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Kayak Redfishing This Week- Indian River-Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

November 15, 2011 by ·

The Indian River-Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 11/15/11

The gauge was at 1.5 all last week. I like it at 0.5 or lower, especially for paddle fishing. It has dropped the past couple days, though- good news!

Why paddle all week? I had a kayak charter on Friday. Scouting was needed. Besides, I really like paddling.

Wednesday found me at one of my favorite paddle spots on the Indian River Lagoon. Of course the water was too high. That’s been a recurring theme. The water was also very dark. I lost sight of the paddle blade about halfway down. And it was windy, out of the north. Then just to complete the picture, it got overcast.

In spite of all that there were fish blowing up along the shoreline.

I couldn’t see them, even when I tried wading. They kept spooking off of me. After changing flies five times I finally had one eat on a Mosquito Lagoon Special. I was so surprised I pooched it. That was the extent of my catching.

Thursday found me at a different spot on the IRL. The water was still high and dirty but the wind was less, and it was gloriously sunny. The bird life was rich and varied, and there were loads of mullet around. But in three hours of paddling I saw zero fish, although I ran over two. Didn’t even make a cast.

My trip Friday was an afternoon half day. A front came through Thursday night, dropping the water temperature to 67 from 71, not a good thing. The wind was blowing 20 out of the north. The water level dropped to 1.3, a little lower but still too high. At least the sun was out!

When I left the house I still didn’t know where we were going to fish. We (Patrick Gallagher, a fine Irish-American lad) ended up launching at Eddy Creek, fishing the north side. The water was very green and ridiculously high. I wondered after we got there if the wind hadn’t piled up the water at the south end of the lagoon. If so I certainly erred going there.

We rounded the point and fought the wind up into Galinipper Basin. We had a nice lee shoreline at the north end. Patrick was tossing a Johnson Minnow, mostly catching grass. We saw a minnow skip and he dropped the spoon there, I mean right now. A fish bit and he pulled in a nice flounder. It was the only fish (other than mullet) that we saw, and we were out until sunset.

Saturday I was part of a two boat trip with Capt. John Turcot. We picked up our anglers at 9AM at JB’s Fish Camp, giving the air a chance to warm first.

My anglers were Nadim and Terry. As their daughter says, “My dad is from Iraq and my mom’s from Arkansas!” Needless to say it was an interesting and entertaining day. They were a wonderful couple.

The weather was outstanding. We began searching shorelines and lo and behold- there were redfish working them. Our first was a little 12 inch rat, caught on a piece of mullet, as were all of our fish.

Shortly, Nadim hooked an in-the-slot red. Unfortunately for the fish, it never made it out of my boat alive.

Nadim the engineer with his redfish dinner on the fin.

Terry’s red came into the boat a while later. It joined Nadim’s fish in my cooler.

The second half of the redfish dinner, this one served up by Terry.

Once Terry realized that she couldn’t keep any more fish, she didn’t want to fish any more. I was able to use almost an hour of our time to scout for the next day’s trip.

When I cleaned the fish one of them had an empty stomach. The other had a fairly large (for the size of the fish that is) blue crab in it.

When I washed the boat I also washed the cooler. I forgot to put it back in the van and left it at the car wash. Dang!

John Turcot and his family could use some prayers for those of you who have some to spare.

Sunday morning I met Joseph Modrano, an angler from Seattle, at River Breeze. We mounted up on the Mitzi and went forth seeking the elusive red drum. Again, the weather was outstanding.

We fished about a half dozen spots over the course of the day. The water at the north end of the lagoon is way cleaner than at the south end, and actually looks just like it’s supposed to in many places. We found fish everywhere we looked except for one spot.

Joseph battles and photographs at the same time. And people say men can't multitask.

Again, all the fish we caught were in the slot, actually, towards the lower end. We’re not seeing six and eight pound fish. I don’t mind the smaller fish, heck, it’s way better than it had been! But I want to find some bigger fish too.

Joseph Modrano. Redfish. A good combination.

I was also encouraged to see quite a few seatrout. They took a severe beating in that winter freeze a couple years ago. It’s good to see some decent ones up on the flats.

Modrano used a Johnson Silver Minnow all day. He was pretty darn good with it, and he had never been sight fishing before. We pretty much had shots all day long, putting four or five fish in the boat. All managed to make it out alive.

Monday I had the pleasure of fishing Capt. Chris Myers, one of my favorite people to fish with. We launched at River Breeze and fished north of Georges Bar. Again the weather was superb. The water had dropped a few more inches, we found lots of clean water, and saw good numbers of fish all day long. We actually caught several redfish while using those dangfangled fly poles, Myers with a black Redfish Worm and me with a small (#4) tan crabby, shrimpy looking thing.

