Upper St. Johns Bass and Crappie Fishing in South Brevard, Florida

The bass and crappie water west of Palm Bay is the chain of St. Johns River headwater lakes that FWC names as Lake Hell'n Blazes, Lake Sawgrass and Lake Washington, inside a 60-mile Brevard County stretch of the river.

FWC describes that stretch as the southernmost headwaters, where the tannin-stained river originates out of marshes, swamps, water management areas and canal systems, and says the St. Johns River flows through lakes ranging from 350 to 4,500 acres, a list that also names Lake Winder and Lake Poinsett (FWC Upper St. Johns River and Lakes). FWC adds that the river is not marked for navigation and flows in a single channel downstream to Cocoa.

The river starts at Three Forks. The St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) says the first discernible channels of the St. Johns River arise within the marsh south of Lake Hell 'n' Blazes, inside its Three Forks Conservation Area (SJRWMD Three Forks Conservation Area). A district travel series places Three Forks just west of Palm Bay's city limits and follows one channel from the northern end of the C-40 canal northwest to Lake Hell 'n Blazes, a name it traces to folklore about frustrated fishermen trying to navigate through floating islands of vegetation (SJRWMD, A Journey on the St. Johns River).

Downstream, the same SJRWMD account has the river widen into Little Sawgrass Lake, open into Big Sawgrass Lake, then reach the U.S. 192 bridge and Camp Holly, a fish camp established in 1923. Farther north the river becomes Lake Washington, which the district calls the largest lake yet on its trip (SJRWMD).

Lake Washington is also a drinking water source for Melbourne. SJRWMD says a fixed-crest weir just north of Lake Washington regulates river flow to help ensure water supply to Melbourne (SJRWMD River Lakes Conservation Area), and that the city blends up to 18 million gallons per day of lake water with well water for a population of roughly 182,000 (SJRWMD). The same district account says the weir marks the final structure on the St. Johns River as it flows north to Mayport.

The public launches closest to Palm Bay are the Three Forks Conservation Area entrances west of the city, including the Sweetwater parking area at U.S. 192, and Lake Washington Park on the east side of Lake Washington.

The River Lakes Conservation Area, which takes in lakes Washington, Winder and Poinsett, can be reached by water from boat ramps on State Road 520, U.S. 192 and at Lake Washington County Park (SJRWMD River Lakes Conservation Area). SJRWMD adds that Lake Washington County Park has boat and canoe ramps plus an airboat ramp, and it warns that the Wickham Road gate closes promptly at 7 p.m. with no vehicles allowed after that hour.

Bank anglers have levees. At Three Forks Conservation Area, SJRWMD lists hiking, biking and bank fishing on the levees and nearly 70 miles of trail (SJRWMD Three Forks); a November 30, 2023 district feature put the trail total at over 70 miles and said most trails run along levees where visitors can fish along the banks (SJRWMD StreamLines).

On Lake Washington, FWC says shore anglers may catch bass and bream around the pads and bulrushes from the public fishing pier at Lake Washington Park (FWC). Farther north, the same FWC guide lists two Lake Poinsett ramps where State Road 520 crosses the St. Johns River, James G. Bourbeau Park and the Leroy Wright Recreation Area.

All of this land sits inside a larger hunting and fishing area. FWC says the Upper St. Johns River Marsh Wildlife Management Area covers more than 120,000 acres in Brevard and Indian River counties, managed with SJRWMD, with sixty-two miles of levees open for fishing, hiking, bicycling and paddling (FWC Upper St. Johns River Marsh WMA). Most of the River Lakes property is part of that WMA, and SJRWMD says hunting is allowed on it (SJRWMD).

FWC says water levels on the Brevard County stretch of the upper St. Johns River swing around six feet a year, low in the dry winter and spring and high in the wet late summer and early fall.

Those swings change the shape of the river. FWC writes that a river less than 150 feet wide can expand over the floodplain to several miles wide, which changes both navigability and the distribution of the fish (FWC Upper St. Johns River and Lakes). Most of the upper river and its lakes are surrounded by state-owned lands, the same guide notes, which it says makes the area a very scenic environment for all users.

FWC's current forecast for the Upper St. Johns River and Lakes, read October 18, 2026, says late summer rain has raised water levels in the basin and that moving water is the place to find fish. It points anglers to the edges of overhanging and floating vegetation along the banks south of Lake Washington, and to deeper sharp bends and drop-offs north of Lake Poinsett (FWC forecast).

