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Broken Trailer Orlando Fishing Report

April 2, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Broken Trailer Orlando Fishing Report

My aluminum trailer crapped out on me this week, thus the Broken Trailer Orlando Fishing Report.

News of the Week
My friend Rodney Smith attended the Brevard County Commission meeting this past week. My understanding of our telephone conversation is that almost four hours of citizen comments and discussion were spent as Brevard County citizens requested the Commission declare a state of emergency due to the condition of the Banana River Lagoon. One of the Commissioners made a motion to make such a declaration. That motion did not receive a second. The matter did not come to a vote.

One of the Commissioners was heard to say, “They’re still catching fish at Sebastian Inlet and in the Mosquito Lagoon.” Apparently all life in the lagoon system will have to die before the weasels will take action. No, they probably will not take action even then.

These were Mitchell Roffer’s comments to the Brevard County Commission, reprinted with his permission:

“I am Mitchell Roffer, President of Roffer’s Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service, Inc. of West Melbourne and I live on Melbourne Beach. I have my Ph.D from University of Miami ‘s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences in Biological Oceanography. Property owner [in Brevard County] for more than twenty years.

“We have a three billion dollar ($3.7B) ecosystem economic machine called the Indian River Lagoon. We have not done enough to maintain its upkeep and health. Its like your valuable car that you don’t do enough servicing on until a hose breaks and then you realize that the engine and transmission are blown too. It hurts to pay the bill, but you have to.

“Yes we have not been paying to maintain and protect the IRL. This is not a new problem. This has been going on for at least 15 years.

“So now prepare yourself to pay. Yes be prepared to pay on the order of 500 million dollars.

“The press releases I’ve read from certain government offices are a sad joke that insults my intelligence. If water quality was such a top priority in the state of Florida, then we would not be in this situation. The IRL has been under managed and understudied. Protection has been negligently weak.

“Yes the problem is obvious: Too much nitrogen and phosphorus.

“We must act. We must declare a state of emergency so that we can:

1. Get rid of the muck within five years.
2. End residential fertilizer use.
3. End septic tanks.
4. Remediate water entering the IRL.
5. Mandate the reduction of nutrients coming from agriculture including farms, citrus and cattle.
6. Improve water treatment infrastructure to modern tertiary and quartinary treatment, as well as, stopping sewage spillage.
7. Restore the ecosystem through sea grass planting, oyster and other bivalve culture and fish restocking.
8. Improve the monitoring and science.

“Yes we need state, federal and regional money. I think we need a large bond issue. Interest rates are low.

“Asking you to act. The Tampa Bay leaders acted and succeeded to repair and restore the Tampa Bay estuary. Be the leaders you were elected to be.”

They’re weasels, Mitchell, not leaders. It takes fortitude to act for the greater good, and those weasels don’t have it.

I expect there will be more major IRL fish kills in 2016 as the weather heats up. The problem has not gone away.

Fishing!
Oi, what a week.

Monday was cleanup day from the Everglades trip. I checked the Econ gauge online. Wednesday night before the trip to south Florida it read two feet. Monday morning it read eight feet. What?!!! It must be broken.

I hopped in the car and went down the street to check. The gauge is working properly. Weekend rains blew out the river, just when it was hitting the right level, too.

orlando fishing report

Quite a jump in just a few days, isn’t it?

Tuesday son Alex and his Lady Allison joined me for a day on the mighty Atlantic. As I was backing the trailer down the boat ramp I heard a disturbing grinding noise. The trailer had broken and was dragging on the ramp. We got the Mitzi into the water and went fishing. We got several bluefish and Spanish mackerel, most on jigs but a few on fly too.

orlando fishing report

It was really broken, snapped right off. I’ve done a little work disassembling here, but the corrosion is obvious.

After several telephone conversations (during our fishing) I determined my course of action. I would tie the boat to the dock at Blue Points Marina ($2/foot/night), effect such repairs on the old trailer that I could get it home, go buy a new trailer, and come back and get the boat the next day. That way I maybe could get my Wednesday charter in as well.

I would like to thank Allen McMillan at Central Florida Marine for making the purchase of that new trailer (a Continental) as painless and expedient as possible. Great work, sir!

How fortunate am I that after taking a 500+ mile trip with that trailer it breaks on the boat ramp at Port Canaveral, THE most convenient place it could ever have broken??

I am in the process of rebuilding the old trailer, an EZ Loader, and will be selling it. If you’re looking for a trailer please consider it. I will have an “official” for sale notice when I finish the job.

Wednesday Mark and Janet Soley met me at Blue Points for our rendezvous. The wind was out of the east at 15. We got to the jetty and turned around. That was that. I put the Mitzi on her new wheels and drove her home.

Thursday I may have been dreaming, or maybe I entered another form of alternate reality. In that dream reality I went paddling with Tim McFall. We found some clean water in the Indian River Lagoon system. In that clean water we actually found a few redfish we could see, and I actually convinced one to take a fly I had tied from rooster feathers, a Homer Rhodes Shrimp Fly.

orlando fishing report

An alternate reality redfish.

