the spotted tail

Windy Week Fort Myers Fishing Report

February 13, 2016 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Windy Week 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.

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.

Share
|

Keep America Beautiful Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

February 6, 2016 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Keep America Beautiful Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Rodney Smith and I attended the Keep America Beautiful national conference in Orlando on Tuesday, so we have a Keep America Beautiful Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report.

Upcoming Events- Lots of ’em!
– Wekiva Paint Out, 2/28-3/5. 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/

Parents Must Read This
Get a tissue because there will be tears of laughter. http://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/family/25-hysterical-love-notes-from-kids-who-are-just-a-little-too-honest/ss-BBoUcIt

Fishing!
Sunday, a day I usually don’t like to fish, was a lovely day, calm and cloudy, and I did fish. My angler was Dr. Dave Harden of Orlando. We went spin fishing for trout and reds and did pretty well. My lures of choice were the DOA CAL shad and the DOA 3″ Shrimp. Dr. Dave used a 1/8th ounce jig with a 4″ shad tail. A half dozen reds and about 20 trout were boated, several slot fish of each. Sight fishing was difficult due to the clouds but we did sight cast to several fish and caught a few of them. Good day.

Monday Dr. Aubrey Thompson, a fly fisher from Jacksonville, came down for some Mosquito Lagoon fly fishing. It was mostly cloudy with almost no wind and we ran over fish all day, very frustrating. Aubrey got three fish altogether, a nice trout and a couple of rat reds, on a fly he calls the neutralizer http://www.danblanton.com/blog/red-meat-neutralizer-fly-tying-instructions-by-lee-haskin/. We saw quite a few fish but almost all of them were after we ran them over- nary a tailer did we see. Stupid, uncooperative fish! That’s fishin I guess.

Tuesday Rodney and I attended the Keep America Beautiful conference. I knew almost nothing about them but it’s an amazing, important organization. Read the blog I wrote about it here… http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/keep-america-beautiful/

Wednesday- honey-dos! ’nuff said.

Thursday Tammy and I tried to go bass fishing. I say tried to because the 20 mph winds interfered with our boat handling and casting. We gave up fishless after a couple of hours. Tammy said there are shad from the Mullet Lake all the way to SR 50.

Friday’s 20 mph winds and 60 degree high temperature discouraged me from fishing. I thought about shad fishing, but ended up going walking/running through the state forest, on the Florida Trail.

Welcome to the State Forest.

This is what it looked like before.

This is what it looks like now.

Before.

Now. Note the Florida Trail blaze on one of the survivor trees.

Before.

Now. Am I being too sensitive here?

Or do you find this appalling too? Someone is not keeping America beautiful!!!

Someone has clearcut a sizeable section of the woods between Snow Hill Road and Brumley Road. You walk along these nice mud bridges through some lovely woods, right into an ugly wound, a clearcut. What is up with that?
I see some letters being generated, because I’m kind of upset. The Little Big Econ state forest is NOT keeping America beautiful.

And that is the Keep America Beautiful 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.

Share
|

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report · Tagged: little big econ state forest, Mosquito Lagoon, mosquito lagoon fishing report, mosquito lagoon fishing seminar, Mosquito Lagoon redfish, Orlando Area Fishing Report, orlando fishing, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, redfish, seatrout fishing

Keep America Beautiful

February 4, 2016 by john kumiski · 1 Comment

Keep america beautiful!

Keep America Beautiful

Last week a press release came in about the Keep America Beautiful conference. It was being held this week in Orlando. Holy cow, I could go see what this is about! I conscripted long-time friend Rodney Smith to help in the endeavor.

Tuesday morning found us at Lake Buena Vista at the conference. I was hoping for lots of high fashion models in keeping with the Keep America Beautiful theme, but that’s not what they meant and everyone was pretty normal looking.

The first session we went to was about calculating the cost of blight. There’s not much blight in Chuluota but in spite of that it was a great presentation. If you live in a place where there is blight (not hard to find) and you are a conscientious citizen, these folks have developed an easy-to-use on-line tool that you can use to come up with a dollars-and-cents cost of that blight. Then you can use those numbers to convince public officials to attack the problem.

