Lake Ivanhoe Kayak Fishing

Happy Tuesday, Spacefish!

This week I am diving back into urban Orlando, kayak Bass fishing. This is something that I have started to really enjoy doing for a couple of reasons, chief amongst them is I’ve had nothing but enjoyable fishing experiences to this point. Every lake I have fished in Orlando has had healthy clean water, aquatic vegetation and a healthy (and un-pressured) population of fish. The lake I am talking about this week is Lake Ivanhoe – my first on the list called the “fab five” of Orlando fisheries.

Where to Launch

Gaston Edwards Park located at 1236 N Orange Ave, Orlando, FL 32804 is the best place to launch a kayak or paddleboard from, they actually have a really cool paddleboard dock which makes things pretty easy and convenient as far as launches go. There is also a public boat ramp for Lake Ivanhoe located at 344 NE Ivanhoe Blvd, Orlando, FL, 32804. Warning – there is limited parking at the boat ramp, and neither park has any public restroom facilities.

Ivanhoe Village: Hipster Hub of Orlando

Hipster…what a tough thing to define! Well this is what study.com has to say

“Hipsters are usually found in urban areas and prefer non-chain establishments, particularly coffee shops and breweries. Hipsters like independent music or artists who have not been discovered by mainstream society. Hipsters generally favor unconventional fashion, often wearing clothing from thrift stores or vintage apparel shops and old-school sneakers or boots with a worn-in appearance. Hipsters are commonly in the middle or upper socioeconomic class. They are defined by a search for authenticity and a desire to be effortlessly cool and different. They may sport mustaches, tattoos, or clothing like graphic t-shirts to be humorously ironic.”

According to an article on wikipedia about “hipsters” they cited this:

“In 2017, the British logistics and marketing firm MoveHub published a “Hipster Index” for the United States. This first study drew from five data points: microbreweries, thrift stores, vegan restaurants and tattoo parlors, and they compounded this data with cities’ rent inflation in the previous year.”

This hipster index rated Orlando as the #7 “hipster” cities on the globe in 2018.

So why am I talking about this? Well, if you are into this sort of thing, and like these types of places (I call them hipster holes…think Cocoa Village and the Eau Gallie Arts District) then I highly recommend you head over to this area. Go fishing, enjoy a paddle and after you have gotten your fill of the lake, then go grab yourself a cold craft brew, a hot meal, or both at one of the local establishments like: Russell’s on the Lake, The Pinery, Gnarly Barley, The Florida Room, The Lucky Lure, or the White Wolf Cafe. I don’t drink personally but I do enjoy a good frolic around a hipster hole. I like unique eateries and of course the people watching opportunities are nothing less than stellar.

Lake Ivanhoe Fishing Report

Assuming you came here to read about fishing, not hipster sub-culture, microbreweries and non-chain eating establishments, I guess it’s high time for me to tell you about how the fishing went. It was a good day, I caught a decent number of fish (roughly 15) and caught a nice fish that felt big enough to take a picture of. I’ll be honest with you, I have stopped measuring or weighing fish for a couple of reasons. But mainly because for me, it doesn’t matter. I am not trying to win any tournaments or anything, I just like to go fishing in new places, cool places, enjoy being on the water, the scenery, the aesthetics etc. Catching fish is just a cool bonus and we all know what a quality fish is, but I really just enjoy catching fish. Big, small, fat, skinny, it doesn’t matter, I just like catching fish.

So I was able to catch 3 in the first hour of fishing on a Heddon Super Spook Jr. in Golden Shiner, I had a few more blowups but just landed the 3. Once the topwater bite died, I switched it up to swimbaits and speedworms. But that was a big swing and a miss. After a lull period, and taking the struggle bus for a tour of lake west of I-4, I went back to the eastern basin around 10:00-10:30 and caught my last dozen or so fish. So at this point it was hot, there was little breeze to speak of, and the water in this lake is super clear. The visibility on this day was absolutely incredible. Well, I wasn’t seeing Bass. But I knew there were Bass here obviously, so I went to the southwestern point of the eastern basin of this lake. There were mats of floating vegetation so I started punching.

I was using a 7 Foot Heavy Action Rod with 50 pound braid. I was using my new Empire Rods “Throne” and I could not have been more pleased with how this rod performed! I used 2 bobber stoppers to peg a 1 oz tungsten weight down around a 3/0 Heavy Flipping Hook. The bait I was using was a Big Bite Baits BFE in Tilapia Magic. The other way I was catching fish was on the Fish, or Die Warbird in Liberty Tree (Watermelon Red) rigged weightless and weedless on a 2/0 BKK Screwlock Worm Hook.

Conclusion

For many of us living on the Space Coast, especially the North end of Brevard County, this lake is not that bad of a drive, it was an hour from my house in Melbourne, the fishing here was good, and there is fun stuff to do in the area around it. I hope everyone has a wonderful July 4th Independence Day – may your day be filled with good food, family time, maybe some fishing too! PSA to the fishing community, you need all 10 fingers to tie knots and cast/reel/ dehook fish, etc. Don’t blow a finger off shooting fireworks! Be safe, be happy, and may your fishing lines be ever tight. Until next time!