It was a fantastic experience. Sadly, I don’t expect it to ever happen again, at least in my lifetime. I so hope I’m light years off base with that prediction.

Friday I returned to normal reality. I took the Bang-O-Craft scouting out of River Breeze. The water looks awful. In spite of that I actually saw in the murky stuff that now passes for water four redfish, alive and swimming, a group of three and a single. I cast a DOA CAL jig at the group and one of them slammed it with zero hesitation. The single spooked off the same lure.

orlando fishing report

A redfish from the current reality of the Mosquito Lagoon.

Three dink trout were taken by using the DOA Deadly Combo. That was the total catch in about five hours of hunting.

And that is this week’s broken trailer Orlando fishing report from the Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

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

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

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A Rare (for me) Flamingo Fishing Report

March 28, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

A Rare (for me) Flamingo Fishing Report

Ken Shannon and Bob Stearns were both on my mind a lot this week, as I fished out of Flamingo with my son Maxx (thus the Flamingo Fishing Report). It would have been nice to have either or both of those gentlemen with us. I’ve had many great trips down there with Ken, and learned more fishing there one day with Bob than I had in a dozen trips on my own. Great human beings, both of them.

And of course, a blessed Easter to all.

News of the Week
The year 2016 is shaping up to be the roughest yet for the Indian River Lagoon system. There was a total fish kill in the Banana River Lagoon this week. My understanding is that the biological collapse was nearly complete. Zero dissolved oxygen in the water asphyxiated everything there that needs to extract dissolved oxygen from that water to stay alive- all the fish and shellfish, all the other invertebrates, all the rooted plant life that had managed to survive to this point. Air breathers like dolphins and manatees won’t be faring too well either, as there is absolutely nothing left for them to eat there. Interested readers can get more information here: http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/environment/2016/03/23/what-we-know—-and-dont-know—-fish-kill/82163574/

A tragic bit of news.

Fishing!
Tammy had given me a glowing report of her Econ trip last Saturday. I went by kayak on Tuesday and managed two sunfish in almost five hours, an ill omen for my charter the next day.

On Wednesday Wisconsin fly fishers Vic Gulla and his son Daniel joined me for a St. Johns/Econlockhatchee trip. Fishing was embarrassingly slow. In an all day trip they got a few sunfish, two gar, and two small bass. These guys are good anglers, too.

Early Thursday morning I pointed the chariot towards south Florida with the Mitzi in tow, meeting Maxx in Florida City at about 930. At Flamingo we got our backcountry permit, although we could not do what we wanted, which was to set up a base camp on the Oyster Bay chickee for three nights. No, we had to break camp and move every morning, a big waste of time and fuel, but park rules is park rules.

Our first night was at south Joe River chickee. Fishing in that area we got a couple ladyfish, a couple snapper, a small trout, a trophy lizardfish that I wish I’d photographed (don’t have any lizardfish photos), a few puffers, and some big, ugly gafftopsail catfish. The catfish would be a recurring theme on this trip.

flamingo fishing report

Maxx casts as the sun sets at south Joe River.

 

flamingo fishing report

Be it ever so humble. And they just cleaned the port-o-potty, too.

In general the water down there looks terrible and Coot Bay, which in my experience had always been clear, looks how the Mosquito Lagoon currently looks. I’m glad our state government is doing everything it can to keep Florida’s water quality at its historically high levels. Anyway…

Day two was spent moving camp to campsite B. We fished along the way, nabbing several more handsome sailcats. While casting a shoreline along which I was poling, Maxx also got a nice 27 inch snook on a pot-gut jig Bob Sterns had given me.

flamingo fishing report

Maxx about to boat his snook.

 

flamingo fishing report

A happy young man with a handsome fish.

We dropped off our gear at the second campsite and went looking for tarpon, the main focus of our planning for this trip. We found some, big, happy, rolling fish. One soon nailed my black and purple streamer and tried to kick my ass. It took thirty minutes of straining and grunting but Maxx finally leadered and lipped it, after which we used the trolling motor to revive it enough until Maxx couldn’t hold it any more. Awesome!

Maxx jumped an even bigger one on a deep-running DOA Bait Buster but it only stayed on for a couple jumps before tossing the bait.

flamingo fishing report

Tarpon on fly, it does not get any better!

 

flamingo fishing report

Yes, it was a solid fish.

Night two was spent at the Shark River chickee. There Maxx and I experienced the heaviest no-see-um concentration that I personally have ever been fortunate enough to witness. I got utterly devoured while making supper. We jumped into the boat and rode around while eating our spaghetti and no-see-ums (I guess we got them back just a little bit there) just so we could relax, after a fashion of speaking, in bug-free comfort.

The bugs were waiting for us when we got back.

We got into the tent as fast as we could. So we would have something to do in there about 800 of the tiny bloodsuckers came in with us. It was about an hour until dark, and we killed diminutive, biting nuisances the entire time, actually ending up with a relatively bug-free sleep.

The bugs were waiting for us when we woke up. Several clouds of no-see-ums, each with thousands of individuals, hovered outside our tent. The diabolical midges knew we had to come out, I guess. There was no wind to disperse them, so they just bided their time.