In the afternoon after the breeze kicked in Myers switched to a spin pole and proceeded to get a few more using a three inch DOA Shrimp. It was an outstanding day.

The week started kind of slow but picked up a good head of steam. The water is slowly dropping, clean water is available, and there are fish around. They are eating. It’s an encouraging trend. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Mosquito Lagoon Redfishing- Returning to Normal?

November 8, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Mosquito Lagoon Redfishing Report from Spotted Tail 11/7/11

We needed to scout on Monday, having been away for two weeks. Rain poured down most of the day. We didn’t go.

Tuesday an east wind of 20-25 met me at the ramp. Still the sun was out, so off I went.

I actually found some fish. The water had dropped since my last visit and in a few places it showed signs of clearing up a bit. Redfish were working along a few shorelines. I tried fishing while simultaneously poling. Never easy to do, it’s even harder when the wind is howling. Still, tossing a Johnson Minnow, I got three bites and put a slot red in the boat (released it).

I was supposed to be scouting, not fishing, so I stopped fishing and continued looking. I didn’t see much anywhere else.

Wednesday Mike, Tom, and Gunther joined me looking for some redfish on spin action. The water had come up a couple inches, but the fish were still where I had left them- cruising the bank, crashing minnows, even saw a couple tailers.

Mike got the first red on a DOA CAL shad tail. The fish was almost under the bow of the boat when Mike stuck him. I haven’t had one bite so close to the boat in years. It was quite extraordinary. It wasn’t a big one, 22 inches or so, but it was a redfish and I was darned glad to see it come aboard. It posed for a photo and was released.

This apparently suicidal redfish took the lure right at the bow of the Mitzi skiff.

Mike had the hot hand, as a while later he made a beautiful cast in front of a cruising fish. The fish ate the CAL tail and a few minutes later 25 inches of redfish was being photographed. It was also released.

The DOA CAL shad tail, detailed to show rigging.

We had several other shots which were not converted and our half day ended much too quickly.

Thursday I cruised the wildlife refuge looking for gremlins that might booger up the show and tell. The main one was that all the dike roads except the Gator Creek- Peacock Pocket road are closed, even Biolab.

Friday Nick Colantonio and John Carnacchia (spelling probably wrong on that name), fly fishers from Tampa, joined me for some redfishing in the Mosquito Lagoon. The water was a foot higher (see the graph here) and two degrees cooler than it was on Tuesday. The wind was again fairly howling, this time from the west.

The fish were NOT cruising shorelines, and believe me we looked. After four hours we had seen four fish and only had a shot at one of them. We came to a small hole in the area where I had been seeing the fish on Wednesday. “Would you guys indulge me for 15 minutes?” I asked.

After staking out the boat I chucked two pieces of mullet containing circle hooks into the hole. I asked Nick to let me know when 15 minutes was up.

At six minutes one of the rods went off and John reeled in a slot red. We released it and set the baits again. Six minutes later one of the rods went off and Nick reeled in a slot red. We released it and set the baits out again. Fifteen minutes went by without another bite so we pulled the lines in and went fly fishing again.

We ran over a few fish but the water was too deep and dirty for us to see them until they blew out. Nick got one shot at the end of the day but the fish spooked off the fly. With that we wrapped up a tough day.

Saturday we had the show and tell and Sunday the on-the-water show and tell. Both went well. Wish you’d been there!

Today son Alex and I went redfishing together. Actually Alex fished and I poled. The water is even higher than it was on Friday and it is still rising. We had a couple half baked shots, the kind where you try to make a hurried nine foot cast. The water is too high and dirty for sightfishing. Hopefully it will drop some this week. We need a west wind to blow some water offshore!

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Canoe Camping at Canaveral National Seashore

November 3, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Thanksgiving hurtles towards us. This holiday kicks off Florida’s finest camping season.

At the north end of the Mosquito Lagoon a labyrinth of islands, channels, and shallow ponds hosts loads of  wading birds, dolphins, redfish, and seatrout. Canaveral National Seashore administers a dozen National Park Service campsites here. Accessible only by water, these are “wilderness” sites. A few have a fire grate and a picnic table. The others have space for your tents, and that’s about it.

A spectacular sunrise over the Mosquito lagoon.

I’ve gone camping here by canoe and kayak many times over the years. While sometimes the fishing hasn’t been good, other times it has been outstanding. Either way, I always have an enjoyable time.

