Catching juvenile tarpon in the creeks is always a blast and although late October is usually at the end of the bite, this afternoon turned out to be worthwhile.
It was raining off and on all morning and I just had to get out of the house to wet a line. I asked Karen if she wanted to go fishing with me, knowing that she doesn't like fishing in the rain, and when she said she would sit this one out, I tossed my rods into the truck and headed out to the MINWR.
I thought about fishing Gator Creek but since it was Saturday, I assumed that there would be a lot of pressure in that area, so I headed to the Volusia County line to fish the shallow creeks in the northern part of the Indian River.
It was around 4:00 pm when I got to the first culverts and it was raining just enough for me to put on my Frog Toggs.
There was a lot of topwater activity on the south side of the culvert which looked like a school of juvenile tarpon.
When I spotted the fins breaking the surface, I was positive and pulled out a spinning rod with a small Chug Bug. (Click on the pic above.)
I smeared up the plug with some Pro-Cure Inshore formulagel and on my first cast briefly hooked into a small tarpon which I shook off at the bank.
After hooking up and losing three more fish, they lost interest in the Chug Bug, so I switched to a green and black patterned Creme paddletail bait.
After several casts around the rolling tarpon, I finally hooked into another larger tarpon that I took a quick pic of and also released.
When the fish lost interest in that bait, I tied on a Mirrorlure suspending twitchbait that I picked up in Mobile, Al. at the Bass Pro shop there.
Evidently the tarpon hadn't seen one of these baits because my first cast picked up a larger tarpon that was about 3 feet long. The fish jumped four times before throwing the bait back to me.
After another couple of casts, I landed and released a smaller version of the fish that got away. After taking a quick pic, I released the fish and continued fishing.
When the rain stopped, the water became dead calm and the tarpon bite came to an abrupt halt. It was like someone turned off the switch because I couldn't buy a bite.
Finally, when the gnats started getting to me, I decided to head back to the house.
I took a couple of pics of the area before leaving which are below.
Shiloh Road topwater fishing can be especially productive for juvenile tarpon and snook during the month of June so, this afternoon I packed up three spinning rods, my 8 wt. fly rod, and headed to the refuge.
I originally planned to fish the area early this morning, but I had a ton of catch up work to do around the house. When the storm clouds started moving in at the house this afternoon, I decided to sneak out and wet a line.
The water levels in the creeks are up and the culverts are open to drain the excess water from the marsh areas into the Indian River.
Open flowing culverts often provide excellent fishing opportunities.
When I got to the culverts at Shiloh Road, I parked and watched the water for a while looking for signs of fish. After about 15 minutes I spotted a couple of fish after baitfish along the bend in the creek.
The water on the side of the road that I was fishing was dead calm, so I started casting a Johnson's Sprite gold spoon to the banks to see if there were any takers.
About 10 minutes of fruitless casting caused me to switch rods and baits. I picked up my all time favorite Chug Bug "baby bass" lure and started casting into the grass and hopping the bait into the water.
After six or seven casts, I flipped the Chug Bug into the grass, hopped it into the water and let it set as I was unraveling a minor tangle on the spool.
Evidently, that pause did the trick. I heard a "slurp" as a big redfish sucked in the bait and started swimming up the creek.
I didn't set the hook on the fish and as I was slowly trying to bring it to the back to the road, it finally realized it was hooked and took off like a shot. After a short run along the bank, it straightened out one of the treble hooks and got off.
To say I was disappointed is an understatement, but I pulled in the bait, reset the hook with my pliers, and continued fishing.
The commotion put down the fishing in the area so I drove up the road to another section of the creek and continued fishing.
This section of the creek is deeper and holds snook, juvenile tarpon, reds, and sea trout.
Fan casting the Chug Bug attracted one small sea trout that I released.
As the thunderclouds started getting closer and the lightning strikes got my attention I was going to call it a day, but I spotted a big wake coming up the creek so I made one of my famous "one last casts" ahead of the fish.
I let the Chug Bug sit and waited for the fish to hit and just as I gave it a little twitch, the fish exploded on the bait.
The tarpon was about 3 feet long as it cleared the water and after the first jump, it was gone.
This was one time I wish I had worn my GoPro. It would have made a great video.
Anyway, the wind picked up and the air temperature dropped several degrees as the storm hit. You could actually see it coming down the road.
I threw the rods into the back of the truck, headed to the barrier to Shiloh Road to turn around, and headed into the refuge towards Haulover Canal to get home.
By the time I got to the Max Brewer bridge, the rods were washed down and I was ready for dinner.
Because of the hurricane and the fact that I've been out of town most of this month, my fishing posts have been less than stellar. So, this afternoon, I embarked on a scouting trip around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to see what I've been missing.
