Week of the Black Drum Fishing Report

black drum fishing report

Week of the Black Drum Fishing Report

We caught other kinds of fish this week, but black drum were the stars. Thus the black drum fishing report.

Thank You!
Many thanks to all those folks who responded to my question about eastern Tennessee. I got more information than I could handle in a busy week!

Alaska
Mike Adamson shared this link by email- https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/03/150-years-ago-today-the-us-bought-alaska-from-russia-for-72-million/521340/?utm_source=nl-atlantic-weekly-033117 . Definitely worth the few minutes it takes to check it out.

Manatee Reclassified

Manatees Delisted
In a move guaranteed to generate controversy, the US Department of the Interior has removed the West Indian manatee from the endangered species list. You can read the entire press release here- http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/manatee-reclassified-from-endangered-to-threatened/Solo Skiff
Tom Mitzlaff posted a video that has gotten six million views! See it here- https://www.facebook.com/SoloSkiff/videos/1274846345945765/

 

Fishing!

black drum fishing report

Bass on RipTide.

Sunday I went to a pond in Oviedo and in the howling winds managed to spin fish my way to a handful of bass. The lure was the RipTide Sardine.

black drum fishing report

No trophies- the best fish of the afternoon.

Monday fly fisherman Jeff Leishman joined me for a fly fishing trip on the Banana River Lagoon. The weather was spectacular, a chamber-of-commerce kind of day.

black drum fishing report

Jeff with one of many black drum.

We weren’t out very long when we spotted a tail, and then another, and then the whole place was loaded with tailing fish. Jeff, tossing a crab imitation, did some serious work with those fish. We had five or six double hookups. If only every day were like that…

black drum fishing report

One of our doubles…

Tuesday’s kayak fishing trip happened out of River Breeze, with George White and his friend Mike. They were tossing those little shad tails I’m so fond of, and got a mix of seatrout and redfish. The fish made us work, though, no suicidal ones this day. There are long stretches of fishless water out there. And that water is beginning to rise again. It’s getting deeper.

black drum fishing report

Mike had never caught a redfish before.

Wednesday and Thursday I had the pleasure of hosting Jerry and Alex, a father-son team from the Chicago area, on the Mosquito Lagoon. Alex will be pitching for the Cubs in the World Series in another 15 years or so. But I digress…

black drum fishing report

Alex got this trout on a DOA Deadly Combo.

Wednesday the weather again was picture-perfect. The fish, however, were incredibly spooky. Redfish wouldn’t let us within two cast-lengths away. Since you can only cast one cast-length, we just couldn’t get a bite. We got a fair number of trout. All but one were short. We got one redfish, which may have been barely legal. We got a real nice puffer. We got to watch a herd of manatees in clear, shallow water. A beautiful day, kind of tough fishing-wise, though.

Thursday young Alex started us off with a fine 23 inch seatrout he got with a DOA Deadly Combo. BANG! Several more nice trout followed. Then we found a herd of black drum. Double!

black drum fishing report

More black drum doubles in a black drum fishing report week!

The fish let you know when they’ve had enough by swimming fast and not biting any more. We took the hint and tried a few other spots, getting another trout or two. We hardly saw any redfish. Yes, it was windy, but visibility was pretty good. I just couldn’t find any. We returned to the drum spot. They were still there and we got three more. At that point the wind was blowing close to 20 knots, so we called it a day.

That is the week of the black drum fishing report!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2017. All rights are reserved.

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Vernal Equinox Lagoons Fishing Report

Vernal Equinox Lagoons Fishing Report

Monday was the vernal equinox. North of the equator length of day is now longer than length of darkness. It’s springtime, baby! So we have a Vernal Equinox Lagoons Fishing Report.

Ongoing Events-
The Save the St. Johns: Activate the River campaign aims to get people out on the water. Until April 2, 2017, boat tours, paddling trips, hikes and biking adventures are available from the headwaters of the St. Johns to the mouth. We are asking YOU to #GetYourFeetWet and explore the river somewhere new. Bring a friend, register today, and upload pictures using the #ActivatetheRiver to share your experiences! Visit www.savethestjohns.org for more information.

