Gator Sea Trout In June

Gator Sea Trout in June are still available but you have to work a bit harder to get them.

Late this afternoon I decided to hit Peacocks Pocket to see what if anything was biting.

The morning's trip to Playalinda Beach was less than what I had hoped for so being the die hard fisherman that I am, I decided to try one last time to hook up with a fish.

It was almost 7:30 pm when I got to Peacocks Pocket road and the wind was picking up on the Indian River since this morning.

I decided to fish a gold Johnson Sprite spoon since I didn't have much time before dusk to fish.

I fished several spots and picked up a couple of slot sea trout but I was hoping for a redfish.

At one of my favorite areas I spotted these guys in shallow water kayaks fishing the marsh pond.

I heard one of the guys yelling that he got hooked up but he lost the fish.

I moved on to an area my wife and I call Bobcat Bay.  The area is usually good for reds this time of the evening on the river side.

Today there were no reds in sight so I fished the opposite marsh canal instead.

In one area at a deep bend in the canal I hooked up with a huge gator sea trout.

I was blind casting the area when a fish nailed the gold spoon on the bottom in the deepest part of the canal.

The fish made a run like a redfish and when I finally got a look at her, she was almost three feet long .

Since I was using 30# Power Pro, I had the drag on my reel set tight and as I was leading the big trout to a brush free area of the bank where I could land it, the fish made a final lunge and got off.  The hook wore a hole in the trout's thin mouth.

I was disappointed to say the least.  I really wanted that pic to post here but today it was not to be.

I continued fishing the area but never got another bite until it was time to go.

That fish will never hit another gold spoon!

Till next time,

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.

Another Great Day Fishing The Cold Fronts In December

My wife and I went out earlier than usual Wednesday to enjoy the beautiful weather and catch a few redfish.

We scouted several areas around the Mosquito Lagoon and decided on fishing the Indian River marsh areas where we usually have some success.

The temperature was in the low 70s and there was almost no wind to speak of. The water was like glass in the shallows and in the middle of the river, only a slight chop.

The alligators were out in force sunning themselves on the banks.  This is probably why there were so many visitors in the refuge today.  It looked like "Grand Central" with all the traffic.

I rigged a pencil float on Karen's rod with a 4/0 hook. She was using frozen shrimp while I opted for my favorite beat up Bagley gold spoon.

Because the water was so calm, I didn't really expect to catch many fish, so we slowly drove around Peacocks Pocket road from the first entrance to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge looking for signs of fish activity.

All I spotted were some cute little diving ducks that looked like feeding redfish.

We finally stopped at one of our favorite spots and started fishing.  I started fan casting in deeper water, working my gold Bagley spoon as slowly as possible and Karen cast her shrimp close to a weedy island.

Since a cold front came through the area yesterday when I was fishing Playalinda Beach, I correctly assumed that the water temperature dropped and the fish would start heading for deeper water.

Redfish and sea trout get sluggish during colder weather and don't like to chase after speeding baits.

My strategy was apparently right on because after a few casts, I hooked up to a nice 17" sea trout that I unceremoniously dragged from the marsh canal, just as a man and his dog were walking by.

Bob and his neat dog "Buck" stopped and we chatted a while about fishing the marsh and a couple of other areas I didn't know about.

He said that fishermen were now catching big Black Drum in Haulover Canal at the entrance to the Mosquito Lagoon.

Bob and Buck had walked all the way from the new bridge past where we were fishing and was on his way back when I picked up another sea trout that was a clone to the first one.

The sea trout were holding in deeper water and were viciously nailing the gold spoon on a slow drop.

I caught a couple more fish before we moved on to try a few other areas.

The trout were cooperating but we couldn't find any redfish until we came to "Bobcat Bay".

Karen parked herself at a culvert and tossed out her shrimp bait, while I walked around the bend to fish the Indian River side of the road.

It was getting late and the temperature was dropping. It was in the high 50s before I finally got a hit from a redfish.

The fish nailed my spoon on a slow drop but I missed the strike. Several casts later in the same general area I again had a tap on the spoon.

This time I jerked too soon and missed the fish, but as I quickly reeled in to re-cast, the fish swirled around and hit the spoon a second time. 

This time it hooked itself and took off like a shot but after only a couple of feet, the hook pulled loose.

As the big redfish swam by me only a few feet away in about a foot of water, I could see that it was well over 30" long.

I was going to keep fishing but Karen drove the truck up to where I was and wanted to move.

It was getting really cold and I didn't have my jacket on so we decided to call it a day.

Karen hooked a couple of fish but lost one that swam under a rock and another that made for a stickup and pulled loose.
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For a change we left the refuge early and saw several more gators on the way out.

The sunset this evening was awesome as you can see by the pics below.

 

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Slow Mosquito Lagoon And Indian River Fishing

Hopefully the slow Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River fishing conditions we encountered this evening will not continue through the weekend.

I didn't get into town until about 5:30 this afternoon and after unloading the truck my wife and Elmo were ready to hit the water for some late fishing.

We hadn't been down Bio Lab road in a while so we decided to try out the Mosquito Lagoon fishing first.

The water level was down considerably and in some places more than I have ever seen. I pulled out my trusty Nikon and started taking pics of the shallow water boat launch and other scenery.

Today in order to wade fish this area, you had to navigate some pretty foul smelling dead vegetation before getting into the crystal clear shallow water.