A Typical Trip
Obtain the necessary camping permit from Canaveral National Seashore, Turtle Mound station. Launch your boats at River Breeze Park in Oak Hill, or at Turtle Mound on the east side of the lagoon.

After dinner roast marshmallows and watch the sun set. After it gets dark you can stargaze for hours. During the winter months Orion (the easiest of all constellations to recognize), Gemini, Taurus, and Canis Major are all clearly visible. Sirius, in Canis Major, is the brightest star in the sky! If you’re lucky you’ll see satellites, or a meteor streaking across the heavens. You certainly don’t get to see meteors every day.

A lovely Mosquito Lagoon sunset, from a different vantage on a different day.

After breakfast go fishing. Fishing being fishing, sometimes it’s great and sometimes you’ll get skunked. But the wading birds will be thick. You will see pelicans, ospreys, and maybe a bald eagle, and dolphins are commonly encountered. If you don’t catch any fish, cook some hot dogs over a blazing campfire. When you roast a wiener on a stick over an open fire, they are as good as hot dogs can be!

A Warning
You can expect raccoons to visit your campsite while you’re here. Make sure to pack your food in raccoon proof containers. A hard plastic cooler with a rope tied around it works well. On one trip we left our s’mores fixings in a shopping bag, unattended on a table, for less than five minutes. A raccoon quickly found and tried to steal the bag. The chocolate and crackers fell out as he ran off, but he made a successful getaway with all of our marshmallows.

A Quick Look at the Fishing
The most common gamefish here are redfish and seatrout. A ten pound spinning outfit is appropriate. Effective lures include soft plastic jerkbaits, weedless gold spoons, and small popping plugs. The area is shallow with a lot of grass, so weedless lures are a must. Popular natural baits include shrimp and cut mullet. Small crabs can also be effective.

A younger Maxx casts to a redfish in the Mosquito Lagoon.

I kayak fish this area a lot, ordinarily using fly tackle. The preferred technique is to paddle along shorelines, searching for fish to which to cast the fly. Particularly during the cooler months (when camping is most enjoyable) fishing for both reds and seatrout can be excellent.

On the very first camping trip my boys and I made here we paddled over a school of at least 200 redfish. We continued on to our campsite and dropped off our gear, then went right back to where the fish were. Between us we got a dozen fish, many on fly tackle. If you spend some time hunting for fish here usually you will find some.

Redfish this size are quite typical of what you will find here.

Florida saltwater fishing laws apply here. If you choose to fish you will need a saltwater fishing license.

Nuts and Bolts
Canaveral National Seashore lies northeast of Orlando about one hour’s drive. To camp there you must obtain a permit (fee required) from their office at Turtle Mound, on Florida route A1A south of New Smyrna Beach. They accept reservations by telephone one week in advance, and especially during the busy spring season reservations are strongly recommended.

Their website URL is http://www.nps.gov/cana/. Click on the “Activities” button. Then click on the “camping” button to see their camping brochure. The phone number at the Turtle Mound station for more information about camping or reservations is 386-428-3384 Ext. 10.

The different campsites have varying capacities. Some sites, like the two on Orange Island, can fit three small tents maximum. Others, like the spoil island campsites, could hold 20 or more people. Remember, these are unimproved sites with no fresh water, electricity, or toilet facilities. If you don’t bring what you need you won’t have it out there.

Another point to keep in mind is that adjacent to Canaveral National Seashore is the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. No camping is allowed here at any time. So if you intend to camp on a spoil island in the Mosquito Lagoon, be sure to find the right one.

While this piece emphasizes paddling to the campsites, there are no restrictions on motor vessel use here. You can easily use a boat with a motor to gain access to any of the CNS campsites, or to go fishing. You will still need the national park service permit to camp, of course.

The Mosquito Lagoon wasn’t named on a whim. The bugs can be nasty when the weather is warm, so the best time to camp is from about Thanksgiving through about Easter. The prudent camper will bring bug spray at whatever time of year they camp, anywhere in Florida.

Remember to bring sunblock and plenty of water. Have fun, and enjoy your trip!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Everglades, Naples Fishing Report

October 29, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Everglades, Naples Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 10/30/11

Upcoming Events- Last call! Show and Tell seminar on November 5 and 6. The 6th will be an on the water seminar. Details and the signup are now posted at this link- http://www.spottedtail.com/category/Schools-and-Seminars-13.

The Florida Fishing Road Trip- Installment 2

October 27
Dear Diary-
On the 25th we got up early and drove off of Sugarloaf Key at 6 am. Our destination- Flamingo, Everglades National Park.

We got there a little after 10 am, and launched the boat in the Buttonwood Canal. We ran to the entrance to Mud Lake, dropped the canoe in the water, and paddled through the creek into the lake. We were hoping to find snook.

