I hope everyone reading this had an absolutely wonderful 4th of July week. I hope your week or at least the holiday was full of family fun, great food and fireworks. We have so much to be thankful for as Americans, but we are also especially blessed to live in the uniquely beautiful state of Florida. Today’s report is about kayak fishing at the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, located just south of Sebastian Inlet. Fun American historical fact, this was the nation’s first national wildlife refuge – signed into law by an executive order from President T. Roosevelt in 1903. I’m going to go ahead and talk about fishing now, but if you want to know more about the history, it is at the bottom of the report.

Where to Launch:
11820 Jungle Trail, Vero Beach, FL 32963 – This is the address to the kayak launch spot, located about 2 miles down a road called Jungle Trail which connects to A1A just south of Sebastian Inlet and the McClarty Treasure Museum. I have included a picture to the report that has a picture of the Pelican Island NWR sign and the launch spot, which is a cut out in the mangroves, there will be room to park in the sand off the road for about 4 or 5 vehicles.

Where to Fish:
The great thing about fishing this area is you can easily find wind protection in the winter time, or you can find wind blown water in the summer, there are a number of islands and mangrove shorelines within a short paddle from the launch. On the day my wife and I fished it, we had a moderate SE wind, so we paddled straight across and immediately started fishing the west shoreline of Roosevelt Island. We had action there with lady fish and schoolie Trout hanging a few yards off the mangrove lines. I made a wide angle around the north west point of Roosevelt Island and as I circled back in, caught a 29 inch Snook off the wind blown point. I regret to say that I did not get a good picture of her because as soon as I got the measurement, I tried to set up my phone to take a hands free selfie to I could hold her properly with both hands under to support her weight, and I fumbled and she went back into the water for a safe, quick and photo-less release. After that we paddled around and down through the horseshoe bend of Roosevelt Island, along this bend there were submerged oyster bars, so I did switch to a weedless paddle tail presentation. I caught a small snook on a white paddle tail rigged weedless, and caught a few small Reds with a Gulp! Shrimp in the new penny color rigged on a ⅛ ounce twistlock hook. After that we paddled out to Pelican Island to look at birds at the rookery and to take a few pictures. We went back to the launch spot, had a snack and a drink, and then went south to fish more. The after lunch bite was pretty slow, I caught an 8 pound jack, 2 small trout and I regret to say, that my last catch was a catfish. I was picking out a backlash in the casting reel and the shrimp lure sat at the bottom for a few minutes and the catfish couldn’t resist snatching it up and running with it.

I have only fished here one time, so hopefully this helps, but my advice is to get out and explore yourself, and make your decisions based on the direction of the wind.

My Lures and Presentations:
We got a later start, so I didn’t fish any top water. My wife was using a white Gulp! Swimming Mullet with a chartreuse tail, and I was fishing my inshore go-to, a white paddletail (I really like the DOA CAL or the Saltwater Assassin) with a red ⅛ oz jig head. As a kayak angler I usually start with a regular jig head, the baits I use skip pretty well, and the nice thing about fishing from a kayak, is if you get stuck or hung up, just paddle up and get it out. I usually go weedless once I start getting snagged below the surface. When the paddletail stopped producing bites I went to the Gulp! Shrimp and fish it like a jerk bait, with longer pauses in between jerks. I did throw a DOA Terror Eyez, white with red eyes, but all I caught on it was a ladyfish. Note about the Terroreyez which is one of my go-to inshore baits, Jigging it off the bottom and letting it dart around erratically is a great way to trigger strikes from Trout and Snook when the paddletail bite isn’t there. But if you see rolling tarpon, this can be a killer bait – but I learned over time, with tarpon throw it in front of them, and roll it back slowly, no twitches, jerks or pauses. The DOA Tiny Terroreyez has been my #1 producer of Juvie Tarpon hook ups. But I have to fight the urge to give the lure action.

Special Note of History:
Florida, her natural beauty, her wildlife, her waters and her wetlands have been under a constant bombardment of shoreline development, water pollution, and a plethora of human activity and behaviors that have accompanied the march of “progress”, and deeply scarred the natural beauty of the state. At the turn of the 20th century Egrets, Pelicans and other birds were being hunted to near extinction along our shorelines of the Indian River Lagoon. This was done because of the high price the plumage of these birds would fetch in the gilded era fashion industry. Thanks to the tireless work of late 19th century conservationists like Paul Kroegel who would sail to the island from his home on the banks of the IRL to defend the island from poachers himself, and to the vision of a great American president that understood that the natural beauty of America ought to be conserved for future generations to enjoy and appreciate this area has stood the test of time, and stood its ground while being surrounded on all sides by development. This is a truly beautiful place to paddle, to fish, to observe wildlife and to hike. I hope this report inspires you to get out there and enjoy it. It is a great place to go enjoy Florida’s natural beauty, to reflect upon those that have fought to protect it, as so many of us are doing now. If you want to know even more of the history, I have added a link at the bottom.

http://www.firstrefuge.org/history-of-pelican-island-nwr