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Indian River Lagoon Report

May 30, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

Indian River Lagoon Report

Thank you for reading this Indian River Lagoon Report. Fished by kayak two days with modest success. Nice warm weather!

Subscribers without photos- go to https://www.spottedtail.com/blog/, please.

Monday –

Went to Playalinda Beach with me bride. Went to start the car (on the way there) – nothing. We took her car. Didn’t bring any tackle, but there were lots of people fishing and not catching anything. Fished, and got skunked, vicariously through them.

Tuesday –

Had to deal with the dead battery. It was less than a year old, so I visited the NAPA store where I got it. They were all about replacing it, but didn’t have one in stock. So I went home, put the old battery back on the charger, and waited until the afternoon, when I went back to NAPA and changed out the old battery for a new one. Tied some flies in the meantime.

Ready for some bluegills!

Wednesday –

Indian River Lagoon, by kayak. Had to work but got three redfish and a black drum on fly in five hours. Fish were spooky, and hard to see. The easiest one had its back out of the water. Good cast and Bang! Sweet. And, got to see a couple pigs along the shoreline, and a rocket launch.

Thursday –

Indian River Lagoon, by kayak. Really had to work. Got my first and only bite, from a black drum, after noon. The fish were tailing. Thinking they were reds, I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t get bit. Changed flies several times. Finally realized they were blacks. I must have cast to the fish I got a dozen times, maybe more. Put six hours in for that fish. At least I waren’t skonked.

Friday –

The garage door was replaced, tying me up all day.

That’s my Indian River Lagoon Report. As always, thanks for reading!

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

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

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, © John Kumiski 2025. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , , , ,

A Berry Good Week Report

May 23, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

A Berry Good Week Report

Thank you for reading this Berry Good Week Report. Fished three days, AND went paddling with Green Volusia. And went berry picking. Good week!

Subscribers without photos- go to https://www.spottedtail.com/blog/, please.

Monday

– Went to the Mosquito Lagoon. The water does not look good, quite murky. An eight-inch snook chased the skunk. A 12-inch trout rounded out the catch. Saw three redfish all day. Maybe the berry good week didn’t extend to Monday. At least the weather was nice, and I owned the place…

Tuesday

– Went to the Indian River Lagoon. Didn’t get a very early start, launching the kayak at 0830. Was paddling along when I heard a crash. Went to investigate and a redfish was swimming around with its back out of the water. He spooked off the fly. The next fish, in a similar situation, did the same. The next fish did the same. So, even though I liked the way the fly looked, the fish clearly did not. I cut it off, and tied on a simple black bendback.

I got a couple fish on it. Although I had shots at ten or twelve, getting those two was wonderful. The fish were in very shallow water and were spooky. The bite stopped by 1000, and the boat was on the roof before noon.

The fish ran behind the boat.

 

Got it to the boat.

 

Wednesday

– Joined Tommy Nordman (Green Volusia) and Sea Grant Florida for a paddle trip out of River Breeze, searching for the elusive seagrass. All this time I thought we had manatee grass, and it’s actually mostly shoal grass. We only went as far as Bissett Bay, where there is seagrass growing, even though the water looks like crap. Nice bunch of folks on this trip!

Thursday

– went for a walk on the Florida Trail with the intention of picking blueberries. Boom! They were everywhere! Got a quart in a couple hours, then had a mundane rest of the day. No blueberry pictures. You know what they look like.

Friday

Removing the hook.

 

The next several shots show what I was looking at. Not much tailing, mostly cruising fish. Ran over quite a few, couldn’t see them.

 

 

– Went back to the Tuesday spot. I thought it was the old days! That black bendback wasn’t magic, but I got several fish with it. I even spent some time trying to photograph free-swimming fish in the water.

 

That’s my Berry Good Week Report. As always, thanks for reading!

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

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

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, © John Kumiski 2025. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: central florida fishing report, Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , , , , ,

Baby Tarpon Report and Photo Essay

May 16, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

Baby Tarpon Report

Thank you for reading this Baby Tarpon Report. Only fished one day, but got some of those lovely little ‘poons. Enjoy the pics!

Subscribers without photos- go to https://www.spottedtail.com/blog/, please.

Recommended read- How I Found Religion  by Bob Romano.

Monday

– rained all day. Fearing I might melt, I stayed home. We got a lot of rain in a few days, and the Econ blew right up.

This week’s readings from the Econ River gauge at Snow Hill Road.

