Kayak Fishing: Pine Island Basin & Sam’s Creek

Happy Monday Spacefish!

I don’t know about you all, but I am loving this early spring trend of weather we are on! The warmer weather has brought a very hot inshore bite for me the last two weeks. Last weekend brought an increase in numbers, and this week brought even more in terms of quantity, and some quality fish in the mix as well – let’s dive in!

Launch Spot

So, I kind of had a topsy-turvy Saturday morning as far as getting started goes. Originally, the area I researched, and was planning on launching from was Manatee Cove, which is just south of the Pine Island Conservation area in northern Merritt Island. My plan was to get out on the water at daybreak, start working north along the western shoreline of Merritt Island on the Indian River Lagoon. I was hoping to start with topwater at day break – but I had ended up encountering, and having to overcome two obstacles.

Obstacle #1 – Manatee Cove Park, which is operated by Brevard County Parks & Rec does not open until 8 am. I found this out after waking up at 4:30 am on Saturday, and punching the location into my Google Maps, and that’s how I found out, when Google informed me this location does not open until 8:00 am. Ok, cool – it’s supposed to be overcast for most of the morning, I can sleep another hour or so, get there around 7:30-7:40ish, maybe someone will be there early.

Obstacle #2 – No one came early. Actually, no one came at all – at least not as of 8:20 am, when I decided a beautiful overcast, but warm enough morning on the weekend of a New Moon was getting away from me, and despite the plans to fish & cover a new area for a report, I decided it was time to go up the road, where there was a kayak launch on the northern end of Sam’s Creek that is located within the Pine Island Basin & the Pine Island Conservation Area.

So this is actually a repeat of an area fished back in early October of 2022 – you can check out that Spacefish Report here: https://spacefish.com/byte/kayak-fishing-report-pine-island-conservation-area-sams-creek/

This area was very productive back then, and while this was a different time of year, the level of production and enjoyment was the same. During my first trip in 2022, it was early fall – summer transitioning to fall; vs this weekend’s trip which was winter transitioning to spring. Tarpon were not on the menu on this trip, but there were plenty of Trout and Snook to keep things interesting.

This address to the Kayak/Canoe Launch is 1655 Pine Island Rd, Merritt Island, FL 32953. When you get there you will see signs for the kayak launch area and where to drive. Be aware that there are no restrooms, and the launch area is down a sandy gravel road.

Productive Area #1

My original plan if I would have been able to launch out of Manatee Cove involved working north until the topwater bite died, then go up into Sam’s Creek to hopefully find some fish that moved into this deeper wind protected area. Since I ended up having to call 2 different audibles, and started where I planned on ending my fishing, I stayed in Sam’s Creek the entire duration of my outing, which was roughly from 9 am to 2/2:30 pm.

This was my first highly productive area, and where I caught a little over half of the Trout, right at a dozen or so in two hours on the way down the creek. I made my first cast of the morning on the western shoreline of Sam’s Creek, about the same position as the top red line, I would pedal down a few hundred yards then allow the south wind to push me back for 10-15 minus and fish like I was on the front of a skiff with a trolling motor down. I did the same thing on both the eastern, and western side of Sam’s Creek, I caught more fish on the wester sidem where there was a steeper depth change or drop off, I believe the Trout were schooling up on this side, I caught two nice 20+ inches on the other side, just north of windblown points in the shoreline.

Productive Area #2

So I am just going to call this other area “the elbow” of Sam’s Creek – I ended up catching another 10 Trout down here, out in more open water in that elbow. I caught a few Snook under shaded pockets of the Mangroves. At this point in the day, the conditions were going back and forth between bright and sunny, and overcast. I had the Top Water set up in hand, to pull out when the sun went behind the clouds for a smoke break.

This area was on fire for me, I fished here a good 2-3 hours, following big schools of bait fish around the basin of the elbow – these schools were getting ransacked and rampaged by ravenous Speckled Trout, and getting a paddle tail or top water plug in the fray when a school of bait would enter the area was a good way to find action. It’s been a while since I’ve seen all “3 B’s” in one place, but this area had it all – birds, bait, busting/boils, it was awesome. I spent roughly half of my time standing up looking for bait being harassed across the open water, and half of my time along the shorelines looking for Snook.

What Worked for Me

So I had 3 main stay presentations, that all caught multiple fish. Let’s start with the most fun…Top Water! I fished with the same plug I did last weekend, the Yak Tribe “Old Faithful” – and it continued to produce! Here are two pictures, one action shot, and another of a fish just landed in the net. I fished this plug on a casting set up with 30 pound braid, and a short section of 50 pound monofilament leader – I prefer mono for topwater because it floats.

The other baits that worked really well were the classic 3.5 & 4 inch paddle tail swimbaits. I threw the Fish or Die Minutemen in Swampfox (Silver w/ Gold Flake) with a Red Eye Jighead, and Pine Tree Schilling (Rootbeer w/ Gold Flake) with a Gold Eye Jighead, both jig head’s were 3/16 oz and I casted close to the mangrove points, or shoreline and retrieved the bait while keeping contact with the bottom on a slow roll style of retrieve. The was the top producer for number of fish, and landed 2 out of the 3 best Trout I caught. I threw this on a casting setup with 15 pound braid, and 20 pound fluoro leader.

Conclusion

So for the second time I visited the Pine Island Conservation area and left feeling like a winner! This is a great area to fish, not just for the scenery and the mangroves, and the lack of man made structure on the shorelines, but this area also seems to consistently hold lots of bait, as well as hungry predators. If you have never fished this area before, I highly recommend it!

I’d like to say THANK YOU to Kayaks by Bo, for being our Paddle Partner on this week’s adventure – if you are looking to get into kayak fishing, and are in the market for a kayak; or maybe you are a seasoned vet looking to up your game with top of the line gear and accessories, make sure to stop in to Kayaks by Bo in Titusville! This place really is a one stop shop for all of your paddle sport needs.

I hope everyone has a fantastic week. Stay safe, be happy, and go catch some fish! Until next time!