Topwater Fishing For Sea Trout

Topwater fishing for sea trout is one of my favorite pastimes and this afternoon, even though it was thundering and lightning, I still managed to get out and wet a line around the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

I planned to get in more fishing but I had an ear infection and a wound from my cat that I had to attend to at the local walk in clinic.  They took their time but eventually gave me a shot of antibiotic and a prescription that I got filled at the Pharmacy. 

When I finally got to the refuge, it was around 6:30 pm.  There was lightning all over the area and the air temperature was a pleasant 79 degrees,   There was a little breeze but it subsided towards dusk and for the most part, the waters in the refuge were flat.

I thought that because of Independence Day, the area would be crowded with visitor traffic but the grass alongside of Peacocks Pocket Road has grown up a bit and the rain evidently kept a lot of visitors home.

I started out fishing with a jerk bait on a chartreuse hookup jig but quickly changed over to a bass patterned Chug Bug for the rest of the trip.

The water in the marsh was even farther down than the other day and the fish were definitely concentrated in small areas throughout the area.

After slowly driving bast several areas where I normally fish I stopped at a deep hole and started tossing the Chug Bug.  I had a couple of trout bust on the bait but no hookups so I moved on to another spot.

The fish were really spooky this evening and until about 7:30 pm I only had six or seven misses on the bait.

Finally I spotted a redfish coming out of a small pond and made a well placed cast several yards ahead of the fish, waiting for it to get close to the bait.  When I twitched the Chug Bug, the red swirled on the bait but just butted it with it's nose. 

Disappointed that I missed the redfish, I continued working the plug until a slot size sea trout nailed the lure just at the bank.  I landed the fish, took a quick pic with my cell phone, and released it to fight another day.  Sorry for the picture quality.

The fish seemed to break the "hex" and I started catching sea trout at almost every stop.

The water was totally flat and working the bait quickly seemed to be the ticket this evening.  Up to this point I had been fishing the plug slow with a stop and go action.  When I started imitating  a baitfish  running for it's life, the fish keyed up on the bait.

Anyway, for the sake of brevity, I landed five more sea trout in the 15" to 25" category before calling it a day and I missed at least six more trout and another redfish.

The rain had been sporadic but not enough to even begin filling up the marsh as these pics show but enough to get the insects in a feeding frenzy.

I tried some No Natz, but the bugs evidently didn't read the label on the bottle and kept eating on me so I called it quits just as darkness started to settle in around 8:45 pm.

On the way out, I just had to take a pic or two of the beautiful Indian River Sunset.

Till next time, Tight Lines and have a save 4th.

Topwater Fishing For Sea Trout

Topwater fishing for sea trout is one of my favorite pastimes and this evening was a good day for it in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

I didn't get home from work this afternoon until after 6 pm so I decided to hit the refuge and pitch a few topwater baits around to see if I could pick up a  trout or two.

I wasn't going to take the dogs along but at the last minute I gave in and loaded Elmo and Odie into the truck for a ride around Peacocks Pocket.

Odie is a handful but he loves to cruise in the truck with me when I go fishing.  

Anyway, the air temperature was 85 degrees when I entered East Gator Creek Road and the wind was blowing steadily out of the southeast creating just enough of a ripple on the water to make topwater fishing feasible.

When I entered the refuge I stopped to pitch a few casts with a Bass Chug Bug in the shallows around East Gator Creek Road.  This area is relatively sheltered and usually produces fish. 

About the fourth or fifth cast, I got a boil from a fish, and one cast later I hooked and released a ladyfish that was about two feet long.  The fish put up a great aerial battle before giving it up and lady luck kept the fish from getting tangled in the brush along side of the road.

Several casts later in a couple of other spots produced another ladyfish about the same size as the first fish.

I had three or four hits in this area from other fish but missed on the hookup.

The dogs were getting restless, especially Odie so I moved on up the road and kept tossing the Chug Bug into likely looking areas.

Several stops and several misses later hooked me up with this nice, over slot sized sea trout in a pond just off of the marsh canal.  The fish hit the Chug Bug at a dropoff and at first I thought I picked up a redfish.

 

After a decent fight, I took a quick video and a couple of shots of the fish before releasing it and moving on.

About half way up Peacocks Pocket Road, I got tired of missing strikes on the topwater Chug Bug so I switched over to a gold Johnsons Sprite spoon when I spotted a wake in the marsh canal.

I made a well placed cast and was rewarded with another nice sea trout that nailed the spoon as it was leaving the opposite bank.

I took the quick pic below and released the fish along with the others I caught this afternoon.