Tuesday

Needham’s Skimmer ♀︎

– went to Orlando Wetlands Park to do some walking and hopefully photograph dragonflies. There were lots of dragonflies! Dragonflies, even when perched, are hard to photograph. First, they’re small. Second, they see really well. Third, they don’t trust large bipeds. You try to get closer- they fly away. So you need patience, and a big lens that focuses quickly helps, too.

Eastern Pondhawk ♀︎

 

Four-Spotted Pennant ♀︎

 

Marsh bunny.

 

 

This grackle had caught a crayfish and had dismembered it before trying to eat it. You can see the claws behind where the action is.

 

Other photographers. They love the place!

 

Scarlet rosemallow, a wild hibiscus.

 

great egret.

 

great blue heron.

 

four-spotted pennant ♀︎

Wednesday

– had to stay home, AC guy came to service the unit. Working AC in Florida in the summer, real important!

Thursday

The fly is a small, white gurgler.

– went fly fishing for baby silver in Mosquito Lagoon. I found them. They ate my favorite baby tarpon fly well. I caught a bunch. If only I could find some in the 20-pound range!

Friday

A type of paw-paw, not yet ripe.

– Went on a wildflower walk (a mile, maybe a little more) in the Wiregrass Prairie Preserve in Volusia County with Tommy Nordmann, Explore Volusia Environmental Specialist. It was good. Warm, but good. Got to learn a little about Florida wildflowers, got to eat some blueberries, got to meet some new folks. I need to do more of this kind of thing.

Yellow star-grass

 

Rose rush

 

Yellow milkwort

 

Wiregrass Prairie, a pine-palmetto flatwoods

That’s my Baby Tarpon Report. As always, thanks for reading!

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

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

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, © John Kumiski 2025. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Paddle Fishing Florida, Photo Essays · Tagged: , , , , , ,

Not According to Plan Report

May 9, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

Not According to Plan Report

Thank you for reading this Not According to Plan Report. I call it that because, truthfully, not much went to plan this week.

News flash! It feels like summer in Florida now. It will start cooling off about mid-October.

Subscribers without photos- go to https://www.spottedtail.com/blog/, please.

Monday required calling people for needed home maintenance and/or upgrade. There will be days next week and later that require my being here when they come.

Tuesday was a fishing day. My fantasy involved finding snook and tarpon in Turnbull Creek. It turned out to truly be a fantasy, as neither were there, nor was any other gamefish specie. Not according to plan.

I pulled the boat and went down State Road 3, stopping at all the spots for perusal. The first fish I saw were at the boat ramp at Haulover Canal. The fish were catfish, floating dead in the ramp’s turning basin. Talked to two fishermen who boated in. They had caught two catfish between them.

The water in the marsh is very low!

Went down Biolab Road. The water in the marsh is REAL low. Down by where Bull Camp used to be there were baby tarpon rolling in the canal, quite a few of them. I pulled out the fly pole and put on my favorite baby tarpon fly and tried for a solid 30 minutes. Did not get a sniff. Gave up and went home.

Wednesday, having seen the low water, I remembered back 10 or 15 years ago when Tammy brought me to a nearly dry St. Johns River through Tosahatchee. There were fish in all the pools. I thought I should go check it out. But then I ran into this:

Not according to plan. It is still possible to reach to river if you drive the long way around. The WMA had signs up saying there was lots of loose sand and 2-wheel drive vehicles were not recommended. So, by myself and not wanting to get stuck, and not having any other brilliant ideas (read Plan B), I drove home- there were more phone calls and emails to make, following up on Monday’s calls.

Upper Econ. Hardly any water, Can you see any otters?

Friday, joined by Jorge Hidalgo, we went to the upper Econ. It was nearly dry and the fish were all dead. Not according to plan. We did see three otters frolicking, something you don’t see very often.

 

Three of many, close to heartbreaking.

Plan B was to go to the Econ by Snow Hill Road and just walk up the river. We got there at 1030 and it was already getting hot. But we put three hours in. I hooked and lost two dankers, and Jorge got a fattie that chased the skunk right to me. That’s OK, fun morning except for the fish kill.

Good for Jorge!

That’s my Not According to Plan Report. Could be a long, hot summer. As always, thanks for reading!

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

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

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, © John Kumiski 2025. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , ,

May Day Report and Photo Essay

May 2, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

May Day Report

Thank you for reading this May Day report. Do you realize that May Day is a big holiday? This is true in many countries, and even in the USA, it’s still celebrated locally in many places.