A Question for You
I have an assignment to write an article about fly fishing in eastern Tennessee, a place I’ve never been (but am making plans to visit). Does anyone have any information on this area that they could share? Use the “Leave a Comment” link above, or send an email to john(at)spottedtail(dot)com. Thanks in advance!

Fishing!
Between the small craft advisories and Susan being off this week I only got out two days.

lagoons fishing report redfish

Anthony got this red on a DOA CAL shad.

On the equinox Mr. Anthony Mason and his 83 year-old father, Mr. Rex Mason, joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon kayak fishing, out of River Breeze Park. Although the weather was beautiful the fishing was a little slow. They managed three redfish and two very solid trout between them.

lagoons fishing report redfish

Not to be outdone, Rex got this one!

Rex was pretty inspirational- I sure hope I’m still kayak fishing at 83, if I’m not already pushing up daisies!

lagoons fishing report seatrout

Nice trout, too!

Thank you for fishing with me, gentlemen!

On Friday, in spite of the forecast 20 knot east winds, I went scouting at the Banana River Lagoon. Gee, the forecast was correct. The lagoon looked like a washing machine.

Fishing was not fabulous, even though I opted for a six-weight. I did manage three reds on Steve Duckett’s bouncer shrimp fly, and had one fish who took the fly three times. Yes, I missed him all three. He finally realized something was wrong and vacated the area.

lagoons fishing report redfish

The bouncer fly certainly works.

The water was quite clean and there are even a few sparse tufts of manatee grass here and there, trying to mount a comeback. Finger mullet are starting to show up. Although conditions were less than optimal, I did not see a lot of fish, and had some pretty long stretches where I saw little or nothing. Maybe if the weather were better…

That is the vernal equinox lagoons fishing report!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2017. All rights are reserved.

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Hot Again Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Hot Again Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

An interesting and busy week, with some very good fishing. So it’s the hot again Mosquito Lagoon fishing report.

Monday was a late half day with Daniel and his father (maybe Pete?), on Mosquito Lagoon. Anyway, it was blowing hard, around 20, out of the SSE. Realistically all we could do was soak bait on lee shorelines. It was not fabulous. We got a bunch of catfish including two catfish doubles, and got two stingrays, but also managed two nice redfish, and had some interesting conversation. Certainly not great, but we have all had worse days.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Daniel and his redfish, which had a big scar.

Tuesday was a morning half day with Jeff Limato and Pastor Ed Hlad, Jersey boys both. Fishing Mosquito Lagoon we tossed DOA CAL shad and Riptide Sardines and did some damage on seatrout that averaged three pounds or so, very solid fish and fishing. And they got four slot reds, too. Most of this was blind casting, as it was quite cloudy most of the morning. All the fish were released.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Jeff got this red and several other fish too.

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

The magic lure of late has been soft plastic minnows like this Riptide Sardine in a variety of colors.

Wednesday Rick Callahan and I paddled the Econlockhatchee. I knew we would see a load of fish because we did not bring tackle. And the water was low and clear, so of course we did see a lot of fish. Species we observed included:
-American shad
-bluegills
-chain pickerel
-channel catfish
-largemouth bass
-mullet
-redbreasted sunfish
-spotted gar
-spotted sunfish
-tilapia
-various minnows, guppies, chubs, etc

Mr. Calahan doing that paddle thang!

We also observed quite a few turtles, and some very large alligators. It was an awesome paddle that I need to do again with a fishing rod.

orlando fishing report

Just a reminder that Godzilla lives at the Econ.

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Ray was deadly on trout like this, with a DOA CAL shad this time.

Thursday Ray joined me, back on Mosquito Lagoon. Again we tossed DOA CAL shad and Riptide Sardines and again did some damage on seatrout that averaged three pounds or so. There were quite a few reds around, schooled up, tailing, and most important, EATING. I thought it was the old days! We did really well all day, fishing just a short stretch of shoreline the entire time. It was really productive, just great. All the fish were released.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

He waren’t too shabby on the reds, either.

Friday found me doing a double half day. The morning trip was with Joe Bonato and his wife Sonia. Fishing a number of spots and using both cut mullet and the shad tails we got four redfish and two trout, not bad at all (I thought) considering how crowded the water was. There were boats everywhere.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Sonia, with a redfish and a dazzling smile!

