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Fishing and Paddling Around Central Florida Report and Photo Essay

May 7, 2023 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Fishing and Paddling Around Central Florida Report and Photo Essay

Fortunately, I got out paddling and walking this week. The weather, so unpredictable last week, was splendid every day. And it’s officially tarpon season, not that I’ll be going. No boat 🙁

Subscribers- no photos? https://www.spottedtail.com/blog . Please bookmark the page!!!

Monday and Tuesday I went paddle fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. I could be verbose, but will let the photos do the work. The water was clean and the seagrass was thick!!!

Swarms of minnows, clean water, and seagrass. Have we turned a corner?

There were snook in places like this.

Aggressive little snapper. I got two.

The dark patches are seagrass.

A manatee vertebra?

One of several.

One of many.

Wednesday afternoon saw me walking at Orlando Wetlands Park, camera in hand-

Great blue heron.

Roseate spoonbills.

Alligator mississippiensis.

Friday Jorge Hidalgo accompanied me down the Econlockhatchee-

The vessel.

Hooked up.

The fish.

The release.

Saturday found me paddling the Juniper Springs Run with a group from the Central Florida Freethought Community –

It was a very cool week! That’s the Fishing and Paddling Around Central Florida report. Thanks for reading!

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

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

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2023. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: central florida destinations, Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida, Photo Essays · Tagged: bass fishing fly rod, central florida freethought community, econlockhatchee, fishing and paddling around central florida, juniper springs run, mosquito lagoon fly fishing, Paddle Fishing Florida, redfish fishing

Stormy Monday (and Tuesday, and Wednesday, etc)

April 29, 2023 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Stormy Monday (and Tuesday, and Wednesday, etc)

Wow, have we had some weather this week. Talk about stormy Monday!

Because of the weather, I did not fish much. But Wednesday saw me driving to Melbourne, canoe on the roof, to visit Rodney. Rodney loved the canoe, as much of it as he could see, and then we hung out a while for a chat. During the chat, a storm passed.

I didn’t realize what a close call I had.

When I left to go home, I got on 192 west. Traffic was awful. There were downed limbs and leaves all over the ground. The traffic lights were out. As all the vehicles crawled towards I-95, the ground started steaming. There was all this white stuff. What the heck is that?

It was hailstones, piled almost a foot thick in places. It was only a couple miles from where I’d parked. Realizing I’d dodged a bullet, I hoped all the storms were past.

They weren’t. One hit while I was on Taylor Creek Road, complete with hail. I was concerned for the canoe, but it was fine.

Red-breasted sunfish.

I know because I used it Thursday on the Econ. A bald eagle flew over, several times. Red-cockaded woodpeckers were seen and heard. The egrets, both great and snowy, were in their breeding plumage.

Spotted sunfish, a.k.a stumpknocker. A very aggressive creature.

The bass were biting, both worms (spin rod) and gurglers. I got two spotted gar on gurglers. Also fooled were spotted and red-breasted sunfish. My best fish was about five pounds, altogether an awesome morning. And, I broke off a bigger one trying to keep it out of the lumber! I made a conscious decision to not bring a camera, so all pictures are from the file.

You can see this photo in the current Florida Sportsman issue.

The surprising thing is that the river is still low. If the rain keeps up, that won’t last.

There are some amazingly large alligators living in that river.

It’s supposed to rain today and tomorrow.

And that’s the Stormy Monday report. Thanks for reading!

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

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

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2023. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: bass fishing florida, bass fishing fly rod, econlockhatchee

The Canoe is Finished

April 21, 2023 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

The Canoe is Finished

The canoe is finished. Except for minor tweaks. And I took it out and caught some fish from it!

Subscribers- if the photos don’t load, please visit https://www.spottedtail.com/blog/. And please, bookmark the page!!!

The weather at the beginning of the week didn’t make anyone want to go fishing. I went to Publix and got a copy of this year’s “Kayak Fishing Fun.” There was an article in there by John Kumiski about a dog who goes fishing. Cute.

The boat before coating with polyurethane.

I worked on the canoe, enough that I could water-test it and then go fishing. That was after I spent a couple hours casting flies at my local retention pond, catching several big bluegills and small bass.

The water test.

I water-tested the canoe in the same place, with both single-blade and double-blade paddles. It’s tippier than my kayaks, but oh, so much easier to carry when it’s out of the water! It paddles very nicely, and is faster than the kayaks, too. And it looks fantastic.

