seatrout

Happy Wednesday SpaceFish Family,

This past weekend I had a chance to get out a go fishing on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I launched out of Long Point Park Saturday and had a good trip, and went out to Headwaters on Sunday, my first time fishing there since June. So I wanted to give a bit of info about both trips, and both launch spots.

Long Point Park:

Where to launch – The address to the park in 700 Long Point Rd, Melbourne Beach, FL 32951. This is a Brevard County Operated Park/Campground and there is a small launch fee, you will check in at the front gate, they will give you a parking decal and point you in direction of the boat ramp, both times I have launched here in the past month I have actually launched from unoccupied camp sites with mangrove cut out access to the water, I hate to be that guy holding up traffic at a boat ramp with a kayak.

Fishing Report – So both times I have fished there I have caught an inshore slam. But other species that I have caught in abundance have been Jacks, Ladyfish, and Barracuda, I caught 3 small ones on the past trip. My first trip I went North and fishing the mangrove shorelines and islands north of the launch spot and this past weekend I went south. Both trips were productive outings. My piece of advice for someone making their first trip out there is to understand the winds and how that will be moving the water, and fish points that jut out of shorelines, or corners and intersections of mangroves. The Snook bite was not as good for me this past weekend as it was the first time, though I did catch two smaller sized Snook, I saw quite a few large ones laid up in the mangroves, but they were not very active. All of the Redfish and Trout I caught were hanging off the mangroves around points, I’m assuming they were staging up there waiting to see what the wind blown water brought to them. On my first trip out I fished the Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow in the Mullet Pattern, and this past week I fished the Salt Strong Slam Shady 2.0 Paddletail rigged on a 1/8 oz Twistlock hook. I talked about their Power Prawn lure last week, this week I fished their paddle tail and was really impressed, it fishes really well on a weedless presentation (not all soft plastics do!) And like the Gambler swim baits, it fished really well on a slower retrieve and has great action when being jerk-jerk-paused as well. It has a long skinny tail and reminds me of the down south lures paddle tails with a fatter body which is better for texposed rigging. The color is a work in all conditions color which is kind of hard to describe, it’s kind of white, kind of light goldish (FSU Football pants from the 90’s Goldish) with silver speckles. I’ve always gone with white as my default lure color, and a wise man once told me there are only two lure colors that matter, Gold and Silver, so I reckon this unique color pattern is on to something, and if you like Z-Man soft plastics, they actually bought this color from Joe and Luke Simonds and have it available in all of their soft plastic products.

Headwaters Lake:

Where to launch – Kayak Anglers that go out to fish Headwaters are recommended to launch from the Northwest Bank of the lake, and will park in the parking lot for the Stick Marsh Boat Ramp at the Fellsmere Grade Recreation Area. The traditional kayak and canoe launch spot is no longer really a thing as vegetation growth has totally exploded and that entire corner of the lake has been choked off, so you will have to carry your kayak and your gear several hundred miles south along the gravel dike road until you find a clearing that you can tell has been worn in and worn out by others launching paddle craft. The grass is pretty high and there is a lot of growth around the waters edge, just be careful when approaching the water for snakes. I highly recommend bring a cart or wagon of some kind to carry your gear and possibly your kayak from the vehicle down to the water and back again as you will be walking a minum of roughly 500 yards from where you park .

Fishing Report – So this was my first time being out there since early June, and the lake has changed a lot. Hydrilla is every where still but there is new vegetation in some spots and islands and mats I remember from June weren’t there this weekend. As far as the fishing goes, I caught a lot of fish in 4 hours of fishing, I can’t recall the exact number but it was between 20-25 total Bass, but none were over 2 pounds. I fished the same paddle tail, the Slam Shady on a twistlock hook and this was my number one fish catcher. The fish love to hang out in the ditches just off the hydrilla. I fished a walking frog early, and had two spectacular blow ups while working it over the hydrilla, but was unable to pull the fish up out of the hydrilla and both times came back with a frog that was covered in weeds. In ode to my brother Buck, who outfished me at Headwaters the last time I was there I went with his rig, a weedless and weightless white Zoom Fluke. I would twitch it along through the hydrilla and let it die as I cleared into an opening. This was a great method for catching them in the thick stuff. My largest of the day was caught this way, but I also was broken off on a good sized fish. I used to scratch my head and wonder why these die hard Florida Bass anglers were using 50-65 pound test braid….let me just say I get it now! I was using one of my inshore set ups that I used to throw light weight presentations to Tarpon and Redfish in clean water with 8 pound test braid and felt like a fool after being unable to pull a nice fish out of the vegetation.

I hope everyone has a great week, and it looks like we’re in for a great weekend of weather. Tight lines everyone!

Until next time!