Redfish In The Marsh Canals

During January and February, there are plenty of redfish in the marsh canals of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

This afternoon, Karen and I decided to take Elmo and Odie, our two "wonder dogs" out for a ride in the refuge.

At first we weren't going to take any fishing equipment along but at the last moment, I loaded up three spinning rods and a bucket for bait before leaving the house.

When we stopped at the bait store, I wanted to get some mud minnows for bait but they were almost out of everything, so I had the girl pick out a dozen of the nicer looking shrimp and headed out to Peacocks Pocket road.

It was about 4:00 pm when we left the house, so I decided to hit a spot where I picked up some trout the other afternoon.

We stopped at the spot and fished for about 45 minutes or so before moving on to a spot where Karen picked up a nice red the other day.

The water was dead flat today and the air temperature was in the low 70s when we eased up to her spot.

Karen started fishing with a leftover mud minnow while I walked the road tossing a paddle tail DOA bait to several likely looking spots.

I managed to catch a couple small sea trout before losing my bait to a snag.  As I walked back to the road I decided to try fishing with a live shrimp on my other spinning rod.

I tossed the bait in and set the rod down as a couple pulled up to me in their pickup truck and started talking about the fishing.

He introduced himself as Lewis (I think) and his partner as Teresa.  He said they had caught some small redfish, sea trout, catfish and even a stingray, all on shimp.

I told him about this site as he drove away and I continued fishing.

I caught another small sea trout on the shrimp and was going to bait up with another one when Karen said she had a fish on.

I walked over to where she was fishing an took this video of her landing the fish.

The fish put up a decent fight and almost got off when it wrapped itself around a stickup in the canal, but by luck it swam back out and continued fighting.

I cut the video off when I couldn't get the Boca Grip on the fish and took these pics afterwards.

The beautifully colored redfish was a hare over 33 inches and was super fat.

After taking some quick pics, I released the fish and as the mosquitos were buzzing around my head and we decided to head for home.

I've been working in Mobile, Al. and except for the bull reds that are caught during the spawn, the fish I've seen caught there haven't been as large as the redfish in the marsh canals we manage to catch in the refuge.

Regardless of their size, nothing beats catching a big redfish in a small marsh canal.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Redfish In The Marsh Canals

When I left the house this afternoon I was hell bent on catching redfish in the marsh canals.

The weather was in the 90s today so I didn't even think of going fishing until about 6:00 pm.

I picked out four spinning rods and headed out to fishing Peacocks Pocket in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The water levels in the marsh are super low right now.  This is good and bad.  It concentrates the fish in deeper areas of the marsh but the fish are extremely spooky and savvy to artificial baits.

I started off driving slowly down Peacocks Pocket Road watching the water for signs of fish.

It didn't take long for me to spot some feeding sea trout in the marsh canal so I pulled off to the side of the road and started pitching a Chug Bug that was liberally coated with Pro-Cure.

The first stop proved to be fruitless, but at the second stop when I worked the Chug Bug down the canal, I picked up a nice slot size sea trout which I promptly released.

The afternoon heat had dissipated and the air temperature was about 79 degrees.  A little breeze was blowing but not enough to screw up the casting.

I decided to fish an area where I normally catch some sea trout but as I continued casting the Chug Bug at the bank, I spotted a nice redfish cruising down the canal.

A well placed cast got me a bump on the bait but the fish didn't get hooked and continued up the canal.

I switched rods and decided on fishing a Johnsons Sprite that is my "go to" lure for big redfish.

I jumped into the truck and drove past where the fish was pushing it's wake and again pulled off the road.  This time I shot a cast across the opposite bank with the gold Johnsons Sprite and slowly jiggled the spoon back to me.  On the second cast with the gold spoon the redfish hit the lure almost gently.

It took a second before I realized the fish didn't spit out the bait and for the fish to realize it was hooked but it did, it took off down the marsh canal in second gear.

I fought the fish for about 15 minutes or more before it finally tired enough for me to try and land it.  At the last minute, it headed for some brush and got tangled in the branches.

The fish was solidly hooked so I decided to go in after the red and retrieve the fish.

I got a wet foot but finally broke off the spoon and brought the redfish to the bank.

It measured in at almost 35" and is one of the biggest ones I've landed in this area.

My Samsung camera is broken so I had to take these pics on my cell phone.  I couldn't get the fish into the "selfie" but you can get an idea of its size in the pics.

Anyway, I unhooked the redfish and took a great deal of time to revive it before releasing it to fight another day.

The red straightened out one of the treble hooks on the spoon so I tied on another one and continued fishing.

I caught two more sea trout on the spoon and released them both before heading to the house.

On the way out I spotted two more big redfish pushing a wake down the marsh canal but I didn't bother trying for them.

The redfish in the marsh canals are all mostly over the slot but they are great fun to catch.

Hopefully, next week I'll pick up another one.

Till then, Tight Lines.