Super Moon Fishing Weekend

This weekend's Super Moon made fishing in our area a lot easier but catching was an entirely different matter.

Despite a minor health problem I've been dealing with and some severe thunderstorm activity in our area, I still managed to get out a few hours on Saturday and Sunday to wet a line and try to catch some quality redfish.

When I hit the refuge on Saturday afternoon, the air temperature had quickly dropped from the high to low 80s and the winds were picking up to (what seemed to me) gale force.  Fortunately the extreme conditions didn't last and eventually it turned dead calm towards dusk.

I had been briefly scouting some areas around Bio Lab road before driving into East Gator
Creek road to fish and the rain was literally coming down in buckets.   I slowly drove to Peacocks Pocket road past the culverts and decided to fish the marsh area when the lightning subsided.

|When the rain slowed down enough to fish, I stopped to toss some artificial baits in a couple of ponds but all I managed to score was a couple of small sea trout on a topwater Chug Bug and a DOA CAL bait.

Half way through Peacocks Pocket Road a rainbow appeared and I was positive that the fishing would improve.

Up to this point I hadn't spotted any sign of topwater sea trout or redfish activity but since there was a slight chop on the water, I decided to keep fishing topwater baits.

At a large pond, I finally got a hit from a nice redfish on my trout pattern SkitterWalk.  The fish caught me by surprise when it busted on the lure and I jerked the bait out of the redfish's mouth. The fish didn't come back for a second try.

After making what seemed like a million casts with the SkitterWalk, I finally decided to give up fishing for the day.   It was getting late and the "super moon" was becoming visible through the clouds.

I took several pics of the moon and the beautiful sunset before calling it a day.

All day I had the refuge virtually to myself.  Except for a couple of fishermen who came in as I was leaving, the only other person in the area was a photographer who wanted to get pics of the Super Moon over NASA's VAB building.

Sunday afternoon was another story.

After helping my wife at the stables with her horses I headed for the river to get in some fishing.

It was late afternoon and the usual late afternoon thunderstorm activity was in the area.

I briefly stopped to fish the shallow flats off of US1 near the intersection of Hwy 50 with the SkitterWalk that I had a redfish hit on Saturday.

It turned out to be a fruitless endeavor.  I had something follow the bait but it wasn't hungry.

I drove to Peacocks Pocket kayak launch and stopped at the second set of culverts to watch some wade fishermen out in the river.  

 

While I was tossing a Creme paddle tail bait to some tailing reds, of the guys caught a small redfish on what looked like a topwater bait.

The water on the Indian River was dead calm and I counted five alligators in the immediate area where the two wade fishermen were doing their thing.  The thought of the gators stifled any inclinations I had of wade fishing the river.

I counted at least a dozen redfish tailing in the shallows, but they weren't interested in any of the baits I was offering so I moved on down the road.

At every stop I made, I spotted redfish and sea trout activity on both sides of Peacocks Pocket road.

The water was flat calm and the fish were spooky but they were actively feeding on mullet.  I silently wished I had brought some with me today.

As the sunset approached, I stopped at one of my favorite ponds and decided to spend the rest of my fishing time there.  I untied the SkitterWalk, tied on a frog pattern Chug Bug and started fan casting along a dropoff.

After the tenth or fifteenth cast, a large redfish followed the lure and literally blew it out of the water.

I missed the fish but the ferocious strike made the trip worthwhile.  I continued casting the plug, half hoping the fish would return and after several casts another redfish in the 30" category hit the bait.  The fish was on for a brief time util the hook pulled out.  

Before it got dark, two more redfish took swipes at the Chug Bug before I finally hooked and landed the slot fish below.

I released the fish and after making several more fruitless casts decided to give it up for the day.

Super Moon fishing is unpredictable but Sunday turned out to be worth the effort.  I took some pics of the beautiful sunset before heading home.

Till next time, Tight Lines to your all.

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.