Fishing The Late Afternoon Thunderstorms

After yesterday's scouting trip to the wildlife refuge, fishing the late afternoon thunderstorms seemed like a good idea.

I got to East Gator Creek road just as the rain started moving in.  I managed a couple casts at the first culvert with a Chug Bug and had a follow up from a ladyfish.  I shot a couple more casts to the area as the rain started but the fish wasn't interested and since I forgot my new Frog Togs at the house, I hit the truck for shelter.

I was hoping that the storm would pass over the area quickly but it started coming down in torrents.

I slowly drove onto Peacocks Pocket road checking the water to see if anything was moving around.

I pulled up to the pond where I caught a redfish the other day and started casting the topwater bait around despite the rain that was coming down.

I picket up a small sea trout that I quickly released and went back into the truck to dry off.

The fish that were following the Chug Bug were all striking short, so when I decided to fish the bait slower, Istarted hooking up with fish.

As the rain continued, I started fishing the deeper sections of the marsh canal around the area below.

In a stretch that ran about 50 yards, I managed to hook and release three more small sea trout on the Chug Bug.  The trick seemed to be fishing the lure very slowly.  Smearing it up with Pro-Cure also helped a lot.

I didn't bother taking pics of all the fish I caught but they were all under the 15" slot except for one that I missed.

When the thunderstorm finally subsided, I pulled off the road at the pond below where there were a couple of redfish tailing in the weedy shallows.

I smeared the Chug Bug up with some more Pro-Cure and tossed the bait several feet behind the fish and let it sit.  The redfish didn't spook, and when the ripples died down, I waited a bit more and gave the lure a little twitch.  Nothing happened so I repeated the tactic and on the third or fourth twitch, the redfish let loose on the lure.  Unfortunately, it didn't get hooked up.

I reeled in and made several more casts to the reds but they were put down so I moved a bit up the canal blind casting the bank.

I caught a couple more sea trout a little bit larger than the fish above before deciding to head to the house.

On the way out of the refuge, I took a shot of this guy fishing for his evening meal.

The thunderstorm cooled down the air and got the baitfish in the marsh canal moving around.along with the sea trout and redfish.  I've found that this is one of the better times to toss around a topwater bait, regardless of the time of day.

With the 4th. of July weekend, I expected to see the refuge loaded with fishermen, but except for one other guy fish the Indian River side for redfish, I was the only one in the refuge.

Karen wants to give it shot tomorrow, so if it doesn't get too nasty, we plan to take Elmo and Odie fishig.

Tight Lines.

Fishing Peacocks Pocket In June

Fishing Peacocks Pocket in June is an "iffy" proposition at best.

This weekend I didn't really get a chance to do much fishing but I finally made the effort this afternoon.

Saturday afternoon Karen and I took our two "wonder dogs" out for a spin around Peacocks Pocket road to see if anyone was catching and not just fishing.

Odie and Elmo were in the truck long before Karen and I got situated.

We stopped to get a couple of subs for lunch at Subway and decided to eat them somewhere around Peacocks Pocket.

Odie as usual was trying to "catch" passing cars while cruising out the window.

We drove around the area and took several pictures of the wildlife but there were very few fishermen out and about.

We saw several out of town visitors checking out the gators and taking pics of the waterfowl but the wind, high temperature and probability of thunderstorms evidently kept the fishermen indoors.

As we drove around the area I spotted a few sea trout chasing baitfish and one redfish or black drum cruising down the marsh canal.  I was glad I didn't bother bringing along my fishing rods.

 

I pulled out my camera several times and took some pics of the birds.  The spoonbills are always a favorite.

 

About midway down the road I met up with one of the regular fisherman I know who told me he had been fishing most of the morning and caught a couple of 18" sea trout on mud minnows.  He said he hadn't caught any redfish for the past couple of weeks.

We parted ways and continued down the road towards home.  There were thunderstorms in the area and we decided to finish up some work at the house and maybe go fishing Sunday.

Fishing Peacocks Pocket in June has always been hit and miss.  The weather has a lot to do with it in this area and I hate pitching lures in the wind.

Sunday afternoon Karen decided to stay home so I packed up some rods, pulled out some chunked ladyfish from the freezer and headed for Peacocks Pocket road.

This afternoon was nothing like Saturday.  The air temperature was 86 degrees when I entered Gator Creek road and it was windy enough to cause some problems casting.

I didn't get out until about 6:00 pm so I decided to stop only where I spotted active fish.

I stopped about a half a dozen times while I was in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and fished mainly the marsh ponds and canals.

The water was up from the rain so I started with a gold Johnson Sprite and alternated with a silver and blue backed Chug Bug.

I got a couple of hits on the Chug Bug but it was too hard to work with the wind, so I switched over to the gold spoon for the rest of the time I was out.

I got one bite on the cut ladyfish but the fish dropped the bait.

I got several hits on the gold spoon and landed two sea trout both about 16 to 17 inches.  One was bleeding but when I returned it to the water it took off like a shot so it probably survived.




I stopped at several spots to cast at milling baitfish and got a hit from a redfish in an area my wife and I call "snook point".

The fish swirled on the spoon but I jerked the lure out of it's mouth like a novice.  Lesson learned!

Around 7:00 pm the wind started to die down and the air temperature was down to 81degrees according to my car sensor.

As I was driving out I spotted a fisherman I saw several times in the area.  His name was Derek and was tossing a weighted jerk bait at redfish.

As I stopped to see how he was doing, I noticed that he was on a small school of tailing redfish in an area I call Bobcat Bay.  The fish were no more than 20 feet from the bank and they had lockjaw for lures.

Derek asked me if I wanted to give it a shot with some bait, so I tossed out a chunk of ladyfish on top of one of the tailing reds just to see if it would get it's interest.

The fish stayed in the area but they weren't in the mood for ladyfish today.

Derek said he fishes the area almost daily and drives in from Orlando.  Kind of like me.

I'm out of town most of the time but I fish this area almost every weekend.

Anyway, after a few minutes I knew that catching these reds was a lost cause so I pulled in my bait, parted ways with Derek and headed for home and some much needed dinner.

Maybe next weekend?????

Till then, Tight Lines.