Does anyone have any tips on bank fishing the Merritt Island area?

*looks around* Anyone? Anyone? Good, here we go, I'll try to give you some good areas and advice, might be a few others who can add to it tips and technique-wise, but I bet I know spots that they don't... neener-neener!!

~TRANSLATION: LONG RAMBLY ANSWER THAT MIGHT NOT GO ANYWHERE AHEAD! BEWARE OF ANSWERERS WITH A.D.D.!!~


First thing to ask really is how far you're willing to travel from what spot, but I'm going to @ss-u-me that you'll be centrally located M.I. and willing to travel a little bit at least, but I'll focus it on M.I., Port Canaveral area and you should be good.

When you go over to M.I. from the mainland, you'll be going over one of three bridges over the Indian River, S.R. 405, which goes through the south end of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and out to the space center (can't fish from the shore around that one, so that's the only mention it will get) S.R. 520, or S.R. 528 (both of which do have access points to fish from, so feel free... I haven't fished these much, but my cousin swears by a little hole in the park on the west side of the I.R. if you're on 520. You'll see lots of places where people pull off the side of the road on the causeways, and the way I see it is people wouldn't keep fishing a spot if they never caught anything, so there's no harm trying anywhere you see a spot like this (If you've got Google Earth you can see what I mean by zooming in on the causeways, you can see where there's dirt trails where people pull off to fish.)

Keep google earth open while you're there if you've got it, otherwise I'll give directions, here we go:
528 (the Beachline or the BeeLine if you're old-school like me, I refuse to give in to the new name) Eastbound: Take the S.R. 3 exit (courtenay pkwy), go North to Sea Ray Drive, continue east on Sea Ray, there's a pull-off just before the bridge over Sykes Creek. This is one of those places where I never really have had time to stop or don't have my gear on me, so I haven't fished it, but again, if people are constantly fishing somewhere....

If you continue on Sea Ray eastbound, it ends at N. Banana River Drive... if you go north (left) there's a little spot there... it's iffy, I know people who have made some good catches at this spot, but the people who are typically there...... I can take 'em or leave 'em.

That's 528 you've been parallelling, hop back on and continue east note pulloffs and random people fishing from the side of the road as you prepare to go over the Banana River.

That's Port Canaveral up there ahead of you on the left, if you want I'm sure you can find a charter captain for some offshore fishing. Take the second exit into the port, do the loopty loop under 528 and make the first left, if you do it right, you'll be on Dave Nisbet Dr., the first left is Mullet Dr., take it, follow it around, might want to stop at Fisherman's World, they're right there, can't miss it, keep going and you'll hit Port's End Park... Flounder, mangrove snapper, reds, seatrout, oh lordy, I can't name it all, ask the guys at F.W. what's biting where and they'll tell you... for fun, keep going on Mullet until you get to the Locks... you can't fish the locks, but you sure can drool at all the snook and reds and mmmmmmm.... I can't spend a lot of time at the locks, it makes me want to sneak out a handline...

Ready for lunch? There's a great place right around the corner, go back out to Dave Nisbet and make a left, it'll turn into Glenn Cheek Drive before it hits water... Grills is down there... *drools* Anyway

Continue on Glen Cheek and you'll come to Jetty Park... not sure how much it costs to use the park nowdays, it's been a while since I've been out there, but the fishing's pretty good.

Think you can find your way back out to 528? Good. Keep going east, it'll turn into A1A Southbound. All my life within half an hour of the place, and I've never fished Cocoa Beach... or the pier... I don't care for that beach, too many people, too much development, let's get to real Florida.

Going southbound on A1A, you'll come to S.R. 520, go west.

Quick stop along the way: on the left on 520 just after you come off A1A is The Dinosaur Store, they just bought and remodeled a new building and I haven't been in yet, but they used to be just a little storefront across the road and I could spend hours in there...

After you go over the Banana River, you'll come to N. Banana River Drive. make a right. *points at various little water bodies ("I got a gator there, and there and there....")*

You'll come to Sykes Creek Pkwy, the only way you can go is left, so make a left (mind you, you can go straight and miss your turn if you want, but I wouldn't if I were you...) There'll be a dirt road that comes out to Sykes Creek Pkwy, this is the entrance to Ulamay Wildlife Refuge, there's supposed to be some niiiice mangrove snapper at the dock here...

Back on S.C.P., you'll notice more pulloffs if you're paying attention.

Ke


NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! *kicks herself* *kicks Yahoo!Answers* *cries*

There was soooo much more I was wanting to say.... and it just cut me off!! Ok... back button and copy/paste...

Keep going, you'll run back in to 520.

