Higher Water Levels In The Refuge

With the higher water levels in the refuge, I decided to wet a line and hit some of the more "likely" spots I used to catch sea trout in.

My wife said it had been raining off and on for a good part of the week.  This normally sets off  the bite along the shallower flats of the North Indian River and many areas in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The air temperature this afternoon was in the high 80s and there was a slight breeze blowing over the mud flats when I started casting my paddletail bait along the shoreline.

Most of the areas I fish were without incident but along Catfish Creek Loop I started getting hits around the mangroves in the mud flats.

I missed three or four fish before finally landing an under slot sea trout that I quickly released.

The pond just before the entrance to Peacocks Pocket is usually taken over by bank fishermen dunking live or dead bats for redfish or black drum but this afternoon, I managed to catch another small trout on an old topwater Rebel Pop-R bait I had in my freshwater tackle box.  

After circling Catfish Creek Loop with no more bites, I decided to head back to the house and fininsh up some stairs I was working on.

Surprisingly, there were no people fishing the usual spots along the bank in either of the areas I visited this afternoon.

If I don't hit it again later today towards dusk, I'll be out sometime tomorrow.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Don'ty forget the Go Outdoors Sale going on now if you need ot stock up on all your outdoors necessities.

Indian River Dolphin

As my wife and I took a ride around Gator Creek Road this afternoon, the first thing we spotted was a pod of dolphin surrounding a school of redfish in the Indian River. 

As we pulled into the first entrance, Karen spotted the school meandering around the line of concrete erosion brakes that parallel the causeway.

The dolphin were obviously on a school of redfish so I pulled out my cell phone and took this brief video below before moving on.

As we drove away from the action, I noticed that there were several fishermen along the banks of the river.  

The air temps were in the low 90s and the fish were obviously not cooperating with the fishermen.

We drove around the dirt road taking pictures of the waterfowl who were doing much better catching dinner in the mud flats.  

A Fish and Game officer from Alabama was pulling out of Catfish Creek Loop, so I stopped to ask him some questions about Peacocks Pocket road

They are working on repairing the roads in the refuge and according to him, they are pretty much finished with Peacocks Pocket but, he did not know if the managers of the refuge were going to allow vehicle traffic to the public.

About 3 years ago when I spoke with the refuge manager, I was told that the road would be open within a year.   When I mentioned that to the Alabama officer, he said that budgeting caused the delay.  

I thanked him for the information and we both proceeded on our way.

As I drove up to the barrier at Peacocks Pocket road at the entrance to Catfish Creek loop, two anglers with a bucket of live shrimp were walking out from behind the barrier.  

I asked them if they were catching any sea trout or reds and they reported that they had caught a few snook.  According to one of the guys, they were good size; in the 30 inch plus category.

I made a mental not to walk the road again when I get back from work again.  The last time I walked Peacocks Pocket, I picked up a few sea trout and two nice snook.

                                                      

Anyway, I thanked them for the fishing report and headed back to get an ice cream cone before heading home.

Too hot to fish the area this afternoon and I wasn't feeling up to walking the Pocket road.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

East Gator Creek Fishing Report

After walking the bridge Sunday afternoon, I decided to get a fishing report for the East Gator Creek area.

Armed with four spinning rods tipped with Skitterwalks, Chug Bugs, and plastic Creme paddletail baits, I headed for the clear flats to see if the bite was on.

I drove slowly into the east entrance and stopped to talk to an angler who was tending to four rods staked along the bank.  He was fishing with shrimp for black drum that could be seen tailing farther out on the southern mud flats.

He told me that he caught a couple nice fish the day before, but had no bites up to the time I spoke with him.

I wished him good luck and drove to one of the spots I usually fish.

The day was calm and the air temperature was in the high 70s, so I started fishing the area with a Skitterwalk topwater bait.

I spent a lot of time blind casting to several areas on the east side of the road and had several follow ups, but only one small ladyfish to show for my efforts.   

The ladyfish jumped once and managed to hook itself into a circle, so the fight was a lot like pulling in a clump of weeds. 

I started fishing one of my other rods with a Creme paddletail bait and after missing several fish, hooked into a juvenile tarpon that hit the bait about six feet from the bank.