Running through the Buttonwood Canal.

The water was high. It’s always dirty in there. So sight fishing was again going to be difficult.

We saw a redfish right away as it blew out when we ran it over. A while later Alex spotted a red, close to the canoe. Using a four weight TFO he smartly dropped a small chartreuse Clouser Minnow right in front of it and BAM, he’s on. Darn nice work by Alex.

Alex fights a redfish in Mud Lake. Look at the color of the water.

A short time later a crash along the shore indicated the presence of another fish. As it turned out there were two. They were swimming away, but Alex threw the Clouser in front of them and one immediately jumped on it for redfish number two.

Sight fishing in the high, stained water worked well enough for a couple of these.

We didn’t see anything else in Mud Lake.

We paddled through the creek into Bear Lake. Fish were crashing at the entrance. We got a couple ladyfish, again on the Clouser.

Paddling down the lake yielded no chances at snook or reds. Some baby tarpon were rolling. We changed to the baby tarpon gurglers. In spite of missing a bunch we got four between us, including a tarpon double, on fly. Nice! Yes, they were micro-tarpon, but they are still tarpon, my favorite fish. And we got them on surface flies. So we counted the trip as a success.

Your intrepid blogger got this micro-tarpon on a gurgler.

Alex also used a gurgler to get this slightly larger specimen.

On the way back through Mud Lake Alex was blind casting along the mangroves and that chartreuse Clouser got him a little snook. So he got two reds, two tarpon, and a snook on fly in one day, certainly some kind of Everglades slam.

The snook was small but it completed the slam, all on fly.

We camped in Flamingo that night. The mosquitoes were thick. But the stars were beautiful. We saw two satellites. Fireflies flashed intermittently. We were asleep by eight thirty. I slept like a log. Man, I miss camping.

On the 26th we fished some ponds behind Cape Sable. The water was really high and dirty. I spotted a redfish working some mangrove roots and Alex got it on that same Clouser. It was the only shot we would have.

We got back to Flamingo about four thirty, loaded the gear up, and headed to Fort Myers. The drive was fortunately uneventful.

Today we launched the boat at a public ramp near Wiggins Pass. Once on the Gulf we headed south. The hope was that diving birds would give away the location of feeding Spanish mackerel and little tunny.

The hope was not realized. Plenty of bait, plenty of birds, no fish.

Along the beach were loads of mullet, oddly enough swimming north. We hoped to find tarpon with them but what we found were blacktip sharks. Several bit the mullet we tossed at them, and Alex got one of 50 pounds or so to the boat. With the exception of a couple of ladyfish and a small jack it was all we would catch.

There were lots of sharks like this blacktip, right along the beach.

Blacktips are magnificent animals.

Reach in there and get that expensive hook out, will you?

I’d never been to this section of the Florida coast. It was quite nice and I would like to visit again.

October 28
Dear Diary-
Last night Rick took us to Café Brazil. They have Brahma and Antarctica now! I had Alex try both. Alex and I had muqueca. It was so delicious. Sometimes I miss Bahia, I’ll tell you.

The last day of our trip is here. Alex sleeps while I write this. Our intent is to head to Sarasota and see if the little tunny are along the beach there. It’s on the way home.

The weather forecast today is iffy at best. A tropical storm churns in the Gulf, headed this way. So if it’s pouring the deal is off. We can only go out there and see.

October 29
Dear Diary-
An anticlimax. We got to Sarasota and it was pouring water from the sky. I was all for going out anyway but Alex would hear none of that. So we drove home, cleaned up the car and boats, and put stuff away. The trip was over.

A day later it’s still raining. Alex made the right call.

Next week- back to the lagoons!

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Water Still Dirty in Mosquito Lagoon- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

October 8, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 10/9/11

Upcoming Events- Show and Tell seminar on November 5 and 6. The 6th will be an on the water seminar. Details and the signup are now posted at this link- http://www.spottedtail.com/category/Schools-and-Seminars-13.

In the wee hours of Monday morning son Alex and I climbed into the chariot and drove to new Smyrna Beach. We launched the boat at about 2 AM. The tide was high, and slack.
Our plan was to visit lit docks and fish them. We didn’t have much success at first, but then the water started moving.

On one hand it seems strange that one dock will have fish boiling all around it when nearby docks have nothing, but that’s always how fishing is. So it was this night.

We hardly kicked fish butt. We got many undersized trout, many ladyfish. Alex got a rat red and I got a decent sized bluefish. We used DOA CAL jigs and 3″ DOA Glo Shrimp. Nothing photo-worthy came aboard. Everything was released.

