OOPs She Did It Again!

Well, She did it again!

My wife and I tried for some Indian River Tarpon, and got some trout instead. Just like last time, hers was the biggest!

Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I decided to try again for the tarpon that just won't bite, in the far north portion of the lagoon. Lockjaw must be the trend up here.

We went in from the southern entrance way to Shiloh road, and met only one other fisherman all the time we were out on the river.

The weather was beautiful, the mosquitoes were out in mass, and the fish were biting. Except for the damn tarpon!

The culverts were open from the marsh side, and with the flowing water moving the baitfish around, the fish were following.

We spotted several large redfish, trout, and tarpon on both sides of the trail, but only had success with the trout.

As the title indicates, my wife caught another large, "sub gator" trout on her favorite setup; a "Billy Bay"popping gurgle bobber with a large, fresh dead shrimp below.

I on the other hand continued on my quest to subdue a tarpon with artificials.

Although I caught several trout, smaller than my wife's, I could not for the life of me get the damn tarpon to eat my bait. I wore my arm out casting top waters, swim baits, jerkbaits, and Ieven tried a large shrimp with no success.

The scenery was phenominal, as you can see by the short videos and photos, and the fishing was
great except for the tarpon.

July 4th. is another story to tell, if we go out again. Until then, tight lines!

Oh, by the way, her trout was over 20 inches.

Early June Culvert Fishing On The Indian River

Early spring is the time to load up on Gator trout, as well as slot sized dinner fare.
These were caught using D.O.A. watermelon jerk baits, and D.O.A. jig heads, with 4" Gulp "Nuclear Chicken" jerk baits.

This slot sized trout fell for a black and silver Rapala floating diver.
You can jump fish these trout around likely looking culverts, that are used to control the water levels in the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge area.

The drives that boarder the Indian River, in the Wildlife Refuge, offer the opportunity for some fine wading ,or bank fishing when they are open for traffic.
High water levels, that cause flooding of the drives, and the launching of a space shuttle, cause closures of the drives for safety and security reasons.

There are times, when the powers that be, close the drives for no apparent reason except to piss off the local anglers.

I also enjoy taking pictures of the breathtaking scenery in and around the Wildlife Refuge. Some of the sunsets are here for your enjoyment.

The photograph below was taken north of Haulover Canal at a "secret" fishing spot my wife and I frequent.

The photo below was taken last week, around the Indian River, in an area where I occasionally pick up Snook or two.

Both pictures were taken using my Nikon Cool Pix 8700, 8X optical zoom that I picked up for a steal on an Ebay auction. The pics were taken without the need for a tripod at dusk.

There are times when life is just plain enjoyable; and being on the Indian River fishing, or taking pics. with my wife and wonder dog Elmo, makes all the rest of the BS that is going on in our country irrelevant.

The shuttle that was going up this morning didn't make it because of fueling problems, so I imagine that the Refuge area will be closed. When I get a report, it will be posted today or tomorrow at the latest.
Good Fishing And Tight Lines To You All!

Mid May Fishing On The Indian River

Hot weather this weekend, and work around the hacienda, prevented me from checking out the Mosquito Lagoon fishing.

So, late Saturday afternoon, my wife and I took Elmo for a ride down to the Merrit Island National Wildlife Preserve.

There were not as many people in the area fishing as I would have thought, and those that were enjoying the weather, didn't seem to be catching much.

Undaunted, I
Undaunted, I proceeded to jump fish the areas around Catfish Creek and the area around Peacock Pocket.

I was using a D.O.A. Terror Eye with nothing to show but a trout a little bit larger than the lure.

My wife and I chased several redfish and finally scored one on a dead shrimp that she was using under a "Billy Bay" Pop N Gurgle in shallow water.

I continued with the D.O.A. and several other
lures with little to show for my efforts other than the beginnings of a sun burn.

We finally hit a stretch alongside the Indian River that we call "Snook point", and for good reason.

Opposite the point in the adjacent canal, I finally started getting some good trout hits.





Fishing in about 2 feet of water with a Creme paddle tail swim bait, I picked up about nine trout in 20 casts. The fish were scrappers, but only two over the legal limit.



I grabbed my Nikon Cool Pix, and snapped a couple pics of the fish and some early Spoonbills for posterity.

We are expecting some rain this week which hopefully will raise the water level in the river a bit.

The flats fishing is still pretty great around this area but some rain should give it a bump.

Hope you all enjoy the scenery and until next week; tight lines to all.

February Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Wildlife

Wildlife photography along the banks of the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon is fantastic when the weather first warms up in February.

This collage was produced using Picasa 3 from the photographs I took this past weekend.

All the pictures were taken around the Peacock Pocket area of the northern Indian River and the southern most part of the Mosquito Lagoon along the Bio Lab road dirt drive towards Playalinda Beach.

The pictures were taken with a Nikon Cool Pix 8700 camera with effective 8.0 Megapixels and Zoom Nikkor ED 8.9-71.2mm 1:2.8-4.2; 35-280mm 8X Optical Zoom w/ED glass.

I got a super deal on my camera that I bought on the Ebay auction site from a guy in California. It was in new condition and came with an extra battery, charger and 4.0 GB San Disk card.

No tripod was used for the photographs, mainly because I forgot to bring the darn thing, and some of the photos were slightly out of focus due to this and the need to take quick opportune shots.

I thought the above movie might better show you the abundance of wildlife my wife and I got a chance to appreciate over the week end. When you drive around the swamp and lagoon areas in central Florida, you never know what you might run into. 

A great example is the alligators we took pictures of from the Bio Lab road. 

These guys were HUGE and looked like they could eat a horse. Now that I think of it...they probably would.

Enjoy!!