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

The lady got some trout, too!

The afternoon trip was with Lee Nguyen and Angel Mercado, from South Carolina. The wind had come up pretty hard out of the west-northwest. I brought them back to the hot spot from the previous day, tossing the same lures- NOT HOT! Lee got one redfish where the day before we had caught and released at least 20 fish. I got in a lee and soaked mullet chunks long enough to get two catfish, quickly ending that little experiment.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Lee and Angel were very happy with their redfish.

We went to a spot I hadn’t fished in a long time, and to my surprise and delight there were some fish there. We got three or four reds and a couple of nice trout using the shad tails, not as good as I would have liked but certainly better than nothing. All the fish were released.

Saturday I got to run last week’s postponed On-the-Water Show and Tell seminar. It gave me the chance to run most of the way around the southern basin of the Mosquito Lagoon, down the west shoreline from Haulover to behind Pelican Island, around the Whale Tail, back up the eastern side to the north entrance to the pole-troll area, and finally back down the ICW to Haulover.

The water is clean everywhere.

A shocking amount of seagrass is gone.

If we get another algae bloom this summer (and this reporter feels it’s inevitable) I fear that will be it for the remaining seagrass. My estimate is that 2/3rds of it has already been lost- better than the Banana River Lagoon, better than the Indian River Lagoon, but still tragic. The seagrass directly drives the productivity of those waters. Stay tuned for future developments…

That is the hot again Mosquito Lagoon fishing report!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2017. All rights are reserved.

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Blowing Winds Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Blowing Winds Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

A small craft advisory was posted Thursday (for Brevard coastal waters) until at least Sunday. So we have a blowing winds Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report.

Last week I asked, Did the storms and the rising water cause all the fish to move? As anyone might have guessed, the answer to that question was yes, and no. Such is fishing. Explanation below.

Sunday afternoon found me at the local bass pond again, this time with fly rod in hand. The shoreline vegetation (tall cat-o-nine tails) and blustery winds made fishing challenging. Two bites in four hours yielded two very modestly-sized largemouth bass, one on a small popper and one on a streamer. Maybe I need a new pond…

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Tom’s best trout of the day.

Monday morning Tom Van Horn joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon scouting. I was looking for an answer to the question posed last week! All the fish were gone from the first spot.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Fish on!

They may have all moved to the second. We found a couple hundred redfish there. However, we did not get a bite. We did not work it very hard, though, since we were scouting.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

This fish was tailing. Tom nailed the cast.

The third spot had some nice trout lying in sandy potholes. We found a tailing red and Tom, casting brilliantly in the now breezy conditions, convinced it to eat his DOA CAL jerkbait.

We tried two more spots, caught a few fish at both. So the fish moved from some spots, and stayed at others. Altogether a beautiful and productive day, spent with a fine human being!

Driving over the Max Brewer bridge in Titusville lately I have been saying to myself, “You haven’t been out on the Indian River Lagoon in a long time. You need to check it out.” Tuesday Kevin Linehan and I did just that. All the grass is gone. There were very few fish. I do not need to check it again, maybe ever. Heartbreaking.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Fish on!

Wednesday Capt. Paul Darby, fly fisher and raconteur, joined me for a day on Mosquito Lagoon. I would like to report that we caught fish all day long. That would be a rather large exaggeration, however. We saw fish more or less all day long. The wind was not our friend, and we only got a single redfish. Still, one is so many more than none!

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Capt. Paul and his redfish.

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

While Paul makes spoon flies, he got this one on a Clouser Minnow.

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Nice tail!

Mr. Darby makes (among lots of other things) spoon flies. They are very nice, and he says very durable. See photo…

mosquito lagoon fishing report

I lost Thurday’s and Friday’s trips because of the wind. After getting home Friday I got on the bicycle and went to the Econlockhatchee. Wasn’t I surprised to see TJ Bettis and his friend Todd, who had also ridden bicycles to the river! And they were using fly rods in spite of the 25 mph wind. I hope they did better than my one small bass and one small spotted gar. At least I got out, and if you weren’t trying to fish the weather was gorgeous.

