Shiloh Road Creek Redfish

Karen and I left the house around 3:30 pm this afternoon to get in a little fishing together before I head back to work.

Even though they were misbehaving, we decided to take  Elmo and Odie along at the last minute.

They always appreciate going on an outing. 

I wanted to catch something today so we decided to hit the bait shop and pick up a dozen select shrimp and a couple of Styrofoam floats.

Since we had the dogs along, I decided to head for Shiloh road and do some bait fishing in the northern Indian River flats, or the creeks feeding into it for creek redfish.

The first set of culverts looked barren.  The water was flat and calm, and there was no sign of fish in the area, so we headed up the dirt road to another spot I often fish in the spring for Snook.

We walked down to the shallow creek and both pitched out our shrimp.  I was using a Penn baitrunner reel with 10 pound line so I set the it on free spool and propped it up to wait for a bite.

Karen was taking care of Odie while I walked up the bank of the creek  tossing a Creme paddle tail bait around on my other rod hoping for a hit.

Karen had the first hookup on her shrimp, but missed the fish.  She was trying to set the hook too quickly and pulled the shrimp out of the fish's mouth.   She put on a fresh bait, and missed two more fish the same way and was starting to get irritated about not being able to hook into one.

Meanwhile, I also missed two fish on the Creme bait for the same reason before getting a bite on the live shrimp .  I was jerking the bait out of the mouth of the fish instead of giving the fish some time before setting the hook.

This time as the float started  moving up the creek, I waited for it to go under.   I reeled in the slack and set the hook.

The redfish put up a nice fight for it's size and acted like an over slot fish until I got it close enough to the bank to see that it was in the slot.

I did my usual trick of taking a video of the action with my cell phone while fighting the fish.  Click the pic below.

I unhooked the red and released it to fight another day and put on another shrimp.

Meanwhile, Karen finally hooked into a fish.  I thought it was a redfish at first but as it got close to the bank it was a nice size catfish.  

I unhooked the fish and returned it to the water.  

Karen was happy she didn't get skunked and we both continued fishing until the mosquitoes became unbearable and we decided to head for home.

We still have some live shrimp in the cooler so we plan to try again tomorrow.

The owner of the bait shop said Bio Lab road was getting hot for reds and sea trout along the shallow flats.

Till next time

Tight Lines.

9-11-2010 Indian River Fishing Trip

The weather on Saturday was in the low 90s with a slight breeze coming in from the Southwest.

My wife wanted to try out Shiloh Marsh Road on the northern end of the Indian River instead of taking out our Maverick flats boat; so we packed up our rods, my underused cast net, a live bait bucket, and took off for the lagoon.

Coming into Shiloh road we stopped for a two foot water moccasin that was crossing the unimproved road and also saw a couple of deer farther down towards the lagoon.

Rounding the first bend, we saw one angler waist deep in the water about 100 yards out, with four rods in sand spike rod holders, baited up with finger mullet.

This is a great area to fish for the "bull redfish" that come into the shallows to feed on baitfish or small crustaceans and is almost always inhabited by at least one fisherman.

The schools of reds travel up and down the the shorelines and always eventually come into this area.

At the next bend we saw a couple of parked trucks, and a shallow water boat out in the river with several fishermen using the same technique.

Karen and I decided to get some bait instead of just using dead shrimp or lures and try for a really big redfish.

I headed for a culvert that I knew harbored either small ladyfish or mullet and after two or three casts had enough 4" to 6" mullet for our excursion.

On the way I took a few pics of the waterfowl in the area that you might be interested in.

Since it was getting late in the afternoon, we went to a spot that my wife loves to fish and baited up four rods with live finger mullet and dead shrimp.

On one of my rods, a nice redfish picked up my mullet, but after only a very short run wrapped the 10# Cajun line around a stickup and got off.

I missed a second red that I was in too much of a hurry to hook. I'm used to fishing with artificial lures and obviously don't have the patience to wait the proper amount of time before setting the hook.

My wife missed one fish that she thought was a redfish and then just when it was beginning to get dark, she hooked up to a nice slot sized red that put up a respectable fight.

I wanted to keep the fish for dinner, but Karen wanted to release it, so we did.

The mosquitoes were beginning to get nasty and Elmo, our wonder dog, was begging to leave so we all decided to call it a day.

Even though I got "skunked", I enjoyed the trip and got some nice pics of the areas bird life.


The wood storks, egrets, roseate spoonbills, and herons were all massed together feeding in the marsh shallows.

Hope you enjoy the pics and until next time; Tight Lines!

Evening Redfish

Went out Sunday evening and picked up a couple of slot redfish.

The fishing was slow, but the scenery was awesome.

The water level in the Indian River is higher than usual for this time of year, and the redfish were in the shallows looking for free meals of mud minnows and small crabs.

Most of the culverts were closed in the Indian River area but I did find one that was open in the area of the photo to the right.

The mangroves provide cover for bait fish that act as a magnet for trout, reds and snook.

I plan on going out tomorrow to try and duplicate today's catch.

Till then,

Tight Lines.

Nice Evening Slot Redfish

Went to the Catfish Creek area with my wife and wonder dog Elmo to take a little ride.

My wife caught the fish and I took the pics.

Nice slot redfish; they were coming into the mud covered shallows after mud minnows.

Karen caught this one on a dead shrimp near dusk; which is the best time to fish for them this time of year.

Till next time,

Tight Lines!