I could have kept on fishing and if I had not brought along the dogs, I probably would have but my wife called and Odie was driving me nuts.  He loves riding along when I go fishing but doesn't like to stay in the truck.

If the gators weren't as thick as they were this evening I would have let him out, but I didn't want to take a chance of having him on a gator's menu.

Anyway, I was dog tired from the ride back from Vidalia this afternoon so I packed up the rods and headed home.

Maybe after I finish up working around the house tomorrow I'll get the urge to wet another line.

The tarpon are still in the river and the snook have been hitting.

Till next time, Tight Lines.
  

Great Topwater Fishing For Sea Trout

Topwater fishing for sea trout has always been one of my favorite activities.

You just can't beat the rush you get from a gator sea trout exploding on a topwater bait.

The temperature today was in the low 90s, so I didn't even think about going fishing until late in the afternoon when the mercury started easing up a bit.

My wife Karen didn't want to put up with the heat today so she decided to stay home and work around the house instead of going fishing.

Around 6:30 pm I finally decided to get my ass into gear, so I picked four spinning rods with different lures and loaded them into the back of the truck along with a small cooler filled with some bottled water.

Since I was bank fishing and it was late, I immediately headed for an area I call Pelican Cove where I usually pick up some sea trout and an occasional redfish.

I started fishing with a Berkley Fire Tiger paddle tail bait but quickly changed over to a STORM Rattlin' Chug Bug - 3.25" - Metalic Silver Blue - Branded Topwater bait.

The wind made it so difficult to accurately cast the paddle tail bait that I correctly decided a topwater lure would attract more interest.

I was cussing myself under my breath for not bringing along the gooey fish attractant that I was using yesterday.

As it turned out, I really didn't need any attractant.

After only a few casts with the Chug Bug, a nice slot sea trout exploded under the plug as I was retrieving it from around a grassy island.

The fish almost broke off as it got tangled in the brush at the bank, but I gave it some slack and as it swam away from the bank I managed to bring it back in and land it.

I took a couple of pics and released the trout to fight another day.

Several more cast into the same area hooked me up to another sea trout that was slightly smaller than the first fish.  Again, I took it's pic and released the fish.

I started casting farther out into the marsh pond where I noticed a big fish smacking something on the surface.  As I retrieved the Chug Bug in quick sharp jerks, I let it set for a second and the surface erupted under the lure.

A huge gator sea trout engulfed the lure and started peeling off line from my reel.  As it swam toward me, I could see that the fish was in the 10 pound category.  It was fat as hell and looked to be at least 30 inches long.

This particular rod was spooled with 8# Cajun line and a 12# fluorocarbon leader and when the fish decided it didn't want to be close to the bank, it took off for parts unknown along with my Chug Bug.

I couldn't believe the line broke but when I reeled in I saw that it let go at the leader knot.

Undaunted, I tied on a suspended MirrorLure and started casting to the same area hoping to get another shot at the big sea trout.

After several more casts I hooked up with another slot size trout which I landed and released.

The MirrorLure picked up another trout a bit smaller than the first fish that I promptly released.

I decided to tie on a Heddon Zara Spook Puppy - Bullfrog - Branded Topwater lure that I had in the truck.

The MirrorLure didn't make enough of a splash for me and I figured that a larger lure would get me a larger sea trout.  As it turned out, I was right!

After a couple of casts into the same area where I was casting the MirrorLure, I picked up an almost gator sea trout.

The fish tried to inhale the lure on a slow retrieve and put up a great "tug of war" fight before I finally managed to land the fish.

I had to get into the water to land the fish but it was worth a "wet foot".

I was taking some pics of the fish as another fisherman in an SUV was passing by.  He didn't comment about my catch but he was awfully interested in what I was fishing with.

I released the big sea trout and continued fishing.  I was still hoping to get the big gator trout that took my Chug Bug, but today it wasn't in the cards.

I caught four more sea trout around the same area on the Zara Spook before I decided to try one other spot near a culvert before the sun set.

As I drove up to the culvert, there was plenty of activity.  I flipped out the Zara Spook and missed a nice redfish that hit the bait, but it didn't hook itself.

I continued casting to the same area but only picked up a couple more small undersize sea trout before I decided to head for home.

Topwater fishing for sea trout paid off today as you can see from the short video below.





The total tally was 8 sea trout landed, two missed fish and one fish that took my favorite Chug Bug.

The topwater fishing for sea trout today was exceptional and I was sorry that my wife decided not to come along today and take part in the fun.

Maybe tomorrow!

Till next time, Tight Lines.