Kayak Fishing: Turkey Creek

Happy Monday Spacefish!

I hope everyone is doing well as we continue to roll through August and the “dog days” of Summer. This time of year is a little tougher on me, I took last weekend off for fishing & reporting due to school starting back, and our first Football game was this past weekend. We won 45-6 (Go Hustlers!), so I guess the Offensive Coordinator isn’t getting fired. Speaking of fire, it is hot as Satan’s armpit outside, and there has been very little wind – this is also why I consider this time of year to be the dog days. That being said, there has been one species of fish that hasn’t gotten lockjaw over the past few weeks and that has been the Tarpon. This week I am going to dive into Turkey Creek, one of Brevard County’s best places to go after this pre-historic sport fish.

Launch Spot

On this trip I launched from Castaway Point Park in Palm Bay, right off of Highway 1, just north of the Turkey Creek basin. This is a public park that does not have a boat ramp, but does offer canoe/kayak launch opportunities from the sandy shorelines. I pushed off at daybreak, got to see a beautiful sunrise across the Indian River Lagoon as I entered the mouth of Turkey Creek.

Tarpon City

Outside of the Saint Sebastian River, there may not be another body of water with as many Tarpon as Turkey Creek – they have a reputation for being finicky, but I ended up landing 3 on this trip, however I probably casted to 100 rolling Tarpon – still, that’s a pretty successful Tarpon trip for me.

It’s hard for me to recommend spots per se, but I had my success in between the Highway 1 Bridge, and the railroad track. I casted to Tarpon in the stretch of the river east of the Hwy 1 bridge, and did not land any. The key to success is to get into an area where they are concentrated enough that you can make the cast in front of the fish. I have caught a few Tarpon on the years off of blind casts, but 90% or more of my catches have been making the cast in front of where they are rolling. Two of the three Tarpon I caught were right behind the Freedom Boat Club – this area is a nice, tight wind protected area with deeper water where they seem to bunch up.

Tarpon Baits & Fighting Technique

There are quite a few ways that you can catch these fish; live baits are definitely effective, as is trolling live fingerling Mullet, but for me – I prefer artificial as I can pedal around and maneuver quietly enough as to not spook them, but also for me, it’s a number game. I try to make my presentation to as many fish per trip as I can. The bait of choice for me is the Tsunami Swim Shad, in the 2 inch size. I get the SaltX version at Strike Zone with the extra strong hook.

This is the bait pictured above, and you can see the hook is a little bent at this point, but this is after Tarpon #2 in the morning, and coming at a price poin of 3 per pack for $4.99, that’s not bad to get 2 or 3 fish per bait.

I throw this bait on a 4000 series Tsunami Barrier II Reel, on an Ugly Stik Lite Pro Rod; 8 pound Reaction Tackle Braid; and 15 pound Yo-Zuri Fluorocarbon leader. For the size and fighting ability of these fish, that is pretty light. However I play the fish with a loose drag, and use the pedals and steering system of the Old Town Kayak to chase the fish down, so I do not have to tighten the drag to win the fight. I do everything in my power to land them as quickly as I can, and after I get my pictures, try to get them back in the water as soon as possible, if they look like they’re close to 40 inches I do not even take them out of the water at all.

Snook Heartbreak

So on this trip, I did experience some misery. I saw a few gigantic Snook lurking on the outside edges of docks, in deeper water – I threw a couple different presentations at them to no avail. I finally got a big one to eat; and I did not get broken off near the lure, I got my leader snapped off near the braid to the leader knot, which would have been roughly 3 feet above the lure, by an underwater oyster bed. While these beds attract both bait fish, and predators – they also provide another way to lose fish. But rest assured, there are some absolute monster Snook lurking around the Turkey Creek basin. This time of year with the air and water temps being way up, they are going to push into areas like this with structure, food, and deeper/cooler water.

Conclusion

As we drag on through the hot, humid dog days of August and early September, this is a good time to hit the tributaries such as the St. Sebastian and Eau Gallie Rivers, Turkey and Crane Creek as the Snook will be looking for areas with deeper water, structure and food, and the Tarpon enjoy roaming these brackish waters. Unlike Snook who prefer moving (oxygenated) water, the Tarpon can use their air bladders to gulp air on the roll, so don’t be surprised to see them hanging out in the stagnant backwater areas, or wind protected coves and corners.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I hope everyone has a fantastic week! Thank you to Kayaks By Bo for being our paddle partner, if you have a chance, go drop by and check out the new location in Cocoa!

Stay safe, be happy, and catch fish! Until next time!