35 Kayak Fishing Trips

[FlatsNBay]

Join me as I give a review of my kayak fishing trips to 35 different spots. All locations are within an hours drive of my house and most are little hidden out of the way places inaccessible to bigger boats.

I intend to give you the good bad and ugly of each trip, weather I find a gold mind or a dud.

I'll keep most of the smaller location names intentionally vague but will reveal the names of some of the bigger more popular spots with bigger ramps. All of fishing spots are public bodies of water. Many were found by looking at city and county parks, FWC managed areas, water management district lands and other public lands. I'll also throw in a few saltwater spots for variety but most will be bass fishing trips.

Come along, it should be fun! Stand by for my first report...

[Hobious]

35?!! 

dang, i might have 3 within and hours, and 15 if i allow myself a 2 hour drive.

[FlatsNBay]

Hobius, those are just the 35 places that I'm dying to check out and explore. There are tons of others!

[FlatsNBay]

Spot 1: The Rock Pit

This a spot that is closest to my house. I've fished a bunch before when I had the Bass Hunter and by a borrowed kayak. It is a butterfly shaped rock pit in a local park. It's been in existence for many years and a buddy in his 50s said that he used to party and hang out at the  lake in high school!

It is a good lake for numbers and 30-40 fish days are common. The quality of the fish there is usually pretty good with a 3 pounder or two being pretty common. My biggest years ago was about a 7 pounder caught on a lipless crankbait.

Habitat: Deep dark but clear water with tons of rocks, ledges, and humps. Overhanging trees cattails and bullrush rim the lake and there is scattered hydrilla here and there.

Launch: Primitive launching only about 100 yards from the truck. Better eat your Wheaties!

Result:

New kayak worked great! I launched at sunrise and took some time to try and get my depthfinder dialed in. I left my finesse techniques at home and concentrated on bigger baits. I had several misses on a prop bait and then caught first fish of the day and out of the new kayak, a dink! I'll take it! Switched over to a Texas rigged worm and caught a few on it. Big fish of the day was about a 2 pounder caught flipping. Ended up with 13.

I quit around noon to map half of the lake on my Garmin..I found depths down to 30' along with some killer looking deep ditches and drop offs. It should be a fun summer place to fish.

Will I be back? Yes!

Overall Score (out of 100):90. The long cart of the kayak makes this spot a challenge!

[FlatsNBay]

More spot 1 pics.

[big g]

  Thanks Flats, looked like the weather was perfect for a trial run with the new toy!

[Capt. BassinLou]

Hey,, I know that spot!!   Thank you for sharing your kayak adventures, Steve. Looking forward to your reports.

[FlatsNBay]

Spot 2: M Park

This is another spot that is very close to the house. It is a public park that allows paddle craft only (No motors). I've fished it a few times before from a borrowed kayak and could only catch very small fish. My biggest before was about 2 lbs. I wasn't too excited to fish it with the majority of fish being dinks but it's been a couple of years since I've been there.

Habitat: bullrush and gator grass along the entire shoreline with nice looking hydrilla along many parts of the shoreline. The water clarity is very clear dark water.

Launch: no ramp! Just cart the kayak about 10 yards away from the truck and slide it in the water. No fresh signs of anyone putting a kayak in for a while.

Result:

It started rather slow and I had a few short hits on a Devil's Horse. Knowing that they were small fish, I downsized to a Yozuri 3d prop bait.i quickly caught 3 dinks. I was really feeling like a fluke would be good along the hydrilla and grass along the shoreline. Bingo! It was nonstop action! I went through 2 bags of flukes and caught one fish after another. The size seamed to be much better with several in the 2 pound range with big fish going about 2 1/2 or so. I noticed that the majority of the bigger fish were out deeper and would smoke the fluke on long pauses. I ended up with 58 and quit at noon. Super fun day.

I graphed on the way back and found the deepest water to be about 15 feet.

Will I be back? Yes!

Overall Score (out of 100):

Before this trip, I would have scored it a 75. But, since the bite was so good and the quality increased, I'll score it an 89. It's so close and the launch is pretty easy and close to the truck. Now, if I can catch some consistent better quality, I'll score it much higher. It's a fun place to fish with little to no fishing pressure.

[FlatsNBay]

Spot 3: FH Pond

This spot is a pond at one of FWCs Wildlife Management Areas. The gate at the area is closed and locked during periods closed to hunting. I took advantage of the area being open for spring turkey season. I've never fished it before and really didn't know what to expect.

Habitat: the pond is surrounded by trees, pads, bullrush, cattails, and tons of peppergrass throughout most of the lake. It kinda reminded me of how Lake Okeechobee looked back in the day. Water clarity is clear.

Launch: No ramp. I parked at a designated parking area that was very close to the water. Launching was very easy. During periods outside of hunting season the gate is locked which would require about a 100 yard cart to the water. It would be tough getting a kayak through the narrow gate when it's closed.

Result: I noticed all the peppergrass and started with a frog. I only had one fish boil up at my bait. I switched to a speed worm and caught fish here and there in the peppergrass. I found a nice little backwater area and caught a bunch of small ones in there. It started to mist rain from an approaching front so I switched to a spinnerbait. Nothing going. I fished around the entire pond. It looked great but unfortunately all fish were small.  I ended up catching 16, biggest 1 1/2.

