the spotted tail

Some Good News Lagoons Fishing Report

January 15, 2017 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

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.

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!

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!

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

They are such beautiful, delicate fish!

Mr. Barnes got a few, too.

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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Early January St. Johns River Fishing Report

January 7, 2017 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Early January St. Johns River Fishing Report

If you appreciate spectacular weather then you really enjoyed this week. I was fortunate enough to be out every day, four of which were on the St. Johns River or her tributaries. Thus the early January St. Johns River fishing report.

On Monday Anton Faith joined me. We took the Bang-O-Craft up the river, looking for breaking fish, and hoping to find some shad (we did not). We did find breaking fish, though.

The river was pretty low, and continued dropping all week.

Anton does not have much fishing experience. He was armed with one of my ultralight spin rods, with a pair of crappie jigs attached. The fish wanted no part of it. They were all over the fry fly- crappie, bass, bluegills all ate it, and I had what I think was a striper hybrid on for a while, although it escaped. When I tried the spin rod to see if it was the fish or the fisherman, my conclusion was it was the fish. I couldn’t get a bite with it either. Weird.

Anton finally got a bass (his first!) on a mini-plug, the only bite he got. He warn’t skonked, though!

This is the average St. Johns bass lately.

Tuesday I took the kayak back to the St. Johns, still hoping to find a shad, still looking for breaking fish. Again, found the breaking fish, but no shad. The schooling bass were awesome. No large fish, but on a three-weight they are still pretty feisty. Lots of crappie in the river, too.

An alligator in the ten foot range started stalking me, chased me right out of the best spot. Fish or no fish, I prefer not to become a gator snack.

Wednesday I went out with Tom Van Horn. Our goal was to find shad. Our success was limited to Tom hooking and losing two while using a small jig. We did get a few bass and crappie while shad fishing, though.

There are lots of crappie in the river now.

We saw son Alex and John Napolitano there. After we left they got three shad, and John got a tilapia too.

Thursday afternoon found me floating down the Econ in a kayak. It was such a beautiful day! The Econ looked great, too, low and clear, just how I like it. It was quite dead, though. I got four junior-league bass (six inches or so), one redbelly, and one stumpknocker.

This was it for Econ bass this week.

With the river conditions the way they are, if the fish are there you usually see some, even if they’re not biting. I saw lots of mullet. I saw five shad. I did not see any bass or sunfish except for really small ones. They must have all dropped down to the lower river or the St. Johns.

And that is the Early January St. Johns River 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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: Bass fishing, Econlockhatchee River, florida fishing, orlando fishing, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, St. Johns River

Mixed Bag New Year’s Orlando Fishing Report

December 30, 2016 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Mixed Bag New Year’s Orlando Fishing Report

We fished the Mosquito Lagoon one day, and the St. Johns River two days, and the Banana River Lagoon one day. Of course results were a mixed bag. And Sunday is New Year’s Day! So we have a mixed bag New Year’s Orlando fishing report!

Best wishes to all for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2017!

Monday around noon I went launched the Bang-O-Craft on the St. Johns. Son Alex and John Napolitano were with me. It was warm and sunny and every airboat in Florida seemed to be there. Fish were popping fry minnows all over the river.

Alex casting on the Econ.

At the mouth of the Econ there was a paddling fly caster who steadily caught 12 inch bass on a small white streamer. Since there were three of us we refrained from joining him and went farther up the Econ. We found breaking fish up there but they weren’t taking our flies very well. John and I each got a crappie.

Crappie on the fry.

When we went back down the river the other angler had left. We took his spot. Fish were breaking steadily. Using a fry fly I did some damage! Bluegills, bass, and my first shad of this season all succumbed to the fry fly’s charms.

Even the shad take the fry.

When the action slowed we went down the river, where we found another spot with breaking fish. Again, the fry fly did some damage, taking some reasonably large bass. The other fly that worked extremely well was a #10 white Gurgler, a silly little fly. The fish liked it, though!

A finished fry.

Fry Fly
hook- Daiichi X510, #10
thread- Danville flat waxed nylon, white
wing- craft fur, light grey, light tan, or cream
eye- Witchcraft 3-D, 5 mm

Start the thread. Cut off a clump of craft fur and pick out most of the fluff. Tie it on to the hook, smooth the head, and whip finish.

