Kayak Fishing & Family Fun on The Eau Gallie River/Elbow Creek

Happy Monday Spacefish!

I hope everyone had a happy New Year! One of the big perks of being a teacher is to get some time off around the holidays. I put mine to use and was able to put in some time on the water to test some new tackle and techniques, I will be talking about some of these things over the next few reports. Today I am going to talk about some family fishing that was done in the days following Christmas. My brother, his wife, and their two kids came down for Christmas, and the day after Christmas I was able to take my brother out fishing. I took him to the Eau Gallie River/Elbow Creek because of how successful I was there a few weeks ago, and I wanted him to have a good experience. So I apologize for the repetitive nature of this report in terms of geographical information.

However that being said, I had a great day fishing the Elbow Creek stretch of the river in mid-December, we had a great day fishing it again the day after Christmas, on the 30th I fished the north fork/main stretch of the EGR and had a great trip, and that will be what I talk about on my next report. Also, right before Christmas, on last week’s report I had a dynamite trip to report on for Goat Creek. What I am getting at is, this is a great time of the year to fish the feeder creeks & tributaries of the Indian River lagoon as these bodies of water offer wind protection during a time of the year when the winds can be brutal, but for the fish they offer warmer waters due to the muddy bottoms.

So without any further rambling let’s dive into the fishing content.

Launch Spot & Areas Fished

So for the kayak fishing my brother and I did, we launched from Ballard Park. After we launched from the park we went south and fished the area just behind Ballard. My brother fished a micro set up that I used on Goat Creek the week before. 8 pound braid, to 15 pound Fluorocarbon to the Tsunami 2 inch Salt X Swim Shad in Black Back. This is a great set up to generate bites in the winter as fish experience slower metabolism and will be more interested in biting smaller presentations. He immediately got bit on his first cast and had a small Trout shake him off while he was reeling it in. A few cast back towards the mangroves and he hooked a small Snook. Before we left the area he caught another Snook. While he was fishing the mangroves & trees that butt up against the back of Ballard, I went a poked around the docks with a new bait, that I got thanks to a Strike Zone gift card for Christmas. This bait was the NLBN K-Tail, I used the 4 inch in Krome Ave on a 2/0 BKK screw lock hook. I was able to catch a nice Trout under one of the docks of the basin south of Ballard.

Over the past week I have been fishing these K-Tails and have fallen head over heels in love with them, more K-Tail information will come out in future reports.

Back to our path. We went down southwards towards the area that I caught the Tarpon a few weeks back, and my brother continued to catch small Snook on both sides of the Buddha dock while I pedaled around looking for Tarpon. While I was scouting, I did see a nice size Elbow Creek Alligator cruising around in the area just north of the dock that sprays you for getting too close. This dock and the shoreline just north of it is a great place to target Snook & Tarpon due to a nice deeper hole right there at the corner of the dock & tree line. While dodging the cruising Gator, I got a bait skipped way back in there and got popped on the skip by a fun sized Snook, but the bait skipped so well the line got wrapped up around some tree limbs and I lost the Snook, I did not get broken off, just wrapped up and the fish was able to get off the hook, and I had to go in to unwrap my line and get my hook & bait out.

After this I decided to go down around the bridge and saw bait activity on the other side, I explored the basin on the other side of Elbow Creek’s US Highway 1 bridge. We discovered a lot of Tarpon activity as well as tons of mullet stacked up back in here. We did not catch any Tarpon we spent about an hour back in here, we both were fishing the Tsunami baits, as well as the NLBN K-Tails, my brother got a few Tarpon taps, and I had a nice sized backwater Tarpon come up and try to crush the NLBN but he missed it, and that was that. But pictured below is the area we were in with markings on the areas with the most rolling Tarpon if you want to get back there and try to catch one yourself.

Buck’s First Inshore Slam

So after striking out on the Tarpon, we decided to go back up to the area we started and fish the basin behind Ballard. The fishing there was great to start the day, but after we caught a few fish early on, the dolphins showed up and wreaked havoc so we left. When we got back up there, my brother was able to catch some Trout, and a Redfish, completing his first ever inshore slam. Not only that, but he did so on artificial lures! He killed a nice deer up in Georgia right before he left to come down here with his family for Christmas, so when you factor both of those in, he had a great week of outdoor activity! He’s a real sportsman!

He also got a fully immersive experience on the water as when he released his last Trout, a Dolphin came screaming out of nowhere to catch the Trout before it made its way back to structure and went right under his kayak in about 5 feet of water. Welcome to Florida, Buck!

Speaking of Dolphins, they have been a real terror on the water lately. I made a video this past week on my instagram page @spacefish_kayakangler – if you are interested to see how I protect my fish on release go check it out!

Hendrix’s First Inshore Fish on Artificial

My brother was not the only one to break a barrier this past week, my youngest son, Hendrix, just days before his 4th birthday, landed his first ever inshore fish on an artificial. Saint Nick brought him a “big boy” 4.5 footer fishing rod for Christmas, and he broke it in by casting, hooking, and reeling in his first ever inshore fish on artificial! He was so happy, and I was so proud of him! He got his brother a pack of Berkley Mullet JerkBait, we had them rigged on Mission Fishin’ 1/16 oz screw lock hooks.

Conclusion

Right now fishing the Eau Gallie River near Ballard Park whether from shore, or on a kayak is yielding great catches, especially with Trout. I fished the EGR with my brother, and also went back and fished the main stretch of the river again, which I will write about next week, and the fishing has been really good in terms of quantity. Which in the winter time, is about all you can ask for. That being said, the river is fully alive this time of year. The Dolphins are really active. I have seen 2 Gators, and the manatees are stacked up heavily between the dam and the apartments on the main stretch. The Pelicans are also there in large numbers and while the Dolphins wreak havoc below the surface the Pelicans are dive bombing fish left and right.

While the Manatees & Dolphins can be a hindrance/nuisance at times, I try to use these two animals as well as Gators & Pelicans to my advantage. The Pelicans & Dolphins will show you where the bait is stacked up at, which will show you where the predator fish are likely to be. The Manatees & the Gators will show you where the warmer water is.

I hope everyone has a great week ahead, next weekend is looking like it will be a good time to fish. Thank you for taking the time to read this report, and thank you to Kayaks By Bo for being our Paddle Partner!

Stay safe, be happy, and catch many fish! Until next time!