Paddling Fishing the Goon Imperium brought to you by
Access/Launching points: Easy
Paddling difficulty: Easy – except for the mud and skeeters… and the ever present winds.
Tackle Shops:
Skeeter Lagoon’s Bait and Tackle - Titusville, Florida 321-383-2001 (across the street from McDonalds on US1)
Kelly’s Bait and Tackle - Oak Hill, Florida (at the flashing light in Oak Hill) 386-345-0990
“Titusville, Florida. The Redfish Capital of the world…” yeah yeah right…. Apparently the originators of that phrase have never been to Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, or Northern Florida coastal areas. If you’re looking for sheer numbers of redfish those are the first places on the list. However, if you’re looking for a chance to sight fish a true shallow water bull red, sink up to your armpits in mud, see how much blood loss from mosquitoes your body can actually stand, and test your nerves while padding amongst some of the biggest gators in Florida, then all roads lead to Titusville.
Conventional tackle for the area is light saltwater gear with 8-12# test being the norm. For fly rodders, an eight weight will suffice with a floating line and backing capacities of at least 100 yards. Only on a true bull red or a wayward tarpon will your backing come into play. A standard selection of baits would consist of a top water plug or two of your choice, dark and light colored soft plastics, gold or black spoons, and of course a baggie of dead shrimp. For the long rodders, bend backs, seaducers, clousers, and poppers in assorted colors and always have a couple of crab or shrimp patterns handy for finicky fish.
Destinations: (All directions originate from Titusville, Florida unless otherwise noted.)
Peacock’s Pockets
Follow Hwy. 402 East onto the refuge. You will pass by ParrishPark boat ramp and the FWCC offices on your left. Continue East on 402 to the fork in the road and stay to your right around the curve with the signs for PlayalindaBeach. About 3.5 miles from the fork, you’ll come to the Merritt IslandWildlifeMuseum and InformationCenter; just beyond that you will see the Refuge’s maintenance buildings. Slow down and turn your right turn on blinker. Immediately past the maintenance facilities you will see a sign for “Peacocks Pocket Road.” Follow it south all the way to “Buzzard’s Roost” (an old radar structure) and you are at the launch area. Be careful: do not try to park too close to the water’s edge. I have witnessed a number of cars taking mud baths while awaiting the tow truck.
From the launch site you have, roughly, six miles of open flats and shoreline to float. The first notable landmark is Banana Creek. This broad slough is the upper portion of the No Motor Zone. Entry into the creek is prohibited. Period. If you think you can sneak in for a quick paddle, take a look at the gigantic building to the east. That’s the Vehicle Assembly Building for the shuttle and on top of it are all the security cameras in the world and they see everything for miles. I once saw a picture of a wading angler on Peacock Flat, taken from the cameras, and let’s just say the detail was “impressive.” Just so you can sleep better at night with visions of monster fish, word has it that the creek is indeed loaded with giant red fish, black drum, tarpon, trout, snook, and black tips. Too bad it is forbidden territory.
Out front of Banana Creek you’ll see (or feel with your paddle depending on water clarity) a deep (4 feet) trough that runs out providing a fish highway for undetected movement. During cooler temps, I will start working the edges and deeper parts of the trough for laid up fish in the thermals and move out onto the flats as temps rise and fish become more active. These waters are a sight-fishing dream for anglers as you can sit in your kayak and simply watch for cruising or tailing fish across the flats. For those who are patient, the fish will eventually come to them, as the fish tend to roam in big circles around the flats searching for their next meal. Jacks, tarpon, and blues will run the deeper water out towards the Indian River and it is not uncommon here to see a fish with it’s tail poking up in the air in the 3-4’ depths. I have also had juvenile tarpon (30 – 70#’s) cruise across open sand holes in front of me during the spring and summer outside of Banana Creek. One nice thing about Peacocks is the entire flat is marked with a series of Manatee Zone signs, which helps keep “redfish rodeos” to a minimum. The FWC does patrol the area and issue tickets to violators, making the place a great area to spend an entire day paddling.
