Finding Refuge from Cold Fronts in the Banana River Canals

Happy Monday Spacefish!

Baby, it’s cold outside. Imagine yourself pedaling north into the teeth of a bitter, driving, northwest wind. The “feels like” temperature is 27 degrees, the wind whips against your face, pushing waves of cold water against the nose of your kayak, you steer in a way to mitigate the splashing water coming over the bow and spraying against your legs. Your toes are numb, maybe crocs were a bad choice. You pass the southern tip of Merritt Island and look over to where Annie the Dragon once stood guard over the southern entrance to the Banana River Lagoon, man wouldn’t it be nice to have a fire breathing dragon to warm the air and block some of this wind. Pushing against the wind makes for hard yards, every inch in the right direction is hard earned.

You track in the middle of the body of water, to your left you see a nice wind protected pocket just south of the western side of Mather’s Bridge, but it’s hundreds of yards away, and if that spot doesn’t pan out, you will have to traverse open water again. But to the right, and a shorter distance away, are the beginnings of a small canal network, but to get there you will have to side body your kayak into the wind pushed waves. As the cold wind stings your hands, and your toes inside your crocs are already numb, you decide to seek the canals. Every few moments a wave hit the side of the kayak and sprays you with water, but you press on, and eventually cruise into a canal, you allow the water to push you in, and you see to your left a dead end, where the water stops moving, and the mid-winter sun that is still rising to the southeast will rise to the tops of the docks and trees and bathe this cul-de-sac in much needed warmth and light.

You cruise into the canal and glide to a stop, panting for breath. Your lungs are not used to the bitter, icy air. With every exhale from under your hood and sun mask, a light fog pushes out. You breathe on your icy, numb hands – you know you will not be able to effectively cast until you can feel your fingers again. Eventually some life returns and you reach over and grab your favorite all around rod, a 7 foot spinner with a new Daiwa reel. You unsheath your weapon, a 3 inch paddle tail, and try to lather some pro-cure on the bait, which has almost frozen overnight having been left in your fishing bag in the truck, but you squeeze like you’re trying to get the last bits of toothpaste out of a tube.

The bait is lathered, your hands & fingers have now feel somewhat normal again, you make your first cast…a perfect rolling skip under a dock. It skips so well on the glassy calm surface it rolls all the way back and bangs off the seawall. You drag the bait slowly, making sure to keep bottom contact. After a few feet of the drag you give the rod a subtle flick, just to make the bait hop a few inches on the bottom. With a tight line, you feel a distinctive “thump” and set the hook in a sweeping motion to your right. Immediately you feel some heaviness on the other end, but unlike a snag, you feel the weight pull back, deeper under the dock. In an instant you reach down and pull the red reverse lever, and use your pedal drive to your advantage, a few moments later, you are netting a nice upper-slot Redfish (pictured above), a well deserved reward for the efforts on a frigid, Florida winter morning.

Fish Biology – Understanding the Effects of Cold Fronts

Cold fronts push Redfish and Sea Trout to seek refuge in deeper, warmer water, making them sluggish and less active, but they concentrate in predictable spots like deep channels, residential canals. oyster beds, and under docks, often feeding aggressively during the post-front warming trend as they move to sun-warmed shallows. Anglers must slow their retrieve, use heavier rigs to get bait & lures down, and target wind-protected areas with live bait or slow-moving lures to find these fish, understanding that strong fronts can temporarily significantly slow, or even shut down the bite.

It’s not impossible to catch fish during cold fronts, in fact, I kind of like winter fishing at times, it certainly concentrates fish in certain areas, and while they are not aggressively feeding, it is possible to catch fish, and catch quality fish too if you understand some key tenets…

• Keep it low & go heavier to keep your baits down – concentrate on deeper water, specifically deeper wind protected water.
• Keep is slow & downsize your presentation – fish experience a significantly slower metabolism in cold weather, they are cold blooded
• Fish areas that have been getting soaked in sunlight, check out shallow water flats in the afternoon or in the days after cold fronts, fish will sun bathe to warm up once the front passes or the temperatures rise in the afternoon.

Coming in From the Cold

In the build up to, or the early days of a cold snap, the wind often blows pretty strongly from the north. That makes the residential canals of the Banana River a great place to spend an afternoon looking for fish. Not only does it offer wind protection, but it also offers a deeper water refuge with plenty of man made structure. I normally stay away from these areas for aesthetic reasons, but the fish do not necessarily share my bias. To access these canals via kayak, which is a great way to fish these tight, claustrophobic canals, there are 3 options.

#1 – Eau Gallie Boat Ramp
#2 – Oars & Paddles Park
#3 – is an unnamed location, located on the Pineda causeway, it is a dirt ramp, with a small road-side parking area – https://maps.app.goo.gl/P231Mp9i4dc5XWFNA

For this report I focused primarily on the Banana River between the canals on the east side, and the shoreline of Merritt Island between Mather’s Bridge, and Dragon Point. That area offered some wind protection, with slightly choppier water. I finished there in the late morning, and was able to catch a Snook to complete the inshore slam. I focused on the edge of docks, and the depth contours that feature 10 foot drops within a stone’s throw distance.

Pictured below is the aforementioned Snook caught just south of Mather’s Bridge, he was caught in deeper water under the edge of a dock, but I paddled up to release him in shallow water near a mangrove bush between docks because a pesky dolphin was circling my kayak like a vulture, waiting to have fresh Snook for a late breakfast.

The Banana River’s Old Reliable – Schoolie Trout

While Sea Trout will certainly become more sluggish in cold snaps, for artificial lure, plastic pitchers, they remain as a reliable species to drive up catch numbers and keep rods bent, even on a cold and frigid morning, I caught 20ish, “smedium” sized Sea Trout in the canals, and drifting down the southeastern tip of Merritt Island between Mathers Bridge and Dragon point.

Cold Front Tactics & Lures

Effective lures for my fishing this past week during the cold front include; soft plastics like 3-4 inch paddle tails and shrimp lures on jig heads ranging from 3/16 to ¼ oz – I like to be a little heavier to get down, and stay near the bottom, especially fishing water from 8-10 feet.

I also started experimenting with twitch baits, and will continue to experiment with twitch baits inshore to try and hone my winter arsenal a little tighter this year. Baits like the MirrOlure Lil’ Jon, and the Saltwater Assassin SW shad offer subtlety, and the ability to entice a reaction strike when fish are not actively feeding. I also have started to branch out into the world of “plug fishing”, and caught an insane number of Trout (30+ in one trip) on the warming trend this past weekend on a Paul Brown’s Soft Dine aka the “Fat Boy” aka the “Corky” working this soft body, suspending twitch bait on the deeper edges of Banana River Flats and Spoil Islands. But I will cover it in more detail in the future.

Conclusion

Don’t let the cold fronts scare you off the water! If you can stand the cold yourself, get out there! Like I was this past Wednesday, you may be surprised at how well you do in the cold weather. Just be smart in selecting areas, and work your lures low and slow!

I’d like to offer you, the reader of this report, a huge thank you, and a very Happy New Year! Speaking of New Year, why not ring in the New Year, in a new kayak? If you are in the market, make sure to check out Kayaks By Bo!

Stay safe, bundle up and stay warm! Until next time!