Subscribers without photos- go to https://www.spottedtail.com/blog/, please.

My report starts with a non-fishing event. Saturday was the 100th anniversary celebration of Oviedo, Florida. I don’t live in Oviedo, but I do belong to the Oviedo Photo Club, so I was at the event, camera in hand. It was a well-planned and executed party- it was a good time!

 

There were bagpipers…

 

…policemen (and women)…

 

…flappers,…

 

…gentlemen,…

 

…REALLY tall people, …

 

…face painters, …

 

…and even Elton John! Or a wanna-be Elton, at least. And more!

Monday found me in the chariot, headed to the St. Marys River. The St. Marys comes out of the Okefenokee Swamp and pours into the Atlantic between Cumberland and Amelia Islands, forming the state line between Florida and Georgia for most of its length.

On the stretch I paddled (on Tuesday), river left is Georgia, river right is Florida. I didn’t notice any difference in the fish from either side, in appearance or temperament. While I did get a sunfish slam, that was all I got- redbellies (nice big ones), bluegills (nice big ones) and stumpknockers. Mostly used the fly rod, but did throw a Beetle Spin some. That thing works very well! I bass fished some, too, but no success.

Redbelly sunfish

 

bluegill

 

What you could catch there.

 

The canoe, taking a break.

 

No, I did not try it.

 

A small tributary.

 

Spider lily.

Two nights were spent at Traders Hill Campground, about which a lot of nice things can be said. The only negative was the bathroom needs some minor work. But everything else was great, and I would certainly go back.

The chariot, at the campground, which I had to myself the second night.

Wednesday I visited Hillsborough River State Park. That day a fact-finding mission happened with the canoe and a fishing rod on a stretch of river in the park. I knew there is a rapid in the park. I did not know that downstream of the rapid there were several other limestone shoals. There are also several very deep holes, in which are some very large bass. My catch was a single junior-leaguer and a couple stumpknockers. Those fish continue to amaze me, both by their aggressiveness, and their ability to get a 1/0 or 3/0 hook in what looks to be a #4 mouth, tops.

A family was fishing on the seawall. Dad caught a fish!

May Day found me on the river again, launching at Sargeant Park. My intent was to fish the Seventeen Runs section, a nearly inaccessible six-mile stretch of river with numerous blowdowns providing an obstacle course for the paddler as well as plentiful cover for the fish. Wasn’t I surprised to find that all the blowdowns had been removed. Who would do such a thing???

 

Hillsborough River, sans blowdowns.

Turns out, the state of Florida did. They (whoever “they” are) decided that all the blowdowns contributed to heavy flooding after the last hurricane, so they went in with the heaviest possible equipment and cleared it all out. Very sad, and completely unnecessary. Rampant paving all over the area contributed to the flooding. You build in a flood plain, you should expect to get flooded.

Stumpknocker

 

largemouth bass

Anyhow, the fishing, although not as good as it was, was still pretty darn good. There were no big bass seen, but plenty of fish were caught. Most were stumpies, but many were 10-to-15-inch bass, too. Probably had a 40-fish morning. And the river is still gorgeous.

All in all it was a good trip, lots of fish if no big ones. It wasn’t that long ago come May 1st, I’d be tarpon fishing. Now I’m fishing for sunfish. Must be gettin’ old! Hopefully I’ll get another crack of two at big tarpon before I’m completely decrepit.

Speaking of tarpon, it’s time for the tarpon poem.

TARPON POEM
by John Kumiski

an ideal world
hot sun, blue sky, clear, slick water
sweat
a graphite wand, a sliver of steel, a wisp of feathers

a flash of silver breaks the mirror
then another, and another
feathers land in water
magically, they come to life

line tightens
mirror smashed
display of power
water flies, gills flare, body shakes, shudders
again, and again, and again

the beast tires
arms ache
hand grasps jaw
feathers removed
great fish swims free once more

tarpon
one of God’s gifts to fly fishers

And that is my May Day Report. As always, thanks for reading!

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

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

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, © John Kumiski 2025. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida, Photo Essays · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Econlockhatchee Report

April 26, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

Econlockhatchee Report

Thank you for reading this Econlockhatchee Report. It wasn’t supposed to be an Econlockhatchee Report, but that’s how it played out.

Subscribers without photos- go to https://www.spottedtail.com/blog/, please.

Monday morning at 0830, Susan dropped me off at the 419 bridge over the Econ. Even though the algae sign was still there, the water was not green, so I launched the canoe and went.