In session. There were concerned people from all over the country.

As it turns out, attacking the problem is far less expensive than ignoring it, both economically and socially. Ignoring blight lowers property values (decreasing tax revenues) and invites crime (raising the costs of providing police and fire services, among others), and has other negative social and economic impacts.
What is blight, you ask? As I understood it from the presentation, blight was anything that lessens the aesthetics of an area- abandoned buildings/vehicles, litter hot spots, graffiti.

Obviously this is a real problem in a lot of places. Keep America Beautiful, far from wringing their hands and whining, is finding practical solutions.

The second presentation I attended was about the state of recycling programs in the US. Recyclers are having tough times right now. Commodity prices are down and making a profit from the recycle stream is difficult for a number of reasons. That glass, paper, metal, and plastic isn’t trash to “dispose of” though- those are valuable resources. All of us need to start thinking of them that way.

The last presentation we went to was on why people litter, why they don’t, and how we can get people to change their disposal behaviors for the better. The presenter has a Ph.D. in psychology and has co-authored a book called Litterology (review to come- so far it’s great).

Did you know there’s a littering continuum? At one end are people who never litter and even pick up other people’s trash. At the other end are people who always litter, like it’s a God-given right. Most of us are in the middle someplace.

Our disposal behavior depends on a wide range of cues, received from other people and also from the environment we find ourselves in. To grossly generalize, most folks tend not to trash clean places but readily trash areas that are already littered, or blighted if you will. I’ll delve into this more in the book review.

Mike Rosen, Senior Vice President of Marketing & Communications for Keep America Beautiful, said to me, “Keep America Beautiful is not in the cleanup business. We’re in the behavior modification business. We try to get people to stop littering, to recycle, to be better citizens.”

So Rodney and I were out of our comfort zones because no one was talking about fishing. They were talking about real problems we all face and how to solve them, an exceedingly worthwhile endeavor. What a great group of outstanding individuals! Mr. Smith and I were both very impressed and glad we went, wishing we could have attended the entire event.

Keep America Beautiful (https://www.kab.org) has local affiliates in Florida. Keep Brevard Beautiful http://keepbrevardbeautiful.org and Keep Indian River Beautiful http://www.kirb.org are two found locally. They are always looking for volunteers for their mission- “to empower individuals to take greater responsibility for community environments by involving volunteers in litter prevention, beautification, recycling, and conservation education.”

Since they work for the common good, they deserve your unwavering support. Please consider joining them. The property values you raise may be your own!

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.

Share
|

Filed Under: Fishing Reports · Tagged: citizens, concerned citizens, keep america beautiful, litter, responsible citizens

Camp-Out Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

January 29, 2016 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Camp-Out Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

The sky can be a wonderful source of entertainment, both day and night. I don’t get to look at the night sky nearly enough. I went solo camping Monday night to do some stargazing, thus the Camp-Out Mosquito Lagoon fishing report.

File photo, Orion by moonlight.

The kayak got launched at River Breeze about 11 AM Monday morning. It was fairly cold, but the sky was clear. While paddling I noticed a bunch of footprints on the bottom (the water is fairly clear). “Those are fish.” The boat was staked out while casts were made to those fish. They ate, and I got several reds, some in the slot, some short. A #2 olive green over white Bucktail Bouncer was the fly of choice. Man, it worked well that day!

They were all over the olive over white Bouncer.

When the action slowed the paddling recommenced. There was a skiff at the next spot, well downwind. The painter was tied around my waist as I started wading and blindcasting the Bouncer. The fish were all over it, both trout and reds, about an equal mix of slot fish and shorties. It was pretty novel getting a bite every few casts, though, quite enjoyable. I considered working the spot again but another skiff came. Back in the kayak, paddling again.

Bouncers drying on the rack.

There were plenty of fish at the next spot, all trout, all short. Did not stay long. The Bouncer, about 20 fish old at this point, was starting to unravel.

The trout liked the fly, too.

Checking another spot, I saw two muds flare up as the kayak passed. I staked it out and started wading, blindcasting. Nothing, nothing, was considering giving up when the line came tight, five pound trout, yes!

