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.

Gator Sea Trout In October

Catching a gator sea trout wasn't on the agenda this evening, redfish was the target species.

Karen wanted to catch a redfish in honor of a mutual friend of ours who recently passed so, we planned to go fishing as soon as I got home from work this evening.

I didn't get to the house until quite late, but we still had about an hour or so of fishing time before sunset.

Because of the time factor, I decided to stop and pick up some finger mullet at Mosquito Lagoon bait and tackle instead of wasting time trying to net some bait.

We left Odie and Elmo at home and headed for a spot where we hoped there were some reds feeding.

When we got to our spot off of Peacocks Pocket road, I quickly set out several rods with live finger mullet.

There was a brisk wind blowing this evening and it was in the low 70s as we settled down to watch our rods.

I didn't bother tossing any artificial baits this evening, instead I decided to give live bait fishing a shot.

I quickly learned that having too many rods out at one time can be a waste of time. 

I had a hit on one rod and by the time I got to reel in the fish, it spit out the mullet and was gone.

The same thing happened twice more before I finally decided to put up two of the rods.  I could watch two rods without worrying about missing another fish.

Karen thought she had a hit but it turned out to be a false alarm.

This evening, except for one lone fisherman who was leaving the refuge with a kayak in the back of his truck, Karen and I were all alone in the refuge.

The angler with the kayak stopped to ask me if there were any fish in the marsh, so I referred him to this site.

About five minutes after he drove off,  I had just finished tossing a fresh finger mullet into the entrance of one of the marsh ponds and got a savage hit from what turned out to be a gator sea trout.

The fish briefly chased the freelined mullet and finally inhaled the bait.  I didn't have to set the hook this time around, the fish took off up the marsh canal as soon as it realized it was hooked and made several nice runs.

After a surprisingly good fight I landed what we I call an almost gator sea trout in central Flroida..

The fat female measured in at a little over 27" and was beautifully colored.

Normally I don't keep the fish I catch, but this one was headed to the dinner table in honor of Larry.

After unhooking the trout, I re-baited the rod with a fresh mullet and as I was setting out the rod, another fish hit the other rod that I had out.

But the time I got to the rod, the hooked fish was tangled in the brush along the bank. I could feel the fish but as I was trying to gently lead it out of the branches, it broke off and swam away.

From it's size, it looked like the redfish we were looking for, but I couldn't be sure.

As the sun began to set, it started getting really chilly. Karen was getting cold and the mosquitoes were getting nasty, so we decided to pack it in for the evening.

The temperature was in the low 60s as we loaded the last of our tackle into the truck and turned on the heater.

Catching gator sea trout in October isn't uncommon in our area, in fact it's one of the best times to go fishing.

Very few people are in the area and the fish are usually hungry!

Till next time, Tight Lines!

Another Balmy Day On Peacocks Pocket Road

It was another balmy day on Peacocks Pocket Road this afternoon but I couldn't sit in the house waiting for another thunderstorm.

Instead I decided to try out some new Pro-Cure scents that I picked up on eBay.

When I got down to the river it was windy as hell so I decided to spend some time catching ladyfish around East Gator Creek road.

I loaded up a topwater Chug Bug with some Pro-Cure and started casting into the wind.

I'd like to report that I caught the hell out of the ladyfish but all I got were several followups and two fish. The wind was making a decent presentation almost impossible and I was getting hung too frequently, so I decided to head for a couple of ponds that I fish on a regular basis.

On the way, I stopped to throw a gold spoon at something that was busting baitfish on the bank but the fish had a case of lockjaw.

I passed a couple of fishermen at the pond I planned on fishing but since they were already set up and fishing, I just asked them how they were doing and continued on my way.

One of the guys said he had just caught a small redfish on a dead finger mullet so I became somewhat enthused.

I hadn't seen any sign of reds up to this point. In fact all I spotted were some big mullet jumping in the marsh canal.

I started back fishing a top water Chug Bug in the "ditches" and had a couple of shy hits, but no fish of any substance.

As I was tossing the plug around, a fellow angler and his lady friend stopped to see how I was doing.

He told me about some small tarpon he caught around Bio Lab road but he hadn't seen anything around the Pocket. He told me his name and I said I would mention him in my blog but I forgot it. Sorry my friend, (leave me a comment).

