anybody ever caught decent fish from cocoa beach?

**walgreensfan** · 09-03-2007, 06:19

i recently been on a fishing trip in the cocoa beach area, its off banana river road. they call it intracostal fishing it was with chater boat we travelled out to what can be described as a canal but with seawater and we all caught nothing but little pin fish and puffer fish but the captain promised red fish,king fish and snook.
I wondering if anybody had the same experience or that we had a bad day?

**Macka** · 09-03-2007, 12:33

Joseph,

Intracoastal fishing can be very rewarding.

We fish the intracoastal on the gulf coast which admittedly must be different to cocoa as the water is hugely warmer than the Atlantic, however I have spoken to guys who have fished on the Atlantic intracoastals in Fort Lauderdale with good catches. Sorry, can't remember what species they had but I do remember that they used shrimp as bait and spinners.

Do try googling for intracoastal fishing Joe, I'm sure you'll get hits.

Paul.

**Robert5988** · 09-03-2007, 19:47

My place is just South of Cocoa Beach(10 miles) and I fish every day when I am there.

I would hardly describe the Intercoastal(also called Indian River) as a canal. It is about 2 miles wide. The Banana river which is to the East of the Intercoastal is also just as wide.

Anyway to fishing. A lot of people have a bad experience with charter boats; especially tourists as they are not regular customers. If you were catching pin fish and puffer fish(known as double uglies) I assume you were using shrimp as bait? Whist redfish or snook will take shrimp, the favoured bait is live mullet or other small fish.

I have been out on friend's boats quite often and similarly have not had much success. I do just as well fishing from bridges or docks. Snook are the prized fish but not easy to land even if you hook them; plenty of trout but most of them undersize for keeping.

The majority of my time is spent beach fishing and you can catch a huge variety.

**walgreensfan** · 10-03-2007, 05:13

To robert5988

I should give you more info about where we fished.
The launch area was at kelly park just off banana river rd. We headed nw on the intracostal area past the manatee conservation zone then a left the area the captain's mate anchored up looked like a canal it had big houses on the left with own launch area expensive boats that were suspended off the water! on the right side looked like expensive condos.
We were given only shrimp as bait, the fish we caught except the puffer fish the captain kept in large buckets 2hrs later the captain phones his brother who's a commercial captain to meet up at some bridge which i think the 528 runs on. It turns out he gave the fish to his brother to use as bait. That made me feel a bit cheated, some of the guys joked that we were the captains bait catchers. Besides that it won't stop me going fishing in florida maybe be more careful about choosing charter boats. Must try bass fishing next year

**nicseg** · 12-03-2007, 17:51

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Macka
Joseph,

Intracoastal fishing can be very rewarding.

We fish the intracoastal on the gulf coast which admittedly must be different to cocoa as the water is hugely warmer than the Atlantic, however I have spoken to guys who have fished on the Atlantic intracoastals in Fort Lauderdale with good catches. Sorry, can't remember what species they had but I do remember that they used shrimp as bait and spinners.

Do try googling for intracoastal fishing Joe, I'm sure you'll get hits.

Paul.
[/quote]

Hi Paul
Where exactly do you fish? We normally just fish off the beach but fancy a change.
Nic

**Macka** · 13-03-2007, 11:21

Hiya Nic,

We fish on Siesta key, on the eastern side, do you know Siesta key?

Paul.

**nicseg** · 13-03-2007, 12:23

Yes, we go to longboat key which is not very far away from Siesta Key. Have visited Siesta Key but have not fished there yet. Had lot of fish using artificial bait especially the small rubber ones with the wiggly tail. We found skipping them across the top of the water just before dusk caught a fish nearly every time. Had some luck with shrimp but found that crabs go for them? My 2 boys are getting quite good with a casting net now and it’s been great fun watching them catching fry. Better stop as I’m getting homesick for my Florida home.[msncry]

**Macka** · 13-03-2007, 19:23

Allrighty then,

At the south end of Siesta key, where Midnight pass road ends, there's a main left turn to go back onto the mainland over the drawbridge. This is Stickney point road. parallel to S.P. road is OLD Stickney point road. At the end of old Stickney point road, past the boatyard is a very small park with access to the small beach wwhere you can Fish right under the bridge. It's very comfy, a nice spot and you can see the Dolphins passing by and if you're very lucky a manattee.

I've never fished the surface with those false baits Nic but I'll definitely try it.

There's a tackle shop as you come from the Mainland over the Bridge on your LHS so It's perfect really.

Let me know when you next go and I'll send you a map.[msnsmile2]

Yes about Shrimps, they do attract crabs, and Ray love them but Ray do swallow very deeply so I always take a pair of forceps.

**nicseg** · 13-03-2007, 20:46

Cheers Paul
Will definitely give this place a go when we go back in 4 months, 7 days, 6 hours, 16 minutes, 9 seconds. A map would be great when you get a minute[msncool]
Nic