Micro Slam on the Canaveral Barge Canal/Sykes Creek

Happy Monday Spacefish!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Today I am going to report on a new kayak fishing spot in Merritt Island. The Canaveral Barge Canal & Sykes Creek. I went to this spot because it’s really hot outside, and I was hoping to find some bigger fish laid up in the deeper water of the canal, and in Sykes Creek. The positive about this trip was that I was able to notch an inshore slam, the negative was 2 of the 3 species of fish to complete said slam were comically small. Let’s dive in!

Launch Spot

I launched right off the causeway on 528 – the exact location is here – Island Time Kayaking- The only word of caution I would add to this is, if you want to be able to get a safe parking spot off the road, and be able to launch before it gets too crowded, then the earlier you can get out here the better. This area will fill up with people on the weekend setting up tents/grills/etc.

My Trip (Overview)

So right off the bat, I will go over my route on this trip. Upon launching I pedaled due east along the canal, I fished the north side of the canal going down, until I reached Sykes Creek, then I turned south, went about a half mile or so down. When I went down Sykes Creek I fished the east side, When I hit my u-turn to return back I went back under 528 and fished some of the mangroves on the left (west) side of the mouth of Sykes Creek. Returning westward back down the barge canal I fished the south side. I was able to catch a pretty good number of fish on this trip both in the canal and in Sykes Creek, but nothing of quality size. I probably caught roughly 20ish fish total; Snook, Trout, Reds, Jacks, and Mangrove Snapper.

Redfish

The species I caught the most of was Redfish, I was able to catch a few that were big enough to make it fun, but nothing to brag about per se. I was finding these fish along shorelines, and a few in a flat around the mouth of Sykes Creek. I was able to catch the Redfish on the Fish, or Die Dagger on a Red Eye Jighead from Z-Man. I went up to ¼ oz weight due to fishing deeper inshore waters than I typically fish, and all of the Redfish came when I was bottom bouncing this soft plastic along the bottom near structure along the shorelines. Because it was a bright and sunny day, I used the “Swampfox” colorway which is a silver with Gold Flakes – this has been a really good inshore color for me over the years, and Redfish and Snook seem to really hone in on this color pattern as long as the water is relatively clear. I typically do better with Redfish when I slow down my retrieval speeds and keep bottom contact with my jig.

Little Snooklets in the Canal

I was able to catch a handful of little baby Snook – I actually had 2 slot sized Snook hit under mangroves but I failed to get good hooksets on them and they came unbuttoned. The missed Snook came on Clarity Flukes on a 3/0 EWG Worm Hook with no weight, I got trigger happy with the hook stes because I connected with the Snook pretty far back and knew I would have to beat them on the draw to have any success in landing them. I was able to catch a few smaller ones using soft plastics like the Fish, or Die Dagger and Warbird in Swampfox and bouncing it along the bottom close to structure. The same method that I was using to catch Redfish. I spent time beating the bushes inb Sykes Creek with a Salt Strong Power Prawn Jr (Shrimp) rigged on a ⅛ oz 3/0 Owner Twistlock hook; but all I caught were Mangrove Snapper, small Trout, and small Jacks hanging around the edges of the mangroves.

Everything Eats a Shrimp

I went ahead and spoke about using a shrimp lure under mangroves. The Salt Strong Prawn Jr is a great soft plastic to rig weedless and skip under cover on a hot, sunny day and get action. On this day it just brought me a bunch of little dinky fish, but one thing to never forget when fishing inshore is that everything eats a shrimp, and a small shrimp presentation is a great way to keep lines tight, avoid skunks, and turn slow days into more enjoyable trips. Not every trip can be a banger, and on this day I considered myself fortunate to be able to complete a slam, albeit a micro one. I hand already caught a combined 10+ Snook and Reds, and needed to bag a Trout to say I did it, the Trout that completed my micro slam was comically small, but as they say, beggars (and anglers) can’t be choosers.

One of the reasons that this lure is a great one to have on deck when the fishing is slow is that it has a great shrimpy profile, it is small enough to catch small fish that you will miss out on throwing bigger profiles and comes in some great color patterns. I really like New Penny color patterns because it is a great mangrove dwelling crustacean color pattern. The key to this bait to get bites, and this is why I like it in winter/summer is to really slow it down, let it settle and give it subtle twitches, but this is a bait than cane be skipped well under cover and kept in the strike zone for a long time.

Conclusion

My inaugural trip down the Barge Canal was not a banner or bragworthy day by any means, but sometimes it just be that way. As we enter the dog days of summer I am glad to get action. Maybe I can go back again another time and find some bigger fish.

Thank you for taking the time to read my report, and a huge thank you to Kayaks By Bo for being our paddle partner – July is a great time to shop for a new fishing kayak, and Kayaks By Bo has one for you! Stay hydrated my friends and if you’re fishing in the afternoon, keep an eye on the weather forecasts! May your lines be ever tight, until next time!