I loaded four rods into the truck and headed over the bridge to see what was shaking in the marsh.
As I topped the bridge, I noticed that no cars were in the refuge and everyone seemed to be fishing along both sides of the causeway.
The water as expected was way up from the storm and also as expected, the barriers were up on East Gator Creek, Gator Creek, Peacocks Pocket, and most all of the other roads.
I decided to drive into BioLab Road to fish the flats. As I drove into the entrance, I noticed some activity at the open culverts so I pulled over and pulled out a rod with a Johnsons Sprite gold spoon.
After making several casts it was apparent that the fish were not going for the spoon.
There were tons of small glass minnows being flushed out of the open culvert and there were several large juvenile tarpon and at least two snook actively feeding on them.
I did not come prepared with small baits or my fly rod, which would have been perfect for the situation, so all I could do was take some pics of the area and the fish that were gorging on the small anchovies.
When two cars pulled into the area, I decided to move on to see what else was going on along the drive to the beach.
BioLab Road was full of crabbers and fishermen. Most of the pull overs were occupied but I didn't see anyone actually catching fish.
I spotted a guide poling along the near flats, but almost everybody was bank fishing.
I stopped at a couple of likely looking spots to toss a jerk bait but at 2:00 pm I didn't really expect to catch a mess of fish.
I decided to head to the beach to see if the mullet were in the surf. They were due, and I was hoping that the spoon would pick up a blue or Spanish mackerel if the baitfish were here.
I drove past the first parking areas into Eddy Creek to see how much damage the hurricane had done to the old wood fishing pier. When I got there, I immediately noticed that the pier was being rebuilt.
There were new pilings out, but not much else.
I spotted a nice lady in a kayak that had just come in and asked her if anybody had caught any fish. She told me that everybody she came across when she was out said they got "skunked".
I thanked her and left to see if there were any mullet in the surf.
When I checked out lots #9 and #10, it was high tide and no fishermen were anywhere. The surf was super rough and fishing with my outfit would have been a waste of time so I decided to run over to Haulover Canal.
Haulover Canal had been closed to bank fishermen but it was evidently now open. Both sides of the canal were lined with bank fishermen dunking a variety of baits.
I spotted some kayaks and my "fantasy" boat going down the canal but decided not to bother fishing.
My next stop was Beacon 42 boat launch but there was a barrier across the road. When I drove into Patillo Creek, it also had a barrier up. Evidently, the hurricane really messed up the roads in the refuge.
Since it was getting late, I decided to head towards US1 and drive into Shiloh Road if it was open.
There is a spot there that I catch juvenile tarpon on a regular basis, so I gave it a try.
As luck would have it, the road was open so I headed to my favorite spot. As I got close to the area, it was apparent that I wasn't the only one aware of it's potential.
Three guys were already there fishing for tarpon. One guy was using a plastic soft bait and two others were tossing flies at the fish.
I didn't want to horn in on their territory, so I took these pics and a short video of the action.
The one guy had a small tarpon and missed a couple of other fish on a white fly and the other two guys didn't do as well.
After taking the pics, I decided to head for the hacienda and get something to eat.
I made a mental note to bring along my fly rod next time I decided to go on a scouting trip around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.
Patillo Creek is an area I like to fish when Peacocks Pocket Road is closed for the season and since the "Pocket Road" was closed this evening for repairs, Patillo Creek is where I headed.
I didn't get home from work this afternoon until around 6:30 pm, so I didn't have much time to fish.
I intended to hit Peacocks Pocket road but when I saw that the barriers were up, I headed towards the Boy Scouts camping area to try out that area.
Except for one other truck, the camping area was uninhabited. I drove through some deep puddles to a turn around and started pitching a Chug Bug and a newly purchased Strike King "Sexy Dawg"topwater bait.
I got to practice my "walk to dog" technique but only wasted a lot of time at the spot. There was no topwater action in the area that I could see, so I packed up the rods and headed over to Patillo Creek Road.
When I drove up to the culverts at Patillo Creek road, I immediately noticed that they were open and dumping water into the large marsh pond. A perfect scenario for "catching" instead of just fishing.
I turned on the sports cam to hopefully pickup some of the action, if there was any, and recorded the videos below.
I fished the area thoroughly with topwater baits, a ZMann jerk bait and a Johnsons Sprite gold spoon with some success.
Juvenile Tarpon
When I started casting topwater baits, it was apparent that the fish were chasing baitfish just under the surface.
I missed several fish on a topwater Chug Bug and on the ZMann jerkbait before finally connecting with a small Tarpon.
There were several other juvenile Tarpon in the area, along with several nice redfish and small sea trout.