Glue the eyes on with Zap a Dap a Goo or Duco cement. After the glue dries, coat the head with Softex.

Since the fly is small, you’ll catch some very small fish with it. Some surprisingly large fish will take it, too. The hook is on 3x thick wire, so it will hold a good fish without issues.

Drying, not frying.

You can see how to tie a gurgler here http://www.spottedtail.com/how-to-tie-a-gurgler/. Since the #10 is so small I use hackle fibers for the tail and the tying thread for the body- simple!

On Tuesday Greg Scible and Caleb Cousins joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon light tackle action. Unfortunately the action part was fairly slow- a couple trout and small reds. We started fishing the spots that had been so good to me last week- not so good this day. We tried Deadly Combo-ing for trout. We got a few fish but again, pretty slow.

Pvt. Caleb Cousins got this redfish while home on leave.

We checked out a couple spots where I had found fish last week. Caleb got a slot red on a DOA CAL Shad. We Deadly Comboed again and got a few short trout. We tried soaking cut mullet in two spots where this worked wonderfully last week. Not even a catfish this day. I cranked the motor to move, and it pooped out. It would not start again.

I had them start fishing while I thought about the problem. They started hitting trout immediately, again on the Deadly Combo. Most were short, but a few were slot fish.

In the meantime I checked the in-line fuel filter. It looked fine, but there must have been some debris in it. When I reassembled it, the boat ran fine. We kept fishing though, and got a bunch of trout.

We ended the day with six reds and about 30 trout, not bad for a slow day.

Wednesday at 8 AM I met Paul MacInnis at the Space Center Badging Station. He got me a visitor’s badge and off we went to the Banana River Lagoon. We had perfect paddling weather- no wind, no clouds. We paddled a long way before we found any fish, though.

The fish we found was a school of large black drum. They were way more interested in each other than in our flies, as we did not get bit.

We got a few small trout, though.

We found some smaller drum. I got one about seven pounds or so on a crab pattern.

I later got a small, beautiful, nine-spot redfish on the same fly. Paul got a fish here and there too.

Some kind of rooted vegetation is beginning to grow on the otherwise barren sand bottom there, and the water is quite clear in most places. Perhaps it was just an off day, but it was pretty slow fishing-wise.

Thursday afternoon I went back to the St. Johns, by myself, by kayak. A short distance from the boat ramp there were breaking fish. My first two casts, on the little gurgler, each garnered strikes from 12 inch largemouths. Before leaving that spot three strikes were missed and two more bass released.

Bass on fry. Not a bad schooling bass, ay-tall!

The spots that had been so hot on Monday were not on Thursday. Apparently the fish are following the moving bait.

No shad or crappie were caught, but bluegills and a couple more bass rounded out the catch. All fish were released to make more fish for the future.

Thursday night a cold front came through, putting the kabosh on any thoughts of fishing Friday.

So that is the Mixed Bag New Years Orlando Fishing Report! Have a great holiday!!

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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Flies and Fly Tying, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: adventure fishing, Bass fishing, Black drum, DOA Lures, Econlockhatchee River, florida fishing tips, fly fishing, kayak fishing, mosquito lagoon fishing report, orlando fishing, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, shad fishing, St. Johns River

Christmas Orlando Fishing Report

December 24, 2016 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Christmas Orlando Fishing Report

This is the 2016 Christmas Orlando Fishing Report, December 24. Best wishes to all for a holiday season full of joy, and a happy and healthy new year full of fishing adventures!

We fished the Mosquito Lagoon two days, and the St. Johns River three days. Of course results were mixed.

The lovely little stumpknocker is a very aggressive fish!

Sunday I went paddling on the St. Johns. It was warm and sunny and fish were popping fry minnows all over the river. At the mouth of the Econ there was another paddling fly caster who steadily caught 12 inch bass on a small white streamer. I joined him (he was very gracious) and caught several myself, some on a gurgler.

At other points along the river a small streamer netted me a crappie, some bluegills, redbellies, and stumpknockers, and several more bass. Some of the largemouths were as small as I’ve caught, beautiful little mini-fish. It was a good day and I made a note to return later in the week.