The tarpon jumped several times and put up a nice fight but I played it right for a change and slowly pulled the fish to the bank.  As the tarpon got closer, it headed for the brush along the bank where the treble hooks on the Skitterwalk hung up.

I put the rod on the bank and got my cell phone to take a pic as the fish dislodged itself and took off into the shallow flat.   

I never had another hit in that spot and it was getting late so I headed for Peacocks Pocket Culvert at the entrance to Catfish Creek Loop.

There is a small pond before the culvert that looked "fishy" so I pulled out the Skitterwalk and started walking the dog as close to the shoreline as I could get without snagging.

After a half dozen casts or so I hooked into a very large sea trout that I fought close enough to the bank to identify.  The trout was over two feet long and as soon as it saw the bank, it got it's second wind and took off across the weedy flat.

I fought the fish close to the bank the second time and as it took off on another run, the knot came loose and the fish got away taking my Skitterwalk with it.

I moved up to the culvert that was flowing weakly and spooked another big sea trout that was laying right off the bank.  

After several casts it was obvious that the fish wasn't in a feeding mood.

The barrier to Peacocks Pocket road was down and it was obvious that someone other than the refuge managers did it.   The signs were still up advising that the road was closed.

I was going to walk down a bit and try the other culverts but it was getting late and I decided to head home for dinner.

On the way around Catfish Creek Loop I took these pics of the gorgeous sunset.

A few groups of fishermen had rods along the Indian River but I only spoke with one guy who had an oversize red he picked up on a chunk bait.

I plan to get out tomorrow afternoon to wet a line and hopefully pick up that trout.

Till next time,

Tight Lines. 

 

Plenty Of Drum In The River

Right now there are plenty of drum in the river as well as the Mosquito Lagoon and anglers have been catching them in good numbers from the bank and on the flats.

I haven't been fishing this area for awhile but yesterday when I finally managed to get out and scout the areas around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, I was pleasantly surprised to see that a good number of bank fishermen were catching slot size black drum and redfish.

As I crossed the A. Max Brewer Bridge towards NASA, I was surprised to see how many people were on the North side of the causeway partying and parasailing.  I was under the impression that gatherings were limited to 50 people but apparently nobody read the memo.

As I drove past all the partying, I spotted the sign that said Playalinda Beach was closed.

I drove into East Gator Creek and planned to fish a couple of spots with a topwater bait, but both of them were already occupied with bank fishermen dunking shrimp and chunk baits.

One guy I spoke with had five rods staked out and said he had been limiting out on black drum along the banks of the Indian River for the past week.  He had been using shrimp for bait and said that all the fish were in the slot.,

I continued driving around the area and stopped a few times to chuck a Chug Bug around some promising areas just to say that I had "wet a line". 

I had one follow up but no takers; probably because the conditions were not great for topwater bait fishing.  The water was too choppy in most areas to work the lure properly.

I decided to check out the exit to Peacocks Pocket Road which is still closed and as I turned into Catfish Creek Loop I stopped to talk to a couple of guys fishing at the culverts.

When I asked Chris and his friend if they had caught any fish, Chris was happy to show me a couple of nice slot size black drum that he had caught on live shrimp.

When I asked for a pic, he happily obliged with the two below.

It was getting dark as I navigated the unimproved road but as I slowly drove around the far side of Catfish Creek, every fishing spot was taken.

A couple of guys who were fishing at the new culverts had several rods staked out and as I drove by, one of them was unhooking an under size redfish.  He told me he was using shrimp for bait and that they were catching a lot of reds and black drum.

By the time I drove out of the Catfish Creek area, I decided to walk over the 1.8 mile bridge before heading home and having to listen to the depressing news about the coronavirus on the television.

Clean Water In The Lagoons

Went for a short spin this afternoon and found a lot of clean water in both of the lagoon systems.

The water conditions right now make for almost perfect sight fishing in both the Mosquito Lagoon and north Indian River.

I had three rods with me tipped with a topwater Chug Bug, a Johnson's Silver Minnow, and a Mirrolure suspended bait that I was using on juvenile tarpon earlier this year.

I started slowly cruised around Catfish Creek Loop searching for signs of fish activity and found a plethora of wildlife.  Duck hunting is still in season and it seemed like all the ducks were sheltering in the area to keep away from the hunters.