This greeted me as soon as I launched the canoe.

The gauge was at 0.77, and I’d say the water is too low, not for fishing, but for paddling. It was a ten-mile-long obstacle course. I went over, under, and around log jams, and had to drag or carry the boat in a lot of places.

Yes, it was an obstacle course.

At 1630 I arrived at Snow Hill Road, pretty well spent, having caught a handful of bass. Didn’t have much fishing time because of the obstacles. Still it was a beautiful day with lots of birds- an eagle (three times), a couple swallow-tailed kites, a few limpkins, woodpeckers, hawks, and the usual assortment of herons and ibis. I saw an ibis with a little fish in its beak, never saw that before. There were lots of fish, although they were mostly Plecostomus and tilapia. Did see a school of channel cats, never saw that before, either. And of course the giant reptiles, can’t forget those.

In a perverse way it was fun, but I’m going to want more water before I try it again!

Tuesday I fabricated a camera mount for my canoe. It’s not a piece of art, but does the job. Afterwards it got tested on Lake Mills. It worked pretty well.

Wednesday found me on a different stretch of the Econlockhatchee, with the new camera mount. The river, still low, was much easier to negotiate in this stretch. Fishing was OK (although the fish were running small) and the pictures were pretty good. But at home, a problem developed with my photo software.

Fly fishing from the canoe…

 

…produced several bass, if no big ones.

 

 

Got this very hungry bluegill, too.

 

Used the spin pole as well!

 

A nicely rigged Culprit worm.

 

After ducking under the tree.

I wanted to fish Thursday. But what happened was a visit to the Apple Store, not nearly as much fun. It was time for a new computer and the photo software issue clinched it. Cha Ching.

Apple gave me a 10 percent discount for being a veteran. Of course there was a catch- I had to order the machine on-line. We did that at the Apple Store, but I couldn’t walk out with it- it had to be delivered. On Friday.

So instead of fishing Friday, I sat around and waited for the new computer to arrive. It did, nice and safe. So now I have two computers, a funky, balky old one and a shiny new one.

I intend to spend more time fishing next week.

That’s my Econlockhatchee Report. As always, thanks for reading!

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

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

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, © John Kumiski 2025. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: central florida destinations, central florida fishing report, Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , ,

A Ho-Hum Report

April 5, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

A Ho-Hum Report

Thank you for reading this Ho-Hum Report. Got out three times in two days, slightly unusual.

Most of the bass I got were around this size, a St. Johns RIver fish.

Monday-

wanted to float the Econ. Foolishly, I deferred to the weather forecast, which was for clouds all day, with a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms. Not wanting to get caught on the river in a storm, I decided to go to Lake Mills instead.

I’d never caught much in Lake Mills, so the six or seven bass I got there was a new record for me, even if they were all twelve inchers. Culprit worms, gotta love ’em. Of course the sun came out fifteen minutes after I launched the canoe.

While out there, an idea came to me- “You should go to the St. Johns River.” Heck yes, I should. Twenty minutes later, the canoe was on the van. Fifteen minutes after that, the canoe was in the garage and the Bang-O-Craft’s trailer was attached to the car. Twenty minutes after that, I was parking the van at CS Lee park, after which we headed right to the mouth of the Econ.

The water is LOW. The boat bounced off the bottom for part of the way. That low water certainly kept the boat traffic down.

The thought was to fish for bluegills and redbellies. All I brought was ultralight tackle, both spin and fly (although the fly poles never got touched). They were still rigged for shad with tandem crappie jigs, so that’s what was used. About the sixth cast, FISH ON! Turned out to be a bass, only slightly larger than the Lake Mills fish.

But there were lots of them. And periodically they erupted onto the surface in a feeding frenzy, feeding on what looked to be baby shad. They would only hit the pink jig. The one with the white head was variously paired with black, white, chartreuse, and clear-with-silver-glitter tails and never took a fish. I finally tried a 1.5-inch Creme Sassy Shad- they would hit that, too.

A large tilapia was foul-hooked in the dorsal fin. It was quite a tussle until the fin tore and the jigs came flying back at me.

Those bass put up a much better account for themselves on the tiny tackle than they would with my usual bass gear. At one point I got a bass double, too- one on each bait- something that had never happened to me before.

