Presidents Day Topwater Sea Trout Fishing

Topwater sea trout fishing in February can produce some huge fish when the conditions are right and President's Day was one such day.

Although I didn't expect to do any serious fishing today, I decided to to some "gun and run" fishing along Peacocks Pocket and upper Shiloh Road for sea trout and possibly a red or two.

I took along some mud minnows in case the fish weren't cooperating, and a couple of spinning rods tipped with a gold spoon and an XPS Slim Dog topwater "walk the dog" type bait.

I originally planned to run Peacocks Pocket Road and move on to Shiloh Road but because it was late in the afternoon, I never made it to Shiloh.

The air temperature was 65 degrees and there was a slight breeze blowing across the Indian River.  It was overcast and it felt like rain but the drops never materialized.

Pocket Road had been mowed and was filled with fishermen and photographers taking pictures of the spoonbills and other water birds.

Most of the fishermen I encountered were dunking cut baits and shrimp.   Several were catching catfish, rays, trout and a few reds.

I decided to fish the "ditches" on the marsh side of the road at the entrances to the ponds but because the water levels were so high, I quickly found that the fish were scattered all over the place.

I started tossing a Johnson Sprite gold spoon smeared with  Pro-Cure Super Gel inshore formula.  After missing a couple of slot sea trout, I finally got in the groove and started picking up some small sea trout, including this little runt who apparently had high aspirations.

The spoon was getting hits but I noticed some topwater activity in a couple of spots so I changed to an XPS topwater bait that I picked up at Bass Pro Shops some time ago in Savannah, Ga.

I quickly discovered that the topwater action was the way to go.  You don't get as many hits, but the fish you do land are usually quality fish.

As I ran the road casting to likely looking areas, I picked up five sea trout in and over the slot, and missed three more before deciding to head for the house.

All the fish were in the 17" to 23" range and all had the beautiful colors associated with the tanin stained waters of the marsh.

On the way out of Pocket Road, I spotted a couple of tailing redfish in the flooded marsh rooting around for crab, shrimp, etc. but I didn't bother going after them.  I had enough fun with the sea trout for one day.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Topwater Sea Trout Fishing In The Marsh Canals

The topwater sea trout fishing was this afternoon was on fire close to dusk.

When soon as I got home from work this evening, I hastily loaded up a few rods and headed out to fish some marsh ponds in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Peacocks Pocket road seemed to be the place to be this evening.  Several vehicles passed me by as I was tossing top water baits to sea trout in the marsh canals and only two other people were actually fishing the banks.

I only had an hour to fish when I finally got home from Savannah this evening, but I made the best of it.  I managed to catch three sea trout and missed two more nice fish before it got too dark to fish.

The second fish of the day that I hooked took one of my favorite top water baits and broke off around some Mangrove roots. 

October is usually great for fishing.  As the weather starts to cool down, the fish start to get more active and the larger sea trout seem to get more interested in eating topwater baits.

I usually use Chug Bugs but this evening I took the wrong rod and wound up using the XPS topwater bait that was already tied on.

I entered East Gator Creek road and made a couple of casts around an open culvert but only managed to spook a fish that was close to the bank.  I didn't have time to waste so I drove up Peacocks Pocket Road and started pitching the XPS bait into likely looking spots.

The air temperature was down to 72 degrees and there was a slight wind over the water.  Perfect for topwater baits.

The first two spots were a waste of time but at the third spot I saw a swirl at the opposite bank and pitched the XPS bait towards the shore.

Almost immediately a nice sea trout nailed the plug and I horsed the fish to an open spot at the bank to land it.  The fish was nice and fat and looked to be about 24 inches.

After I released the fish I walked up the canal to where I spotted another swirl and pitched the bait across to the other bank.  Another fish smacked the plug but I didn't get a hookup.

Several more casts told me that the fish moved on, and so did I.  Besides, I was having problems with the gators chasing my bait.  The eight foot gator below was a good reason to move on.

I got back to the truck and drove to a small pond where I hooked another nice sea trout.  The fish was much larger than the first trout that I caught and I couldn't horse it in.   As I fought the trout it took drag and headed for some mangrove roots where it eventually broke off.