I was targeting the Tarpon with the Chug Bug and missed three fish that hit the bait but didn't get hooked, so I changed over to the jerkbait smeared up with Pro-Cure.
Finally the small Tarpon above gobbled up the bait and danced around the shallow pond before I could land it and unceremoniously release the fish.
Although the fish was only the size of a slot redfish, it put up a decent fight. Too bad it wasn't one of the big ones in the area.
I continued fishing with the jerkbait and missed a couple more fish before changing back to the Chug Bug.
Juvenile Snook
As I was casting to another rolling Tarpon, I got a hit from what I thought was a small sea trout.
I quickly noticed that it was a very small Snook. In fact it had to be the smallest Snook I ever caught in this area.
Anyway, I took a couple of pics before putting the fish back to grow up.
A thunderstorm was coming in fast and the fish were getting more and more active, but when a lightning strike hit too close to me I decided it was time to head for home.
By the time I settled into the truck, the rain was coming down in buckets with no sigh of letting up.
I was hoping it would stop, but no such luck.
I drove up to the dead end turnaround at the end of Patillo Creek and left the area towards home.
When I got to the house, it was dark and still raining but I considered the outing a success.
I managed to get several hits from Tarpon and a redfish; caught a Tarpon, a Snook and a small sea trout and all in all had a good time.
It was a windy Sunday afternoon fishing trip for Karen and our two wonder dogs, but the dogs were begging to get out of the house and take a ride.
We decided to hit areas we hadn't been to for a while so we headed for the Jones Street boat ramp in Mims for our first stop.
The bait shop that once stood here was long closed and an old hull that once was inhabited looked like it was being restored.
I was going to fan cast the area but decided to move on to our next area instead. This particular area is noted for gator sea trout that can be found in the adjacent flats.
We decided to drive up to Scottsmoor and see what the water level at the boat ramp looked like.
I'm still hoping to get my Maverick out for a spin when the weather gets a bit cooler.
When we got to the boat ramp, there was only one other vehicle parked and they were in a pontoon boat.
We let Elmo and Odie out to do their duty and walked around to see if it was worth casting a topwater bait around the area.
The wind was blowing into the shore and there was a layer of sea grass bunched up at the bank which made fishing a waste of time.
I took a few pics and we decided to ride over to Shiloh Marsh Road and see if there were any Tarpon in the canals.
When we got to Shiloh Marsh Road, they still had the refuge signs up despite the fact that the area will remain closed for the foreseeable future.
A Wildlife Officer I spoke to a couple of months ago told me that until the road gets a makeover, it will remain closed. As of now it is only open to bike and foot traffic.
In any event, we drove down to the barrier and stopped to fish an area I knew held juvenile Tarpon.
I pulled out a rod with a Chug Bug and started casting into the shallow creek. I had a couple of followups but no hits.
As I came up to a small pond I spotted a couple of Tarpon cruising in the shallows.
I cut up a chunk of ladyfish and dropped it into the pool but the fish showed no interest.
Normally when they can see you, they will not bite and this was no exception.
I went back to the truck, got my camera and took a short video of one of the fish.
After a half hour or so, we decided to drive over to Patillo Creek and see if any Tarpon were in that area.
Elmo and Odie were in their cruising mode and were having a great time hanging out of the windows on the way over.
We drove around the area, took a few pics and fished awhile but didn't catch any fish or spot any Tarpon. After a half hour without a follow up or a bite on Karen's cut bait we packed up the dogs and our rods and headed for Peacocks Pocket Road.
I told Karen about the partial road improvements and wanted to show her where I missed a nice sea trout yesterday.
We drove into Peacocks Pocket road and spotted a couple fishermen dunking cut baits with no success so we moved up to the area where I lost the fish.
I cut up a couple of ladyfish "steaks" for her to fish with and I put on my new sports camera and started casting a Chug Bug smeared up with Pro-Cure offshore formula.
I hooked and lost a nice sea trout in the marsh canal before I even turned on the camera.
Undaunted, I turned on the camera and started wearing out my arm casting the topwater bait.
Karen missed a huge redfish because she forgot to set the hook and we spotted several other nice reds in the area.
The weather was getting foul and the fish were beginning to get active.
We spotted three small pods of redfish and two more bull redfish before the bite went down.
Karen missed a second redfish that took the bait and ran towards her. She didn't know the fish was even on until it turned in the middle of the marsh canal and headed back onto the shallow grass flats.
Meanwhile I nailed a nice sea trout on the Chug Bug just before Karen hooked and lost her fish.
The video from the sport cam is below.
Maybe next weekend the Tarpon will be more willing.
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. It would have made a great video.
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