As he slowly drove away in his SUV I began tossing my gold Johnson's Sprite around some grassy islands.

About the third cast I had a hit but missed the fish, whatever it was.

I smeared on some Pro-Cure Inshore Salt Water formula on the spoon and shot the spoon out again at the same spot. This time a nice sea trout nailed the lure about half way to the bank.

I took it's pic above and promptly released the fish to grow into the "gator" category that I love catching.

I caught two more before the weather started getting really ominous.


The wind was causing me too much difficulty casting and when I stepped into an ant hill, it was the last straw.

I packed up my rod and headed back home for some dinner.

There's always tomorrow.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Fishing The Ditches For Sea Trout

Since it was late when I got home from work this evening, I decided to try fishing the ditches for sea trout with top water plugs instead of dunking spoons or soft baits for redfish.

It was around 7:15 pm when I got on the water and I didn't waste any time fishing my usual "oddball" spots.  I headed straight for the deeper holes in the marsh canal.

The air temperature was 82 degrees when I drove up Peacocks Pocket road and there was a brisk wind over the water.

I wasn't sure I could control top water baits along the marsh canal but I gave it a shot anyway.

The first ditch I fished produced some small (very small) ladyfish and after hooking, snagging and releasing three fish in a row,  I decided to move up the road to fish another spot.

Ladyfish are a blast to catch on top water baits but when they are this small, they're just a pain in the but.

The next spot produced another larger ladyfish that hit my newly acquired Chug Bug as soon as it hit the water.

The fish jumped twice and threw the Chug Bug several feet into the air back to me.

Two casts later and I managed a hookup with a slot sea trout that looked to be about 20 inches or better.

I got the fish to the bank and made the mistake of trying to haul it up through the brush instead of scooting down the bank and landing it the proper way.  The fish flipped off the treble hooks half way up the bank and was returned to the water.

Fishing the ditches for sea trout is great fun but landing the fish through all the brush is another story.

Anyway it was getting late and I moved a few yards up the road to another deeper spot near a bend in the marsh canal.

I changed rods and Chug Bug patterns.  I decided to try a black back silver Chug Bug instead of the frog pattern I had been using.

I smeared on some Pro-Cure Super Gel and shot a cast to the opposite bank of the canal.  About half way back to the bank, a nice "almost gator" sea trout literally inhaled the Chug Bug and jumped halfway out of the water.

I could see it was a good fish as it took off up the canal and headed almost immediately to the safety of a brush  pile.

I could feel that the fish was still on the bait but the line was underneath a bush at the bank.

Giving the fish some slack didn't do much except make the fish slosh around in the water so, I opened up the drag and left the rod at the bank while I skinnied down the bank to the brush pile.

After a few minutes of balancing on the bush, I finally got out far enough to grab the fish by the gills.

After snapping the leader off the Chug Bug, I pulled the fish out of the water and crawled back up the bank to take some pics.

 

The fish was a little over 26 inches and was none the worse for wear when I returned it back into the marsh canal.

 

I missed two more nice sea trout around the same size before the green back horse flies made me leave the area.  They seem quite fond of my blood type.

On the way out I had to take a pic of the sunset.

Hope you enjoy,

Till next time,   Tight Lines.

Thunderstorm Sea Trout Action

Late Saturday afternoon seemed to be a good time to take advantage of some thunderstorm sea trout fishing.

Thunderstorms in the late afternoon seem to be the norm lately, and today was no different.

After I finished up with the chores around the house, I asked Karen if she wanted to take Elmo and Odie fishing with me.

It was still raining off and on and she didn't feel like getting muddy so I packed up some spinning rods and headed off to the "swamp" for some late afternoon sea trout fishing.

I was originally planning to take my Maverick flats boat out to the Mosquito Lagoon and fish the shallow flats around Pelican Island and the Whale Tail area but it was too late in the day to fool around with hooking up the trailer.

It was around 7:00 pm when I finally left the house and the rain was just beginning to let up.  The air temperature dropped just below the 80 degree mark and there was virtually no wind over the Indian River.

I decided to fish the area where I picked up a nice 31" gator trout that didn't get away last weekend so I passed up several other areas where I spotted some activity and headed directly to the general spot.

The grass along side of Peacocks Pocket road is chest high which makes for some tough fishing.  

When you hook a fish, the odds of landing it go way down because of the brush and the damn horse flies are blood thirsty.