We broke down camp in record time but in that time they bit the snot out of us. A fast boat ride blew them all away. All that was left were the welts.

We went back to where the tarpon were the previous day. Most of them were gone. We sat down to wait, a nice breeze keeping the bugs away. A school of fish came, obviously going someplace. We followed and fished them for about thirty minutes, without a bite, then gave up and returned to the “spot” and waited.

Another school came. Maxx jumped one on the Bait Buster. Two jumps and it was off. We followed and fished them fruitlessly for about 20 minutes, then returned to the “spot” and again waited.

Another school came. I got a bite on a Bait Buster, a big fish. One jump and it was off. We followed and fished them for about 20 minutes, then returned to the “spot” and again waited.

No more came. We eventually gave up, since we had to go to the Joe River chickee for our final night.
On the way we caught a few seatrout, keeping two 16 inch fish for supper. The catfish again made an appearance. No shortage of catfish down there, that’s for sure.

Joe River chickee has a double platform. Our neighbor this night was an 83 year old gentleman who was down there fishing by himself. Right on, baby! I can only pray that will be me in 20 years, and there will still be such a thing as wild fish to fish for.

flamingo fishing report

Joe River sunrise, Easter morning.

And that, dear reader, is this week’s Flamingo fishing report from Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

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

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

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Vernal Equinox Orlando Fishing Report

March 20, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Vernal Equinox Orlando Fishing Report

Sunday March 20 is/was the equinox, thus the equinox Orlando fishing report. Check out this cool video!

Remember, the equinox is a great reason to have pagan celebrations!

News of the Week
I wish I’d found this earlier, but still lots of great festivals- https://www.allaboutbirds.org/birding-festivals/

To those readers who go through Titusville, Bagel World has “rebranded”. I think this is a ten cent marketing term that means they are changing things. Why would you change Bagel World? It was awesome! They have changed their name (to what I don’t know) and moved down the street. Maybe the new place will be better. Somehow I doubt it.

Fishing!
What a busy week!

Sunday fly fishing engineer Bill Ruland joined me for some St. Johns River fishing. We looked unsuccessfully for schooling bass, then tried shad fishing. The shad are almost done. We fished for them almost all morning. Bill hooked and lost a couple, but it was s-l-o-w. After lunch we went up the Econ hoping for bass and sunfish. Although we got a few of each, that was slow too.

orlando fishing report

What the fish lacked in numbers they also lacked in size. At least this one was aggressive.

We ended up shad fishing again, and Bill got his first ever, finally, and then one more on his last cast.

orlando fishing report

Mr. Bill battles the mighty shad.

 

orlando fishing report

The mighty shad is vanquished.

 

orlando fishing report

The victor exhibits his trophy before release.

Monday fly fishing doctor Mike Sweeney joined me for some St. Johns River fishing. We looked unsuccessfully for schooling bass, then tried shad fishing. The shad are almost done. We fished for them almost all morning. Mike hooked and broke one off almost immediately, but it was s-l-o-w. After lunch we went up the Econ hoping for bass and sunfish. That was even slower than the previous day, with no sunnies at all and only two bass being fooled in over an hour.

orlando fishing report

Who is this guy with the bass?

We ended up shad fishing again. Mike hooked one and had it on for a spirited battle, but the fish jumped off before we could corral it. So ended our fishing.

Tuesday George Allen joined me for a trip out of Port Canaveral. I was finally able to get out there after weeks of hard east winds. We had visions of cobia and tripletail dancing in our heads. We headed south down the beach, finding a mass of menhaden before reaching the Cocoa Beach pier. Livewell stocked, we headed out to sea.

It was a virtual biological desert.

Finally I saw a large black spot in the water. A ray! I idled close enough to cast, and the ray started to sound. A cast over the spot with a menhaden yielded nothing.

A while later I saw a large brown spot in the water and went to investigate. It was close to an acre of mongo crevalle jacks. They have a hard time saying no to a live pogie and somewhat foolishly we cast two out. Bam! Bam! double hookup!

orlando fishing report

George battles the truly mighty crevalle.

A 30 pound crevalle is as manly a fish as you could ask for. They don’t know the word quit and it was a long tough fight for both of us. While the battle raged I spotted another ray, but there was nothing we could do about that. Both fish were eventually boated and released.

orlando fishing report

Said battle was long and tough, and quite exhausting.

We saw quite a few small pods of big jacks after that but used discretion. In other words, we wanted no further part of the big jack action. We saw little else.

orlando fishing report

The victor and the vanquished.

Late in the day we found an area with spinner sharks free-jumping. George hooked what I think was a lemon shark, about six feet long. I leadered the beast, which used the opportunity to cut the leader. And so ended our adventure.

Wednesday morning Shane Thomas and his friend (Sir?) Rob of York met me at Port Canaveral. I was cautiously optimistic I could find the jacks and sharks again, and knew there were bluefish around. I had seen the rays the previous day and thought we still had a shot at a cobia.

We couldn’t even find the bait. All the pogies that had been along the beach were gone.