Apparently the wind will continue through Sunday. Last time I checked the small craft advisory lasts until then.

That is the blowing winds Mosquito Lagoon fishing report!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Still Hot Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Still Hot Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Incredibly, this week was even better than last week. Thus the still hot Mosquito Lagoon fishing report.

Upcoming Events-
-2017 Fly Fishing Film Festival, February 26, 4 PM. See the graphic below for more information.


– On-The-Water Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar March 4. Click this link for more information… http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

SuperBowl Sunday Fran and Christian Allen, fly fishers from Massachusetts, joined me for a cloudy half day on Mosquito Lagoon. We spooked all the fish off the first spot. We just could not see them.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Christian got this fish by casting blindly.

The second spot produced a handful of seatrout, some of which were decent if not huge. Fortunately my anglers did not object to casting blindly.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

He followed the trout up with this fish.

At the third spot Christian got a bite. His response? “That’s not a seatrout!” He was correct, as a 26 inch red had taken the fly. It was a short, sweet trip, and that fish was the culmination.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Dave and Dan doubled up. Dan got to pose!

On Monday David Waring and his friends Ryan and Dan, all engineers from the Seattle area, joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon light tackle action. Redfish, seatrout, and black drum, all on either DOA CAL Shad or RipTide Sardines, came into the boat in spurts all day long. Dan posed with a couple of his fish!

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Dan got this nice fish, too.

Tuesday I went scouting out of River Breeze. I did not find fish everywhere I looked, but I certainly found fish. The water is getting really low.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

These three inch plastic minnows are deadly.

Wednesday Coloradoan Donald Nunn joined me, again on Mosquito Lagoon. It was the slowest day of the week fishing-wise, but he still got several redfish and a couple nice trout, all on my favorite artificial baits (see above).

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Don Nunn with a respectable seatrout.

Took Thursday off.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Bill Vail with a nice trout caught on a bouncer fly.

Friday Billy Vail, a fly fisher from South Bend, and Billy Vail, a student in Jacksonville, joined me out of River Breeze. We got trout and reds more or less continuously all day, with the best fish coming on the last cast of the day. The fish was a lovely 27 inch seatrout. If I could script every day that’s how it would play out.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Billy Vail got the fish of the day, though.

On Saturday Mic Lauric and his friend Brian, fly fishers from Atlanta, joined me for a day of kayak fishing out of a busy River Breeze Park. Somewhat inauspiciously I got the first two fish just a few minutes from the launch, a fine trout and a slot red, on a Polar Fibre Minnow. On the rest of the way to the spot I had in mind we saw very little. Even my spot was slow at first- all the fish were at the far end of it.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

One of the many redfish Mic got.

Without the gruesome details, they had at least three doubles. Mic sent me the following email- “Thank you. Can’t wait to do it again. Please send pics when you can. We want to braggggg…”

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Brian certainly was not to be outdone.

Flies were synthetic minnow imitations. The fish were definitely on the feed. There goes that they don’t bite good on the full moon nonsense.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Brian got this beautiful trout, too.

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Mic even got the elusive black mullet.

So, that is the still hot Mosquito Lagoon fishing report!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Hot Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Hot Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

The year is young, but this week was the best fishing of the year. Thus the hot Mosquito Lagoon fishing report.

Upcoming Events-

2017 Fly Fishing Film Festival, February 26, 4 PM. Check the graphic below to get more information.

The week started last Saturday with a kayak fishing charter with Mic Lauric of Atlanta and his cousin Patrick, from Houston. The day began as a search mission, and the search paid off, especially for Patrick. He got numerous redfish and a couple nice trout too. Mic also got a few licks in. One was using the DOA CAL Shad, the other the Riptide Sardine. They seemed to work equally well.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Patrick found this fish tailing in Mosquito Lagoon.

A cold front came through on Sunday. Monday morning found me at AutoNation Toyota with my brides car. They got me out early (just after 9 am!) so I went looking for shad in the St. Johns, launching at SR 50. A couple crappie, a fat bluegill, an anemic redbelly, a beautiful day and boat ride, but no shad. This year’s shad run is shaping up pretty sadly for me.