If you do manage to evade these bloodsuckers, you still have the gnats, "no seeums", and the mosquitoes to contend with.

For some reason they all seem to be impervious to mosquito repellant.

Anyway, all the negatives create some positives.  I was virtually the only fisherman in the area.

I started out fishing a Johnson weeldess silver spoon on an 8# medium action spinning rig and promptly hooked up with a couple of ladyfish and a small sea trout.

I decided to change over to a larger size Johnson Sprite gold spoon smeared up with some Pro-Cure.

Several blind casts into the glass like water rewarded me with a follow up from what looked like a slot size redfish.  The fish veered off at the last minute and never gave me a second chance.

It was getting darker and the surface activity started to ramp up so I decided to try a Silver and Lime Green Chug Bug.

I smeared on some Pro-Cure and started casting around some weedy islands and hooked a couple of beautifully colored slot size sea trout.

 
Both fish gave me a decent fight before I managed to land and release them.

As dusk neared and I was bringing in my Chug Bug, another huge gator sea trout blasted the lure just as it was chugging over a drop off.

The fish missed the first time it hit and got foul hooked in it's side a split second later as it swirled back onto  the bait.

As I was trying to find a spot to land the fish away from the heavy brush that lined the bank, the big sea trout straightened out the treble hook and got off. 

I knew the gator trout I caught last week wasn't the only big one in the area.

I lost several sea trout in this same general spot that looked to be the same size or larger, and today's hookup only substantiated my theory.

The fish come into the "swamp" area via open culverts, become somewhat land locked and with all the forage in the area,  they quickly grow to trophy size.

Anyway, I made several more blind casts just at dusk and missed another smaller fish that hit short before I decided I had enough of the bugs.

I took a couple of pics of the sunset and headed for home.

As I left the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge I had to stop briefly to let an 8 foot gator cross the road and again to watch a bobcat prance across the road as I was leaving Peacocks Pocket.

Hope to get out again tomorrow..

 Till then, Tight Lines.

Windy Fishing Weekends

It seems like windy fishing weekends are the norm this time of the year.

I got home from work late on Friday and didn't get a chance to do any serious fishing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge however, I did manage to ride around the area before sunset to see if anyone was catching fish.

On Friday evening there was a lot of vehicle traffic and only a few fishermen.  The weather was breezy and the air temperature was in the 70s.  No one seemed to be catching anything other than ladyfish and cats.

I spotted several trout hitting the surface and a couple of oversized redfish in a small pond busting baitfish just at dusk but nothing was hitting any of my baits.

I was hoping to get out early today but unfortunately I had to work around the house and mow the lawn.  I didn't get out  to the river until around 4:30 pm but the weather was great.

The air temperature was 85 when I drove into the most eastern entrance to Peacocks Pocket road and there was hardly any wind on the water.

I brought along three rods this afternoon tipped with a gold Johnson Sprite spoon, a small Creme paddle tail bait and a Gabbie soft bait that proved to be a winner last weekend.

The marsh ponds and canals were calm as was the Indian River so I decided to start pitching the Gabbie first.

After several unfruitful casts I noticed that the fish were chasing small baitfish on the surface, so I tied on a small Heddon Zara Puppy Foxy Shad topwater bait to see if that would get a hit.

After several casts to where I saw fish busting baitfish, I finally got a small sea trout which I promptly released.

The fish was under size, but it was a fish.....

I drove slowly along Pocket road looking for signs of fish and noticed some guys catching fish on the Indian River side so I pulled out my trusty camera and started taking pics of the action.

The one fisherman picked up a nice ladyfish while the other guy was fighting a slot redfish.
Both of the fish were caught on shrimp.

I took this brief video of the catch with my trusty Nikon Coolpix and moved on up the road hoping to duplicate their success.

I concentrated on fishing the mouths of the small ponds that emptied into the marsh canal hoping for a redfish or a big sea trout.

After casting to several spots I finally picked up a keeper sea trout that measured in at 23".  The fish creamed the Zara Puppy after following it up the canal.  I guess it just couldn't resist the "walk the dog" retrieve.

I released the trout and continued to an area where I picked up redfish a few weeks ago.

Several more casts into the area finally produced another keeper sea trout that looked like a clone to the first fish.

 

I unhooked the bait and released the fish to fight another day.

It was getting dark so I decided to call it a day and head for home.