Bass of all sizes were crushing tiny minnows.

Monday Tammy joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon scouting. We launched the Mitzi at River Breeze and fished around Oak Hill area. We caught quite a few trout and redfish, some decent if not large ones, even found some tailing fish. The DOA CAL shad was the lure de jour. The day was spectacular if the fishing wasn’t, and fishing with Tammy is always fun.

Tammy and seatrout, a winning combination.

The release!

Wednesday was the winter solstice, historically, or perhaps more accurately prehistorically, the most important day of the year. That’s the day the time of daylight stops getting less and starts lengthening, a cause for celebration! My friend Dr. Todd Preuss joined me for some St. Johns River fly fishing.

As soon as I walked out the door I knew it would be a tough day. The air temperature had dropped close to 20 degrees, the sky was low and grey, and the wind was rocking the trees. All the fish that were there on Sunday were lying on the bottom someplace where we could not find them. We got four fish all day, with the best being a big, black bluegill that Todd fooled on a popping bug. After Sunday it was disappointing fish-wise, although it’s always enjoyable fishing with Todd.

Robert and Spencer. They caught some fish.

Thursday Robert and Spencer Cutts, a father-son team from Orlando, joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. The wind was honkin out of the north, the water had dropped close to a foot, and I did not know what to expect. Some pelicans were diving on a hole so I stopped to check it out. Two days of scouting, wasted!

The hole had fish in it. They weren’t stacked up in there, but we got seven or eight redfish and a couple of beautiful trout. Again, the lure de jour was the DOA CAL shad, although we also used some cut mullet to good effect.

When that hole stopped producing we went to another, from which we pulled another six or seven, including a gorgeous, 28 inch, 12 spot redfish. Other holes we tried were fishless, so we visited spot #2 again and got one more red before calling it an (excellent) day.

We never did get into any of the areas that I had so diligently scouted.

I enjoyed tremendously the curiosity and enthusiasm of Cutts the Younger, and Dad was pretty funny too. Thanks to both of them for a great day!

Friday afternoon was warm and sunny. I wondered if the fish were going off on the St. Johns again so I dropped the kayak in at the Jolly Gator and went a’paddling. Six bass and 12 sunfish later, all on fly, I had my answer. The only downside to an otherwise lovely afternoon was the almost astonishing amount of boat traffic on the river. Fishing was good, though.

Shannon Dunn sent me the following email, of great interest to fly fishers of Appalachian trout-
“We’ve recently published a guide to choosing trout flies, together with Bill Bernhardt of NC Fishing, that you may find useful:
http://www.fishfindersource.com/trout-flies-choosing/ ”

I like their keep it simple approach.

And that is the 2016 Christmas Orlando Fishing Report! Have a great holiday!!

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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, Paddle Fishing Florida, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: Bass fishing, DOA Lures, florida fishing, kayak fishing, mosquito lagoon fishing report, Orlando Area Fishing Report, orlando fishing, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report

Dirty Water Orlando Fishing Report

December 17, 2016 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Dirty Water Orlando Fishing Report

This is a Dirty Water Orlando Fishing Report, December 17, 2016. Best wishes to all for a holiday season full of joy, and a happy and healthy new year full of fishing adventures!

On a glorious Tuesday morning I met Tom Finger and we went searching the Atlantic out of Port Canaveral for some denizens of the deep. The water along the beach was very dirty. Places that were full of fish last week had none. We turned the bow of the boat east and headed out to sea.

We found a few scattered weeds out about three miles, and slowly searched them for a while. We saw exactly one very short tripletail. Speeding up the process, we went looking for thicker weeds, breaking fish, other signs of life. We found none.

By this time we were south of the Cocoa Beach pier. We again came in close to the beach. We found an area with scattered menhaden splatting, but did not get a bite there.

Finally, late in the afternoon, we anchored by the north jetty where we got a couple bluefish and a couple small sharks. Although it was a beautiful day, fishing was tough. I ran into Scott Lum at the dock. He had gotten a single tripletail. It wasn’t just me.

Wednesday morning Rodney Smith met me at the Port. Again, the weather was amazing. We ran straight down to the end of the buoy line, then kept going another mile or two. You know, the Mitzi starts looking real small out there. We found some weeds and started hunting. Lots of shorty tripletail. Then we found a small clump of weed with a decent fish under it. We had to invest some time, but Rodney finally got it to take a jig.