Tuesday

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Most of the fish caught on Tuesday fell for this silly fly.

The morning was cold but sunny. I paddled (and dragged) a kayak to the place where Pat and Mic caught their fish. For fly fishers redfishing and seatrout fishing doesn’t get much better than it was on Tuesday. Sightfishing big seatrout with a flyrod is tremendous fun. They pull drag!!!

mosquito lagoon fishing report

We might have been wading. Wish there was seagrass.

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Being a mullet must be awful.

After releasing three trout in the seven-eight pound range the mischievous part of my brain wondered if I could get one on a gurgler. Good shots at four fish resulted in one crap-your-pants take and another seven or eight pound trout. They were all bigger than the reds, beautiful fish, the first time I’ve been able to sightfish them like that in a couple years. —AWESOME—

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Yes, I do realize I’m blessed.

Wednesday

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Vince says he caught seven redfish on Wednesday.

Steve Bartek and his buddy Vince, local gentlemen, joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon skiff fishing action. The weather was perfect, cool and sunny, almost windless. We found a spot with a lot of redfish and stayed there all day. Again, they were throwing the DOA CAL Shad and the Riptide Sardine. They seemed to work equally well, and they worked real well, about a dozen redfish worth not counting missed strikes.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Maybe Steve got the biggest one, though.

Thursday

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Tom was very pleased with this trout.

Another beautiful day found Mr. Tom Finger of Oviedo, FL in the Mitzi, again on the Mosquito Lagoon. Needless to say we started at the hot spot from the previous day. It almost goes without saying that it was not nearly as hot. After Tom got a red (DOA CAL Shad) the rest of the fish first got lockjaw and then vacated the area.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Tom was happy with this red, too!

We went looking at a number of other spots, working hard but picking up several more redfish and trout too. At only one place did we not see any fish. Altogether a good day it was.

Friday

morning I went scouting for a Saturday bass fishing trip. Wasn’t I surprised (not in a good way) when I could not get the Bang-O-Craft up the Econ. The water is too low.

My decision to check Lake Harney was foiled by the same problem- shoaling and low water prevented me from reaching the lake, too. I put the boat on the trailer, drove it home, dropped it off, threw a kayak on the van’s roof, and went to the Econ.

The water is low and clear, just gorgeous. For our friends in colder climes, the willow trees are leafed out and flowering, as are the red maples. With the quality of light now the river is Clyde Butcher picturesque.

Three hours later the kayak was returned to the van’s roof. I did not touch a fish in either place, yes, slapped upside the head by the dreaded skunk. Loved every moment of it.

So, that is this week’s hot Mosquito Lagoon fishing report!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Some Good News Lagoons Fishing Report

Some Good News Lagoons Fishing Report

Upcoming Events
-Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, January 25-30, Titusville, FL. http://www.spacecoastbirdingandwildlifefestival.org

The water in the lagoons has cleaned up considerably and I found some schools of fish this week- good news! Thus the good news Lagoons Fishing report.

A cold front slammed us last weekend, cold, wind, rain, the whole she-bang. Monday afternoon the weather started to moderate, so I took the kayak to the St. Johns on a shad mission. It was slow, but in three hours I got two shad (one on a chartreuse shad fly and one on a pink crappie jig), a couple crappie, and a redbelly. There were hardly any airboats, a lovely afternoon all together.

With charters coming up I went to the Mosquito Lagoon on Tuesday for some scouting. Wasn’t I surprised- the water was pretty clean in places! The bad news is lots of the seagrass is gone. Hopefully the water will stay clean and the grass will come back.

With clean water I could sight fish. The seatrout were sunning in a lot of my favorite spots, nice fish in the 20-inch-plus range. Redfish were also ranging on the flats. My current favorite lure, the three inch DOA CAL shad, was effective on both. I felt pretty optimistic about my trip the next day.

lagoons fishing report

Brent with one of several redfish he caught.

Wednesday Brent Chapeldaine and Tom Howell joined me for Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Out of the gate we hit trout, on the three inch DOA CAL shad. No surprise there. The larger fish had scattered some, but there were enough around that they kept three handsome fish. They also got quite a few redfish to about 24 inches. Basically we caught fish all day, a splended outing. Thank you for joining me, gentlemen!

lagoons fishing report

Tom was howling at how good the fishing was!