On the way out of the refuge, I met up with Craig and Mary at the same spot where she caught a nice sea trout last November.  I guess they were hoping to duplicate the catch, anyway Craig said the fishing so far had been "crappy".

He had been fishing a Chug Bug with no luck, but he said a fish hit Mary's bobber as she was casting a shrimp to a spot in the marsh canal.  There are definitely some big fish in the area.

I told him about my trout before heading for home.

Hopefully Karen and I will get out tomorrow.

Until next time, Tight Lines.

New Years Eve Fishig Catfish Creek

New Years eve fishing Catfish Creek wasn't totally a bust this afternoon, but the fishing could have been better.

My wife and I decided to take Odie and Elmo fishing just to get out of the house.

We loaded everybody up along with a few rods and some frozen shrimp and headed for Catfish Creek loop road where I caught a few redfish this past week.

We tried fishing the first spot but there were too many people in the area, so we moved down the road to fish the Indian River side, even though Karen spotted and spooked a nice redfish at our first stop.


I baited up a couple of casting rods with medium sized frozen shrimp and another two rods with chunked frozen ladyfish that I caught last month.

The weather was beautiful this afternoon and for the most part there wasn't much visitor traffic in the refuge. 

The air temperature was in the low 70s and for a change there was barely a hint of a breeze blowing.

We got a late start this afternoon and after fishing about only a half hour at our second stop I missed a fish on one of the cut baits.  It could have been either a redfish or a cat.  I'll never know.

As usual I got bored and started using Karen's Cajun Thunder/dead shrimp rig to pass the time.

I fished it like you should with a DOA shrimp or CAL jerkbait and after the third cast missed a fish that I thought was a sea trout.

After baiting up with another fresh frozen shrimp I started "popping" the rig back to shore.

It took another couple of casts before I hooked up with this "puppy" red.

At first I thought it was a big sea trout but quickly realized it was a juvenile redfish.

It was hooked deep and was bleeding a bit so I cut the line above the hook and released the fish.

I'm sorry to report that it was the only fish for the afternoon.

Karen never got a bite on any of her baits and I suffered the same result.

As the sun started to set, I took a few pics of the awesome sunset before we packed up our gear and headed home.

 

The dogs enjoyed getting out and so did Karen and I. 

Spending New Years eve fishing Catfish Creek sure beats the hell out of sitting in front of the boob tube all afternoon, even if we didn't "knock em dead".

Hopefully next year we'll do better.

Till then,

Tight Lines and a Happy New Year to your all.

Skunked Again!.

Well I got skunked again this afternoon.

It's been one hell of a week.  I've been sick with the flu all week and this weekend when I finally felt good enough to get some fishing in, I got skunked.

Saturday afternoon my wife and I took Elmo and Odie fishing around Catfish Creek.

Odie is to the left, Elmo to the right.

I figured that since Peacocks Pocket road is closed to vehicle traffic until February, we might as well try some bank fishing around Catfish Creek loop.

I netted about a dozen large mud minnows and we headed to an area that I knew would have a lot of bank fishermen trying their luck.

After we parked the truck at a likely looking spot, Karen and I put out five rods and baited them up with live mud minnows at various locations around the bank and proceeded to wait.

After about 30 minutes or so I saw a large mud minnow that was on one of my bait casting rods frantically trying to get away from a fish.  About the same time I noticed the bait, the line started peeling off the rod.

I'm used to fishing artificial lures and instead of letting the fish run with the bait, I tried to set the hook to quickly.

To make a short story shorter, I missed the fish.  When I reeled in the mud minnow, it had teeth marks half way around it's midsection.  The sign of a big redfish.

I cast out another mud minnow and proceeded to wait.

My wife asked me to cast out a mud minnow for her on a bait casting rod and after only a few minutes she had a nice 22" sea trout on the line.

She landed the fish and I took this pic.  I was going to release the fish but decided to have it for dinner instead. 

Times are getting tough!

As it turned out, the sea trout was the only fish of the day.  Karen out fished me again.

We packed up our rods as it started getting towards dusk and headed for the house and dinner.

I was going to ditch the rest of the mud minnows but decided to keep them and see if they could make it another day, and I'm happy to report they all did.

Sunday, my wife decided to ride a horse instead of going fishing and it turned out to be a great choice.

I got skunked again!