Running back north up the beach we saw good numbers of pelicans diving on menhaden and one throw of the net there did the trick. Now, let’s go find those jacks!

They were all gone. We looked for hours and did not see a jack, a shark, a guppy. It truly was a biological desert.

Just so we would not get bored, though, the bow of the Mitzi decided to plow into a wave and do an imitation of a diving submarine. We were a couple miles off the beach, no one else was around, and the boat was literally half full of water, as close as it could get to sinking without actually sinking. We would have been in seriously deep doo-doo had the boat gone down. But it didn’t. We got the water out with the help of the bilge pump, a bucket, and a distinct lack of panic, then continued searching.

I think it was about 230 PM when Shane finally spotted a fish. It was a small hammerhead shark, four or five feet long. We tossed a pair of pogies out and waited.

That shark took his sweet time zeroing in on one of the baits. He’d swim up next to the boat, then swim away. We would think we lost him and then he’d come back. This happened several times. And then while we watched he finally took Rob’s bait.

We weren’t rigged with wire and I knew we might not leader the shark. As it turned out we didn’t. But Rob had it on for about ten minutes, fighting a noble battle. Finally, after eight hours of looking, a fish!

We found a school of pogies in Canaveral Bight. There were a load of bluefish with them. Rob broke out his fly rod and managed a couple blues on a Clouser Minnow. Shane got a few with the spin rod.

That was pretty much our fishing for the day. Just so we wouldn’t get bored, the Mitzi ran out of gas near the jetty. No problem, I said, I have more gas. After pouring it into the tank we could not get the motor going. I put the trolling motor in the water and started to the dock.

At five PM every boat in the ocean was coming back to port. The chop and the wakes were rocking and rolling us, and it was slow going. A kind soul came over and offered to tow us back, an offer we gratefully accepted. And so ended our day, one of my more unusual charters.

The boat started right up without a problem while sitting on the trailer in my yard Thursday morning.

It also started Friday morning, at the Haulover Canal. My childhood friend Kevin Linehan was with me for a boat ride on the Mosquito Lagoon and forsooth a fish. We did not see much, a couple tailing redfish. The water is so dirty it’s REAL hard to see them if you don’t get some surface indicator.

In spite of that I saw a redfish, in the dirty water, when it swam right up to the boat. I don’t think they can see us either, since I made about a six foot cast with a mullet chunk. The fish took it. I handed the rod to Kevin and he skillfully duked it out with the beast, a 27 inch beauty.

Orlando fishing report

They don’t grow these in Phoenix.

On Saturday Paul Dachoff and his friend Alex the Vet joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Paul has lived in central Florida for 30 years and said he’d never seen the lagoon look so bad. We worked it hard with cut mullet and Deadly Combos for almost eight hours. One redfish and several seatrout fell for our offerings.

Orlando fishing report

The hand just appeared to help Alex hold his fish! AMAZING!

Paul spotted the reds tailing despite the rain. There were three or four of them, pretty darned relaxed, I thought. They gave us multiple shots and finally one ate.

Orlando fishing report

Our redfish of the day, about 25 inches long.

Paul and Alex were great on the boat and it was a good way to wrap up a busy week. Thanks to everyone who fished with me this week.

And that is the vernal equinox Orlando fishing report! Thanks for reading!

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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Daylight Savings Orlando Fishing Report

March 12, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Daylight Savings Orlando Fishing Report

Sunday March 13 we go back onto daylight savings time, thus the daylight savings Orlando fishing report. Don’t forget to put your clock ahead tonight!

calvin

News of the Week
This winter about to end next week was the warmest on record- http://www.iflscience.com/environment/its-been-warmest-winter-united-states-records-began

News Flash! Honeybees Are Adversely Affected by Pesticides! http://www.iflscience.com/environment/honey-bees-suffer-severe-learning-and-memory-problems-when-exposed-widely-used-pseticide

Fishing!
Sunday we ran two On-The-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminars on the Mosquito Lagoon, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon. I would like to thank everyone who attended. It was very windy and wavy and everyone was very accepting of the situation, very gracious. Thank you all!

Rose Mary Berg sent me the following note-

“I wanted to take a minute to Thank You again for the seminar yesterday for Justin.  He thought you were just ‘awesome’ and filled with so much knowledge. I cannot Thank You enough for sharing your knowledge and afternoon with us.  It was a blessing.”

We checked both side of the lagoon, from Max Hoeck Creek to Tiger Shoal. There was no clean water anywhere.

Monday I took the Bang-O-Craft scouting on the St. Johns River, launching at SR 50. Fishing downstream of the bridge for three hours I got two shad on crappie jigs. I did not see another fisherman.

Tuesday I took the Bang-O-Craft scouting on the St. Johns River, launching at CS Lee Park. I had received a good report about shad in the Econ but did not get a bite there. I did get quite a few in the St. Johns on crappie jigs and on shad flies. I ran into Ron Rebeck and Jon Cave, man, it’s been a long time since I saw them! They look good, appear to be doing well, and it was good to see them.