Eddy Creek
Following Hwy 402 all the way to the end will lead you to PlayalindaBeach. A few dollars to enter the gate and you find yourself at the southern end of Mosquito Lagoon. Following the signs you will find the EddyCreek launch ramp. The area also has functioning bathrooms for a little last minute meditation session. Paddlers would be advised to take a look over the dunes at the beaches and check for blues, jacks, cudas, tarpon, and occasional cobia cruising the two troughs that run the length of the dunes. Kayaking the surf is allowed, but portage is a major undertaking. Keep in mind that for some odd reason, this beach is loaded with sharks. It could be the naked international cuisine that’s offered up around parking lot #14 as that’s the unofficial nudist beach in the area. And before you go rushing off to #14, remember its foreign tourists… retired foreign tourists….Nothing to see here folks…move along.
Out of EddyCreek, (the inside of the cove produces, too, so fish it on the way) you’ll see PelicanIsland to your southwest and Gallinipper Point to the north along the barrier island bank. Around the point to the south as you exit the cove is Max Hoeck Creek and a smaller creek just south of that that dead ends at some culvert pipes. On occasion you will find small juvenile tarpon rolling in the morning around the culverts. On the East side of PelicanIsland is a deep channel that also holds fish during cooler months. If you are really lucky, you will see full sized adult tarpon there for a short period during the spring and early months, but you can always count on good-sized trout and reds on the bottom with a hunger for slow worked jigs and soft plastics. Just north of PelicanIsland is the “Middle Bar” or “Whale’s Tale”. There is a school of bull reds that hang here year round. This school, of course, gets pounded on a daily basis by guides and recreational anglers alike, so be quiet and patient. If you are lucky enough to find that flat empty at anytime, stake out and pay attention to the water because the fish are there and will for some odd reason still eat the correctly placed shrimp or cut bait. Flies and lures are occasionally successful, but real food gets more attention from these PHD educated reds. An easy ten-mile paddle is to be had here if you have a full day to burn on these flats and paddle at a leisurely pace.
Carbide Flats
Following US 1 North through Titusville, there are two good paddle launches for public access. The First is Carbide Flats, which is in Mims, just a few miles north of Titusville. Heading up US 1, past the turn to Hwy. 46, you will see the Mims’ post office and elementary school on the left. Take a right onto Wiley Road, go all the way to the end (watch for kids, dogs, turkeys, hogs, and peacocks in the road) and turn left in front of the “Praxair Plant”. Take the right onto Jones Fish Camp Road and right over the railroad tracks you will see the launch. Be sure to park well out of the way of the trailer area as commercial crabbers use this launch heavily and have no qualms about easing your vehicle out of the way with their own trucks.
Heading south from the launch, you have nearly two miles of flats that hold reds and trout. Closer to the bridge, there are deep cuts along the bank that can have tarpon feasting on mullet certain times of the year. The flat has a couple of slightly deeper troughs that run the full length of the flat. Here, you can find reds and trout during all months of the year. This shoreline can be fantastic during the summers for cruising reds. Working the grass bars that run the entire stretch is also recommended, but that goes without saying. To the north of the launch and along the shoreline is another deep trough that is a fine trout area during winter mornings. On the return paddle back down to the ramp, slide over to the shallow flats for redfish as the sun warmed water can stir up the redflash.
Scottsmoor
Scottsmoor Ramp is 7 miles further north on US 1. A right turn at Huntington Ave. will lead you straight to the ramp. It’s an easy 6 mile loop if you paddle north up to Turnbull Creek: follow the shoreline around the east side of the Indian River Lagoon then paddle back across west to the ramp. There are three different schools of big reds that cruise this area and if boat traffic is light, they will move right up onto the shore and aggressively tail and chase mullet in the shallows. Springtime always brings reports of anglers jumping adult tarpon in the deeper basin in the middle of the area. During the tarpon migration a live pinfish on a bobber is a sure thing if you want to take a lazy day and float the deeper areas for a shot at a silver king.
