My Summer Solstice Central Florida Fishing Report

Thanks for reading my summer solstice central Florida fishing report. Hopefully all you pagans partied down! Personally, I just went fishing. I think I enjoyed a single bottle of carbonated malt beverage this week, too…

I visited three old friends this week- the Mosquito Lagoon, the Banana River Lagoon, and the Indian River Lagoon. I also spent two days dealing with insurance and car shtuff, such fun!

Monday

Found me kayaking at Mosquito Lagoon. Hadn’t been there in a while. Water is kind of gross, but in spite of that saw a few redfish. Had shots at four, two fled in terror. I caught the other two. Why can’t I always be that good??? See the photos for the fly patterns.

The water was kind of gross.

Took some time for wildlife observation, and to smell the ironweed, too. Always good ideas, both.

Tuesday

I tried the Banana River Lagoon. I go there so seldom any more that every trip is a search mission, even more so than everywhere else I fish.

The fish of the day.

I stood up and worked down the shoreline. In five minutes I’d seen a snook, a redfish, and two tarpon. I got out of the boat, tied the painter around my waist, and started wading, casting a rubber shad. In five minutes I had the fish of the day, a snook of maybe 20 inches. An hour later I got its twin. Kinda slow.

I tried the fly pole for a while. I got more bites from much smaller fish, eight or so snook and a redfish. Taken all together they would have made a decent sandwich-and-a-half.

Off the shoreline the water is dazzlingly clear. The bottom is covered with green stuff, an exotic plant whose name I can’t recall and am too lazy at this moment to look up. I hope it supports native invertebrates, but I’d be real surprised if it does.

Thursday

OK, a story here. A few years ago, I accompanied son Maxx on his move from Connecticut to California. We drove across the country, stopping at particularly interesting places along the way. One of them was the Meteor Crater in Arizona. Kind of pricey, but totally amazing.

Anyway, while there I was talking to a woman who travels and blogs about it (What a great thing to do!). I told her I lived in Florida. She said, “You should move out here! Isn’t this better than Florida?” Mind you, you could see forever, and it was all dry, brown desert. I said, “I’m a fisherman, lady, so no, it’s not!”

View from the Meteor Crater’s edge. Not a fish in sight.

Thursday I fished a place in the Indian River Lagoon where I had never fished before. I have been fishing here since 1984, and if I work at it, I can still find places I’ve never been. For fishermen, Florida is way better than Arizona!

Shoo that skunk!

That having been said, I hardly saw anything, and did not get a shot. I did catch a black drum blind-casting the rubber shad, a skunk-shooer for sure! We ate it for supper. Thank you, fish!

That’s My Summer Solstice Central Florida fishing report. Thanks for reading!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go paddling! Ride a bike! Stay active!

John Kumiski
www.johnkumiski.com
www.spottedtail.com
www.spottedtail.com/blog

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