The birders today would be envious of the different species of waterfowl that I spotted this afternoon.,

I tossed in a pic of the water snake above that was crossing the road around the Peacocks Pocket road barrier, just for grins.

There were a lot of fishermen on the water and along the banks today were dunking fingerling mullet, chunked baits, and shrimp. 

Most everybody I talked to said that the bite was slow and only two guys had caught anything.  A slot sea trout on a finger mullet and a juvenile black drum that another guy picked up on a dead shrimp,

As I was driving around Catfish Creek Loop, I spotted a guy in a flats boat tossing plastic baits around the mangroves.  I watched him long enough to see him finally get a hookup with what looked like a sea trout.   I took a series of pics of the guy and discovered one that had a UFO type object (below) mysteriously show up in the background.

I fished both sides of the road at several locations tossing the gold spoon around the pods of mullet and had one bump but no hookups.

As I drove out of the area, I decided to head back to the house and get something for dinner.

As much as I enjoy fishing in the refuge, I like catching more and this afternoon the bite didn't seem to be on.

Till next time
Tight Lines

 

Gator Creek Trout Bite

When I heard that the Gator Creek trout bite was getting pretty good and Karen mentioned that she would like to take the dogs out for a ride, I immediately agreed.

It didn't take to long to load up the rods and the bucket of live shrimp that I had left over from yesterday's trip and it was around 5:00 pm when we finally drove into Gator Creek road.

Odie and Elmo were happy to get out again and both had their heads out of the window enjoying the ride.

Karen wanted to try a spot off of Catfish Creek Loop where she caught some nice black drum last year and since it was reopened, I agreed to bank fish for awhile.

There was a chop on the water and the air temperature was around 86 degrees when we set out our rods.

I stopped at Mosquito Lagoon Bait and Tackle to pick up a half dozen of finger mullet and baited up Karen's rod with one of them.

I had a couple of rods out with live shrimp and finger mullet.

The black drum are running all over the Indian River and the redfish bite was sporadic for slot fish, so we had high expectations.

I'd like to say that we caught a ton of fish, but until about 6:30 pm all we did was lose baits.

Elmo stayed in the truck and fell asleep and Odie stayed with Karen while she waited for something to bite.

Finally, at around 7 pm we started catching fish.  Karen got a nice hit and pulled in a slot size sea trout that hit her fingerling mullet.

I took a quick pic of the fish before releasing it to grow into a Gator Trout.

I missed two fish on live shrimp and when I switched to a small finger mullet, I finally hooked up with a clone of Karen's trout.

I'm not a patient fisherman, which is why I would rather spend my time on the water hunting for fish and tossing artificial baits.
  

It's also probably why I miss a lot of hookups with live baits.

Anyway, I missed one more fish before the gnats got so bad that my legs were getting bloody.

I took a couple of pics of the sunset before heading home for dinner and calling it a day.

Although we didn't catch a mess of fish, it was beautiful weather and just being with the dogs and watching them have such a good time made for an enjoyable trip.

Karen and I will probably go out again tomorrow and try a different spot for reds and drum.

Till then,

Tight Lines

Catfish Creek Loop

My wife told me yesterday that Catfish Creek Loop was open, so when she asked if we wanted to take the "boys" for a ride around the swamp, I loaded up a few rods, packed Elmo and Odie into the truck and headed to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

As we were driving into East Gator Creek road, the wind along the causeway was strong enough to bring out a crowd of wind surfing enthusiasts.

There were several groups of people watching the wind surfers and several more fishing along the causeway for redfish and black drum that are running right now.

Karen and I didn't bring along any bait, but I had my back seat stocked with tons of artificial baits that I always carry around.

We stopped at a couple of spots to blind cast Chug Bugs and Slim Dogs but the wind made working a good presentation almost impossible so we drove past the small pond towards Peacock Pocket road into Catfish Creek Loop.

The wind slowed down a bit so I started bind casting a small size Chug Bug smeared up with Pro-Cure and had a couple of hits from pint sized sea trout.

As we drove around the loop, I complimented the refuge managers for doing a good job fixing up the road.  They filled in the ruts and apparently installed a couple of new culverts.

We fished a couple of spots without any luck and saw a few people driving around going way over the speed limit.   