East Side of The Indian River
State Road 3 or Kennedy Parkway is a two-lane highway that runs north and south through the northern end of Merritt Island. At it’s north end, the Parkway connects to US 1; the south end puts you in front of the security gates of NASA/ CanaveralSpaceCenter. The Parkway gives the paddler about 15 miles of paved road and occasionally maintained dirt roads to access either the Indian River or Mosquito Lagoons. Again, be warned about speed limits in the refuge. In the predawn hours watch out for feral hogs that inhabit the area and tend to walk out in front of cars on a regular basis.
All of the following launch point directions are given as if the driver is heading North on S.R. 3 from it’s intersection with Hwy 402, east of Titusville.
Boy Scout Campground & Dummitt Cove (4a)
Heading north on SR 3, you pass “BioLab” (small tan building on the right with a huge sign on it). Ahead, on the left, you will see a sign for Dummitt’s Cove / Boy Scout Camping area. Down the track you will find a good launch that’s covered in grass and has a solid sandy shoreline. This entire cove holds redfish and trout on a regular basis year round and also produces an occasional Black Drum. It’s a great site for an after work trip with the area being just long enough for you to fish your way up to the mouth and back, finishing at dark. For a full day trip, paddling out of the mouth of Dummitt and onto the open flats of the Indian River keep your direction west paralleling the shoreline. The first large cove is “MarshBay”, which I’ve had a little luck in from time to time. However, I prefer to paddle straight across the mouth of the bay and hit the shorelines of Black Point. There are lots of little creeks and bays to explore in this area and they receive relatively little pressure from other anglers. Catches in these creeks and bay vary from time to time during the year, but I have seen juvenile tarpon, black drum, reds, trout, and the stray snook taken in these areas. With the soft bottom here, I advise you to stay in the yak or be prepared to sink up to your waist in black mud.
The deeper flat out in front of Dummitt Cove has a resident school of bull reds that make regular appearances year round. We have a photo at the shop of a red caught by a guide there that taped out at 58”! The mullet run attracts good-sized Jack Crevale averaging in size between 6-15lbs.
Haulover Canal North (4b)
Just over HauloverCanalBridge there’s a turn to the left that puts you on the North side of HauloverCanal, on the Indian River. The flat out to your left, if you look southwest, is the Dummitt Cove flat mentioned before. The launch is a firm sandy area and is popular with lots of recreational kayakers and canoeists. North out of the launch you come to Duck Cove. The bottom is fairly firm and the shorelines offer solid ground for taking breaks. The point that sticks out off of the tip of Duck Cove has a good flat that holds fish. The water on the flat is relatively shallow and Duck Cove itself is kind of like a big bowl with a shallow rim and a deep center. Cooler weather makes this a good spot for fish to stage up in before moving out onto the flat.
Live Oak/Patillo Creek/ Eleven Mile Run (4c)
Two miles north and on your left from HauloverCanal you’ll see a stand of oak trees with two small cemeteries nearby. The road is marked as “Live Oak” and it runs the shoreline of the Indian River into an area called Patillo Creek, which in turn connects to Eleven Mile Run. Currently, Eleven Mile Run is closed for repairs and no timetable is given for future access. But, to your east across the Indian River, you will see Scottsmore. It is an easy paddle from the launch to the northern stretch of the same area. As the crow flies, it’s only 3 ½ miles.
Launching from Live Oak, you can take your pick of which way to go. The ever present winds may dictate your direction. You are in the area for the school of big reds that inhabit the north end. If you look to your left as you launch, you will see old dock pilings. There is a deep trench that runs the length of them and it slopes up quickly to the little spoil island beside it. Work it well with top water plugs and if that doesn’t produce, go deep and be prepared to get cut off on the barnacles around the pilings. I’ve lost more jigs and deep-water flies to this area than I care to remember. My first official “gator trout” came from that same spot. The flats directly out from the launch vary in depth from less than a foot to over three in some spots. These contours offer some structure for reds and trout and small tarpon make their appearance there during the spring.