Wednesday morning Curtis Duffield met me at CS Lee Park. We first went to where the stripers were biting last week. They are not there any more, unfortunately.

orlando fishing report

Curtis hooked up to Mr. Shad.

We responded by going fly fishing for shad. We fished two spots and probably got close to 20 in about eight hours, steady if slow fishing. I hadn’t seen Curtis in a couple years, and it was a good, long conversation with enough fish to make it interesting. The river is still high, and the shad are probably close to being done for this season. And Curtis got his first shad on the fly rod, a cause to celebrate!

orlando fishing report

Mr. Shad, resisting.

 

orlando fishing report

Resistance is futile.

Thursday I had some errands to run in Oviedo. I brought a fly rod. There’s a retention pond near downtown Oviedo I have been wanting to fish for a while. The water was dirty (but cleaner than Mosquito Lagoon) and the wind was blowing 20 (as it was all week), but I caught two bass on a chartreuse rattle rouser. One was small, but the other was pretty chunky. Retention ponds are an underutilized resource for fly fishers.

Friday, after running some errands, I launched the kayak at Snow Hill Road for some Econlockhatchee fishing. The water level is dropping (2.8 on the gauge that morning) and the temperature is rising. I had fairly high expectations. Unfortunately they were not met.

The river looked beautiful. The gum trees, red maples, and willows are all leafing out. The air plants gave the still-bare oaks some red color, too. But in three hours I only got one bass about a foot long, my first Econ bass of 2016, and a few aggressive sunfish popped my bass bug. Just did not see many fish.

What I did see were two or three tons of alligators. There are plenty of big reptiles on that stream.

orlando fishing report

A big Econ reptile…

Saturday I renewed my CPR/1st aid card, something everyone with sense should do.

And that is this week’s Daylight Savings 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, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Noodled Trout Orlando Fishing Report

March 5, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Noodled Trout Orlando Fishing Report

This is the Noodled Trout Orlando Fishing report, covering the Mosquito Lagoon and the St. Johns River.

Upcoming Events-
Saturday, March 12th Beach ‘N Boards Fest Paddle Board Catch & Release Tournament Ramp Road Park, Cocoa Beach, Florida. Registration and other event information at
https://racehubhq.com/races/BeachNBoardsFestSUPFishingTourney

What is the impact of Big Sugar in your life? Check out this new video on the sugar industry! http://www.sierraclub.org/florida/BigSugarVideo

Mystery Photographer
The Mystery Photographer sent me these photos of Nautilus Fly Reels. As you can see they are gorgeous reels…

orlando fishing report

That is a fine looking fly reel.

orlando fishing report

 

Fishing Story of the Week
It’s been way too long since we had a fishing story of the week. I am the principal in this one, too.

Sunday Tammy and I went kayak fishing out of River Breeze. The water is no longer clean up there. I went to a hole I know and started casting blindly. A couple of small reds were caught and released. Then I saw what I mistakenly thought was a crawler red up near the bank. I waded into range and made a few casts. The fish did not respond to the fly at all. Stranger still, it didn’t change its position.

Starting to think it was distressed I waded still closer. It turns out to be a really nice trout, six or seven pounds. Curiosity driving me, I got closer still. Now in range to simply strike like a blue heron, I reached down and grabbed the fish.

It wiggled and broke my grip, but could not swim away. I just picked it up again, while fumbled for the section of nylon cord I keep for such occasions.

I went noodling for trout in the Mosquito Lagoon! The fish I grabbed was boatkill!

The poor fish had been hit by a boat and had four prop cuts, starting on its head and moving down its port side. Somehow, it wasn’t yet dead. I cut its gill arches and carried it around on the string for the rest of the day.

orlando fishing report

My noodled trout, boatkill.

At the boat ramp as I was cleaning the fish I could hear some of the folks in other boats saying, “Wow, look at the size of that guy’s trout!” I didn’t have the heart to tell them I caught it with my fingers, hardly more difficult than picking up a squashed ‘possum off the side of the road. Tammy and I had a good laugh about it afterwards.

News of the Week
A Record 6,250 Manatees Counted Off Florida Coast
http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/record-6250-manatees-counted-florida

I am so sorry I missed this news item- http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/watch-porn-and-help-save-whales-month . We live in a crazy world.

Fishing!
As already noted, on Sunday Tammy and I went kayak fishing out of River Breeze. So far as I could tell, all the clean water that had been in this part of the lagoon is gone. Now it looks as nasty as the rest of the lagoon.

orlando fishing report

Tammy having fun in the mud.

