Thousand Islands

The wind was expected to be 10+ mph out of the North again so decided to drive up North a little farther and explore the Thousand Islands area of Cocoa Beach.

Overhanging Mangroves

On the map and Satellite photos it looked to have plenty of areas to find shelter from the wind.

There is a nice ramp on Ramp road, and as soon as I had the kayak in the water I new I was in the right place for that day. The wind was blocked by plenty of shoreline to the North and the water was smooth.

I headed down one of the narrow passage ways due east of the boat ramp and was immediately treated to a narrow mangrove covered passageway. It was a dark tunnel that the kayak barely fit through.

Exiting from the tunnel I found myslef on a wide open flat, that stretched several hundred yards out and was only about 12" deep.

Weedy Cove

I let the wind push me while I kept an eye on the water. For the first couple minutes there didn't seem to be anything happening, even the mullet were absent which is unusual.

The water was clear enough and shallow enough to see I was floating over lots of brown grass.

I was about to give up and move on when a splash just to my left startled me. I didn't see what it was but it made a big ripple. I moved over a little closer and up popped a tail! It was definately a redfish. He was so close to me though it was hard to cast to him. I made a couple tries but couldn't get him to take an interest in the white exude jerk bait.

I eventually lost track of him, so started heading South. The action on the water was starting to pick up and I was seeing lots of splashes. I decided to switch to a top water lure.

Redfish on Silver & Black Top Dog

I was drifting close to a small island. My first cast to one of the splashes got a follow but no strike. I threw again, this time letting the lure sit momentarily still before twitching it. That did the trick!

If you've ever seen a redfish take a top water lure you know what a commotion they make. They have an underslung mouth so have to actually come out of the water and get on top of the lure to take it.

This one gave me a nice fight and ended up being small at about 25 inches.

I caught one more a little bit later on the white exude jerk bait. I actually saw this fish swimming next to the kayak and flipped the bait at him. I was surprised that he took it since he was so close. He was about the same size as the first.