Thursday was a Banana River Lagoon trip, with fly fishers Kevin Barnes, from Georgia, and his friend Jamie, from Pennsylvania. The word younger folks would use to describe the fishing is “epic.” Tailing fish most of the day, calm winds, drizzly but not uncomfortably so, and the whole place to ourselves. Wool crabs worked well. Thank you gentlemen for the second awesome day this week!

lagoons fishing report

Jamie had never caught a black drum. He figured it out real quick.

 

lagoons fishing report

They are such beautiful, delicate fish!

 

lagoons fishing report

Mr. Barnes got a few, too.

 

lagoons fishing report

All fish were released.

Friday my old friend Kevin Linehan joined me for some fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. I wanted three trout in the 17-18 inch range for dinner, two for me and one for him. We caught a load of trout but did not complete the task, with one sixteen inch fish for Kevin and zero for me. Saw an honest-to-goodness school of redfish, at least 50 fish. They weren’t happy, but it was the largest school I’ve seen in a couple years, a wonderful thing.

So we have clean water, sight fishing, a school of fish, good catches, some good news for a good news lagoons Fishing Report!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando Kayak Fly Fishing Report

Orlando Kayak Fly Fishing Report

This is the Orlando Kayak Fly Fishing Report for November 14. My apologies for all the selfies.

With a kayak fishing charter coming up on Saturday, all my fishing this week was paddle-based fly fishing.

Tuesday‘s trip was on the Mosquito Lagoon. Yes, it sounds like a broken record. High, dirty water makes fishing tough there. I found one redfish all day. Remarkably, I had a good shot at it and caught it. One cannot with reasonable expectation see one fish and hope to catch it. Someone gave me a huge dose of luck.

orlando kayak fly fishing report

It was quite a handsome redfish, though.

Wednesday Mike Conneen and I went to the Banana River Lagoon. The water was cleaner than Mosquito Lagoon, but still pretty dirty. All the grass there is gone. I ran over a small school of fish and set up camp while Mike kept going. A couple hours of casting a wool crab netted me three bites that resulted in a black drum, a redfish, and a hooked and lost fish of unknown specie.

orlando kayak fly fishing report

Black drum selfie. Not the monster black drum, but it’s a fish.

 

orlando kayak fly fishing report

This redfish was a pretty nice one.

 

orlando kayak fly fishing report

I imagine the fish feels a great deal of relief when it gets returned to the water.

 

orlando kayak fly fishing report

And off it goes!

Unfortunately Mike did not get a fish. There wasn’t a lot of cheese (not many fish) around for us.

Thursday

In spite of that I went back to the Banana River Lagoon the next day, to a different spot. The good news was the water, although of course still quite high, was clean. Like it’s supposed to be. There was no grass at all, though. Only a handful of fish were seen all day, resulting in a single shot and a small redfish that took the wool crab.

orlando kayak fly fishing report

Another case of converting the single shot I got.

It is painful to see what’s happened to that fishery.

orlando kayak fly fishing report

Sunrise over the St. Johns River on Saturday morning, at 70 mph.

Saturday fly fisher Steve Marsden, from the wilds of northern Wisconsin, joined me for a day’s kayak fly fishing. He had a few shots at tailing reds. Sadly there were no conversions. He did get what was by far the largest pinfish I have ever seen, and a handful of trout that probably would not have “held batter.” The weather was awesome, the birds spectacular, and we enjoyed the day.

orlando kayak fly fishing report

If the IGFA kept pinfish world records, this fish would be in the book.

Sunday Tammy had a birthday. She spent it with friends on the Econlockhatchee. I hope she had fun. I think she did!

orlando kayak fly fishing report

Fishing on the Econ was less than stellar.

 

orlando kayak fly fishing report

Tammy’s birthday crew. Birthday Girl is hot and pink.

