Windy Fishing Weekends

It seems like windy fishing weekends are the norm this time of the year.

I got home from work late on Friday and didn't get a chance to do any serious fishing in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge however, I did manage to ride around the area before sunset to see if anyone was catching fish.

On Friday evening there was a lot of vehicle traffic and only a few fishermen.  The weather was breezy and the air temperature was in the 70s.  No one seemed to be catching anything other than ladyfish and cats.

I spotted several trout hitting the surface and a couple of oversized redfish in a small pond busting baitfish just at dusk but nothing was hitting any of my baits.

I was hoping to get out early today but unfortunately I had to work around the house and mow the lawn.  I didn't get out  to the river until around 4:30 pm but the weather was great.

The air temperature was 85 when I drove into the most eastern entrance to Peacocks Pocket road and there was hardly any wind on the water.

I brought along three rods this afternoon tipped with a gold Johnson Sprite spoon, a small Creme paddle tail bait and a Gabbie soft bait that proved to be a winner last weekend.

The marsh ponds and canals were calm as was the Indian River so I decided to start pitching the Gabbie first.

After several unfruitful casts I noticed that the fish were chasing small baitfish on the surface, so I tied on a small Heddon Zara Puppy Foxy Shad topwater bait to see if that would get a hit.

After several casts to where I saw fish busting baitfish, I finally got a small sea trout which I promptly released.

The fish was under size, but it was a fish.....

I drove slowly along Pocket road looking for signs of fish and noticed some guys catching fish on the Indian River side so I pulled out my trusty camera and started taking pics of the action.

The one fisherman picked up a nice ladyfish while the other guy was fighting a slot redfish.
Both of the fish were caught on shrimp.

I took this brief video of the catch with my trusty Nikon Coolpix and moved on up the road hoping to duplicate their success.

I concentrated on fishing the mouths of the small ponds that emptied into the marsh canal hoping for a redfish or a big sea trout.

After casting to several spots I finally picked up a keeper sea trout that measured in at 23".  The fish creamed the Zara Puppy after following it up the canal.  I guess it just couldn't resist the "walk the dog" retrieve.

I released the trout and continued to an area where I picked up redfish a few weeks ago.

Several more casts into the area finally produced another keeper sea trout that looked like a clone to the first fish.

 

I unhooked the bait and released the fish to fight another day.

It was getting dark so I decided to call it a day and head for home.

On the way out of the refuge, I met up with Craig and Mary at the same spot where she caught a nice sea trout last November.  I guess they were hoping to duplicate the catch, anyway Craig said the fishing so far had been "crappy".

He had been fishing a Chug Bug with no luck, but he said a fish hit Mary's bobber as she was casting a shrimp to a spot in the marsh canal.  There are definitely some big fish in the area.

I told him about my trout before heading for home.

Hopefully Karen and I will get out tomorrow.

Until next time, Tight Lines.