I wasn't too happy about losing the fish and my XPS topwater bait, but I went back to the truck, tied a trout pattern SkitterWalk on to a 20 pound fluorocarbon shock leader and continued fishing.

It was getting overcast and beginning to get dark when I moved to a small pond.  It was going to be the last stop of the evening for me.  The mosquitoes were eating me alive and it was getting chilly.

I tossed the SkitterWalk as far as I could into the marsh pond and "walked the dog" back to the bank.

On the third or fourth cast, another nice sea trout nailed the bait at a shallow drop off in the marsh canal only five or six feet from the bank.

This time the fish was so close I could horse it on to the bank, so that's exactly what I did.

It was dark but I still managed to take a picture (below) of the fat 27" trout before releasing it.

That fish was the last one of the evening.  The mosquitoes and gnats were unusually viscous this evening and I didn't feel like being a blood donor, so I got into the truck and headed home.

Hopefully after I get through working on my swimming pool tomorrow, I'll be able to give topwater sea trout fishing another shot.

Till then, Tight Lines.

Thunderstorm Sea Trout Action

Late Saturday afternoon seemed to be a good time to take advantage of some thunderstorm sea trout fishing.

Thunderstorms in the late afternoon seem to be the norm lately, and today was no different.

After I finished up with the chores around the house, I asked Karen if she wanted to take Elmo and Odie fishing with me.

It was still raining off and on and she didn't feel like getting muddy so I packed up some spinning rods and headed off to the "swamp" for some late afternoon sea trout fishing.

I was originally planning to take my Maverick flats boat out to the Mosquito Lagoon and fish the shallow flats around Pelican Island and the Whale Tail area but it was too late in the day to fool around with hooking up the trailer.

It was around 7:00 pm when I finally left the house and the rain was just beginning to let up.  The air temperature dropped just below the 80 degree mark and there was virtually no wind over the Indian River.

I decided to fish the area where I picked up a nice 31" gator trout that didn't get away last weekend so I passed up several other areas where I spotted some activity and headed directly to the general spot.

The grass along side of Peacocks Pocket road is chest high which makes for some tough fishing.  

When you hook a fish, the odds of landing it go way down because of the brush and the damn horse flies are blood thirsty.

If you do manage to evade these bloodsuckers, you still have the gnats, "no seeums", and the mosquitoes to contend with.

For some reason they all seem to be impervious to mosquito repellant.

Anyway, all the negatives create some positives.  I was virtually the only fisherman in the area.

I started out fishing a Johnson weeldess silver spoon on an 8# medium action spinning rig and promptly hooked up with a couple of ladyfish and a small sea trout.

I decided to change over to a larger size Johnson Sprite gold spoon smeared up with some Pro-Cure.

Several blind casts into the glass like water rewarded me with a follow up from what looked like a slot size redfish.  The fish veered off at the last minute and never gave me a second chance.

It was getting darker and the surface activity started to ramp up so I decided to try a Silver and Lime Green Chug Bug.

I smeared on some Pro-Cure and started casting around some weedy islands and hooked a couple of beautifully colored slot size sea trout.

 
Both fish gave me a decent fight before I managed to land and release them.

As dusk neared and I was bringing in my Chug Bug, another huge gator sea trout blasted the lure just as it was chugging over a drop off.

The fish missed the first time it hit and got foul hooked in it's side a split second later as it swirled back onto  the bait.

As I was trying to find a spot to land the fish away from the heavy brush that lined the bank, the big sea trout straightened out the treble hook and got off. 

I knew the gator trout I caught last week wasn't the only big one in the area.

I lost several sea trout in this same general spot that looked to be the same size or larger, and today's hookup only substantiated my theory.

The fish come into the "swamp" area via open culverts, become somewhat land locked and with all the forage in the area,  they quickly grow to trophy size.

Anyway, I made several more blind casts just at dusk and missed another smaller fish that hit short before I decided I had enough of the bugs.

I took a couple of pics of the sunset and headed for home.

As I left the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge I had to stop briefly to let an 8 foot gator cross the road and again to watch a bobcat prance across the road as I was leaving Peacocks Pocket.

Hope to get out again tomorrow..

 Till then, Tight Lines.