I left the house with five rods and the mud minnows in back of the truck and headed for the same general area I got skunked on Saturday.

I got to the area around 3:00 pm and tossed out three rods all baited with live mud minnows.

Mud minnows are supposed to be redfish "candy" but today either there weren't any reds in the area or they didn't like "candy".

I sat, walked around, sat some more, shot the bull with a few fishermen, sat some more and never got a bite all the time I was on the Indian River.

Clearly a crappy day for fishing.

About 5:00 pm I had enough fun and started packing up my rods. One rod was bait-less and a mud minnow on the other rod looked like it went through the war and lost.

Anyway, I loaded up the truck, said my farewells to Neil Clark and his neighbor and continued down the loop to head for home.

I talked to several fishermen who were using either finger mullet or shrimp and no one except one guy caught anything.

The one fisherman who caught the slot redfish said he was fishing since 1:30 pm and this was his only fish.

I'm not sure whether it was the cold front or what, but the fish definitely were not in the feeding mood today or yesterday.

It's times like this that make me remember why I prefer fishing artificial lures.

Oh well, at least there was a beautiful sunset.

Till next time,

Tight Lines!

Going For The Gold

Going for the gold spoon this time of the year is just the ticket for redfish in the shallows of the salt marsh.

This morning after my wife waited for two and a half hours to vote, we took Elmo and Odie for a ride into the "swamp" to see if anyone was catching any fish.

We were surprised at the number of people who were fishing and sight seeing around Peacocks Pocket road and for good reason.

The roseate spoonbills were in the area and the alligators were out in force.  I counted 16 gators sunning on the banks or partially submerged and who knows how many were not visible.

  

  
We didn't have any fishing rods with us so I just took some pics of the wildlife.

    
Although we counted at least half a dozen fishermen in various areas, none seemed to be catching any fish.

There were three boaters close to shore on the Indian River side fishing the shallows, but they also didn't seem to be catching anything.

 
The weather was in the high 70s and there was barely a hint of a wind on the water.

We drove all the way through Peacocks Pocket road and went home to do some work around the house.  We planned on fishing later on in the afternoon.

Around 4:30 pm I decided to go back to the area and see if I could catch some redfish or sea trout.

Karen didn't feel like fishing so I packed up four spinning rods and headed for the "swamp".

When I got to the area the temperature had dropped to a pleasant 72 degrees and there was no wind.  The water was absolutely flat on the marsh side of the road and almost flat on the river side.

I started fishing with a paddle tail bait and missed a couple of small sea trout at my first two stops.

I decided to target redfish so I chose the rod tipped with a gold Johnson's spoon and started blind casting into the submerged grassy areas that I thought would hold fish.

For the next hour and a half I managed to hook up and land three redfish and five sea trout.

The reds measured in at 26", 29" and 31".  I missed two reds that hit the spoon but shook off the treble hook at the bank.

 

All the sea trout were under the slot except for one which just hit the 15" mark.

 

All the fish were released to fight another day, hopefully again with me and my wife.

The fish were all caught in the marsh areas at several of my favorite locations which shall remain nameless.

The 31" red was caught just off an area that my wife calls "snook point" in shallow water that was only about a foot deep.

When it nailed the gold Johnson's spoon, it headed back into the grass where I almost lost it.  It took some patience and steady pressure on the fish to pull it out of the submerged grass and eventually grip it onto the bank.

I was using a 7 1/2 foot graphite rod, 10# Cajun Red line and about 6 feet of 15 pound test fluorocarbon leader.  The Johnson's gold spoon was rigged with a small barrel swivel and split ring to enhance it's action.

Going for the gold spoon is something I do during the winter months. 

I have always been partial to using a Bagley's gold hammered spoon but the company no longer makes them.  The last one I had is in the mouth of a big redfish somewhere in the "swamp".

The last redfish I landed was the smallest and hit just off a grassy point in shallow water.

As I was fighting the fish, my wife called me and asked me to pick up a pizza on the way home.

Holding the phone with one hand while fighting the red with the other hand was tricky, but I still managed to land the fish.and take the pizza order.

As the gnats and mosquitoes started going for my jugular,  I decided to call it a day and head for Little Caesars Pizza.

I've learned from experience that going for the gold spoon during the winter months is a sure way to catch a red or a big sea trout in this area.

Till next time, Tight Lines to you all.