I got a handful of reds blindcasting a streamer. Three were short, two were low-end slot fish. One short trout took the same fly. Tammy got a redfish on a jerk bait, a fish she spotted and cast to. No one else we saw had anything. The day was absolutely perfect, the kind of weather you dream about, but fishing was slow. The water finally was at a winter level, though, nice and low. Now if the algae would just disappear…

Having three fishing charters scheduled for this week, Tuesday I used the Mitzi and went scouting out of River Breeze. I could not find any clean water, and ran aground twice. The water was very dirty, as the algae-laden water from the south lagoon drained north towards Ponce Inlet as the water level dropped. I saw exactly two fish and did not get a bite, and wondered how my fishing season can possibly work when the place I fish is apparently ruined, at least for the foreseeable future…

Wednesday’s charter was a fly caster who lives in Virginia, Dr. Ross Thomas. We launched at C.S. Lee Park on the St. Johns River. A strong bite of hybrid stripers kicked off our morning. Minnow imitating streamers tossed on sinking lines worked very well, as we were into double digits numbers-wise, fish that ran two to three pounds.

orlando fishing report

Dr. Ross with a bass.

When that action slowed we went shad fishing. By now the wind had come up, about 15 knots from the north, making fishing more challenging. Ross got a couple shad on a green shad fly. We went up the Econ to try for bass and bluegills but the water is still too high and we did not raise a fish. Still, we had a good day. As Ross wrote, “Good fishing, excellent conversation and a splendid time. Left ’em with some sore mouths too! Thanks and we will fish again!” Thank you, Ross!

orlando fishing report

Dr. Ross with a shad. He seems happy!

Thursday’s charter was Mr. Tom Finger and Mr. Bob Trapp, both of whom live in central Florida. They had also booked me for lagoon fishing, but also agreed to try the St. Johns. The striper bite was not as hot as the previous day, but we still got ten or twelve on DOA CAL jigs on which were threaded 3″ DOA CAL shad.

orlando fishing report

Bob with a fine bass.

Again, when the striper action slowed we went shad fishing. Using 1/16th ounce crappie jigs with 1″ curly tails rigged in tandem they caught shad steadily for three hours or so. Tom got at least one double hookup on his line, and as a team they had several doubles, good, steady action. As Tom wrote, “Thanks for the pics and a GREAT day. We will be in touch.” Thank you, Tom and Bob!

orlando fishing report

Tom with one of his American shad.

Friday’s charter was set on fishing Mosquito Lagoon. My report and the weather forecast caused him to cancel the day. 🙁

Because no one signed up for the Show and Tell seminar, Thursday night I booked a charter for Saturday, Mr. Dave Phillips. We launched at Haulover Canal. The plan was to circumnavigate the lagoon, check it all out. We looked on both sides of the lagoon from Max Hoeck Creek to River Breeze. The water was low but very dirty. I managed to hit bottom numerous times because I could not see it. It was a beautiful if breezy day, but we didn’t see anything. We did manage to get a few trout on soft plastics, and one would have even held batter. Thank you, Dave!

And that is this week’s Noodled Trout Orlando Fishing report, covering the Mosquito Lagoon and the St. Johns River. Tight lines, everyone!

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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Blown Out Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

February 27, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Blown Out Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Gee, did the wind blow this week? Every day, most days around 20 mph. We have the Blown Out Mosquito Lagoon fishing report.

Upcoming Events- Lots of ’em!
– 2/28-3/5 Wekiva Paint Out. Thirty nationally-renowned artists come here and paint our beautiful scenery for one week. They start painting on Monday, February 29th and continue through Saturday, March 5th.  The event culminates with a Gala at Wekiva Island, an event not to be missed! http://keepseminole.org/event/wekiva-paint-out/

– Ocala Outdoor Expo, 3/5 and 3/6. http://www.ocalaexpo.com/

– Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 5. http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/
No one has signed up yet!

– Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 6. http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/ -One space left in the morning session.

State Forest Update-
Two weeks ago I wrote, “I wrote letters to the manager of the state forest and the commissioner of agriculture. We’ll see what they say.” I got an answer. It’s been scanned and can be seen at this link…http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/state-forest-letter/

Fishing!
The plan for Monday was to visit the Banana River Lagoon. Tom Van Horn went Sunday. His report of nasty, dirty water and hard-to-find fish saved me the trip.

Tuesday John and Sue Burns joined me for a day’s fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. Yes, it was blowing. The sun kept peeking out from between the clouds. Fishing was not fabulous, and the nasty water moved into areas that had been clean last week. Damn algae.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Sue holds John’s trout. She’s a better model!

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Photographing the fishie.

John got a slot trout on a DOA Shrimp, and a nice four-pounder class fish on the RipTide Weedless Shrimp. We got several small fish on the Deadly Combo. Sue finally got a slot redfish on a DOA CAL Shad, three inch. And that was it for the day.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Sue wanted a red, and got this one.

Postponed Thursday’s trip to next week, the second time in two week’s that trip has been bounced.

Friday I got new tires for the trailer, then went to the St. Johns for some shad fishing. Bluebird sky, winds 10-15 from the north. Fly fishers, you’ll need a sinking line. The water is high, almost flooding the pastures. Two boats with fly fishers took six fish that I saw. I got three shad in four hours, using 1/16th ounce crappie jigs with one inch curly tails.

Saturday my bride brought me to the Florida Gourding Society’s Gourd Festival in Melbourne. It may sound worse than a trip to dentist, but actually it was quite fascinating, with lots of beautiful work. My shaky photos do not do it justice.

DSCN1427

Maybe I’m getting old, but it was a very worthwhile thing to do.

