catching!

We got tired of being wet and on the way out of the unimproved drive took some pics of an American Eagle and some crazy spoonbills doing their thing.

Hope you enjoy the pics and till next time; Tight Lines!

Oversized February Redfish

The back roads on the Space Coast often yield oversized February Redfish like the one pictured below to the right.

This one was caught by my wife with dead bait on a Cajun Thunder setup.

The red fish was caught in the canal opposite the river in the preserve area where no one usually fishes.

In the spring, especially, the reds come into extremely shallow waters to chow down on the multitude of mud minnows and small fry located there.

On this day, Karen caught and released two oversize reds both of which were over 29 inches.

I was too busy taking pics of the roseatte spoonbills; at least that's the excuse I used today, to get any fishing accomplished.

Early spring is great fishing on the Space Coast.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.