Worked the spot for a while longer and got two more nice trout. The mono holding the beads on the fly slipped out of the fly’s head and the beads were lost. Waaahhh! I LIKED that fly!

With the shadows getting long I pointed the kayak toward the campsite http://www.recreation.gov/wildernessAreaDetails.do?page=detail&contractCode=NRSO&parkId=72791. It was close to a spot where several big trout and redfish were observed last week. I worked it hard, but they were all gone.

As it got dark the stars starting winking on. It’s such an awesome time of year for them. Orion. Gemini. Sirius. Aldebaran. The Pleides. I lay there just gazing at the cosmos, listening to the waves on the distant shore. Five satellites crossed my view, and two meteors did, too. It was better than the fishing.

Done sleeping at 5 AM, I got up to do a little more stargazing. The light from an almost-full moon blotted out many stars, but the planets! At one point Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, and Venus were all visible, lined up across the heavens. My God, we live in a fantastic place!

Soon I was paddling under those planets, heading to yesterday’s hot spot. It was just getting light when I started casting. Clouds diffused the sun’s light into a glorious display of colors- purple, bluue, gray, orange, gold, pink. Cast cast cast cast cast cast cast. Nothing. What happened to the fish?

A fox squirrel Bouncer was appreciated, too.

Then the line came tight and all was right with the world. Three nice trout were among the fish that spot produced. No other boats came, and the sun was well up when I saw what looked like tailing fish about 50 yards away. “Probably mullet.” I kept watching though, and finally had to go check it out. They were tailing redfish, at least 15 of them. I got one bite and missed it, and managed to chase them all away.

One of the reds I didn’t miss.

Three other spots were tried without success. Stopping at an old favorite, I staked out the boat and started blind casting. Only one fish bit, but it was the best fish of the trip, a magnificent seatrout about 27 inches long. Another Bouncer was the fly, this one with a fox squirrel wing.

Ha! This was a gorgeous fish.

It had been an incredible trip so far, but on the way back I found some tailing reds and got a couple more. It was the best inshore fishing I’d had since coming back from Alaska, and that includes the trip to Louisiana. Red Hot!

There’s that funny-looking man again.

The rains on Wednesday and Thursday may not have been Biblical but they did make our roof start leaking. Looks like another home improvement project.

Friday was cold and windy. I checked out the St. Johns River from 10 until 1, from Lake Harney to Puzzle Lake. Touched a single fish at the mouth of the Econ. It felt good but it came off quick enough I didn’t know what it was. Talked to Ultra Fly at the boat ramp. He had gotten two shad near Puzzle Lake, “working his butt off” I think he said, adding that the “shad have been really slow.”

The redfish and trout have been hot, though. I have lots of open days- give me a call if you want to catch some fish!

And that is the Camp-Out 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.

Share |

Filed Under: Fishing Reports · Tagged: adventure fishing, florida fishing, kayak fishing, mosquito lagoon fishing report, Mosquito Lagoon redfish, orlando fishing, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, redfish, seatrout fishing

Two Days Kayaking Orlando Fishing Report

January 23, 2016 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Two Days Kayaking Orlando Fishing Report

We had two beautiful days this week, sandwiched between days that were good for web-surfing. I went kayak fly fishing on those two days- the two days kayaking Orlando fishing report.

Interesting Reads for No-Fishing Days
-Could the Internet Out-Evolve Humanity? A thought-provoking essay on our love affair with devices: http://www.iflscience.com/technology/not-so-science-fiction-after-all-internet-could-out-evolve-humanity

-Got Sunscreen? The Melanoma Foundation wants to keep you from getting skin cancer. They say, Practice Safe Skin! And to help, they are giving away sunscreen dispensers, putting their money where their mouths are. Learn more at http://mfne.org/practice-safe-skin/

-The FWC Confirming Spawning Redfish. Redfish spawn in east central Florida’s lagoons. And the FWC is collecting evidence! It’s an interesting read- http://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/fish/red-drum/telemetry/

Fishing!
Atrocious weather on Monday kept me home. Tuesday afternoon was cold and windy, Since I had to get out I mounted the bicycle and went for a lovely ride in the woods, flushing a flock of about a dozen turkeys. I’d never seen them all fly off before, pretty amazing stuff.

