With no exaggeration I can honestly say that Blue Cypress Lake is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful lakes in the world. It is a natural lake located 22 miles west of Vero Beach, just south of Stick Marsh and Headwaters. Most of the shoreline of this lake is owned by the St. John’s River Water Management District. The lake is the true headwaters of the St. John’s River. From this body of water the river flows north until it meets the Atlantic Ocean in Jacksonville. It is surrounded by nearly 30,000 acres of marshland. I don’t think there could be a better place in the entire world to paddle fish. Outside of the occasional boat, or another kayaker, or nature photographer you may run into in a canoe the only sites and sounds you will hear is the soundtrack of Old Florida – the breeze blowing through the bald cypress tree and Spanish moss, the chatter between baby Osprey’s and the responses from their parents as they look for food to bring back to the nest. This lake is an Osprey sanctuary. You will likely see dozens of nests. The lake is home to over 300 in total. If you do approach a tree or set of trees to fish and you have agitated a mother Osprey, please do the right thing and leave them alone. There is a sign posted by the SJRWMD at the asking that we leave the area if the Osprey’s become agitated due to not wanting them to abandon their nests and their young.

Where to launch – There are two ramps located at Middleton’s Fish Camp. Both of them have areas of the shoreline that can be ideal places to slide a kayak or canoe in the water. The one on the north end of the parking lot is covered with Lilly pads. I spooked a baby gator my first morning there when I slid my kayak in the water. But that ramp allows parking closer to the launch site which will get you on the water more quickly but the other ramp offers more shoreline space and the water is more clear so it’s less likely to spook a baby gator hanging out under the Lilly pads. There are also bathrooms, and shower facilities on site. Middleton’s Fish Camp sells bait and ice as well if those things are needed.

Where to Fish – due to being in a kayak and paddling yourself to the area you fish I always try and fish as closely to launch as I can. The first day I launched there I came out of the main canal and turned south. There was a lot of Kissimmee grass with a few cypress trees dotted along. This was early in the morning, I fished the grass with top water presentations and caught a few fish, but nothing to write home about. After working this stretch I turned into a cove and started fishing the trees with speed worms and caught a few more dinks. After working the cove thoroughly I paddled back to the fish camp, took a break to stretch my legs and use the restroom and got back on the water. This time I turned north and followed the line of cypress tree another mile north. I zig zagged between the trees which are plentiful as soon as you turn north out of the canal that leads to the fish camp. This was my most productive stretch of fishing the lake, I caught a dozen or so in about 2 hours including this 5.9 pounder in the picture, which was my biggest in two trips there. He was caught on a 10 inch ribbon tail worm. On day two I turned north and ended up going about 3 miles north. This day was more of a struggle. It was hot and there was very little wind moving the water across the lake so the tree line was getting the oxygenated water like it was on my first day. On my first day the wind was blowing close to 10 MPH. The open lake was choppy but I was catching fish consistently on the backside of the wind blown cypress trees and getting some wind protection from sitting in behind the first line of trees. My advice to someone coming out for the first time to kayak fish this lake it cover water. There could be a bass on every tree, don’t fall into rabbit holes and spend an hour on a quarter mile stretch. Lee moving, flip and worm onto the tree. When it hits the bottom, lift it, drag it off then pick up and move. This is the best way to catch them in good number there in my opinion.

What worked for me/What didn’t – For top water presentations, working a buzzing soft plastic like the Bitters Buzz’n Gator or the Zoom Horny Toad and buzzing it through the Kissimmee grass rather quickly. I rigged it weedless and weightless on 3/0 worm hook. There will be some wear and tear on these baits fishing this way, I also caught one on the Gambler EZ Swimmer rigged the same way buzzing it through. I had an epic blowup on this bait but didn’t land the fish. She rooted down in the grass and broke me off. I did not catch a single bass in two days with a sub-surface swim bait. I fished it with a twistlock hook, a twistlock with an under spin and used the swimbaits as a trailer on a spinner bait. I caught several Gar this way on day two and was getting my baits pretty beat up by Gar so I ended up just totally abandoning the moving bait presentations early into day two. I caught a few on the speed worm on day one, but day two was different. It was a true dog day of summer so I had to switch up my tactics and fish it like good barbecue, LOW and SLOW. Big worms dragged across the bottom and finesse worms. Finesse or trick worms in Bitters Candy Bug color caught the most fish but a BPS brand 1 inch Watermelon Candy ribbontail worm flipped down the trees caught the bigger bass, they would hit it on the drop or they would take it as I dragged it off the tree.

I’m glad we got some good rain this weekend and hopefully that cool things off a bit but be prepared to go out and BBQ fish in the upcoming weeks. I’m by no means a bass expert but by best advice for hot summer fishing is to drag big worms. If I’m a bigger bass and it’s hot as hell, I’m probably looking for that easy, high protein meal I don’t have to work or spend a lot of energy on. I like to fish fast, and cover water. I’m a power fishermen, but when the bite gets tough I have confidence in the trick/finessed worm and dragging a big worm across the bottom.

I hope everyone has a great week, beat the heat and get out early somewhere and catch ‘em this week. Be blessed, peace!