It's a shame to report that after being open only a short time, people have already started leaving their garbage around the fishing spots instead of taking it with them.

As we were leaving the refuge, Karen spotted a large sea trout busting on the surface but because of the wind, I didn't bother casting to the fish.

I'm glad that Catfish Creek Loop road is finally open to vehicle traffic and plan to fish the area later in the week during the evening to see if I can raise a Redfish or two.

Till next time,

Tight Lines

  

Learning How To Fish A Chug Bug

Learning how to fish a Chug Bug  is a big deal for someone who fishes almost exclusively with live, frozen, or chunked up baits.

My wife wanted to take the "boys" to the "swamp" this afternoon, so I packed up three spinning rods with various topwater baits, loaded Karen, Elmo and Odie into the truck, and headed for the area where I landed a juvenile tarpon yesterday.

When we left the house the temperature was in the high 80s and it looked like a thunderstorm was on the horizon. 

Karen wanted to see the exact spot where I caught the fish, I guess hoping that it would still be there.

When I pointed out the spot to her, she couldn't believe that a fish that size would be in that location, so I pulled out the rod that I caught the tarpon with and tossed the beat up Chug Bug to the other bank.

On the first cast, a small ladyfish nailed the Chug Bug and after two jumps pulled free.

That sealed the deal with my wife, and for the first time in a long time she asked me to show her how "it works".

I gave her a brief tutorial on topwater bait fishing and offered her the other rod to practice with.

We drove over to Catfish Creek Loop and pulled over to let the dogs do their thing and I started casting the Chug Bug around the area.  The water was dead calm in most areas with only a hint of a ripple on the Indian River side of the road.  

I had several hits from ladyfish and landed a couple before a sea trout nailed the bait.  

After I released the undersize fish, Karen caught her first fish on a Chug Bug; a small sea trout.

I took these pics of her first fish but she didn't want to be in any of the pictures.

Not dressed properly is my best guess.

Anyway, the sky started getting darker and the late afternoon thunderstorms could be seen over Titusville in the distance.

The ripples on the water picked up and so did the fishing. 

Karen landed and released another sea trout and a ladyfish before getting a birdsnest on her reel.  It's something I learned to deal with when fishing with PowerPro against the wind.

I had the same problem but rather than wasting time trying to unravel a birdsnest on my reel, I decided to switch over to the other rod that a Slim Dog XPS topwater bait tied on it.

It was getting late and I didn't feel like changing out the bait with another Chug Bug, so I started walking the dog on the shallow mud flats with the XPS Slim Dog.

I had a couple of hits from small ladyfish before finally landing one, and jerked the hooks out of the  mouth of a nice snook before hooking up and landing a small redfish, all in the same area.

The redfish was only about 20" long, but it put up a respectable fight on the shallow flats before I could finally land it.

Karen took a couple of pics and we released the fish to grow into a bull red someday.

A gator discovered that we were fishing topwater baits and bullied his way into our area, so we packed in our rods and headed towards the house and some spaghetti dinner.

On the way out I took a shot of the VAB at the cape.

We may try to get out tomorrow for a repeat performance.

Till next time, 

Tight Lines.

Catfish Creek Loop Is Open

On the way back home from my dentist appointment this morning, I decided to take a short drive around the refuge and was pleasantly surprised to see that Catfish Creek Loop, Gator Creek, and East Gator Creek roads were all open to vehicle traffic.

The last two times I tried to fish the area, both access roads were closed to vehicle traffic, apparently due to road repairs.

When I drove into Gator Creek today it was almost high noon and the air temperature was 84 degrees.  The water levels in the marsh areas are up and there was almost no breeze on the water.

I only had one rod with me which I always carry in the truck.  It is a 7 ' medium heavy action Bass Pro spinning outfit loaded with 30 pound Power Pro main line,  15 pound fluorocarbon leader, and a gold Johnson Sprite spoon.  The rig has become my "go to" outfit for finding redfish, sea trout, and any other predator that targets baitfish.

The barrier across the road was down and the water around Gator Creek was clear and calm.  There was some finger mullet activity but the fish were apparently being ignored by predators.

I fan cast several areas around Gator Creek and Catfish Creek with no success but since we are basically in the summer cycle, I didn't expect to catch anything this late in the day anyway.

