Kayak Fishing: IRL from Sebastian

Happy Monday Spacefish!

I hope all is well with everyone as we enter this first week of June. Today I am reporting on kayak fishing in the Indian River Lagoon, launching from the western shoreline in Sebastian.

Launch Spot

I launched from the Lagoon beach right next to the pier at Riverview Park in downtown Sebastian. Located at Riverview Park, US-1 &, Co Rd 512, Sebastian, FL 32958. Once I launched I went straight across the lagoon towards Black Point, it was about a 1.6 mile pedal, and took me about 20-25 minutes, I got to Black Point right as the sun was starting to light up the horizon.

So today I am going to talk about my last two trips; they were both quicker, shorter outings, so I am going to combine them into one report. I launched from the north side of the Wabasso Causeway – Boat Ramp this is the boat ramp on the south side of the causeway, I parked on the northside and launched my kayak from the beach access.

Getting a chance to see the sunrise over the Indian River Lagoon is always a beautiful experience that provides perspective, and helps instill gratitude in me, for the opportunities to live where I live, and fish where I fish.

Topwater

For the first hour or so I was out fishing, I threw around the YakTribe Dulce Topwater, which is their Bone color top water plug. I was able to catch 7 total Snook in this two hour window, but they were all smaller fish, between 15-20 inches. Which I can’t complain about since my last report featured no topwater success. I hope as the summer goes on I have a chance to catch a bigger fish on topwater at sunrise. I stuck to the shaded areas of mangrove shorelines going south from Black Point towards Turtle Pen Slough, and Collins Hole. Once the sun was high enough to shrink the shaded areas down to within feet of the mangroves I made the switch to sub-surface presentations.

Bottom Fishing

Once the sun got up, I never had success with paddletails, or moving baits – the fish were moving pretty slow. Catching fish on this day centered on good casting, and keeping the bait in the strike zone for as long as possible. I was able to catch a few Snook on the Fish, or Die Dagger XL in Swampfox, this is the larger version of a bait designed for ned rigs, I used a Mission Fishin’s ⅛ oz Chartreuse Swivel Head Jighead. I let the bait do the work, as that tail flickered in the air, and worked it out of shade pockets painstakingly slow, I would go to jig the bait off the bottom and if I felt it tug back, I’d set the hook!

Jerk Baits

One of the other presentation’s that brough success was an old classic – the weedless & weightless fluke. I fished the Clarity Lures Fluke in their “Weird Water” colorway on a 3/0 EWG Worm Hook. This bait skips really well deep into shaded pockets of mangroves, but it also casts really well weightless, and this was very effective for me in skinny, clean & clear water. I was able to entice this cool looking two spot Redfish, as well as Jacks and small Snook on this bait.

The key to success with this bait was not to do “too much” very subtle twitches, and let the bait sit there. Right now, the weather is heating up, but we’re not getting the rains. So the water is pretty low, the sun is bright, and so fishing during time periods where the sun is up in the high, it is best to expect the fish to be lazy, lethargic, and a tad on the spooky side. If you want to power fish, then get up early!

Ned Shrimp

The bait that tied the topwater plug for the most total catches on this day, with 7 fish caught – was the Clarity Lures Ned Shrimp in their “Blush” color way. Even though it is called a Ned Shrimp, I fished this bait on a ⅛ oz, 3/0 screwlock hook. This bait skips like a stone into the mangroves, and has a subtle, yet enticing action. Clarity is based out of Cocoa, FL, and this bait was made to be a sight fishing finesse weapon on the Mosquito Lagoon. But it also is a dealy weapon for fishing the mangroves, where Snook, Mangrove Snapper, and Redfish will stack up on hot days looking for small crustaceans and shrimp to make easily digestible meals out of. Compared to name brands like Berkley Gulp! And Vudu this shrimp holds up and is much more durable, and the skipability is much improved compared to the others. I highly recommend you add this bait to your arsenal this summer! https://www.claritylures.com/ned-shrimps

Book John Page

More often than not I am going to a spot, and I consider a good day to be catching enough fish to feel like I can write a report for the Spacefish readership. If I catch a bigger Snook, or Bass, or whatever, then I consider myself to be lucky and fortunate – but since this is vacation season for many people this is a great time to recommend if you are in the area on a vacation, or weekend trip or whatever and you want to go out and catch a trophy, and have that once in a lifetime experience, you should seriously consider hiring a guide – and there is no better kayak fishing service out there for trophy Snook than John Page! Here is his website – https://www.jpkayakfishingandtours.com/ – In addition to having superhuman Snooking qualities, he is a really good dude, and would be an awesome guide to spend the day with on the water, due to his knowledge of the area, but also his ability to teach a novice angler how to be successful within a day of fishing. If you are considering a guided fishing trip, and you are interested in kayak fishing I could not recommend John Page enough as the man you should hire as your guide!

Mel Fisher’s Treasure Museum

Since I mentioned vacation stuff earlier, another recommendation I have to complete your Sebastian/Treasure Coast experience is a trip to Mel Fisher’s Treasure Musuem in Sebastian – I took my kids there last week the day before I went out and fished for this report. We had a blast, I am a Florida History nerd myself, and the information about the wrecked Spanish Treasure fleet is cool, but my 4 and 3 year old kids just had a blast looking at all of the recovered treasure on display at this museum – it also costs like 8 bucks or so for all 3 of us to go, so you can’t beat that price either! But even residents of the Space & Treasure coast, if you haven’t been yet, I highly recommend it!

Conclusion

Another good day of fishing in this area for me, I still haven’t been able to catch that stud Snook, Bull Red, or Gator Trout – but I can’t complain with overall numbers of catches! One thing that really stood out to me on this trip was how clean and clear, and healthy the water is in the IRL when launching out of Sebastian – which is why I think these mangroves, and some of the spoil islands just north of the Pelican Island Refuge, and just south of Sebastian Inlet are loaded with fish – this is a great place to go explore in a kayak to catch a good number of fish and have a fun fishing day!

Thank you for taking the time to read, and thank you to Kayaks By Bo for being our paddle partner for our weekly adventures and kayak reports! I hope everyone has a fantastice week, stay hydrated on the water my friends, its getting warm out there! Tight lines people…until next time!