I took it out on the Econ Thursday afternoon. I had a bass within five minutes. Several bass (no big ones) and stumpknockers were fooled by my bugs. The new canoe performed well- I think I’ll keep it!

The first fish from the new boat! You can see the frame reflected in my sunglasses.

I’ll be using it some more over the next few days.

Friday Dean Altenhofen came by. We spent the afternoon in kayaks on the Indian River Lagoon, where this snook met up with a black-and-purple streamer:

A man and his snook.

Dean had never caught a largemouth bass before (they are not common nor desirable in Oregon, apparently) so we paddled (and dragged) the Econ on Saturday. It was not a hot bite.

The new boat, ready for its first real test.

We saw fish the whole way but had a heck of a time getting any bites. Dean, however did get the bass.

Hooked up.

Not huge, but respectable.

As I type this, Dean is winging his way home. Bon voyage, Dean, and thanks for coming!

The canoe got stuck on submerged stumps, and had other misadventures. If you examined it now, you would never know it. To say I’m pleased with the way it came out would be a massive understatement.

And that’s the canoe is finished report. Thanks for reading!

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

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

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2023. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: 66 canoe, Bass fishing, econlockhatchee, hand-made canoe, paddle fishing for bass

No Fishing This Week, but…

April 15, 2023 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

No Fishing This Week, but…

For me, there was no fishing this week. The wind machine cranked through mid-week, with small craft advisories until Wednesday night. I could have gone Friday, but…

Regular readers of this blog know I have been working on building a canoe. I started skinning it on Friday.

Sewing on the skin, which is a ballistic nylon.

Skin tacked on, ready for permanent attachment.

Regular readers of this blog also know I have a Sienna van, adapted to camping. After replacing the shocks, all that build needed a re-build. Along with house repairs, that’s what occupied me the rest of the week. Now we can go camping again!

Since most folks look to this blog for fishing, I dug up some April-y kinds of photos from years past, all taken on the Atlantic.

My first cobia, my best on fly, taken off Cocoa Beach a long time ago while out with Rodney Smith.

Son Alex with a tripletail, taken off Cocoa Beach.

Son Maxx with a cobia, taken off Cocoa Beach.

Rodney Smith with a tripletail, taken off Cocoa Beach.

Tammy Wilson, cobia, off Cape Canaveral.

Mike Conneen, king mackerel, off Cape Canaveral.

I don’t remember this guy’s name. He was on a charter with Tom Van Horn, off Cape Canaveral. He had a heck of a day! I tagged along to get pictures.

And that’s the no fishing this week report. Thanks for reading!

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

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

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2023. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Sienna Van conversion, Uncategorized · Tagged: canoe building, cobia fishing, tripletail fishing

Fished a Day, Again, Report

April 7, 2023 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Fished a Day, Again, Report

Regular readers of this blog know I have been working on building a canoe. But now that the frame is done, there’s not much for me to do on it until the skin gets here next week.

Regular readers of this blog also know I have a Sienna van, adapted to camping. The van has almost 120,000 miles on it. I wanted new shocks. The only way to access the shock top is through panels on the van’s interior. So all that camping build needed to be removed, which took most of the day on Monday. It looks like a cave inside the vehicle now.

Minor construction around the house took most of Tuesday. There’s more to come.

FISHING DAY Wednesday I dropped my kayak into the Indian River Lagoon’s brown water which was loaded with Rhodophyta and a filamentous green alga. Yuk.

I did not see a dolphin or a manatee. I did see what was for me a new organism. There were small mussels, quite a lot of them, growing on the stems and roots of the black mangroves. Some research followed. There are a couple native mussel species in the lagoon. There are also a couple invasive species. I have no mussel expertise, but I did contact Dr. Walters at UCF, who does. I will keep you informed.

I did see a few fish. Fishing was tough- it was windier than I expected it to be. I hardly touched the fly rod. When it’s windy it’s nearly impossible to control the boat and fly fish at the same time. I got six bites using spin tackle, and caught them all- two trout, two reds, and two snook. Got a bad picture of the best red, which I sight-fished.

It was swimming down the bank. I cast ahead of it while the kayak drifted, not moving the lure until I thought the fish would see it. When I twitched the bait, he crushed it. It was quite gratifying, best fish of the day.