Rodney was very happy with this tripletail.

However, the fish beat him so badly he had to rest :-).

We kept looking and found another, slightly larger. Rodney got it to bite but missed it, and we never saw it again. Or any others, other than dinks.

A moderate wind started out of the southeast and not trusting it to stay moderate I headed in towards the beach. There was still nothing there, until I fired a DOA Deadly Combo out. It must have landed right on top of the beast because immediately a hefty shark came up and ate the jig. It was the only bite we got there, and after the inevitable cut-off we headed back to the dock.

On another nearly perfect day (I love Florida’s winter weather!) on Friday Tom Van Horn joined me for a scout trip on Mosquito Lagoon, the first time I’d been there in weeks. The water still looks like crap. The grass is still dying back.

We Deadly Combo’d up a bunch of trout, although all but two were short. Then we went looking for redfish. I checked four or five spots before even seeing one, but we ended up seeing a few and Tom even managed to get one.

Capt. Tom with a redfish.

Friend and paddle fanatic Mike Conneen made a 5 minute video on our Big Bend trip, worth the time to check-

And that is the Dirty Water Orlando Fishing Report for this week!

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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, port canaveral fishing report · Tagged: adventure fishing, DOA Lures, mosquito lagoon fishing report, Orlando Area Fishing Report, orlando fishing, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, Port Canaveral, seatrout fishing

Short Orlando Fishing Report

December 10, 2016 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Short Orlando Fishing Report

Regular readers know I was on a trip last week, which ended Sunday night. Monday and Tuesday were spent unpacking and cleaning. Only two days of fishing happened after that, so we have a short Orlando fishing report.

The Innova Swing EX

Innova sent me an inflatable kayak to test. Part of that test happened on the Econlockhatchee on Wednesday (read the boat review here- http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/innova-swing-ex-inflatable-kayak-review/). The gauge was at 2.0- YES! On a beautiful sunny day I got two bass on a purple Culprit worm in about two hours.

I caught this bass from the Swing EX.

Thursday the forecast looked good, but Friday a front was coming. If I was going to fish it better be quick! I drove to the port to look around, hoping to find some Sargassum.

There was no weed, but plenty of the smaller fishies were along the beach- ladies, blues, jacks, even a few trout. I did not get any Spanish mackerel but met someone who did. I hooked three big sharks on jigs?!?!? Lost them all on cutoffs. Went through a lot of jigheads/tails. It was nice out there- glad I went.

There were eight or nine shrimp boats off the port, killing bycatch. No fish were working them as far as I could tell.

Friday the front blew through with rain and wind. Air temperature dropped about 15 degrees. No fishing this weekend for me!

For Sale
Would like to sell my old trailer, still on Craiglist at a lowered price. https://post.craigslist.org/manage/5912258792/5sdpd

And that is the Short Orlando 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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Orlando Fishing Report, port canaveral fishing report · Tagged: Econlockhatchee River, Orlando Area Fishing Report, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, Port Canaveral

Innova Swing EX Inflatable Kayak Review

December 7, 2016 by john kumiski · 2 Comments

Innova Swing EX Inflatable Kayak Review

The Innova Swing EX

This is an Innova Swing EX Inflatable Kayak Review.

Let me preface the following remarks by saying that because I am a fisherman who lives in Florida, my preference is for a sit-on-top kayak. The Swing EX is a sit-inside.

It’s the most comfortable sit-inside I’ve tried. But we get ahead of ourselves.

Innova kayaks are built in the Czech Republic. My guess is that the assembly instructions are translated from Czech into English. The instructions weren’t clear to me, and I had to go to YouTube and find a video in order to get the boat assembled the first time. Once you understand how it goes together, though, assembling this boat is quite simple.

The air valve is clever. When the red button is up, air stays in. When it’s down, air comes out.

One caveat- inflating the boat. The kayak has three valves that allow you to fill the three chambers with air. The valves have a red dot in their center, which can lock them closed or open. If the valve is locked open, when you remove the fitting from the air pump all the air you just pumped into the chamber comes rushing right back out. This is disconcerting if you don’t understand how the valve functions.

