Kayak Fishing (in Inclement Weather) – Pelican Island NWR

Happy Monday Spacefish!

I hope all is well, I’d like to wish everyone an early Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! What a weekend we just had weather wise, sheesh. If you are reading this and are sane, then you probably stayed indoors and safely out of the borderline tropical storm conditions that bore down on us this past weekend. But if like me, you show signs of increasing mental instability when it comes to making decisions when it comes to fishing, you may have made a run at going anyway.

I ended up going to a spot that I have been before but have not written about, but after corresponding via email with a Spacefish reader from Indiana, I checked the spot out and felt like with an extraordinarily strong east wind coming through Saturday morning, this may be one of the only areas I could have pulled off a fishing trip that day. I’d like to take this opportunity to say Merry Christmas to Mike P – who has been reading up on fishing on Spacefish all the way up in Indiana in preparation for a trip down this way. Safe travels and good luck this week Mike! Maybe good ole St. Nicholaus stashed a trophy largemouth for you at Headwaters Lake.

Where I Launched

So I launched from the Wabasso Causeway bridge – here is the address of a public boat ramp on the south side of the causeway – 1967 Bridge Blvd, Vero Beach, FL 32967. I actually launched on the north side because of the way I was planning on going. But there is an area in which it is easy to launch a kayak on the boat ramp side as well. On that side there are also public restroom facilities as well.

The area I launched from would be the most convenient way to get into the southern range of the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, access to the northern end would be best launching out of the kayak launch off of jungle trail on the Orchid Island. Depending on your vessel you could also get to the northern end from the mainland side, launching out of Sebastian. Despite the address saying Vero Beach, it is really in the small community of Wabasso, just south of Sebastian – roughly 30 minutes from my house in Melbourne.

Fishing Report

I am not going to sit here and say that it was not a tough day of fishing, but not because of the actual fishing. What made this outing tough was the weather conditions. The wind was blowing E and ESE between 20-25 MPH with wind gusts getting up to 40-45 MPH that morning, it was actually “ok” early in the morning but things got steadily worse the longer I was out there, I was on the water at 7:30ish and back off a little after noon. During my 4 to 4 ½ hours on the water I was able to actively fish about 3 of those hours, my efficiency was hampered when it came to maneuvering and getting set up in the right spots.

Fortunately for me, I was able to fight through it due to my recent upgrade in vessel, the Old Town TopWater 120 PDL is incredibly stable even in choppy waters, and the pedal drive allowed me to keep myself in position during retrieves and push from spot to spot. Had I been on my previous fishing kayaks, with only a paddle – this would have been nearly impossible to fish at all.

I launched off the causeway and immediately went east to get into the wind protected shoreline, after nestling in I went north until I was back into the exposed channel, I fought my way across the channel aiming for the last dock on the eastern shoreline of Orchid Island before I planned to turn north and fish up and down this wind protected (I use this term somewhat loosely in this report) shoreline for the remainder of my trip. This dock sits just south of the boundaries of the refuge, as I approached the dock I saw that it was occupied by a gaggle of pelicans.

I figured that had to mean there were fish around this dock, so despite the plans I had to not make any casts until I reached the borders of the refuge, I detoured into the north side of this dock. If you can tell from this picture, the water is flowing through the dock at a ESE angle, I got myself positioned into that wind protected pocket and methodically fished around the mangroves and under the dock. I caught a small Snook in that corner by the mangroves & dock, another small Snook about midway up the dock, and a Jack Crevalle at the top end of the dock.

I didn’t want to spend too much time there, so I got back on the path I was originally intent on taking. I caught a Mangrove Snapper and 2 more Snook between this dock and my first place of interest which is an area that opens into a small cove or bay across the east channel from Preachers Island. I fished the north and south points of this cove, catching 4 total Snook, and went across to the cut between Plug Island and Preachers Island, back into an area called Preachers Hole. I cruised through this cut pretty quickly making no casts, I was pretty much swept in like a piece of driftwood on a tide. Once I got through I spent time in the wind protected areas just north of the point of Plug Island, and just south of the point of Preachers Island, making casts as close to the mangroves as I could trying to catch Snook that may be set up to ambush bait being washed through the cut. This was by far the most productive area of the day for me, I was able to catch 6 total Snook in this area in about 45 minutes of fishing. None were very big, but only one was really small, most of the Snook caught on this trip were in that “fun sized” range – like those little Snickers kids get when they are trick or treating. Big enough to enjoy, but definitely not in the full sized range.

