Skunked Again

Well, I went out to wet a line this afternoon and got skunked again.

I didn't hit the water until about 3:30 pm and the conditions were about the same as yesterday.  The air temperature was cooler, about 56 degrees, but there was no wind and the sky was clear.  A beautiful winter's day made for fishing and bird watching.

This afternoon I decided to try fishing Shiloh Road off of US 1.  I hadn't been there in about a month and was hoping that fish were in the shallows of the creeks in that area.

When I got to the first culverts, I noticed that the water was up on the Indian River side of the road as well as the north side.  The culverts were closed so no water was flowing.

I parked off the unimproved road and watched both sides to see if there were any sign of fish in the area before breaking out my rods.

After abut five minutes, I spotted some activity on the River side of the road so I started fishing very slowly with a Chug Bug in the "baby bass" pattern.

After several casts, I had a small fish follow the bait but no hits.  

I switched to another rod I bought last month at Bass Pro in Mobile, Al. that was loaded with 10 pound premium mono and a 3" Creme Spoiler Shad swimming bait and started slowly hopping it off the bottom.

I had one light tap but no other hits all the time I fished the area.  The fish just not hitting.

I moved up the road towards the barrier and pulled off to fish the shallow creek that runs along the road.  I was hoping that there would be some redfish cruising the creek in search of baitfish.

The water in this area is generally warmer in the winter and attracts reds, snook and sea trout.

Although I spotted two small pods of redfish pushing wakes up and down the creek, I never got another hit.

Close to dusk, it started to get colder so I packed up my rods and called Lil Ceasers for a fresh hot and ready to pick up for dinner.

On the way back, I drove through the refuge over Haulover Canal.  There were no boats in the canal but there were still a couple of groups of bank fishermen after black drum and oversize reds.

The bird watching, the scenery, and the sunset this afternoon was great but the fishing left a lot to be desired.  

I guess that's why they call it fishing, not catching.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.

Skunked Again!.

Well I got skunked again this afternoon.

It's been one hell of a week.  I've been sick with the flu all week and this weekend when I finally felt good enough to get some fishing in, I got skunked.

Saturday afternoon my wife and I took Elmo and Odie fishing around Catfish Creek.

Odie is to the left, Elmo to the right.

I figured that since Peacocks Pocket road is closed to vehicle traffic until February, we might as well try some bank fishing around Catfish Creek loop.

I netted about a dozen large mud minnows and we headed to an area that I knew would have a lot of bank fishermen trying their luck.

After we parked the truck at a likely looking spot, Karen and I put out five rods and baited them up with live mud minnows at various locations around the bank and proceeded to wait.

After about 30 minutes or so I saw a large mud minnow that was on one of my bait casting rods frantically trying to get away from a fish.  About the same time I noticed the bait, the line started peeling off the rod.

I'm used to fishing artificial lures and instead of letting the fish run with the bait, I tried to set the hook to quickly.

To make a short story shorter, I missed the fish.  When I reeled in the mud minnow, it had teeth marks half way around it's midsection.  The sign of a big redfish.

I cast out another mud minnow and proceeded to wait.

My wife asked me to cast out a mud minnow for her on a bait casting rod and after only a few minutes she had a nice 22" sea trout on the line.

She landed the fish and I took this pic.  I was going to release the fish but decided to have it for dinner instead. 

Times are getting tough!

As it turned out, the sea trout was the only fish of the day.  Karen out fished me again.

We packed up our rods as it started getting towards dusk and headed for the house and dinner.

I was going to ditch the rest of the mud minnows but decided to keep them and see if they could make it another day, and I'm happy to report they all did.

Sunday, my wife decided to ride a horse instead of going fishing and it turned out to be a great choice.

I got skunked again!

I left the house with five rods and the mud minnows in back of the truck and headed for the same general area I got skunked on Saturday.

I got to the area around 3:00 pm and tossed out three rods all baited with live mud minnows.

Mud minnows are supposed to be redfish "candy" but today either there weren't any reds in the area or they didn't like "candy".

I sat, walked around, sat some more, shot the bull with a few fishermen, sat some more and never got a bite all the time I was on the Indian River.

Clearly a crappy day for fishing.

About 5:00 pm I had enough fun and started packing up my rods. One rod was bait-less and a mud minnow on the other rod looked like it went through the war and lost.

Anyway, I loaded up the truck, said my farewells to Neil Clark and his neighbor and continued down the loop to head for home.

I talked to several fishermen who were using either finger mullet or shrimp and no one except one guy caught anything.

The one fisherman who caught the slot redfish said he was fishing since 1:30 pm and this was his only fish.

I'm not sure whether it was the cold front or what, but the fish definitely were not in the feeding mood today or yesterday.

It's times like this that make me remember why I prefer fishing artificial lures.

Oh well, at least there was a beautiful sunset.

Till next time,

Tight Lines!