DSCN1428

Not a great week, but better than no cheese.

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, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Litterology Review

February 20, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

litterologyLitterology Review

This is a Litterology Review- a review of the new book Litterology.

It’s sad that the planet needs a book by the name of Litterology- Understanding Littering and the Secrets to Clean Public Places (Karen Spehr and Rob Curnow, paperback, 150 pages, Environment Books 2015, $25.00). Anyone who looks around anywhere where people go will see we do, though. There is trash disposed of improperly everywhere.

Why do some people always litter? Why do some people never litter? Why do most people litter in some situations, but not in others? And most importantly, how do we change people’s behavior so that they litter less, or not at all, or even go around picking up other people’s litter?

Spehr and Curnow are environmental psychologists who have spent a good portion of their professional lives researching the answers to these questions. Littering is actually quite a complex behavior. Some of the factors that must be considered when trying to find out why people litter or why they don’t include the location where the littering or not littering is occurring, the type of object or objects being disposed of, whether bins are present or not, where the bins (if present) are placed, how well-maintained the bins are, whether or not other people are littering, and whether the disposer thinks they are being watched or not.

In general, clean places tend to stay clean and littered places tend to stay littered. Large public gatherings tend to bring out the worst in disposal behavior among everyone who attends. Figuring out why clean places stay clean is an important consideration when trying to change the behavior of people who are littering in a trashy area. Changing the behavior of large numbers of human beings is a tough thing to do.

If you consider yourself to be a responsible individual, particularly one who manages any kind of public space, this book should rocket to the top of your must-read list. You will get insights into this dark side of human behavior and how to change it you would never get any other way. It’s a tremendous tool for those charged with managing litter, one that has been sorely needed. Litterology has my highest recommendation.

-John Kumiski

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Mercury Rising Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

February 20, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Mercury Rising Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Observing the heavens is one of my passions. I’ve known for years that it’s possible to see the planet Mercury with the naked eye. I could never find it- until this week. Now I’ve seen it three times. And such fishing as got done by me this week happened in the Mosquito Lagoon. Combine the two and you get the Mercury Rising Mosquito Lagoon fishing report.

For those of you who would like to observe this planet, get outside about 6-6:15 am. Look to the east and you will see a bright star above the horizon. It’s the planet Venus. Below Venus and a few degrees to the north is a much dimmer star- that’s Mercury. Check it out now while you’ve got Venus to point the way.

Upcoming Events- Lots of ’em!
– 2/28-3/5 Wekiva Paint Out. Thirty nationally-renowned artists come here and paint our beautiful scenery for one week. They start painting on Monday, February 29th and continue through Saturday, March 5th.  The event culminates with a Gala at Wekiva Island, an event not to be missed! http://keepseminole.org/event/wekiva-paint-out/
– Ocala Outdoor Expo, 3/5 and 3/6. http://www.ocalaexpo.com/
– Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 5. http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/
– Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 6. http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

State Forest Update-
Last week I wrote, “I wrote letters to the manager of the state forest and the commissioner of agriculture. We’ll see what they say.” Nothin’, yet.

Fishing!
Not fishing, but Sunday I brought my valentine to see the Big Bugs at Leu Gardens.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

BIG bugs.

Very cool exhibit in a very cool place. You’ve got a few more weeks before the bugs march off to a different venue.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

It’s a good real ants don’t get this big or we would never have made it as a species.

$10 admission per person. http://www.leugardens.org/category/events/

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Monday it blew like snot. I don’t even remember what I did.

Tuesday, a beautiful day, I spent the morning at the car dealership getting the wife’s chariot repaired. In the afternoon I did a little local exploring. Stop one was at Riverside Park in Oviedo. Several years ago son Maxx talked me into launching a canoe there (not a hard thing to do) and paddling down to SR 419. What an obstacle course. Anyway, that’s the only time I went to that park. Turns out it’s quite lovely and the Little Econ, although little more than a drainage ditch for east Orlando, actually looks quite nice coming through here. Further investigation required.

Stop two was a little pond off of Lockwood Road. Walked around it twice, the second time with a fishing rod with a plastic worm on the line. Did not get a bite. Did not see anything other than guppies.

Stop three was the Econ River Wilderness area, off Old Lockwood Road, a rather pretentious name for a 300 acre property that is certainly not a wilderness. It’s a nice enough place to go for a walk or go running though, a valuable patch of woods in an area of crowded housing developments.

Wednesday Tom Van Horn (the fishing guide, not the comedian) met me at Haulover Canal so we could do a little Mosquito Lagoon scouting. The water south of Georges Bar looks TERRIBLE, brown and turbid. Even spots that were clean a couple weeks ago look awful now. We found nothing there.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Tom Van Horn, not the comedian one.

Up by Oak Hill we found some clean water and a few fish, and managed one redfish and one seatrout each, on (not surprisingly if you read this report very often) 3″ DOA CAL Shad. Not a great day by any means, but better than no cheese.

Thursday’s charter postponed until next week because of the wind.