If late hurricane season storms push the St. Johns River higher, the forecast expects the best lake fishing at the river entrances and outlets or adjacent canals, and suggests looking for bulrush or pads that still hold a foot or two of water along lake shorelines (FWC forecast).

High and low water also decide who can reach the remote water at Three Forks. SJRWMD says its four first-come, first-served campsites there are typically only accessible by boat, depending on the time of year and the weather conditions, and that airboats, bass boats, canoes and kayaks all use the winding river and lakes (SJRWMD StreamLines, November 30, 2023).

FWC says many bass anglers who fish the upper St. Johns River prefer swim baits, plastic worms or twitching shallow-running minnow imitations, and that a surface popper on a fly rod also takes bass and panfish.

Lake Washington has its own notes in the FWC guide: anglers there find bream, crappie, largemouth bass and catfish, the north end holds abundant emergent vegetation and several fish attractors marked by buoys, and the emergent vegetation and woody debris on the East and Southeast shoreline can be productive for bass and bream (FWC Upper St. Johns River and Lakes).

Big fish are documented. TrophyCatch, FWC's citizen-science program, pays out rewards when anglers document and release a bass of 8 pounds or larger, and the program's tracker for the St. Johns River system, read October 18, 2026, counted 1,265 Lunker Club bass (8 to 9.9 pounds), 242 Trophy Club bass (10 to 12.9 pounds) and 9 Hall of Fame bass (13 pounds or more) (FWC TrophyCatch tracker). Those totals cover the whole St. Johns River system, not only the lakes from Three Forks to Lake Washington.

Statewide rules make room for that program. An angler in TrophyCatch may temporarily keep one live Florida or largemouth bass of 8 pounds or greater over the length and bag limit to document it in photographs or video, and must release it alive into the water where it was caught immediately afterward (FWC general freshwater limits). The rule applies on Lake Washington and the river above it as it does statewide.

The headwater lakes near Palm Bay are not catch-and-release water. FWC's special-limits page, read October 18, 2026, requires immediate release of black bass at the St. Johns River Water Management Area (Farm 13, including the Stick Marsh) in Indian River and Brevard counties, but it lists no special bass rule for Lake Washington, Lake Sawgrass or Lake Hell'n Blazes (FWC special bag and length limits).

Crappie, which Florida anglers call speckled perch or specks, are mainly a winter and spring fishery, and FWC points crappie anglers on the upper St. Johns to the open water of Lake Washington and the river toward Lake Sawgrass.

FWC's species page says Florida's black crappie fisheries are seasonal, largely occurring during winter and spring, and that black crappie are the most targeted fish during winter at some lakes (FWC black crappie). FWC staff have drafted a comprehensive Black Crappie Management Plan to direct management and research for the species. For Lake Washington and the rest of the upper St. Johns River, FWC's forecast says crappie anglers should take fair numbers of fish by slow trolling small jigs and beetle spins, or by drifting live minnows, in the deeper open water of lakes Poinsett, Winder and Washington (FWC forecast).

Late in the quarter the fish move. The same forecast says crappie concentrate around bulrush patches mixed with submerged and floating vegetation for overhead cover, and that deeper undercut bends on the stretch between Lake Washington and Lake Sawgrass can also be productive (FWC forecast). On Lake Washington itself, FWC suggests drifting open water areas with jigs and minnows.

FWC's general statewide limits govern Lake Washington, Lake Sawgrass and Lake Hell'n Blazes: 5 black bass a day with only one 16 inches or longer, no minimum length for Florida or largemouth bass, and 25 crappie a day.

On the St. Johns River near Palm Bay those numbers come from FWC's general statewide bag and length limits, which set the black bass limit for Florida, largemouth and other black bass individually or in total (FWC general limits). A freshwater fishing license is required to take or attempt to take native or nonnative freshwater fish, and the fees in the table are FWC's posted prices (FWC freshwater licenses).

Some Palm Bay and Melbourne anglers need no license. Two groups are exempt under FWC's license rules: anglers younger than 16, and Florida residents 65 or older who carry proof of age or residency, for example a valid Florida driver's license or ID card (FWC license exemptions). Bass caught on Lake Washington also have to stay whole until the day's fishing is done: FWC bars filleting black bass or removing the head or tail fin until the angler has completed fishing for the day (FWC).

Hunting rules overlap on the levees. FWC's page for the Upper St. Johns River Marsh WMA says dogs other than hunting dogs must be kept under physical restraint at all times, and it points to a regulations summary brochure for the area map, hunting seasons, permits and fees (FWC Upper St. Johns River Marsh WMA). Last verified: October 18, 2026, on the FWC and St. Johns River Water Management District websites.