Will I be back? Yes, I'd give it another try during hunting season. I would try for some bigger fish. I'm sure that there's a few in there.

Overall Score (out of 100): 74 I might score it higher if quality got better.

[Capt. BassinLou]

It's great seeing you enjoying your kayak. Appreciate the reports .

[big g]

Thanks Flats for reports and pics.  How is the back holding up to the kayak fishing?

[FlatsNBay]

Big G, new kayaks designed for fishing have raised stadium seating. They are extremely comfortable to sit in for days. Picture sitting in an office chair while fishing. They are that comfortable. 

Old Kayaks=back pain, new kayaks designed for fishing=no back pain at all.

My Old Town Sportsman is designed for fishing and comfort. Standing is a breeze (and encouraged). I can also sit for days on end and gently pedal while fishing.   

[FlatsNBay]

Spot 4:  Horse Creek (brackish water):

The wind was blowing 20 to 30 out of the south so I decided to try out Horse Creek which is protected from the wind. The creek connects to the Indian River and is very small. This was my first time fishing there so I didn't know what to expect.

Habitat: Tree lined shoreline with scattered docks here and there. The creek is extremely shallow and muddy in some places. The water is brackish and could hold both snook and bass.

Launch: Kayak concrete launch at the end of a 50 yard paved path. Half of the path was wet and full of slippery slime. It made launching a bit tricky.

Result:

I started out working my way up the creek and quickly caught a tiny snook on a topwater. I switched back and forth with a variety of baits and made the short trip to as far as I could go. It was pretty small. On the way back, I had a nice 2 lb bass wake up to the boat and hit my topwater right next to the boat. He missed and wasn't interested again. I fished the way back and noticed something pushing water next to the boat. It was a giant snook that was lazily swimming along. I spooked it and it darted away. Back at the ramp in a couple of hours with only one tiny snook to the day.

Will I be back? Nope! It was just too small to mess with and shallow and muddy.

Overs Score (out of 100): 50

[FlatsNBay]

Spot 5: B Lake

I was excited to try this spot. B Lake is a long and narrow lake on one of FWCs Wildlife Management Areas. Access to the lake is controlled by the Water Management District and they only issue 2 permits to have driving access to the lake. There was about a 3 week wait on getting a permit so I figured fishing is probably pretty good.

Habitat: the lake is surrounded by woods. The shoreline has a variety of reeds and cattails. There are pads, reeds and spadderdock throughout the lake which was very shallow. I only fished a small portion and the deepest water that I could find was about 3'.

Launch: a dirt road leading to a primitive gravel and sand ramp. You could probably launch a bass boat but there is a 40 HP limit on the lake. Launching the kayak was a breeze.

Result:

Boy, it looked great. I quickly caught a couple on topwater then found a good little swim worm bite in the pads. I found a nice little mat of vegetation, picked up my flipping stick and dropped my bait right through the center of the mat. My line went tight, I set the hook and the fight was on! Dang mudfish! I caught quite a few throughout the morning.

The last 30 minutes or so was pretty good and I caught probably 6 in the skinny water along the shoreline. I was surprised at how shallow the bass were. I ended up catching 15 with big fish going about 2 1/2.

Will I be back? Yes, with all the habitat there's gotta be some bigger fish in there. I'd like to explore some other areas of the lake since it was so big.

Overall Score (out of 100): 85

[Capt. BassinLou]

Looks like a very nice place. Appreciate the reports!

[FlatsNBay]

Spot 6 Lake Eaton (Ocala National Forest)

Lake Eaton wasn't on my list but I had a function at the Youth Conservation Camp on the north end of the lake, so I brought my kayak.
I only had a couple of hours to fish and it was during the hottest time of the day.

Habitat: the entire lake is full of pads and spadderdock. The bottom everywhere I went was very mucky. Water clarity is dark and tanic.

Launch: there is a public boat ramp on the west side of the lake but I easily launched from the Youth Camp on the north end.

Result: Boy it was tough! I tried a swim worm around the pads and flipping any mats of vegetation that I could find. It seemed like everywhere that I went was shallow and silted in. I only had one hit and was skunked.

Will I be back? No way. Too far for no fish.

Overall Score (out of 100): 60. It looked good but was too tough.

[FlatsNBay]

Spot 7: Indian River in Suntree (saltwater)

I decided to check out the Indian River. I launched at a park about 15 minutes from the house. I concentrated on the west side as light winds provided favorable conditions.

Habitat: Sandy bottom with homes and docks scattered along the shoreline. I noticed that some grass is starting to grow back in some places.

Launch: the park that I launched from had a sandy beach which made launching easy.

Result: I started with a topwater walking bait and had a few blow ups but they weren't really taking the lure. I tried skipping a Savage Gear shrimp under docks and had a few bumps from mangrove snapper. I was hoping for a snook, trout, or redfish. After the sun came up, I found a little grass and worked the area over with one of my favorite flats lures, a Yo-Zuri L Minnow. I had a fun little time catching snapper, lady fish, and catfish all on the jerkbait. No trout. Off the water at 1000 .

Will I be back? Yes, the trout and snook will move into the docks at certain times of the year.

Overall Score (out of 100): 70. It's super close, an easy launch and I need to explore some other areas along the river.