Wednesday found me launching the kayak in the Indian River Lagoon. The birds (and the day itself) were fantastic, coots and eagles and ibis and herons and egrets and more. The fish, well, not so much, but I did get a trout and a redfish using a black bucktail bendback.

The trout on the black bucktail bendback.

Still, days like that are worth being out fishing on even if the fish don’t bite so well. The fish were gorgeous, too.

File photo of a redfish like the one I caught. Who knows? Maybe it’s the same fish.

Thursday morning I launched at River Breeze. The water is still too high for really successful kayak fishing, but the water is clean up there for the most part!

Remember this? It’s seagrass, and there is still some growing near Oak Hill.

Although cloudier than the previous day it was pretty spectacular again. Between 9 AM and about 230 PM I ran over a dozen or so fish, had a couple half-baked shots, and got one rat red. Between 230 and 4, when I packed it in, I had shots at a couple tailers, got three nice reds and a half dozen trout to four pounds.

This was the last and nicest fish of the day.

Those cold days are always better in the afternoon. If I didn’t have to cook supper I would have stayed until dark.

This sweetheart took a surface fly, a white Gurgler. The gill tear was a pre-existing condition. The fish swam off apparently none the worse for our encounter.

I had been working on an article about Bouncer flies for Fly Tyer magazine. The nasty weather Friday let me finish it and get it sent off.

And that is the Two Days Kayaking 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.

Share
|

Filed Under: Fishing Reports · Tagged: adventure fishing, florida fishing, florida fishing tips, fly fishing, Indian River Lagoon, kayak fishing, mosquito lagoon fishing report, Mosquito Lagoon redfish, orlando fishing, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, redfish, seatrout fishing

Three Days Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

January 15, 2016 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Three Days Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

We fished three days on the Mosquito Lagoon this week, thus the Mosquito Lagoon Fishing report. The good news is that the cold weather caused the water temperature to drop, which is causing the water to clear somewhat. The bad news is the shocking loss of seagrass, which has to profoundly (and negatively) affect the productivity of the lagoon.

The Video Room-
Capt. Carol LeCompte of Reelivin Charters in Empire Louisiana sent me an email with this video clip-

This is very cool and well worth watching.

Robert Ridgeway sent me an email with this video clip-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2u9YcNGmoA
This is ridiculous, something a truck fisherman would use. Fish aren’t using technology to escape from us.

Upcoming Events
-Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival- the largest birding and wildlife festival in the United States! January 20-25 at Eastern Florida State College – Titusville campus, 1311 North US 1, Titusville. http://www.spacecoastbirdingandwildlifefestival.org

Fishing!
As reported last week, Sunday, instead of watching playoff football I had a boat full of Chinese men out on Mosquito Lagoon. They LOVED the Deadly Combo. They caught a lot of trout, and ended getting eleven legal fish, no big ones, 15-18 inch trout. They had a great time, and so did I.

Monday Chris Webber and his buddy Tim met me at about 1 PM at Parrish Park. They were playing hooky from a conference for an afternoon. Chris showed up in shorts and flip-flops in spite of the fact it was 54 degreees and windy. Dress for the weather, not your fantasy! He was lucky I had my rain bibs with me. The dropping water temperature and hard NE wind did not bode well for angling success, and in fact, they only got one small fish each, Tim a redfish, Chris a seatrout. DOA CAL Shad was the lure- we did not even pull out the fly rod.

My friend Capt. Tom Van Horn just bought a pretty new Hewes Redfisher and on Wednesday he took me out for a spin. The morning was way too cold for me, and apparently for the fish, too. We did not get a bite until after 10 AM.

We looked inside Tiger Shoal. The bottom was almost bare, no seagrass. No fish either.

We looked inside some of the spoil islands. The bottom was almost bare, no seagrass. No fish, either.

Tom hit a short red using a jig. Then I hit a nice one, about seven pounds, on the DOA CAL Shad, followed up shortly afterwards by a fairly nice trout. We got a few more small trout in a couple of different places, and then at 1 PM called it a day.

Nice trout on a cold, gray day.

The lure was a three inch DOA CAL Shad.