Of course at first I didn’t. I had to play around with that first valve. You simply push down on the red dot to set it to the other mode, as it were. Then when you remove the air pump fitting, the air stays in the chamber.
When you want to deflate the chamber, you just press the red button. Once you’ve figured it out, you have to admire the clever design.

Clever design features were not limited to the valves, though.

The inflatable seat- quite nice.

The seat is inflatable (you use for lungs for this), quite comfortable, and quite adjustable, with three straps holding it in the desired position. The footrest likewise is inflatable, with a single strap holding it in the desired position. It’s easy enough to adjust that I easily adjusted it to my liking during my water tests of the boat.

The inflatable foot rest and forward cargo space.Please ignore the white guy legs.

Bungees and cargo nets across the decks fore and aft allow you to store small items securely, with immediate access.

Cargo nets fore and aft for small items.

For larger items, you’ll find ample cargo space in front of the footrest and behind the seat. Access these spaces through two zippers that run parallel to the long axis of the boat, one fore, one aft. My tests were without significant cargo.

Bungees and zippers fore and aft for larger items.

I found the boat to be well designed and well made. There was nothing cheap or chintzy about it.

The Swing’s initial water test was on a small local lake. Winds were light, quite a lovely day, actually.

A removable fin keel kept the vessel tracking remarkably straight. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the Swing was to paddle, and how well it tracked. Paddling the Swing EX was a little more clumsy than paddling my Prowler. Because in the Swing you sit in a hole on the top of the boat, you need to keep your arms up higher than when paddling the SOT. In my opinion, this was a little more clumsy.

The second test was on the Econlockhatchee, a small river near my home. I brought a fishing rod. Any boat I own has to have fishability.

For the same reason as in paddling, fishing from the Swing was clumsy. I kept hitting the edge of the cockpit with the line, or the reel, and had to hold my arms up higher than I am accustomed to. That having been said, I did catch two bass in two hours, and missed another strike. So you can fish from the boat. Be careful with sharp objects, though. It is an inflatable, after all.

I caught this bass from the Swing EX.

While the Prowler is better for fishing, and I’m unlikely to get rid of it, the Swing has some advantages over it. For one thing, although they are the same length when the Swing is inflated, it weighs about half of the Prowler’s 55 pounds. For another thing, with the Swing you don’t need roof racks or a trailer. It comes in a backpack. You can assemble it in minutes when you get to the water. When you’re done you can fold it up and put it back in the pack, or let just enough air out to shove it in the trunk or in the back of the van.

You can also just tie the boat to the roof of your vehicle- no rack needed.

For folks with storage space issues, the Swing makes way more sense. It fits in a backpack. A hard kayak’s length doesn’t change. The Swing is way more “storable”.

All-in-all I think the Innova Swing EX Inflatable Kayak is a neat little boat. While it doesn’t fit my particular needs very well, I can see where it would fit the needs of any paddlers who require a boat they can store and transport easily. At $1000 it’s certainly affordable. You could do much, much worse.

And that is my Innova Swing EX Inflatable Kayak Review!

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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Filed Under: Fishing Product News and Reviews, opinion, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: inflatable kayak review, Innova swing ex, Innova Swing EX review, Kayak, kayak review

Big Bend Paddle Fishing Report

December 5, 2016 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Big Bend Paddle Fishing Report

Mike Conneen and I just wrapped up a seven day, 60 mile paddle along Florida’s Gulf coast, from the Aucilla River to Steinhatchee. So this is a Big Bend paddle fishing report.

Tough Going
This was the most physically demanding trip I’ve taken in at least 30 years. Generally when taking an extended trip you want to take it easy the first day, to shake out the kinks and settle in. The wind punched us in the mouth from the start. We had two relatively easy days (one because we took it off) and fought the wind every other one.

This is what I looked like when we started.

This is what I looked like when we finished!

In spite of that we caught some fish, including redfish, seatrout, flounder, bluefish, ladyfish, and even the coveted lizardfish (sorry, no photo).

A brief rundown-
We left home Sunday morning and drove to Sea Hag Marina http://seahag.com in Steinhatchee, where we spent the night in a charming little fishing cabin. We even got to watch some football.