Thursday, fun with cars. Put those new shocks in. It’s something I do infrequently, so a 30- or 40-minute job takes all morning. But they’re in. After I get the camper build back in there, I need to do the struts on the front end…

And there’s always the house construction, and the exotic ferns to keep me off the water. The joys of home ownership. It seems to come in waves, that sort of thing.

And that’s the Fished a Day again report. Thanks for reading!

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

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

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2023. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: central florida fishing report, Paddle Fishing Florida, Sienna Van conversion · Tagged: Indian River Lagoon, invasive mussels, kayak fishing for redfish, redfish, rhodophyta

Fished a Day Report

April 1, 2023 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Fished a Day Report

Regular readers of this blog know I have been working on building a canoe. I took Monday off from canoe building and used it to go fishing. I fished a day! So we have a fished a day report.

And what a day it was! Spectacular weather, the river to myself, and fish that were pretty cooperative. I started with spin tackle (the fish don’t seem to want to come up until the day warms) and finished strong with a fly rod popper. I lost my well-used fly rod mouse to a monster gar that somehow got hooked when he ate it, then proceeded to show me his impressive dimensions, then proceeded to pop my leader like sewing thread.

First fish of the day.

Got a few sunfish, too. No line-breakers there.

Wildlife observed included wading birds, turtles, alligators, swallow-tailed kites (a favorite), and this guy, who I believe thought he was hiding:

The rest of the week I worked on the canoe, except for the day this went on:

A new drain field for our septic system, in progress.

For interested parties, you can see the details of the canoe-building here:
https://builds.capefalconkayaks.com/2023/04/jks-central-florida-canoe-build-chapter-4-completing-the-frame/

Here a photo of your blogger with his finished canoe frame-

Skinning the boat will happen towards the end of nest week, I suspect.

And that’s the Fished a Day report. Thanks for reading!

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

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

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2023. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports · Tagged: Bass fishing, cape falcon kayak, Econlockhatchee River, florida fishing, fly fishing, kayak fishing

Fished Around Central Florida Report

March 10, 2023 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Fished Around Central Florida Report

Thanks for reading this Fished Around Central Florida Report. Was fortunate enough to get out four days, and visited the dermatologist again. The weather maintains a fantastic level between fabulous and awesome.

Subscribers, if the photos don’t load, please visit my blog at https://www.spottedtail.com/blog/

Saturday

Bob Hosking and I went to the Econlockhatchee. It being Saturday, I was expecting a plastic horde, but we had the place to ourselves. We got quite a few fish, and while there were no monsters, a couple four-pounders came to hand. Bob used a plastic worm. I used a fly rod mouse and a Senko. It didn’t seem to make much difference.

Bob, average-sized Econ bass.

Monday

noting the water was low, I visited the Banana River Lagoon. The water makes up for its low level with a distinct lack of clarity. I got a nice trout blind-casting the Senko, and a couple shoreline redfish (the only way I could have seen them) on a black Clouser Minnow. Don’t need to go back for a while.

The fish threw saltwater all over my camera.

Tuesday

I tried Mosquito Lagoon again. I could copy and paste what I just wrote about the Banana River Lagoon. Low, dirty water, the only fish I could see were on the shoreline. Incredibly, managed three reds on fly. Took zero photos, somewhat of a relief, actually.

Thursday

Took a solo Econlockhatchee trip. It’s been good, the water is at the right level. Flies and soft plastics are what I’ve been using. Saw lots of gatorsaurusses.

Friday

my PA (I feel like we’re developing a relationship at this point) at the dermatologist froze another pre-cancerous lesion off my face. That’s what I get for spending so much of my life in the sunshine.

That’s the Fished Around Central Florida Report report. Thanks for reading!

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

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

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2023. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: central florida fishing report, Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: adventure fishing, Banana River, Bass fishing, Econlockhatchee River, florida fishing, fly fishing, kayak fishing, Mosquito Lagoon, redfish fishing, seatrout fishing

Off the Injured List

March 3, 2023 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Off the Injured List

Thanks for reading off the injured list. As Mel Brooks would say, It’s good to have two functioning hands! Happy to be ambulatory, I fished six days in a row.

Subscribers, if the photos don’t load, please visit my blog at https://www.spottedtail.com/blog/

Friday

I launched at CS Lee Park on the St. Johns River to test the transom. What a difference! And, once there, it only made sense to try and catch some shad. There weren’t many around. Mine was the only boat there. Two shad came to hand in four hours. Got some nice crappie and a fat redbelly, too, all on crappie jigs.