Thursday Weldon and Joe Walshe, father and son, and their friend Dave joined me for some spin fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. They did pretty well all things considered, getting 15 or so trout to about 22 inches, and a half dozen redfish too. We actually were able to sight fish some of the reds, what a novel approach! Lures of choice were the three inch DOA CAL Shad and 1/8 ounch Johnson Minnow in both gold and silver. They were happy and so was I.

Dave got the fish of the day on a 1/8 ounce Johnson Minnow.

The CAL Shad did some damage, too.

Friday I was supposed to bag oyster shells at the Brevard Zoo but a deluge caused a cancellation of the program. I wrote a fishing report instead.

And that is the Three Days 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.

Share
|

Filed Under: Fishing Reports ·

Seatrout Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

January 11, 2016 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Seatrout Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Seatrout like this are the main subject of this week’s Mosquito Lagoon Fishing report.

Unrelated to fishing but supercool, read about the entire universe captured in a single image here…

Fishing!
My honey-dos, although not completely finished, temporarily wrapped up Thursday about noon. FINALLY! I hitched the trailer of the Bang-O-Craft to the van and drove to the Kennedy Point ramp, cautiously optimistic.

The water looked like s–t.

I rode around the Indian RIver Lagoon for two hours looking for some reasonably clean water, without success. Places that were crystal clear a few weeks ago were horribly dirty now. I did not even pick up a fishing rod, put the boat back on the trailer, and drove home.

Friday I went to the Mosquito Lagoon for some serious scouting. The water there is still pretty dirty but way better than the IRL. That water is still unseasonably high. I guess with the ice caps melting I should get used to the new normal.

I saw a few reds, even a couple tailers, did not get one. Saw another boat get a couple, though, just beating the shoreline blindly.

Using my fish finder, the DOA Deadly Combo, I found trout in several places. About one in six was a legal fish, although I released everything. It was encouraging to see a few reds and to catch quite a few trout.
To flush the motor I stopped at CS Lee Park on the way home. Reid Martin was there. He had gotten five shad in the St. Johns, up near Puzzle Lake, along with a four pound largemouth that took his shad fly. Good to see some shads showing up!

Saturday I went scouting again, using the Mitzi, bringing a childhood friend along, Mr. Kevin Linehan. Kevin was never much of a fisherman, so he just went for the ride and to get out. We had some good reminisces!

Blind casting with the 3″ DOA CAL Shad I got a few reds. I wouldn’t call it hot fishing but if you work it you might get a few. The trout on the Deadly Combo was a pretty sure thing, though. We kept one for Kevin’s dinner.

Saturday night my phone rang. Qi Guojung wanted me to take him and his friends fishing the next morning. Sure thing!

So Sunday, instead of watching playoff football I had a boat full of Chinese men out on Mosquito Lagoon. Due to a language barrier we didn’t converse much, although they certainly talked a lot. But I couldn’t understand them. They LOVED the Deadly Combo. They caught a lot of trout, and ended getting eleven legal fish, no big ones, 15-18 inch trout. They had a great time, and so did I. Xia xia!

And that is the Seatrout 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.

Share
|

Filed Under: Fishing Reports · Tagged: DOA Lures, Indian River Lagoon, mosquito lagoon fishing report, Orlando Area Fishing Report, orlando fishing, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, seatrout fishing

Happy New Year Orlando No Fishing Report

January 1, 2016 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Happy New Year Orlando No Fishing Report

Sincere wishes to everyone for a happy, healthy, prosperous, and fish-filled New Year. It was an unusual week, with no fishing. Hopefully the coming week, and year, will be better.

Upcoming Events

-Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival- the largest birding and wildlife festival in the United States! January 20-25 at Eastern Florida State College – Titusville campus, 1311 North US 1, Titusville. http://www.spacecoastbirdingandwildlifefestival.org

Fishing!

My bride is on winter break from school. That means it’s time for honey-dos! And they have multiplied like an avalanche.

Tuesday we came home from Home Depot when I noticed that a piece of the wood frame around the upstairs bathroom window had some rot. I went up to fix it. It turns out the rot went through the frame, through the cedar siding behind it, through the plywood sheath, and very nearly through the 2×4 studs that support the wall.