Following Live Oak Road heading north you come to the mouth of “Patillo Creek”. The shoreline in between the two tends to be very soft and it isn’t recommend that you try to launch between these two points. The mouth of the creek offers ample parking and a decent bottom for quick launches. Between Scottsmoor and Live Oak/Patillo Creek, you have plenty of shoreline to hide from west or east winds. North from the mouth of Patillo, you again have wide-open flats with lots of little cuts and bays to paddle. If you are lucky, the bucket brigade (bank fishermen/ladies) won’t be slinging lead and shrimp across the canal and you can work the shorelines for trout, reds, jacks, tarpon, snook, black drum, mangrove snapper, ladyfish, and even, believe it or not, the occasional flounder. For you silver king freaks out there, there is a steady population of baby tarpon who’ll eat anything white. During the spring, you will see the bigger juveniles in there rolling around. In the late summer, black drum stack up like cordwood for some reason and it’s shrimp slinging city for the after work crowd. I’ve joined in several times for a black drum to take home for dinner and nearly always see someone jump a good tarpon in the evening. The time to fish the area is just when the sun gets behind the tree line and shades the entire creek. It comes alive for as long as you can stand it since it’s really protected from the wind and the mosquitoes and no-seeum’s seek out uncovered skin with a vengeance at sunset. I have actually argued with fishing partners. Which one will leave the safety of the truck and go pick up the rod with line peeling off it and who was going to stay in the bug-safe truck?
‘Goon Side of State Road 3 / Kennedy Parkway
Biolab Road
In reality, there is only one viable launch area on southwest end of the Goon and that is off BioLab Road, noted above. You can launch at the ramp and head north along the western shoreline of the Lagoon or take the shell road turn off just before the parking area and drive down the “South Dike Road”. On the south dike road, you will come to a point where the curve takes you off the shoreline and behind a stand of Australian Pines. You will see the little parking area there and if there is a west wind, the tree line gives good protection. There are roughly 3 ½ miles of shoreline to work with plenty of sandy potholes and grass beds.
The Sticks
Following the road to the south, you come to a spot known as “The Sticks”. It’s a group of seemingly scattered pilings just off the side of the road. In the past, settlers used them as turtle pens. Standing at the sticks, you’ll see PelicanIsland and Max Hoeck Creek, again mentioned earlier. To the north of Pelican Island is the Whales Tail or Middle Ground that was described in the Eddy Creek segment Excellent fishing is to be had in that entire area. If you work your way back west along the shoreline, and if the water is high and flowing out of the prominent culvert pipe, start looking for fish. The current created by the culvert serves as a buffet bar for reds, trout, and the occasional tarpon.
Beacon 42
North of Haulover Canal Bridge, you will see a boat ramp sign on your right: “Beacon 42.” It is a busy little ramp, but it gives you great access to the Clinker Islands Intercoastal Canal dredging) that line the West side of the Lagoon. High water seasons equal a lot of boat traffic in the area, but pick a day during low water levels and it is a paddler’s dream. Protected from both East and West winds and when the boat traffic stops, the fish move in. A slightly deeper slough runs the length of the Clinkers (between the islets and the main shore) with some deeper potholes scattered about and you can locate reds, trout, and black drum. Many of the Clinkers are good for breaks and some offer primitive campsites. Nighttime sees a lot of action during the cooler months, as this is a flounder gigging hot spot for the locals.
Start from Highway 402/Max Brewer Causeway, or the “Titusville Bridge,” and cross into the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Beware: this is one Florida’s most active speed traps. The speed limit over the bridge is 30mph, and is enforced from a palmetto scrub that the local constables like to hide behind. They will hit you with radar just as you cross the high point of the bridge. Many a good morning has been ruined by a moment of carelessness while gawking at the slick water below, so consider your self warned.