Topwater Sea Trout Action In The Refuge

The topwater sea trout action got pretty hot this evening just at dusk.

I made a late decision to go fishing this evening so about 6:30 pm I quickly packed up three spinning rods and headed to the closest are in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

I passed Peacocks Pocket boat launch and spotted a lone fisherman wading around the culverts with another rod set for redfish.

I passed him and headed towards an area where I spooked a small pod of redfish the other day and sure enough they were still in the area.

The fish were cruising slowly down the marsh canal and were totally oblivious to everything I tossed at them.

I tied on an XPS silver and black topwater bait to replace the topwater bait I lost in the trees yesterday at Patillo Creek, and started pitching it around some likely looking areas.

 It didn't take long before a slot size sea trout smacked the lure at the mouth of a shallow pond.

I quickly unhooked and released the fish to fight another day and moved to another area.

I was still playing around with the moving redfish but even with the new lure, they were not eating the bait, however, I nailed another under slot sea trout on the bait that I released.

I finally gave up trying to catch the redfish and started concentrating on sea trout.  The air temperature was in the high to mid 80s and there was almost no wind on the water where I was fishing.

When I came to "Bobcat Bay", I started pitching the XPS into the marsh canal around an island and a small pond.    After smearing the bait up with some Pro-Cure to add "incentive", the second cast into the area hooked me into this nice fat 26" sea trout.

The fish nailed the topwater bait and make two strong runs in the shallow canal before I could lip the fish out of the water,.

Both sets of trebles were in the fish so I took a couple of  quick videos, got the pliers from the truck and unhooked the fish.

It looked like it was in good shape but because there was so much brush around the bank I had to toss it back into the canal.   The fish turned upside down but was breathing,  so I took a video of it until it righted itself and swam away to fight another day.

The next spot I stopped to fish produced another 16" sea trout, again on the same XPS topwater bait.

It was getting dark so I made one last stop at an old duck blind to fish another pond entrance before heading home.

I missed three sea trout on the same bait and finally hooked an landed a Garfish that was about 22 inches long just as the sun was setting.

I took a couple of quick pics of the fish before releasing it into the river.

Since it was too dark to land a fish if I caught one, I decided to pack it in for the night.

As I was heading to the main road, an out of town angler partially drove into the marsh at the last set of culverts.  Fortunately a guy in a Jeep had a chain an pulled him out so everyone could head home.

Every day fishing is a good day but when the topwater sea trout action is hot, it makes a good day a great day.

Till next time, Tight Lines.

Topwater Sea Trout Action

My wife and I didn't get a chance to get out this weekend until late this afternoon.

I was hoping for some topwater sea trout action but the windy conditions this afternoon made it look like a lost cause.

We left the house around 4:00 pm and headed for Karen's favorite "tree" in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. She likes this popular area because there are almost always black drum and reds in the shallows.

Odie Looking Cute!

We took Elmo and Odie with us to give them some play time and as we approached the area, both dogs were eager to get out and sniff around.

Karen was fishing with jumbo fresh dead pink shrimp and I took along a live bait rod for myself, just in case the topwater baits didn't pan out.

I tossed out my shrimp around some mullet activity and started casting a gold Johnson's Sprite spoon around the shallows in the Indian River side of the road.

Karen opted to fish the marsh canal where she saw a fish tailing as we pulled up to our spot.

After numerous casts and a lot of dead grass on the spoon I was just about ready to change lures when I spotted a nice redfish tail around a startled school of mullet.

I shot a cast just ahead of the red and almost immediately the fish swirled around and hit the lure.  Unfortunately, it didn't eat it.

As the fish swam off, I continued casting the spoon but never got another strike.

About the time I decided to change lures, another angler pulled up in a big black pickup truck and put in next to where I was fishing. 

It was then when I got a hit on the jumbo shrimp.  I thought I had a red or a drum but instead hooked up with a large puffer fish.  The 13" long puffer was the culprit that was robbing my baits so I put up the rod, went back to the truck and changed lures.

I got the rod with a black and chartreuse Zara Spook Jr. and smeared on some Pro-Cure just for good luck.

Numerous casts around the mullet pods got me a couple of half hearted hits so I decided to fish the "ditches" on the other side of the road to see what was biting.

Several casts later I missed a nice sea trout that struck the topwater bait three times before giving up.

A few casts later I hooked up with another sea trout that hit the bait at the bank.

After Karen took a quick pick I returned the fish and continued fishing the plug up the road.

It was close to 7:00 pm when the trout started biting and in the next hour I hooked and released three more fish all around the same size before Karen wanted to call it a day.

My back was killing me from painting our bedroom so I quickly agreed with her to call it a day.

The dogs had fun and although Karen didn't hook up with a red she had a nice afternoon in the "swamp".

On the way out of the refuge we spotted a huge flock of white pelicans and several alligators.

I took these pics near Peacocks Pocket before leaving the refuge.

Next weekend I promised Karen to take the boat out for a run around the islands near the boat launch.

Till then,

Tight Lines.