This was an ugly discovery.

There was lots of decay.

The front of the house was torn apart.

Ken Klug and his crew showed up yesterday and performed some amazing surgery, ripping out all the decayed wood and repairing the damage. The drywall in the bathroom still needs to be replaced, but the house exterior looks better than new. It needs to be painted, this afternoon’s task.

The crew at work.

The bathroom as it currently stands.

The scene of the crime, ready for primer.

Inside I’ve been installing doors and fans, removing panelling, repairing ceilings, and other things that are not as much fun as fishing. The new panelling is supposed to get here today but won’t, so the end of the month of honey-dos is not yet in sight.

I got an email from my friend Dalen-

“I haven’t been fishing much because I can’t see NUTHIN! In 2 feet of water I can’t see the end of my brush that’s at the end of my pole. And, with rare exceptions, I don’t see much on the surface. With the whopping 7 or 8 reds that I have caught, all but two (both tailers) I’ve caught up close to shore lines.

“I have not launched any place other than #5 and have gone south most of the time to high water and incredibly cloudy.”

Somewhere out there are some fish waiting to get caught.

And that is the Happy New Year Orlando No 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.

Share
|

Filed Under: Fishing Reports ·

Merry Christmas Orlando Fishing Report

December 25, 2015 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Merry Christmas Orlando Fishing Report

Merry Christmas to everyone, and sincere wishes for a happy, healthy, prosperous, and fish-filled New Year. I appreciate all of you who read my blog every week! It was an unusual week, with only one day fishing, but this is the Merry Christmas Orlando Fishing report.

Upcoming Events

Sport Fishing magazine on-line has published a photo essay of our trip to Louisiana. See it here…

Fishing!

My bride is on winter break from school. That means it’s time for honey-dos! And that’s how I spent Monday.

Tuesday morning found me at the dermatologist. She froze some pre-cancerous yuck off of my face, using liquid nitrogen. If you spend a lot of time in the sun, you might want to consider a trip to the dermatologist.

The rest of the day was spent on honey-dos.

Wednesday Todd Preuss Ph.D., joined me for a day of fly fishing on the Econlockhatchee. Winter time is not the greatest time to fish there. And in truth, the morning started of slowly. Todd was using a gurgler, while I tossed a Matuka. We each had several missed strikes.

The red bellies were biting steadily. This size popper did the trick.

We changed to little bluegill poppers, made by Steve Davenport. The fish started coming steadily.

Todd got the biggest fish of the day.

We each got the sunfish slam (bluegill, redbelly, stumpknocker) and several bass as well. There were no bigger fish, the largest being about a foot long, but the numbers were there. We got somewhere around 40 fish altogether. It was an awesome day, and we both had a great time!

The bass hit the little poppers, too.

Thursday morning was more honey-dos, but Alex and his friend took a canoe down the Econlockhatchee. They had the same type fishing that we did, lots of sunfish, a few bass.

And that is the Merry Christmas 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 2015. All rights are reserved.

Share
|

Filed Under: Fishing Reports ·

Two Redfish Orlando Fishing Report

December 18, 2015 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Two Redfish Orlando Fishing Report

Yes, we did fish this week, three days. No, we did not catch a lot of fish. We got a total of two redfish, thus the Two Redfish Orlando Fishing report.

Upcoming Events

-Brevard County Oyster Restoration- the Brevard Oyster Restoration Project has an ongoing need for volunteers. If you care about the health of the Indian River Lagoon, this is a way to show it. Nothing we can do for water quality in the lagoon will be more valuable then restoring water filtration into this ecosystem. I’m signed up for January 15, and hope to see some of you there. http://brevardoystergardens.org/volunteer/?sheet_id=24

A GREAT Idea- You know about electricity, but what about ‘hydricity?’

The new word in solar energy is “hydricity.”

An international team of scientists has come up with a way that can make solar power a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week energy source: Combining the power of the sun with clean-burning hydrogen fuel.

Hydricity combines hydrogen production with a solar thermal power plant’s utility-scale electricity production. During the day excess electricity is used to produce hydrogen by running an electric current through water.

