Tarpon Tuesdays Here In Satellite Beach

It's no doubt and rarely debated, that the Space Coast is one of the best places for inshore saltwater fishing in the state.  Bordering Indian River County to the South, Sebastain Inlet State Park is just a short drive down beautiful A1A through Melbourne Beach, FL (My Old Stomping Grounds) past Floridiana Beach, and you're there.

But when those of us who decided it quieter to live 'beachside' in Brevard County, don't always want to make the 40 minute drive down to Sebastain Inlet when we are looking for a little early am or relaxing pm angling action, well, we tend to tear up the brackish water residential canals that border most of the housing developments and neighborhoods around here. 

There is plenty of inshore action in these seemingly quiet and otherwise uneventful looking waterways, and species like Snook, Tarpon, Redfish and, tons of freshwater species all abound, there is always fun to be had.  We even have a couple returning visitors who were relocated to an animal sanctuary 200 miles away, just to find their way back home six months later.  And yes, we are talking about American Freshwater Crocodiles.  (Check out our TikTok channel @seatechoutfittersfl for videos of our neighborhood freshwater crocs and their friends)

Now it there is no arguing that Sebastain Inlet and the surrounding areas along the Banana River are about as close to Snook heaven as you can get, but when we are all short on time, our neighborhood brackish canals do just find. 

Almost all the brackish and inshore waterways and canal systems along the Indian River in southern Brevard County, once you cross to beachside, you will have Melbourne Beach & Indialantic to the South, and Indian Harbour Beach | Satellite Beach | S. Patrick Shores to the north right off Pineda Causeway by the U.S. Space Force Base (f.k.a. Patrick Airforce Base), all have some awesome inshore sport fish for the catching!

My four children are the competitive type, all having played recreational and competitive soccer since they could walk, and so our canal fishing adventures have turned into an event we call "TARPON TUESDAYS."

The young growing adolescent Tarpon flock to these canals for food, safety and everything they would otherwise face out in the Indian River Lagoon waterway systems and the dangers of the Atlantic Ocean to the East.  Average afternoons usually end with 1-2 smaller Snook that are immediately released back to the canals, but lately there are few secret spots that have been flush with 18" to 30" Tarpon.  Fun to catch, hell of a fighter, and as they love the live bait caught right on site, it has turned into the perfect game.

I gift my kids with a tackle item of their choosing if they can land 4-5 in one morning or evening, and anything over 6 at one time...well, its a nice pat on the back, and some bragging rights. 

Carson, my competition sport fisher in training, has held the record, and title as master of Tarpon Tuesdays, with 8 in 1 hour, in the evening at dusk, and 10 in 1.5 hours in the morning, right as the sun comes up.  The Tarpon follow the canal tides, and with that, they also follow the bait fish that migrate up and down the canal systems each morning and evening.