This was to be my third attempt at exploring Shingle Creek with my daughter. The first time Lily wanted to see the creek and hunt for snakes, so we pulled over by the bridge on Sand Lake road. There was a smaller, very clear stream, flowing towards the creek, and as we walked beside it we could make out the sounds of splashing up ahead. This turned out to be something other than wildlife and when Lily saw the gentleman bathing beneath the bridge, she was done with the adventure. Ah, the city, you never know what you will see. Underneath the bridge on 192 there was the stash of another homeless community.
I didn't realize I had my camera on the wrong setting, so a lot of the shots looked over exposed. I saved a few that are OK, but nothing really does justice to the beauty of the south end. It is a magnificent sunken forest of cypress, with stained water, reminiscent of my trips to Econ but what a different feel.
The fishing, well, I tried a few things and talked to another angler that was kayaking the North stretch. He had caught one on a shiner and one on a wacky rigged Senko. I tried a spinner, a soft craw and finally switched to top water to see what would happen. There several follow and a few bumps on a Tiny Torpedo, but nothing made it to the boat and some were most definitely gar. Econ gives me a lot of nice bass on poppers, and so I gave it a try. I took two small bass and the blue gill above helped me free my lure from a branch. Now that's an aggressive little guy there. If I still had my ultralight or a fly rod set up, I would probably go with throwing a small Rooster tail and some fly poppers in here. The creek flows all the way to Tojo, which is world renown bass water, so the next time I may launch closer to the lake.
So, we are back at the launch, a great park, free, and easy to get to. It is right off 192 and we took John Young parkway south and turned right on Vine (192). It is only a few miles from there on your left. Shingle Creek regional park is a great little paddle and not far from the city of Orlando, Kissimmee and Disney. I highly recommend it and it's free if you launch your own kayak, but there are also rentals on site.
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