Karen and I scouted the water for schools of fish or signs of singles that we could cast to, but gave up after a while.

The west side of Bio Lab road was dried up except for the deeper trough that runs along side the road. The only thing visible there were loads of waterfowl dining on what they dine on and a very large alligator trying to look like a log in shallow water that wasn't deep enough to cover it's back.

I quickly made a decision to drive over to Peacock's Pocket road on the Indian River Lagoon where I believed we would have better luck.

The road was relatively uninhabited. We only saw five vehicles all the time we were there.

The water on the Indian River side of the road was extremely shallow and the marsh side wasn't much better to fish.

Despite the conditions, Karen and I stopped in several areas to fish likely looking spots with not even a tap.

I fished gold spoons, jigs, D.O.A. CAL jerkbaits and even a Rapala top water bait. Karen fished large frozen heads on shrimp and got a couple of light bites but no fish until our last stop.

We were starting to get eaten alive by mosquitoes, so we decided to move on to "bobcat bay" where we believed the water would be deeper.

When we got to the cove, we saw several wakes which I made several unsuccessful casts to. Karen flipped off two baits trying to cast out to the wakes so I helped her out and cast the last shrimp closer to where the fish were feeding.

After just a few minutes she hooked into a nice slot sized redfish that put up an exceptionally good fight.

I was going to take a short video of the action but my camera wasn't set up for it; so I just took some pics of her fish before she released it. The fish was lucky; I would have eaten it.

The "skeeters" were apparently calling all their relatives for dinner and we were on the menu, so instead of trying to catch another redfish, we decided to grab a sub for dinner and head for home.

I'm glad Karen caught the redfish to break her slump. I on the other hand remained fishless for the day.

Oh well, Tomorrow is another day.

Tight Lines!

Black Drum In Bobcat Bay

After an almost 7 hour drive home from Columbia, S.C., my wife and Elmo were jonesing to get out on the water and do a little fishing.

Because it was so late in the evening, we decided to just take Peacocks Pocket drive and hope for the best.

The waters of the Indian River Lagoon were like glass with almost no movement and the marsh areas looked almost stagnant.

My wife fished her usual dead shrimp under a bobber rig, and I started with a top water plug.

Although I caught the first redfish, it vied for the smallest redfish of the year competition.

The little bugger was about the same size as my Skitter Walk.

Karen then picked up a slot redfish that she at first thought was a large catfish. After a short fight and photo op, I cut the line and released her to fight another day.



The action slowed down, so we decided to scout for signs of sea trout or redfish farther on down the unimproved road.

We only saw a few rises and finger mullet, so we didn't bother stopping until we hit an area we call "bobcat bay".

Several large swirls in the shallow weed beds, suggested that a redfish or large trout was actively feeding; so my wife chucked out a free lined dead shrimp on another rod we brought along.

Almost immediately, she hooked into what she thought was a redfish, but after a brief fight turned out to be a slot sized black drum. This time I took a short clip of the action before we returned the fish to the Lagoon.

The mosquitoes, gnats, and green headed horse flies were tormenting us and poor Elmo to the point that he was whining to get into the car to avoid the plague. So, we decided to call it a day and leave for home.



The scenery was beautiful and we only saw two other vehicles during the entire time we spent fishing the unimproved road.

Perhaps it was because all the culverts were closed or the insects were blood thirsty, but the people just weren't around this evening.

Hope you all enjoy the photos and until next time; Tight Lines To All!!

November Indian River Lagoon Redfish

The weather for November is simply unbelievable.  The air temperature this afternoon was a pleasant 73 degrees at 4:30 p.m. and the wind was for all practical purposes, nonexistent.

After spending the day working on my computer, and my wife working on her stained glass sun catchers, we decided to get a little fresh air and tool on down to the "swamp" at the north end of the Indian River Lagoon.

We loaded up the truck, almost got run over by our wonder dog Elmo getting into the car, and proceeded to our favorite stretch on the river.

Today proved fruitless on top water lures.  I tried silver mullet Chug Bugs with not even one strike. 

I reverted to one of my favorites, the Creme green colored paddle tail swim baits and promptly picked up a couple of legal sized trout.

At an area we call the duck blind, I noticed a boil in the water on the opposite bank and quickly sent my creme lure almost directly on top of the roiling boil.

I immediately hooked up to a nice fat 26" redfish that took me about 15 minutes to land on my 10# test Cajun line.

I tried shrimp on my other rod but never even got a catfish..

My wife Karen, wasn't  doing much so we moved to another spot around an area we call "bobcat bay", for obvious reasons. 

Last year in that spot, a bobcat walked up to my wife while she was fishing on the bank, and just sat down and watched her fish.  If I'd had my camera, I would have posted the neat shot, but it was left at the house that day. 

Anyway, that's how the spot is forever remembered by us!

After catching a few more nice sized trout in our second stop, my wife hook up to what we thought was a nice redfish.  It fought for about 15 minutes until we could get it to shore and discovered it to be a large black drum. 

The fish checked in at about 12 pounds and was over 28" long.  Check out the pics of the fish, and the beautiful wheather.
 

It was a beautiful calm Saturday afternoon fishing trip that we both enjoyed to the max.                                                      

It's great to live in the redfish capital of the world!

Till next time.

Tight Lines To You All!