Russ McAllister of Suwanee Guides http://suwanneeguides.com picked us up Monday morning and gave us a shuttle to the boat ramp on the Aucilla River. Shortly after launching Mike caught the trip’s first fish.

First fish of the trip, a ladyfish. He got two in a row here, then no more for the duration.

We paddled against the current (incoming tide) to the Gulf and against the wind to the Econfina River, where we camped at a FWC campsite.

On the Econfina River.

Tuesday we again fought the wind all day as we paddled south to the FWC campsite on Rock Island.

This is what we dealt with most days.

You need a permit to camp here.

At sunset Mike went fishing…

…and got a couple handfuls of bluefish.

Since the wind was still howling out of the south on Wednesday, and since we were basically spent from fighting it the first two days, we spent Wednesday night here too. It was quite a lovely place, remote enough we did not see another human for two days.

Campfire on Rock Island

Thursday we had the best weather and best fishing day of the trip, going from Rock Island to Spring Warrior Creek. We hit reds most of the way on a variety of lures. We camped at the FWC campsite on the creek.

Typical of the reds we got.

Again, a typical redfish.

The trout likewise were nice, but not large.

Another Big Bend redfish.

Friday we had a 13 mile day. While windy, it was coming off the shore instead of up the coast, so it was not as rigorous as the first couple days. However, the distance involved meant we had very little fishing time. I got two reds by dragging a DOA CAL shad behind the kayak as I paddled. We camped on Sponge Point, another great site.

Mike caught this trout with his hands. The fish had been dragging the float around for a while.

Saturday the wind blew again off the shoreline. Much of our paddle was on a low tide. When the tide goes out along this coast it goes WAY out. I had to drag my boat for a ways, an option not available to Mike. We found a fish-filled hole in an otherwise almost waterless flat, where we caught all of our fish for the day. Our campsite this night was at Dallus Creek, where the feral pigs roam. Fortunately my yelling at them scared them off.

Sunday we had nine miles to go to reach Steinhatchee. The first seven were gorgeous, with light south winds and steady progress. When we stopped for a break I said, “This weather couldn’t be any nicer.” As soon as we started paddling again, BAM! Fifteen to 20, right in our faces, the waves coming over the bow of the boat, and miserably tough, slow going. Mother Nature just kicked our butts one last time before we finished.

The crew, tired but happy, back at Sea Hag Marina.

Paddle Trip
This was not a fishing trip where we paddled. It was a paddle trip where we fished as time allowed. I brought a fly rod and used it about 15 minutes over the course of a week, blind casting without success. Many of the fish I caught came by trolling the shad as I paddled.

Having said that, the habitat here is probably the best remaining in the state- lots of oysters, the thickest seagrasses I’ve seen in a long time, and nice clear water (Fenholloway River mouth excepted). The fish did not run large but there were plenty of them- when we were able to fish.

Permits
Anyone wanting to use the FWC campsites needs a permit. Visit this link for more information- http://myfwc.com/viewing/recreation/wmas/lead/big-bend/paddling-trail/camping-permits/

And that is the Big Bend Paddle 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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Fishing Stories, Paddle Fishing Florida, Photo Essays, travel blog · Tagged: adventure fishing, big bend fishing, big bend fishing report, big bend paddling, DOA Lures, florida big bend, florida fishing, kayak fishing, seatrout fishing

Thanksgiving Florida Keys Fishing Report

November 23, 2016 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Thanksgiving Florida Keys Fishing Report

This is a Thanksgiving Florida Keys Fishing Report, 11/23/16. I wish all of my readers the happiest of Thanksgivings.

Friday last week son Alex and I hitched up the Mitzi to the Sienna and pointed that baby south. Our destination? Little Torch Key. Son Maxx has temporary duty there.

Friday evening we hooked up with Capt. Mike Gorton (owner of Alaska’s Goodnews River Lodge) at the Tiki Bar on Sugarloaf Key. Some reminiscing went on over a couple of malted beverages, as well as some discussion of water quality problems throughout the state of Florida. He may have given us some advice on where to fish, too. Mike, it was great seeing you!!