So I had a fishing twofer, and it wasn’t even Tuesday yet! Which was good, because…

…Tuesday

found me and the ‘yak on Mosquito Lagoon. Bad news for lagoon lovers- the water is turning brown again, I fear. In five hours exactly four redfish were seen, with zero chance of a shot at any of them. My only fish was a puffer. At least it was fly-caught. ‘Twas a beautiful day, though.

Wednesday

when we got home there was a message from Seminole County on my answering machine telling me that toxic blue-green algae was coming out of the Little Econlockhatchee and to avoid contact with the water. I had intended to float the Econ on Thursday or Friday, so the message put the kabosh on that idea.

It’s great that our public servants are taking such good care of our water quality. Every decision is only based on money, it’s so sad.

Thursday

was spent in large part waiting for a phone call (!) and Friday was filled with errands that didn’t get done Thursday. Friday night we took in a concert by the Orlando Concert Band. Boom! Crash!

That’s my Ho-Hum Report. As always, thanks for reading!

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

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

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, © John Kumiski 2025. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Paddle Fishing Florida, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , ,

The Bass Fishing Report

March 28, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

The Bass Fishing Report

Thank you for reading this Bass Fishing Report. Lucky enough to get out three days this week- even a campout! And some bass were caught- largemouths, that is.

Subscribers without photos- go to https://www.spottedtail.com/blog/, please.

Tuesday morning I drove to the Rodman Campground, where there’s a boat ramp, and where I spent the night. I launched my kayak at the ramp and went paddling on quite a sizable lake. Looks like they used mass amounts of glyphosate– there were no aquatic plants other than water lilies. This was very disappointing, and made fishing more difficult. Where were the fish hiding, if there were no weed beds?

My average size Rodman bass.

My first fish was a dink bass, caught in water lilies near the shoreline of the canal, on a Senko-style worm. There was a spot with a lot of branches sticking out of the water, got four or five there, all pretty small.

Saw a green patch out in the lake, paddled out to it. It was a small floating patch of vegetation, dollarweed and some terrestrial plants. Pulled a decent fish out from under it.

Got my best fish next to a small patch of water lilies along a dropoff. A second fish followed the hooked one in, and then hung around until I released the it. Then they swam off together. Who knew??

The best one I got there, the fish whose partner waited for it.

 

Sunset over Rodman Reservoir.

My plan was to fish Rodman two days. After the first day I did not want to fish there again, so in the morning I drove to Farles Lake. I literally had the place to myself. The fish bit pretty steadily, but again, mostly small ones, and again, almost all on soft plastic worms of various shapes and colors. Got one dink on fly. Probably ended up with two dozen fish, but the biggest one was three or four pounds.

All in all it was a pleasant, productive trip, even if no monstahs were forthcoming.

Thursday I did something I’ve been wanting to do for a while- I went to the Econlockhatchee! This was a walking trip with the shortest spin rod I own, and it was goooood. Culprit worms and Senkos, the fish didn’t much care.

I even got several sunfish (redbellies and stumpknockers) on the rig. How a stumpknocker can get a 3/0 hook in that little mouth is beyond me, but they do, somehow. I got more bites, and the quality of the fish was better, than either day in Ocala Forest.

An Econ fish, one of many.

 

And, the irises are blooming.

That’s my Bass Fishing Report. As always, thanks for reading!

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

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

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, © John Kumiski 2025. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: central florida destinations, Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , , , , ,

Oklawaha River Report

March 15, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

Oklawaha River Report

Thank you for reading this Oklawaha River Report. I wanted to leave Wednesday. Circumstances prevented that. So this report covers only Thursday and Friday.

Subscribers without photos- go to https://www.spottedtail.com/blog/, please.

Paul McInnis met me at the Eureka East ramp Thursday morning. I was talking to a local who suggested we leave our vehicle at the Eureka West ramp instead. We took his advice. From there we loaded almost all of our gear into Paul’s pickup, and drove to Ray Wayside Park. There I discovered I’d left my tent in the van. I had to go back and get it, setting us back an hour. Arrrggghhh.

After loading gear into the kayaks, a short canal put us into the Silver River. I wanted to see otters, got cormorants instead. Once we reached the Oklawaha, we had the river to ourselves, with the brief exception of some canoe racers who came tearing by. The weather was exceptionally nice.

The water was fairly clear. The river flows through bottomland woods- lots of beautiful cypress trees, red maples, ash trees, willows, sabal palms, and other plants I didn’t know. Poison ivy likes it there, a lot! It was all along the banks.