—————————————————-
FOR SALE
Still trying to find a good home for my old EZ Loader Trailer- http://orlando.craigslist.org/bpo/5764303987.html
—————————————————-

And that is the Orlando Kayak Fly Fishing Report!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Mullet Run Orlando Fishing Report 93016

Mullet Run Orlando Fishing Report 93016

The mullets are pretty thick along the beaches right now, thus the mullet run Orlando Fishing Report.

Because they spend so much time in the sun, fishermen are at greater-than-normal risk for skin cancer. Visit this link for tips on avoiding this dangerous but preventable illness: http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/skin/pdf/skincancer_family.pdf

Here in central Florida, the beautyberries are ripe. While you can find tastier berries, beautyberries certainly are edible. It’s so nice of nature to leave these out where we can gather and enjoy them, at no charge other than a few moments of our time!

orlando fishing report

The aptly named beautyberry.

BLOG POSTS THIS WEEK
What A Fish Knows- A Review. http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/what-a-fish-knows-a-review/ A great book, of interest to anyone who cares about fish!

orlando fishing report

UPCOMING EVENTS
Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, October 15, http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/
Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, October 16, http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

FOR SALE
EZ Loader Trailer- http://orlando.craigslist.org/bpo/5764303987.html
Wurlitzer Piano- http://orlando.craigslist.org/msg/5764347708.html

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Sunday an email came in from Chris Myers. Paraphrased, it said he’d found a bunch of tarpon in the Mosquito Lagoon from 5-30 pounds, and they were eating. Did I want to fish on Monday?

I met him a 0545 and off we went. The fish were not where they had been. Still, he looked around and found a different bunch of tarpon. They were less than five pounds, and way less than 30. Still, they were tarpon. I missed a bunch and boated two on a small minnow pattern.

orlando fishing report

This is a small example of the greatest fish that swims.

When that stopped working we went looking for redfish. We found an area where there were quite a few, with enough tailing that you could see where they were. I would like to report that we got several, but we didn’t get any, on either fly or spin tackle. It was good to see them, though.

My bait freezer was as bare as old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard, and something needed to be done about that, so Tuesday son Alex and I went to Port Canaveral. We caught a few mullet at the boat ramp, then pointed the bow of the Mitzi at Satellite Beach, hoping to find something scintillating along the way.

There were menhaden just north of the Cocoa Beach pier. Nothing other than a few pelicans was working them. We kept going.

We found a big pod of feeding Spanish mackerel before we got to Patrick AFB, and got six or eight on fly (in my case the same one I got the tarpon on the previous day). Then we continued looking. I wanted big tarpon.

We got to Satellite Beach without seeing anything else, so I turned the boat towards Spain and went out a couple of miles. There was nothing out there either.

We ended up back at the pogie pods north of the pier. Alex caught a small blacktip shark there.

orlando fishing report

File photo of Alex fighting a black tip shark.

We went north of the north jetty. Aha! That’s where all the mullet were hiding! Using mullet for bait we got several fish, including a small lemon shark, bluefish, jacks, and Spanish mackerel. I got some mullet for my freezer. So it was a modestly successful with outstanding weather.

Wednesday Scott Radloff joined me for another go at Port Canaveral. Not having seen much when running south the previous day, this time we headed north. There was a large pod of pogies in Canaveral Bight. We netted some, then used them for bait. We hooked several sharks of various sizes. We did not see or get bites from anything else. Not wanting sharks, we continued our quest.

North of Cape Canaveral the water turned a lovely emerald green color. There were fair numbers of mullet in the surf. We got some jacks and bluefish when we fished. We did not see any tarpon, or catch any other species of fish.

The sea breeze came up so we headed back down to the jetty and tried fishing among the commercial mullet netters. Man, they do some damage. Jacks, blues, Spanish macs, and sharks was what we got. So it was a modestly successful with outstanding weather.

Thursday the craziest thing happened. Someone called me, wanting me to take them fishing on Friday. Thank you, thank you, I thought no one loved me any more! Dear readers, we are open for business and this report works better when people go fishing. There are still fish out there, so let’s call John and make some plans, OK? 407 977 5207. Thank you for your consideration!

Friday Scott Bryant and his son Greg joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon spin fishing. Were the redfish where they were Monday? Of course not.

