Mosquito Lagoon Tarpon

The Mosquito Lagoon tarpon bite has been pretty hot this week with fish pretty much all over clean water areas.

Didn't bring along a rod when Karen and  I took Odie for a drive this afternoon, but I did manage to get some face time info on the tarpon this week.

These two guys were tossing a variety of hard baits to juvenile tarpon in the area I usually fish.  

Because I forgot my equipment when I decided to take Odie for a ride, I wasn't too upset about not being able to fish "my spot".

While I was standing with them, I spotted three tarpon busting on the surface after mullet that were in the area around the mangroves.

Although neither of the anglers I spoke with landed any fish, they said that they had several takes. 

I would be very surprised if they actually landed any of the tarpon that were in the area today.  The fish were in the 50 pound category and with all the surrounding brush, it would be pure luck to bring one to the bank. 

I was hoping to see some manatees on the other side of the road but none were in the area during my visit.

We left the area and on the way home stopped at Fox Lake to see if anybody was fishing that area.

We came up on these three Sandhill Cranes that are almost always in the area.  They came close to the truck to check us out and wish us well as we left the area.

Hope to not forget my rods next trip.

Tight Lines.

Saturday Scouting Trip

Got out late Saturday afternoon for a scouting trip around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

I was going to take my two best friends, Elmo and Odie, but they both needed their summer haircuts and it was way too hot for them in the truck.

I didn't plan on fishing but I took a few spinning rods along, just in case something interesting was happening.

I got on Hwy 46 to I-95 North and headed towards Shiloh Road to see if any juvenile tarpon were still in the creeks.

When I drove into the dirt road, I spotted some wild pigs along the side of the road which immediately took off.

I pulled out my cell phone and set it on camera in case anything other wildlife was interested in getting it's picture taken.

When I drove up to the culvert and stopped to see if there was any fish activity in the area. There were a few small glass minnows along the bank but other than a couple of mullet, nothing was happening.

The water on the Indian River side was brown and although the marsh side was clearer, there was a lot of floating algae on the water.

I drove up to the barricade to North Shiloh Road to turn around and only saw a couple catching crabs along the bank.  It was around 4:30 pm and the air temperature was in the high 80s, so I really didn't expect many fishermen in the area.

As I was driving out of the area towards US-1,  I spotted a large bobcat in the middle of the road walking towards my truck.  As I slowed down to grab my call phone for a pic, the bobcat waked off to the side of the road and quickly disappeared in the grass along the marsh.

I got a quick video of the large cat which was definitely not one of my better shots.

Closer to the main road, I spotted a couple of raccoons crossing the road which also disappeared in the brush when I got closer to them.

I was low on gas so I decided to head into the Kennedy Space Center to check out Haulover Canal.

About a mile past the entrance sign, I spotted a group of Sandhill Cranes along the side of the road.

I pulled over and took these pics which I made into a short video.

The cranes kept walking up the road as I drove toward Haulover to check out the area.

When I got to the bridge, there were several boats in the canal but relatively few fishermen on the banks.  I didn't bother to drive down and check out the catch because my gas gauge was on empty.

It was late and I decided to hit the closest gas station and grab a Lil Ceasars pizza for dinner.

I never bothered wetting a line this afternoon, but the scouting trip did produce a lot of wildlife sightings.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Rainy Shiloh Marsh Road Trip

This afternoon's rainy Shiloh Marsh Road trip was more of a scouting adventure than a fishing trip.

When I got home late this afternoon the weather was nothing short of miserable.

The wind was blowing, the temperature was about 64 degrees and dropping and it was raining or misty most of the time.

Despite the lousy weather my wife and I packed up a few rods, rounded up Elmo our wonder dog and headed towards the northern entrance to Shiloh Marsh road.

Last week when we scouted the area, the water levels were at an all time low. Areas where we normally caught redfish and sea trout were high and dry leaving only the deeper troughs.

Since it had been raining this past week, I wanted to know if the water levels had significantly increased across the mud flats.

As we entered the area the first thing I noted was that the water levels in the meandering creek on the Indian River side of the road had risen at least a couple of feet.

The first culvert that was almost high and dry last week, now had a nice current of water running through it into the marsh canal on the left side of the road.

It was raining a heavy mist but I just had to try a few casts to see if I could dredge up a trout or red.

I made several casts with a light green jig, a DOA jerkbait and a Chug Bug top water lure without getting even a tap.

As we moved on up the road we were happy to see several roseate spoonbills, various shore birds and a pair of sandhill cranes foraging in another area that last week was totally dry.

I took a few pics of the cranes and the video below, just because the sandhill cranes aren't usually roaming around this area.

Karen and I were looking for signs of fish in the newly flooded shallows, but didn't see anything until almost the other end of the road.

Karen spotted a nice redfish tailing about 30 feet out from the bank in shallow water, so I stopped the car and shot a couple of casts to the fish. It was a wasted effort on my part. The fish just wasn't interested.

Normally, I would have stayed around the spot and continued fishing; but because of the lousy weather, I made a mental footnote in my brain to come back tomorrow.

It started pouring like crazy, so we decided to head for home to dry out and watch a movie.

As we crossed over Haulover Canal, there was only one boat in the canal with two fishermen shooting casts to the bank. They were probably after sea trout.

Normally this time of the day, you would expect to find quite a few boats anchored throughout the canal and at either mouth fishing for big bull redfish and black drum that are found there.

Hopefully the weather tomorrow will be more conducive to "catching" than today's weather was.

Till then,

Tight Lines.

P.S. This is the first time I've been skunked in a very long time. I guess that's why it's called fishing!