Kayak Fishing Report: Sykes Creek (Merritt Island) and Turkey Creek Rain Out

Happy Monday SpaceFish Family,

I think one of my favorite parts about fishing is that some days it all falls into place and works out well, and some days it’s an absolute grind, and other days are somewhere in between. I really can’t complain because I’ve had more “fall into place” days recently, but I attempted to get a good Turkey Creek report going this weekend and let’s just say it didn’t go as well as I hoped. So we’re going to put a pin in that for now.

So I wanted to talk a little about Sykes Creek today, this is an area that I plan on making several trips to in the coming year so I’ll detail different parts of the creek as we move along.Sykes Creek is the body of water that cuts Merritt Island in half, it starts at the bottom tip of Newfound Harbor and is fed from the Banana River. It runs north from here, gets very narrow near the Barge Canal and continues to wind its way north all the way to Hall Road. I went last Saturday and launched around 7 am from Kiwanis Island Park. My game plan was to fish the area from 520 to the southern border of the Ulumay Wildlife Sanctuary just north of Sykes Creek Parkway. What appealed to me on pre-trip planning were some of the residential canals NE of Kiwanis Island, as I hadn’t fished a set of residential canals in some time, and I thought that deeper water, shade and structure would be a good recipe to tangle with a good Redfish and hoping there might be some Tarpon willing to play back there too.

When I am prepping for a trip I get on google maps, and use a depth map to plan good spots to check out, I write them down on an index card and try my best to stick to them so I don’t get bogged down and fall into a rabbit hole, but obviously out on the water everything is subject to change as once I am actively fishing I look for signs of life and react to what’s happening in real time. This is a link to the map I use https://usa.fishermap.org/depth-map/saint-johns-river-fl/

Anyway, I launched and headed towards the canals, but that was a no-go as they were actually in the midst of a dredging project so they were off limits. As I headed to spot #2 I did get a chance to enter one residential canal which is located between Hannah Drive and Lakewood Circle, and was able to catch 4 Trout, a Mayan Cichlid and a Catfish (What’s with these guys? I thought we had an agreement with the Catfish? You can help yourself to live shrimp all you want, but please don’t touch my artificials!) I didn’t see any Tarpon so I U-turned about halfway in, and decided to go to spot #2 which is a secluded canal, with a very tight entrance through a mangrove tunnel only accessible by very small skiff or paddle craft. It is located just west of Lakewood Circle and just south of Sykes Creek Parkway. I spent a good hour and a half back here. There were Tarpon rolling everywhere but I couldn’t get any of them to play. I caught 2 averaged sized Reds on either side of the little mangrove island back there and as I went further into the canal I caught a decent Snook, and broke off on two more. There are laydowns and submerged trees here, which makes for a great place for Snook to hang out, but a treacherous place to catch them.

After surrendering to the apparent truth that no matter how many casts I made to rolling Tarpon they wanted nothing to do with what I was presenting I decided to go to Spot #3 which was the Sykes Creek Parkway Bridge and the Mangroves that lined Old Audubon and Audubon Road. I beat the bushes here for the next two hours with a DOA Cal Shad rigged weedless and since the sun was up, I was skipping as deep into the Mangroves as I could. This brought a few more Snook to the kayak, and I was able to sight-cast to a good sized Red, who took the bait, but I didn’t get a good hook set and he came off during the fight. As much advantage as the weedless hooks have around structure they are a bit more difficult to get a good hook set with for obvious reasons.

So here is what I used that day: In skinny water, and the secluded canal I used the 2 inch spoiler shad I’ve been talking about on my light set-up which is a 6’ Rod with a 1000 Series Reel, 6 pound braid and 12 pound mono leader. Fishing the Mangroves I used a 6’6” Medium Rod with a 3000 Series Reel, 10 pound braid, 20 pound Mono, and fished 3 inch DOA Cal Shads both White and Rootbeer/Gold (Root Beer brought more action in the shaded water..Snook in picture caught on this presentation) rigged on a ⅛ ounce twistlock weedless hook. And around the deeper docks, I fished a DOA Curly Tail Grub in Glow/Gold on a ¼ ounce Red Jighead. I would let it sink to the bottom and bounce it near dock or bridge pilings. This was an effective presentation for the Trout and Redfish hanging near docks (and the God-Forsaken Catfish liked it too). I used a 7’ Medium Rod, 3000 Series Reel with 10 Pound Braid and 20 Pound Mono.

All in all, outside of the fact that most of the canals were off limits due to dredging, this was not a bad place to fish. Launching out of Kiwanis Island Park offers the kayak angler a lot of places to explore and fish in a variety of ways. There is a boat ramp there at the park, but there are several places to launch a kayak from the shore, with holes but out of the mangroves for shoreline access. I will be heading back there again soon with the plans of working further north and fishing the shorelines of the Ulumay Sanctuary and the residential canals across from it.

Being stuck in a storm, being too far away from launch spot. Don’t be an idiot like me, keep an eye on the weather and radars. Luckily I was close enough to a good bridge to take shelter in!

My last note about my recent trip this weekend in Turkey Creek. This is for kayak and paddle craft anglers in particular. Please keep an eye out for bad weather. Don’t repeat my stupid mistake and push the envelope on getting back to your launch spot before a storm hits, watch the skies, stay within a short paddle distance to your spot if you think it could get bad, and if the forecast calls for rain, use your phone and stay up to the minute on the radar. I spent a good hour and a half under a bridge this weekend, and that was totally my fault! I seem to forget that I don’t have a motor to make a run back to safety, and luckily when the heavy rains, thunder and lightning rolled in, I was close enough to a bridge to take shelter, but I’ve had other close calls and each time I say to myself, it is not worth it. Please take caution when venturing out in a kayak, this is the time of year where nasty storms can move quickly.

I hope everyone has a great week, get out on the water and catch some fish! Until next time…