Friday Mr. Ryan Houlihan, a fly fisher from Virginia, met me at River Breeze. It was a tough day, with lots of clouds and considerable wind, hard for a fly fisher. Ryan missed one bite at the first spot, but most of the fish we saw we had already run over and they ignored the fly.

He missed another bite at the second spot, this one from a trout (we could see the action). None of the other fish we saw there cooperated.

We checked a couple other spots with few visible fish. At this point the clouds were pretty solid and we just couldn’t see. In the places we could see there was nothing to see. It ended up Mr. Houlihan did not get another bite and we went fishless. I don’t like that but hey, that’s fishing, especially with the fly rod.

And that is the Mercury Rising Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

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

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

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Leader Strength Saltwater Fly Fishing

February 13, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Leader Strength Saltwater Fly Fishing

leader strength saltwater fly fishing

 

This article discusses leader strength saltwater fly fishing.

Into my inbox the other day came the following email-

“What is your choice of LB (sic) test for your fly leader? Why have you selected that wt (sic)?”

My response was, “In saltwater I carry 12, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, and 60 pound fluorocarbon. I use all of them. You need a better question.”

Thinking about this, he did need a better question, but it’s an unsatisfying answer nonetheless. Let’s look at Leader Strength for Saltwater Fly Fishing.

As mentioned on my website, I use two piece big game leaders. On #6 and #7 weight rods my butt section is 30 pound nylon. That does not change. The tippets do. Since it’s winter as I write this, we’ll start there.

Keep in mind that any tippet you choose has to be a compromise between getting bites (thinner is better) and preventing breakoffs (thicker is better). Also keep in mind that what works for me may not work so well for you. Another thing to keep in mind is that windknot you just got cut the line strength 50 percent. Finally, not all fluorocarbon is created equal. My preference is Seaguar blue.

Historically, water in the local lagoons during winter was low and clear. Unless I was targeting big fish (over 20 pounds), the tippet would be a length of 12 pound fluorocarbon. There have been times when I couldn’t get a bite and thought I should lighten the tippet, but man I hate breakoffs.

If I were targeting big fish, black drum or redfish, I would up the tippet to 15 pound fluorocarbon. Again, I don’t want breakoffs.

If I travelled to where there were oysters or barnacles I would use 20 pound fluorocarbon.

To read the rest of this article on leader strength saltwater fly fishing, visit this link…

 

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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Windy Week Fort Myers Fishing Report

February 13, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Windy Week Fort Myers Fishing Report

Fort Myers Fishing Report

Black drum on black redfish worm.

It blew hard most of the week. I went to Fort Myers to fish with my friend Henrique this week, thus the Windy Week Fort Myers Fishing Report.

Upcoming Events- Lots of ’em!
– 2/28-3/5 Wekiva Paint Out. Thirty nationally-renowned artists come here and paint our beautiful scenery for one week. They start painting on Monday, February 29th and continue through Saturday, March 5th.  The event culminates with a Gala at Wekiva Island, an event not to be missed! http://keepseminole.org/event/wekiva-paint-out/
– Ocala Outdoor Expo, 3/5 and 3/6. http://www.ocalaexpo.com/
– Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 5. http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/
– Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, March 6. http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

Blowing My Own Horn Dept.
The new issue of Fly Tyer magazine arrived at the Kumiski home this week. In it was a lovely article about fly fishing in Louisiana, by John Kumiski! It looks goooood. If you read it, your life will be improved by an astonishing 638 percent! As TMQ says, All predictions wrong or your money back.

Fishing!
Sunday it blew like snot. I wrote letters to the manager of the state forest and the commissioner of agriculture. We’ll see what they say.

Monday it blew like snot. I don’t even remember what I did.

Tuesday it blew like snot and was very cold besides. I spent the day at the car dealership getting the chariot repaired. I didn’t like sitting there all day, and I didn’t like spending the money. But the van has not run this well in a long time. Now it’s just awesome.
I tied quite a few flies while sitting there.

Wednesday it blew like snot. I took Susan’s car to the dealer and got it worked on, tying quite a few more flies.

Thursday morning I got up ridiculously early and drove to see Rick. When we got on the water (water temperature 54 degrees) we had a shot in five minutes, a redfish I caught on a black bunny leech. “This is gonna be easy,” I thought. Because of the cold wind (blowing like snot) and clouds I got three more shots all day, hooked one more fish. That fly was a black Matuka, tied on a #4 Mustad 34011. A five pound fish bent the hook out and escaped. Won’t be using those hooks any more for anything other than making earrings.

Fort Myers Fishing Report

Redfish Ricky!

Friday we tried again. It was not blowing like snot! There were no clouds! Eureka!
There were no fish at the first spot. At the second I spotted a big snook, which blew out as the fly touched down. We’d see three more with identical results. I pooched a few more shots before finally getting a red about noon on a black redfish worm. We ended up with a half dozen reds and a black drum, all on the same fly. We were off the water about 3 PM, and then the Friday afternoon fight through traffic to get home.

Rick looked great and it was really good to fish with him again. Thanks, Rick, for an awesome couple of days!

And that is the Windy Week Fort Myers 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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