Gold Spoon For Big Sea Trout

I've always known that using gold spoons for big Sea Trout was just the ticket for early spring fishing and this afternoon's catch proved the point.

I spent three hours at Parrish Medical Center getting tests and paperwork in order for a minor operation I have to undergo next Friday, so when I finally got out of there I decided to grab some rods and spend an hour or two scouting out Peacocks Pocket for redfish.

It was raining when I left the house and the thunderstorms continued all the time I was out in the Wildlife Refuge.

Because I was in a hurry, I only brought along three spinning rods and a couple of small boxes of lures.

As I entered Peacocks Pocket road via East Gator Creek Road, it started coming down in buckets but I quickly put on my Frog Togs hoodie and started "jump fishing" the marsh canal and small ponds on the marsh side of the road.

For a Friday afternoon I expected to see a lot of fishermen in the area but all the time I was out there I only saw two other guys bank fishing.

The first leg of the scouting trip was unproductive.  I spotted several swirls and had a redfish follow up a 5" Strike King soft bait right up to the bank but it veered off when it spotted me.  I made several more casts to the area with the bait but it had moved on.

In two other areas of the marsh canal, I saw baitfish being chased but nothing was taking my baits.

I started fishing a Chug Bug in several areas and switched out to a sea trout colored SkitterWalk but the topwater baits kept getting fouled up with moss and algae from the shallow waters.

The water levels in the marsh are way down right now.  The areas that were productive last month are high and dry, so I was actually grateful for today's thunderstorms.

I spooked a nice redfish in a small pond with the SkitterWalk and decided to switch to a gold  Johnson Sprite spoon.  This is one of my "go to" lures for big sea trout and reds in tannin stained water.

I didn't spot many fish but when I stopped to fish a deep hole where I caught sea trout in the past, I spotted a good fish busting finger mullet at the opposite bank.

I shot a cast across the marsh canal which landed in the grass and yanked it into the water.  It went about two feet before it was nailed by this 26" sea trout.

The fish put up a nice fight and I almost lost it in the brush along the road but I took its pic and released it to get bigger for next time.

I was hoping for a redfish so I continued casting the gold spoon into every likely looking spot I felt was holding fish.

Finally I decided to head for home.  The rain started up again and although the top part of my body was dry, my shorts and feet were soaked and clammy.

As I was getting close to the Peacocks Pocket kayak launch, I spotted what I thought was a redfish busting on some finger mullet just into a marsh pond.  I grabbed the rod with the spoon and even though the water was shallow and weedy, shot a cast ahead of the fish.

I started reeling the lure before it even hit the water and made it skitter across the surface.  Evidently this is what the fish wanted because it nailed the spoon like it was a topwater bait.

A short fight later, I pulled this nice 27 " sea trout up the bank, took it's pic, and quickly released the fish.

I thought about taking the trout home for dinner but decided to let it grow into one of the ten pounders that inhabit the area this time of the year.

As I left the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge I was wondering how many storms it would take for the marsh to fill back up.  I love topwater fishing but its next to impossible with all the weeds and moss in the shallows right now.

Till next time, Tight Lines to you all.

Gold Spoons For Redfish

It pays to use gold spoons for redfish this time of year.

For some reason redfish just love to eat gold spoons.

I've asked several guides and have done some research on the web but no one seems to know why redfish in particular go crazy over the color.  All I know from experience is that gold spoons for redfish during the winter months will hook you up when everything else fails. 

I listened to politics this morning and didn't bother to wet a line until about 5:30 pm.

My wife went horseback riding so I packed up a few spinning outfits and headed for the areas where I picked up some reds yesterday afternoon.

The air temperature was 78 degrees when I entered the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge and like yesterday, there was no appreciable wind on the water.

The marsh areas were almost dead calm and the river was flat.

I decided to use gold spoons for redfish this afternoon to cover more water so I tied on a modified Johnson Sprite Spoon - 3/ 4 oz and started blind casting to likely looking spots around the submerged grass.

I began modifying my spoons with a small split ring and a small barrel swivel to give them more of a wobbling action at slow speeds.  I got the tip from a professional guide who usually gets his share of fish.

The first couple of spots I targeted apparently had no fish, but the third spot where I nailed a 31" redfish the other day produced a hit on my first cast past a grassy point.

The fish nailed the spoon and made several strong runs in the shallow water of the marsh canal before it got tired enough for me to land it.

  

The water in the area where the fish hit the gold spoon was flat as glass.  Most fishermen would have passed up fishing the spot but I knew that towards evening the reds hang on that point to feed on baitfish.

I skinned down the bank and used the boca grip to lip the redfish.

The fish was smaller than what I thought it was but it still measured in at 28" to the tip of a "squeezed" tail.

I took some pics and released the fish to fight another day.

I forgot about daylight savings time and realized that it was getting darker faster than usual.

I hit two more spots and missed two fish.  One was probably a sea trout but the other was definitely a redfish.  The fish swirled on the gold spoon, bumped the lure with it's nose and showed me it's broad tail before taking off up the marsh canal.

I spotted a couple of fishermen on the Indian River anchored in a flats boat in very shallow water but I couldn't see if they were catching anything.

 

I met up with one other fisherman and his wife who read this website and I apologize that I don't remember his name. He was using a Chug Bug and was releasing an under size sea trout as I passed by.  His wife said he caught a redfish earlier on the same bait a bit farther up Peacocks Pocket road.

I wished him luck and decided to head for home.

I hit one other spot on the way out of the refuge, but nothing seemed interested in my spoon or the Chug Bug that I started using near dusk.

The bugs weren't too bad this evening and it was a beautiful sunset which capped off another great fishing trip in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

 
If you haven't tried them lately, you might consider using gold spoons for redfish in the marsh canals or in the Indian River shallows.

Till next time, Tight Lines.