Saturday we went riding in the Mitzi, searching for denizens of the shallows. Due to my impeccable sense of timing, not one but two cold fronts had come in back-to-back, dropping the water temperature over 12 degrees and chasing most fish off the flats. We found a variety of little fishies, and some juvenile tarpon (five bites on DOA CAL shad and not a single fish boated), as well as some sharks and barracudas (could not get any big ‘cudas to bite).

The weather, although breezy and a little chilly, was outstanding. We did not get stuck or break anything and did not need the first aid kit. So from a fishing standpoint it may not have been wildly successful, but it was a beautiful day out on the water.

Heading out to the reefs, Key West behind us.

Sunday at 11 AM found us at Hurricane Hole Marina, where we met Capt. Jack Walker. We ended up fishing over some patch reefs off of Key West, for snapper, grouper, and a variety of other fish. Action was pretty steady, although all the biggest fish just put us into the rocks. Again, it was cool, windy, and wavey, but we had an outstanding day. Thank you Capt. Jack! Great seeing you, too!

Maxx with one of several bar jacks we got.

I got this outstanding grouper! Poor little fish!

Jack, having done this before, outfished us.

Monday we decided not to take Mike’s advice and instead went oceanside along Big Pine Key. First we fished a few patch reefs. Alex hooked a couple fish, lost one in the rocks, and caught a just-short grouper. Then I poled the boat for miles.

Alex got this beauty from a patch reef.

We saw exactly two bonefish but did not get a shot at either. We got numerous barracuditas and some needlefish, hooked a shark, and that was about it. Still windy, still cool, still a gorgeous day on the water, but not terribly fishy.

Early Tuesday we loaded the boat onto the trailer and negotiated the wilds of the south Florida highway system back to beautiful Chuluota.
—————————————————-
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 Thanksgiving Florida Keys Fishing Report! And again, happy Thanksgiving!

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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports · Tagged: adventure fishing, capt. jack walker, DOA Lures, florida fishing, Florida Keys, florida keys fishing report, key west fishing report

Port Canaveral Fishing Report

November 19, 2016 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Port Canaveral Fishing Report

This is a Port Canaveral Fishing Report, 11/19/16.

Two days of fishing this week, one of which was in a retention pond. The other, on Monday, was out of Port Canaveral.

Scott Radloff and I went. At the ramp Fred Cisneros told us there were Sargassum weeds with tripletail on them. We found some weeds pretty quick, but did not see any fish. We later realized we were not out far enough, but it would be hours before that realization occurred. We ended up not getting a shot at the ‘tails.

Searching the weeds.

What we did do was go off of the Cape. Fish were busting, one here, one there. At first I was tossing a DOA CAL jig. A couple decent seatrout and a couple of nice Spanish mackerel came aboard. I wanted the macs with an eye to smoked fish dip. So into the cooler they went.

A toothy fish relieved me of the jig. My other rod was rigged with a Deadly Combo. I’d never used it for Spanish, but it seemed like a good idea. Oh Yes, it certainly was. We caught mackerel and bluefish steadily until we had enough, then went back toward the weeds.

Fish were blowing up in the weeds. Perhaps foolishly I grabbed a six-weight and tossed a bouncer bucktail out there. WHAM.

The fish is trying to teach me a lesson.

The tunny were solid, over ten pounds. It took me 15 or 20 minutes to get that beast in. In the meantime Scott had hooked, boated and released one on a Sting Silver.

A fat tunny on fly!

By this time it was well into the afternoon. We were discussing whan we should leave when we spotted an incoming submarine. Immediately the motor got cranked and we headed back to the dock. Don’t want to deal with the security for one of those!

The fly was nothing special, but the fish certainly was!

All in all fishing was pretty darn good. If I hadn’t been so busy I would have called Aubrey.

The fish got smoked the next day, two batches, an all afternoon undertaking. They came out quite deliciously. I hope my Thanksgiving guests enjoy them!

Wednesday afternoon after finishing errands the chariot took me to a pond in Oviedo. A couple hours yielded seven bass, mostly small ones. The best is shown below.

A lovely little bass, perfect for an autumn afternoon.

—————————————————-
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 Port Canaveral 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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, port canaveral fishing report · Tagged: adventure fishing, Bass fishing, DOA Lures, orlando fishing report, Port Canaveral

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