As I cruised around Catfish Creek Loop I took a video of a porpoise that was rounding up some fish for lunch.

As I got close to the mouth of the creek, I spotted a couple of juvenile tarpon rolling into the area from the middle of the river, but they were too far out to make a reasonable cast.

The road was overgrown with grass and weeds but you could see that it had been worked on.

As I got to Peacocks Pocket Road, the barrier was still up and will probably be impassable into the near future.  Too bad, it was one of my favorite areas for big sea trout and redfish.

On the way out I drove around East Gator Creek and shot several casts at some Longnose Garfish around the first culvert.   I had two hits but I couldn't keep a fish on the treble hooks.

I took a few pics of some vultures and a lone duck before heading back to the house.

Not much to report on the fishing front, but the scenery was just what I needed after a couple of weeks out of town.

I'll plan on going out tomorrow morning to target some sea trout on topwater baits if they're in the mood.

Till next time, Tight  Lines.

June Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Fishing Report

With all the rain we have been getting lately, the water levels in both the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River are up, and the fish have been chewing well.

The redfish and sea trout bite in and around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge has been hot for the past couple of weeks, and anglers fishing early and late have been catching some nice fish on artificial baits, chunked up mullet, and live shrimp under Cajun Thunder rigs.

When I got back into town Friday evening, I made a quick run around Catfish Creek Loop to check out the water levels and to see if anybody was catching fish.

The areas that were completely dry three weeks ago had now filled with water, and I could see fish cruising in the deeper shallows.  I briefly flipped a DOA Baitbuster around the shallow drop offs at East Gator Creek and had a couple of nice hits as the sun was setting, but I couldn't get a hookup.

Several bank fishermen had caught slot redfish and two guys had some nice keeper sea trout that they caught on paddle tail baits.  Almost everyone else I spoke do was fishing live mullet, cut baits, and shrimp.

The Saltwater Assassin die dapper rigged weedless looks like a finger mullet and has been the bait of choice for a lot of anglers fishing the edges of the bars in the southern Mosquito Lagoon.

The False Channel bar, Cucumber Island bar, and Whale tail flats have been producing redfish in the 30 to 40 inch range, but some slot size reds have been coming up onto the flats to ambush baitfish, primarily in the early mornings and late afternoon.

The Tiger Shoal, Orbis Cove and Barracuda Bay areas are also good right now for slot size and larger redfish.

Once the early morning bite slows down and the sun comes up, switch over to a 4", Mud Bug colored Saltwater Assassin Shrimp Cocktail rigged on a 1/8th oz. jig head or offset worm hook and fish deeper for the reds.

Although Snook season is now closed, some nice snook are being caught throughout our area from Ponce Inlet all the way down to the Sebastian Inlet area.  

The "rocks" at the the Port Canaveral and other jetties are always productive, but snook are also being caught in the surf at Patrick AFB, Melbourne Beach, Satellite Beach, and with the increased rains we have been receiving, outside of the feeder creeks all around our area.

I've also received several reports of snook up to 30 pounds being caught around the spoil islands, bridge pilings, and docks in the Indian River.    The baits of choice are live mullet, live pilchards, and live Croaker.

Now that we have a full moon, I plan to take a few  kayak rides around the flats and try some top water night fishing this week for some gator trout.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Atlas V Launch From A. Max Brewer Causeway Bridge

Took the boys for a ride to the marsh this afternoon and stopped on the A. Max Brewer Causeway bridge to check out the Atlas V launch.

Compared to the shuttle launches, it was rather unimpressive but it was still worth stopping.

I took this short video of the launch from Cape Canaveral as it pushed through the cloud cover.

After the launch, I took Elmo and Odie for a drive around East Gator Creek road to see if I could spot any ladyfish in the shallows.

I was surprised to see that the western side of the road was drained almost completely with only a trickle of water remaining in what once was a channel.

The eastern side of the road had a good bit of water in it and for the most part, it was clear and clean.  I spotted a couple of swirls but couldn't tell what the fish were.

I didn't bring any rods with me, so I drove around Catfish Creek Loop to check that area out before heading for the house.

I made a mental note to get out later in the afternoon to walk Peacocks Pocket road and see if the refuge managers did any work to the road.

Tight lines.