You want more real Florida? Good, you want cheaper lunch than what you would have had a Grills? Keep going west on 520, back to the mainland, ok, keep going you're not there yet... once you're in the middle of nowhere and you're sure that there can't be ~anything~ out here, there's a bridge coming up over the St. John's River and on the left ~Don't Miss It, there's the turn, right there, right there!!~ just before you go over the bridge is Lone Cabbage Fish Camp, eat some gator, eat some frog legs or some catfish or a burger or a hotdog or suprise, suprise, suprise, their tuna is actually quite good (not tuna salad... tuna steak), take an airboat ride if you want while you're here, the guys know their stuff and they don't talk too much b.s.

Ok, now go back east to I-95 and go north, we're gonna go sightfish a bit for some reds.

Exit 220 off of 95 is Garden St, through Titusville, go east Need bait? Captain Hooks will be up just past U.S 1 on the right. I'd point you to the north end of the Titusville marina, but they just redid all the docks and I don't know how the fishing is in there now, so just keep going east, go over the bridge, you're now on the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge... THE most diverse refuge in the country. Welcome. Take some time to explore and enjoy. All those side roads are available to you as long as they don't have a "No unauthorized vehicles beyond this point" sign on them, and most of them loop back on themselves and spit you back out close to where you went in. See those silvery fish jumping all over the place? Those are mullet, don't be alarmed and don't go running to try to get a lure in front of them, because they won't take it. You're looking for what's chasing them... When reds are feeding in shallow water you can see their tails http://images.google.com/images?sourceid... Have fun. Remember, one per person per day, 18 to 24 inches. (You can always pull over (if there's a spot) and soak a live shrimp or finger mullet in the same area as feeding redfish, just more of a challenge getting one on an artificial. I personally keep live bait in the water and depending on my mood and activity level cast an artificial around as well.

Ok, so you're back out on the main road now? Go on East until you reach S.R. 3 (Couldn't we have come this way to begin with? Well, yes, if you were a NASA employee, which I don't think you are... are you?)

Make a left on 3 and you'll eventually come to a little bridge over the Haulover Canal. Be ready to catch some rocks and some mangrove snapper (hopefully) go over the bridge and to the left, follow that crappy road around until you get to that spot right over there next to the bridge so you can haul your gear over and hopefully no one's already under the bridge. Now... which way is the tide going? Left to right or Right to left? Left to right will be incoming, and I'm sure you've got enough logic to figure the rest out, if the water's not moving here, don't waste your time (unless you want to wait around hoping to see some manatees or dolphins) I promise, you WILL catch rocks under this bridge, but there's also a good chance of mangrove snapper, redfish, seatrout, sheepshead, and although I haven't personally caught a snook right there, I have seen it happen... again, if the water isn't moving here, it's a waste of time, go spend the little bit of money to go out to the beach... now THIS is a beach, forget Cocoa...

Go back out to 406 (What Garden street really is but it's only called that on the other side of the river) and go east, keep going until they make you stop and pay... I think it's something like $3 per person or something measly like that... This is the longest stretch of undeveloped beach in Florida, I hope you brought snacks and some drinks, at least you don't have to pay to come back in today. Go ahead and do some surf fishing if you want, whiting, pompano, (should I mention sharks or will that scare you off?) etc., etc. (don't worry, I've never seen a decent sized shark caught off the beach here, and I can't think of any attacks in a very very long time, it's just that sometimes someone will catch a small shark and scare away all the scaredy cats.

I think I've discovered the maximum character limit for an answer thanks to my A.D.D... If you do any wadefishing

I would suggest trying to find an area where you can wade fish. maybe just North of Haulover Canal. I've fished the area several times but always from a boat. use 12lb tackle, spinning or whatever, either natural bait under a popping cork or on a jig head. If you feel froggy Gulp shrimp and other jerk baits will work, as well as topwater baits. You can expect to catch catfish, trout, redfish, puffers, pinfish and things like that. wait for (gimmeaname) to answer she is from that area and may know some good areas to bank fish.

I go to the beach and fish every summer...i use squid, shrimp, and other fish...also blood worms work great...and some lures work well too...the thnig i've noticed is that different days the fish are biting at different baits...if you ask the locals they are normally more than happy to tell you what is working...also last time i went, i went underneath one of the piers and scraped some of the clams on the wood off...there's a kind of seaweed that holds them together and they were tearing that stuff up...also sand fleas or sand crabs work well too...hope this helps...and if you fishing for the ol hammerheads just throw a big ol steak on there...haha

LOL@Gimme!

I held back to see if you would see this one! (lol)

I knew this was in your "house" so I passed it by.

You nailed it!

You deserve this one G!

SUPER Thumbs up!

PS- Ya'll don't be fooled by G's rambling, she knows her flats fishing! Heed her advice and I know you will catch some fish.

Why the rambling? It's rare that someone asks about her region so she's got to strike while the irons hot.....

Hope you don't mind me explaining your enthusiasm G?