The hydrogen that is produced during the day would be used at night to produce electricity through highly efficient fuel cells that emit water vapor. The technology would be crucial for countries looking to increase reliance on solar energy in the wake of last week’s climate deal in Paris.

The scientists, from Purdue University and Switzerland’s Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne, say the process they are pitching can produce hydrogen at an efficiency of 50 percent and electricity at an unprecedented 46 percent efficiency.

“The concept provides an exciting opportunity to envision and create a sustainable economy to meet all the human needs including food, chemicals, transportation, heating and electricity,” said Rakesh Agrawal from Purdue. “Traditionally, electricity production and hydrogen production have been studied in isolation, and what we have done is synergistically integrate these processes while also improving them.”

The group’s work has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. I hope it works!

——————

Clean Water

It’s incredibly sad that I am the only fishing guide in Florida to have signed this letter… Where are my colleagues on this???

—————–

Another Blogger

Not to be outdone by me, Mike Conneen has published a real nice blog about our trip to Louisiana, at this link…

—————–

Fishing!

In spite of the fact the gauge read 1.6 I tried kayak fishing again in Mosquito Lagoon on Tuesday. Within the first ten minutes I saw fin tips barely breaking the surface right against the shoreline. I dropped the fly (the same Bouncer Fly I was using last week) in front of him and twitched it once. The fish struck so hard it pulled the rod out of my hand, something that has never happened to me before.

The Bouncer Fly. Click on the image for more information!

I got it anyway! Never panic! It was a handsome redfish, seven or eight pounds. No photos- the world does not need more selfies of me with a redfish, at least not this week.

I got to the spot I wanted to check. The water was the color of butterscotch. It was a short check.

I went back where I got the first fish and explored around. I had three good shots. One fish spooked off the fly. One fish either didn’t see it or was completely disinterested, as there was no response whatsoever. The last one ate the fly and I got him too, a clone of the first one. Did not photograph him either. So I got two fine redfish on a Bouncer Fly, not bad for a cloudy, windy day with high, dirty water.

Wednesday about noon found me launching the kayak in the Econlockhatchee. Someone, probably the river itself, dropped a gum tree all the way across the river just downstream of the bridge. How inconvenient.

I tossed that Bouncer Fly for two hours without a touch. Nothing was moving. The whole place just looked dead. I thought about it a while, and decided to bag it. No sooner had I started back then I ran over a bass.

I cut the streamer off and tied on a gurgler. Five seperate fish made attempts to eat the counterfeit. This reporter missed all of them, although I believe four of them were sunfish. Since I had to cook dinner, the ‘yak was back on the chariot at 4 PM. The whole episode reeked skunkily, I say.

Thursday morning found me and Tammy launching the Mitzi at Mullet Lake Park, Tammy’s favorite early season shad spot. Whether we were too early or too late I don’t know, but there were no shad there. There was not much else that was biting either, although we saw quite a few big gar. In four hours we got one redbelly between us. Tammy got it on a white crappie jig. I was skunked again, second straight day. Ouch.

This noble fish kept the skunk off of Tammy. I, however, reeked again.

And that is the Two Redfish 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 2015. All rights are reserved.

Share
|Related articles

‘Hydricity’ concept uses solar energy to produce power round-the-clock

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Flies and Fly Tying, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: adventure fishing, Econlockhatchee River, fly fishing, kayak fishing, mosquito lagoon fishing report, Mosquito Lagoon redfish, Orlando Area Fishing Report, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, redfish

the spotted tail

Windy Week Fort Myers Fishing Report

Windy Week Fort Myers Fishing Report

Keep America Beautiful Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Keep America Beautiful Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Keep America Beautiful

Keep America Beautiful

Camp-Out Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Camp-Out Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Two Days Kayaking Orlando Fishing Report

Two Days Kayaking Orlando Fishing Report

Three Days Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Three Days Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Seatrout Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Seatrout Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Happy New Year Orlando No Fishing Report

Happy New Year Orlando No Fishing Report

Merry Christmas Orlando Fishing Report

Merry Christmas Orlando Fishing Report

Two Redfish Orlando Fishing Report

Two Redfish Orlando Fishing Report

Recent Comments

Archives