Kayak Fishing: Fisherman’s Landing – Grant, FL

Happy Monday, Spacefish!

Today I am going to talk about a spot in the Grant-Valkaria area that is a truly fantastic place to launch a kayak or paddleboard and go inshore fishing. The park is called “Fisherman’s Landing” and with a name like that, I would have been severely disappointed if the fishing would not have been on point, but two trips in the last month resulted in inshore slams being caught both times, so no complaints from me! Let’s Dive in!

Where to Launch

This park is located right along US 1 in Grant at 5795 US-1, Grant-Valkaria, FL 32949, it is roughly a mile south of my all-time favorite Brevard County restaurants, The Old Fish House, more to come about that later! The great thing about fishing here, if you get there early like I do, you will literally be parking a few feet from the launch spot, pictured below.

Where I Fished

A few weeks ago I had someone reach out about fishing spots for an older crowd, and he was also speaking on behalf of a disabled fishing buddy. So this report is an effort on my part to show a spot that enables a recreational angler to go out and have a great day with the opportunity to catch multiple species of fish, without having a physically demanding loading/unloading, and launching situation, or having to go out and cover a ton of water to find fish. This spot is an ideal spot for the slam species right now (Snook, Redfish, Trout) because the best bite window is the mornings from 6-9 am. The sun rises in the east…well technically it doesn’t rise so much as the earth rotates on its axis into the sun, but if you are a flat earther then I guess you prefer the nomenclature of “the sun rises.”

Whatever theory of the earth’s shape you may have, I am sure that we can all agree that we want to find spots that we can fish that produce in the mornings, and for me I am looking at snugging up against islands and shorelines that give me more shadow lines and shades into the morning. The beautiful thing about this spot, these two islands that I covered the western shorelines of, I was able to fish topwater until 9 am before the shadow lines go

Fishing Report

So I fished here once during the first week of June, and again during the first week of July, the morning after the full moon, which was a supermoon (Buck Moon – the stags are now rutting!). Now I really don’t put too much stock into the solunar factors when it comes to fishing inshore or Bass fishing, with our inshore fishery being a landlocked lagoon system, the tidal flow is pretty much non-existent, but the one thing that a full moon, and especially a big, bright supermoon will do on a cloudless night, is light things up pretty good, which means those predatory fish we get excited to target on topwater at first light are not as hungry at daybreak.

That being said, I was able to catch a Trout, and a Red on topwater this past week, but the topwater bite this past trip was nowhere near what it was back that first week of June. That morning I caught roughly a dozen under slot Snook, had a massive overslot Snook come unbuttoned, which was the moment I broke up with trebles for the last time, but also caught about 5 or 6 Trout, a Redfish, and a few Jacks and Ladyfish as well.

On that June trip I continued to catch fish, even after the topwater frenzy and I switched to subsurface presentations that day, I caught a few more small Snook and Trout on the Fish, or Die Warbird in Independence (White). This past trip, it was a slow morning on topwater, but the bite picked up around 9:00 when I went with a Fish, or Die Minutemen (paddletail) in the Swampfox color, which is a light silver with gold flake, and couldn’t be a better baitfish imitation, in color, but also in profile (3.5 inches).

After a slow topwater bite, I switched over to the Minutemen on a 3/16 oz Gold Z-Man Trout Eye Jighead, and was able to complete an inshore slam on this lure by itself. This bait, in this color, so far (been using it since late May) has caught Largemouth Bass, Chain Pickerel, Bowfin, Gar (Freshwater); Snook, Trout, Redfish, Jack Crevalle, Ladyfish, and Barracuda (Inshore). So yeah, fish that eat other fish tend to want to eat it. There’s something about silver and gold in the world of saltwater fishing, and whenever you have a combo that adds both elements together, throw it enough and throw it in the right spots, it will get bit. If you are interested in getting some of these baits like the Minutemen paddletail or the Warbird jerk bait, you can get them at https://fishordiebaitcompany.com/collections/fish-or-die-bait and don’t forget to use promo code: “Spacefish (Recruit)” for a discount!

Place to Eat After Fishing – The Old Fish House

So this restaurant is just one of those places that you have to go to at some point or another. This place has been standing at this spot, serving some function of the fishing industry for over 100 years. You can read up on the history (and browse the menu!) at the site here https://oldfishhousebarandgrill.com/history

This is a great place to go enjoy some great seafood, or have a cold one, or both! If you have a boat you can dock up right there, or if you’re like me, and like fishing down in this area it’s a great place to enjoy a mighty fine meal after being out on the water grinding away. I recommend you get something that was living in the ocean at some point and is now deep fried, arguably the best thing I’ve ever had there is fried grouper cheeks. FYI, all you can eat fried fish is Tuesday night, I can’t recommend that enough! This restaurant is Old Florida, the food is damn good, and the experience is only amplified if you sit outside on the deck in the late afternoon/evening after a day on the water.

Bird of the Week

The red-bellied woodpecker also known as Melanerpes Carolinus (amongst bird nerds), is a bird that I find truly remarkable to behold, and whenever I see one on a palm tree I will always stop and watch. As far as woodpeckers go it is considered “medium” sized, and lives mainly on the east coast of North America with a range as far north as Canada, and as far south as Florida. They mainly eat fruit, nuts, and insects that they either “peck” off of trees, or catch in mid-flight. These are not birds that I see nearly as frequently as others, so when I see them, I have to stop and take notice. But if you ever find yourself island hopping the spoil islands of the Indian River Lagoon outside of Grant, FL – listen for the sound of a wood-pecker thumping away at a palm tree, or look up and you just may see one!

Conclusion

We covered a lot of ground this week! Red Bellied Woodpeckers, Fried Grouper Cheeks, Inshore Slams, holy moly! If you’re looking for a spot that can give you opportunities to target multiple species with an easy launch opportunity and minimal paddling, or pedal driving then this is a place you have to check out! I hope everyone has a wonderful week, I hope you have a chance to get out and get on the water, and best of luck when you do! The best times to fish are in the mornings, but most of us have work responsibilities to balance, so if you are getting out later in the day, play it safe with the storms, too many people die in Florida because they get struck by lightning while fishing, play it safe, play it smart, and I mean this quite literally, when in doubt, live to fish another day! On that note, there’s a great app that all kayak anglers should have on their phone called “Lightning.” It is free, go download it so you have a way to track lightning in your area. Until next time!