We looked in shallow areas (the Mitzi kept hitting bottom) and saw a fish here, a fish there. Greg got a small slot fish on a gold Johnson Minnow. A while later Scott got one a little larger on an identical bait. We had shots at several tailers, none of which converted.

orlando fishing report

Greg with a spoon-fed red.

One thing which is easily noticed this time of year- there are hardly any finger mullet in the lagoon. There aren’t enough on the beach to make one think that they all chose that route. Where are they???

All in all it was a slow day, with only a couple of fish for which we worked quite hard. So it was a modestly successful with outstanding weather.

And that is this week’s Mullet Run Orlando Fishing Report, courtesy of Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Manatee Hatch Orlando Fishing Report

Manatee Hatch Orlando Fishing Report

Thursday found me kayak fishing in Mosquito Lagoon, where there were way more visible manatees than visible redfish. So we have the manatee hatch Orlando fishing report.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, October 15
Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, October 16

FOR SALE
EZ Loader Trailer- http://orlando.craigslist.org/bpo/5795050795.html
Wurlitzer Piano- http://orlando.craigslist.org/msg/5764347708.html

CHECK IT OUT
Captains for Clean Water, http://captainsforcleanwater.org
Sign the Declaration, and maybe give a donation.

————————————-

One of my Aunt Huguette’s last wishes was that I spread her ashes at sea. Monday morning I wanted to discharge that responsibility. Friend Tammy Wilson joined me for a Port Canaveral trip in the Mitzi.

orlando fishing report

All that was left of the corporeal Huguette was in this biodegradable box.

The weather was outstanding. There were lots of mullet along the beaches, at least in the morning. We brought Huguette’s remains out off Cape Canaveral and gently released them, saying a short prayer as we did so. I had to wonder, were the molecules in the box some of the same ones that were in Huguette the last time I saw her, hugged her? It was a sobering moment.

orlando fishing report

Soaking the box so it would sink.

 

orlando fishing report

And off goes my aunt into the depths.

We went looking for fish. We found a few blasting the mullet, ladyfish (small ones) and crevalle jacks (likewise small). We fooled a few with jigs. There was some Sargassum weed near the beach, so hoping we’d find some weed lines farther out we went out there looking, going out three miles. Nary a weed, nor anything else, did we see.

Coming back along the beach we ran it for miles. The mullet had mostly disappeared, and we didn’t see much. Each of us spotted a single tarpon, widely separated in time and space. We spent more time running than fishing, and did not catch anything else.

Wednesday morning found me wading a flat next to Long Island, near the St. Lucie Inlet, with Marcia Foosaner and Dapper Dan. I chose a spin rod based on the reports I got from Marcia, which was to say dirty water and scarce fish. Blind casting with a fly rod gets old too quick for me these days if there are no bites. Fishing is frequently more enjoyable when some fish participate…

There were a few fish popping mullet. I hooked and lost what we thought was a big snook, followed by three solid strikes from crevalle, all smaller sized ones. Then I got a bite from something whose fight I did not recognize. I had to actually see the fish before recognizing it as a Belizean-sized bonefish. All my casting was done with a DOA CAL Shad, three inch version.

orlando fishing report

Bonefish in the Indian River Lagoon, some good news methinks.

A very enjoyable morning Marcia and Dan, thanks to both of you.

Thursday found the Ocean Kayak searching for Mosquito Lagoon redfish. On my leader was the same redfish worm that’s been on there for three weeks now. It still works!

The first cast, a ten footer to the first fish I saw, resulted in a take. Into the backing, you gotta love those! The largest red I’ve seen since returning from Alaska.

orlando fishing report

The same old fly has caught at least a dozen fish now.

As mentioned at the top, there were a lot more manatees than redfish. The manatees were so shallow I could touch some of them with my fishing rod.

orlando fishing report

MAN-A-TEES!

I managed to catch two more reds, with the last one very symmetrically coming on the last cast, about 100 yards from where the first one was caught. All three fish were caught on very short casts. The dirty water means they can’t see you either.

Got my wires crossed with Tom Van Horn on Friday and ended up doing a variety of chores.

And that is the Manatee Hatch Orlando Fishing Report, 92416.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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