Not According to Plan Report

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

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

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

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

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

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

The water in the marsh is very low!

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

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

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

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

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

Three of many, close to heartbreaking.

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

Good for Jorge!

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

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

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

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