*Gives F.K. more to laugh at*

I've never let a little thing like A.D.D stop me in the past and I wasn't done yet!! *cackle*

Where was I? Oh yeah, if you do decide to wadefish, it's kinda mucky out around Haulover, wear some old shoes... what you might want to do that will extend your fishability that I just remembered (hopefully they'll still be in business in May...) there's a place back on Garden St, just west of U.S.1 and on the south side of the road that rents kayaks... don't ask me what their rates are, I've got my own. If you go this route, either haul the yak(s) out to haulover canal and launch at Bair's Cove boat ramp (there's signs) or you can launch at the Titusville Marina (Go north on U.S. 1 and just before you go over the railroad bridge, there's a little road, go down there, and past all the boats, there's a little dirt road north of the marina proper and south of the ballfields (renovations are supposed to be happening... hopefully the ballfields will still be there) and in the northeast corner of the marina is a little boat ramp... there's also a small ramp at the Coast Guard Auxillary station, if you just go out Garden like you're going out to the Refuge, there's a little greenish two story building on the left, pull in there and there's a ramp near the pavillion... Parrish Park across the bridge has a ramp, but it's usually pretty busy with people with "real" boats and I'm not comfortable launching there. Of course the fun of a kayak is you can launch it where ever you can walk down to the water... Brandon might agree with me when I say to take -- bah! of course Google earth doesn't have the names of the dike roads out on the refuge, but if you go over the bridge and out on the refuge, the first available dirt road on the right and just bear right at all the forks you come to... well, except the first one... you'll go on forever you'll think, but don't worry, I'll try not to get you lost... there's a little dirt boat ramp at Peacocks Pocket (~IF~ {big word for two letters} they don't have that area closed for any prescribed burns or anything.) If you watch any flats fishing shows, you might recognize this area, Banana Creek is off to the south, and there's a point there that you're not supposed to go past (please don't... I'd hate to have your vacation include having automatic firearms pointed at you from a helicopter...), but some BIG reds come out of there and into Peacocks Pocket.

Or go out and act like you're going to the beach... I forget what parking lot number it is, but it'll be the only parking lot on the left is Eddy Creek... good fishing in there, too. But if you want to stay closer to civilization, I'd launch at the marina and go north up towards the railroad bridge... nice reds and trout on the flats, black drum, mangroves and sheepshead at the bridge

Let the weather determine whether you do the kayak thing.

Now, some things I wanted to mention last night...

You can't go wrong with live shrimp or finger mullet. Fiddler crabs and cracked blue crabs will work as well, but shrimp and mullet are easiest... how you rig them up is entirely up to you... typically what I do is I take a shrimp, pinch the tail off, run my hook in where the tail was and out the bottom of the shrimp, put a split shot a foot or so up from the hook and go at it... on Haulover or out at the Port depending on current you might want more than split shot to keep your shrimp (or mullet) in place... or you might want to freeline it, it's all completely up to you... Gulp!s are amazing... put a Gulp! shrimp on a jighead at the port and play around, that's how I've caught nearly every flounder I've caught out there. There's so many options along the lines of artificials that I can't even start... I've got lures in my tacklebox that I can't remember the names of that have done wonders for me. Not sure if you're going to be buying artificials while you're down, but just remember to match the hatch... when you ask the guys at the bait shops what's eating what where, get an artifiicial that matches... a nice red on a topwater lure is something else... I personally like my SheDog http://a.espncdn.com/winnercomm/outdoors/bassmaster/i/P2_bm_1202_lures37_ls4.jpg
Zara Spooks are nice... basically I buy lures because "It's PRETTY!! If I were a fish, I'd eat THAT!!" *smirk*

Anyway, now that I've written a small novel on the topic, I'll leave you alone.

Edit:

Not a bit F.K., and can you tell I love my area? It's been a long time since I've been able to spend a full day out fishing or even just paddling aruond in the 'yak, and it's just GORGEOUS around here, really... you go further south and it's all built up and people-y... up on this end we're lucky... one of the things I loved most about the job on the tour boat was being able to share these things and point people to areas they might want to check out... we're really just a little flyspeck when it comes to vacation areas in Florida, and I like it like that... keep the vast majority of people out and draw in the people who want to appreciate what it's ~really~ all about.

And heck, even if you don't catch anything, isn't it enough to watch a pod of dolphins galavanting around while you try?


Oh, and another edit (see? I DO have A.D.D.)
If you fish at haulover and you get hung on a rock, don't start swearing and tugging at your line right away, I've found that a lot of times a nice cooperative mangrove snapper will pick up your shrimp and untangle you from that rock if you give it a minute or so. And yes, shrimp is ~the~ way to go right there.

get u a fone book and look up the bigest banks in the area go on down there and start throwin money i betchull catch sumthin