At this point in the day, the winds and rain seemed to be getting worse, and I knew that the area was about to get rocked, so I got back into the east channel, and worked across to get back in an area of wind protection (good leg workout), I put the pedal to the metal (is that right?) and humped it back towards the point that juts out from the Wabasso Causeway and getting back into calmer waters fished that shoreline that I bypassed on the way out, as I headed back in. I was able to catch one more small Snook on the way in.

What Worked for Me

So the bait that I threw around the most, and that caught the most fish, was the 3 inch Vudu Shrimp. I have never actually used this bait before, but I have always been interested due to how real and lifelike it looks in the packaging. Tying it on and watching it in the water I was really impressed. The only knock I will have on the outing was that I caught a bunch of small fish, but I was also throwing the smaller ¼ oz model – I always have a general rule of thumb about winter time inshore fishing, especially on cooler, overcast days – and that is to downsize baits, and work them low and slow. So that is why I chose the smaller model. But it worked in terms of what my aim was, and that was to generate a lot of bites. I was hugging in tight to the shorelines I was fishing, taking advantage of the wind, the rain to mask my presence to the fish (not sure if that actually is a thing, but I figured if they would have a harder time seeing and feeling my presence during a windy/rainy day). I wasn’t making long casts, but I was able to make accurate casts with minimal snagging. This bait even looks incredibly lifeline in the water. It is made from tougher TPE material than the usual Plastisol that most soft plastic baits are made from, and I only had one of the two get torn up to the point I couldn’t fish it, and this was after catching over 10 fish. I fished this on a 7 foot Ugly Stik Spinning Rod with a Penn 3000 Series reel, 10 pound braid tied to 30 pound fluorocarbon leader, tied with a loop knot for extra action.

While the Vudu Shrimp caught the most fish, and was responsible for getting the variety of fish (Mangrove Snapper/Jack Crevalle/Snook) the largest of the fun-sized Snook I caught were caught with the Fish, or Die Minutemen in Midnight Run (Black with Silver & Gold Flake) I was fishing this on a 3/16 oz Gold Trout Eye Jig Head from Z-Man. I was 6’10” casting set up – an Empire Royal paired with an Abu Garcia reel, 20 pound braid, tied to 30 pound fluoro. I was able to make super accurate casts with the casting rod, and after letting the bait sit for a few seconds, I was just slow rolling it back keeping contact with the bottom. I would also let it rest and bounce it along the bottom as well.

Bird of the Day

If I am being honest, I am not a huge fan of pelicans, I’ve had my moments with them in the past. One time on the Eau Gallie River I had to whack one in the head several times with my paddle because it was trying to take a Snook I was reviving and releasing – which I felt bad about, a group of ladies were out paddle boarding and happened to come by as the battle for the Snook played out, I tried my best to convince them that I am indeed not a butcher, nor do I enjoy hitting pelicans for sport – they saw the whole thing play out and told me that they had no plans to call and report me to the FWC. On the whole, pelicans are pretty obnoxious animals if I have to say so myself, though at least they are entertaining at times. They seem to embody the Vince Vaughn in early 2000’s frat pack movie vibes.

This particular bird, though he may seem docile from the photograph, had just dive bombed into the fray of a Dolphin wreaking havoc on some poor school of fish, probably mullet. I can only imagine after jumping into that scene and getting his belly full he was feeling pretty satisfied with himself at the moment that photo was taken.

Conclusion

Of course I was a little disappointed to have not caught a bigger Snook – usually when I catch as many as I did on this trip, I will have the opportunity to tangle with a larger one at some point, but it never happened. That being said, I went out with super low expectations on this day, and despite the adverse conditions, I had a really good time fishing, caught a good number of fish for the time I spent actively fishing, and felt really good to know that the southern end of this refuge is home to so many juvenile Snook – a great sign for the future of the Snook fishery along the Space Coast and Treasure Coast.

I’d like to thank Kayaks by Bo for being our paddle partner, and I’d like to again mention how much I enjoy the Old Town Kayak – and what a difference it made in my fishing on this trip. If you are interested in an Old Town Kayak, or one from any of the other leading brands in the industry, or perhaps you’re looking for YakAttack accessories, or gear and apparel to gift the lucky kayak angler in your life, don’t forget to head into Kayaks by Bo this week and do a little Holiday shopping!

Merry Christmas everyone! Until next time!