The current was surprisingly swift for a Florida river, and it was much deeper than I expected. The combination of current and depth, combined with plentiful downed trees, made it difficult to fish. If you tried to fish deep, you hung up. If you fished shallow, there weren’t a lot of bites.

spotted sunfish, a.k.a. stumpknocker

Using a tiny jig, Paul did well on the sunfish. My first fish was a bass, on a Culprit worm (red shad), that was all of 10 inches. It was quickly followed by a warmouth. Quite a while later, I got what turned out to be the best fish of the trip, a bass of 2-3 pounds, on the same worm.

After switching to a small fly rod, the bites started coming much more frequently. Of course, the fish were much smaller, too- redbellies, stumpknockers, and bluegills. The fly that produced the best was a black wooly bugger. Of course I lost it to a root. That’s OK, I’ll make more.

redbreast sunfish, a.k.a redbelly

We spent the night at Gores Landing, a small and mercifully quiet campground. The loudest thing there were the birds. Owls hooted all night, limpkins screamed, and at dawn the chorus of songbirds was a wild symphony of bird calls. All especially cool!

bluegill

Day two was largely a repeat of the first, except there were fewer fish. The water was browner, too. By about 1030 we’d stopped fishing and were just paddling, or peddling, in Paul’s case.

We were at Eureka West about 1430, at which point we loaded up, made the shuttle, and went our separate ways homeward.

In all it was a very pleasant if not particularly fish-filled trip.

That’s my Oklawaha River Report. As always, thanks for reading!

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

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

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, © John Kumiski 2025. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: central florida destinations, Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , ,

Beware the Ides of March Report

March 7, 2025 by · Leave a Comment

Beware the Ides of March Report

Thank you for reading this Beware the Ides of March Report. Fished two days, took pictures part of another one.

Subscribers without photos- go to https://www.spottedtail.com/blog/, please.

Monday found me launching the kayak at the Snow Hill Road Econlockhatchee launch. I floated downstream casting a mouse gurgler fly and hooked two bass before the bridge was out of sight. Then, I couldn’t buy another bite. The switch to the spin rod was eventually made.

A black shad Culprit worm was the bait of choice for a long while. It got bit sporadically, by junior-league-sized bass. The best one was the first one I got, on the fly, and he was only 13 or 14 inches.

The river looked strangely quiet. There were no alligators (!). There were very few fish in the water that I could see. In five hours I saw a single, small catfish and a single Plecostamus, and one small school of mullet. Not a single bass did these eyeballs spot.

What there was, was a lot of chainsaw-cut branches. Some over-zealous individual(s) cut away lots of blowdowns to make the river accessible to motor vessels. To my way of thinking, more traffic = fewer fish. Or perhaps it was that day, or me. Either way, I don’t think I’ll be visiting that stretch again any time soon.

Purple gallinule

 

soft-shell turtle

 

Yellow-rumped Warbler

 

common moorhen

 

humans with cameras

 

pileated woodpecker

 

great egret

 

american alligator

Tuesday, 20-knot winds. Visited the Wetlands Park for about an hour, and learned birds don’t much like the wind, either. I still shot close to 300 frames, with my old, three-frame-per-second camera (The expensive new ones can do thirty.). The Park is going off, bird-wise, though. Lots of nesting birds, sandhill crane colts, etc. Good time to visit now.

Wednesday, had a meeting. Tied up a windy rainy day, so no problem there.

Thursday, 20-knot winds. Tied some flies.

Friday, an incredibly nice day, found me in the kayak, wearing waders on Mosquito Lagoon. I paddled quite a distance before getting a bite from anything other than a puffer. That last spot gave up a dozen trout and five or so reds, all fairly modest in size, all on the plastic shad. One or two trout may have exceeded 20 inches.

News Flash! People are boneheads! While I was standing there, a school of redfish swam almost right into me. As this was happening, four goobers in a big jonboat pulled up about 50 feet away, blowing all the fish out. They never knew. One guy put down the trolling motor and another said, “Don’t get too close to that guy [meaning me].” Too late, but thanks!

On the way back to the put-in I waded a sandy spot with the fly rod and one of the flies I’d tied the previous day. A redfish (maybe two?) swam by. I put the fly on him, he didn’t bite it. There must have been two, though, because the line came tight and minutes later I was releasing a red that was four or five pounds, best fish of the day. Never took the camera out.

Ten minutes later the boat was atop the van, and I was outta there!

That’s my Beware the Ides of March Report. As always, thanks for reading!

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

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

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, © John Kumiski 2025. All rights are reserved.

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