After it got light we caught a few mullet and ran out of the inlet. It was too rough to ride around, so we just anchored near the tip of the north jetty. There were redfish there. Using mullet chunks we caught two decent ones in an hour and saw several other people catch some too.

If you want to soak bait there are quite a few fish like this at Ponce Inlet right now.

The mullet are supposed to be running. I’d like to know where they all are.

On Wednesday Luiz, Sergio, and Messias, all from Sao Paulo, joined me for a day’s fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. We tried fishing with lures. We tried fishing with bait. We caught nothing other than three catfish. The water is still dreadfully dirty. You can’t see anything.

Finally I anchored at the jetty at Haulover Canal. Soaking mullet chunks there we got two redfish in about three hours, very slow fishing. At least we weren’t skunked!

Luiz got this nice redfish. You can see how dirty the water is.

They were fun guys to be around and I certainly needed to brush up on my Portugues.

On Friday Dr. George Yarko joined me. The forecast was for hard east winds. Holy cow, it was correct! We anchored at the west end of the Haulover Canal and soaked mullet chunks for four hours, chewing the fat the entire time.

There were lots of dolphins around. There were lots of manatees around. Apparently yacht season has started. Out of the wind it was a lovely morning.

We did not see many mullet. This time of year they should be everywhere you look. We did not catch anything other than one over-aggressive sting ray. We left at noon.

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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On-Location Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Seminar Upcoming

October 4, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

My next Mosquito Lagoon/Indian River Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar is on November 5.

Show and Tell Seminars are all-day fishing seminars that take place in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, with the express goal of helping you catch more and bigger fish in the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoons.

Learn how to catch reds like this bruiser in the Mosquito lagoon and Indian River Lagoon.

We traverse (in vehicles) the dike roads along the margins of the lagoon system. We stop repeatedly to discuss locations, tactics, and techniques for fishing for redfish, seatrout, and other species found in the lagoon system. We cover knots, rods, reels, lines, lures, and baits, as well as how to fish those lures and baits. We visit all the open boat ramps, canoe/kayak launches, and wading access points in the wildlife refuge. I show you where to fish, and tell you how to fish it!

Seatrout like this one are common catches in the Mosquito Lagoon if you know how.

You will learn more in one day during this popular seminar than you could in a year on your own!

Here’s what attendees at past seminars had to say:

“I just wanted to write and thank you again for the seminar on Saturday. It would have taken me at least a year of scouting to learn what we did in nine hours from you, and that’s just the information on when and where to catch fish. The instruction on techniques and tackle would take years of experimentation to learn on my own!” -Steve Crowder

“I want to thank you for a very interesting seminar! I learned a great deal about our resident redfish, and can’t wait to apply what you’ve taught me.” -Jeff Graybeal

” I really enjoyed your seminar yesterday. I am a fly fisherman from the rivers of the Pacific Northwest, so I learned a ton about shallow salt water fishing. It will be invaluable to me as I begin to explore the Space Coast.” – Mark Mielbrecht

“A couple of friends attended your Show and Tell yesterday. Rave reviews. Mark was effusive in his email about the whole experience. He can’t wait to get back out. Every time I send someone your way they come back a satisfied customer. Nice job!” -Mike Adamson

“I really enjoyed Saturday. You made it really hard to go back to work instead of fish!” -Greg Rhodes

The next Show and Tell is scheduled for November 5, 2011. Visit this link for more information or to sign up!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

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No Tarpon, but Several Big Redfish- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

June 11, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 6//11/11

Yard ornament of the week department:

I’m taking a month-long hiatus from reporting. My next report will hopefully be lengthy, posted on July 17. Baker, when you don’t get a report it’s not your connection!

I spent three days in the boat this week. The first was mostly spent off LaCosta Island. I launched the boat at Pineland and ran through Captiva Pass, then headed south, looking for rolling tarpon. The water was dirty. No tarpon were seen.

Reversing field I headed north. The water cleaned up some, but I still didn’t see any fish. Anchoring off Murdoch Point I resolved to wait them out. Ha-ha. The laugh was on me. I sat there about six hours and saw about six fish, none of which presented a shot.

On the way back to Pineland I stopped in Boca Grande Pass. There weren’t many boats there (for Boca Grande) and there were lots of tarpon rolling. One boat was hooked up.

I had dinner with good friend Rick DePaiva. In spite of all that’s happened to him this year he looks good and was in good spirits, glad to be flying again. It was good to see him.

Ricky D with a nice redfish.

Rick suggested that I fish near Sarasota the next day. I followed his advice and found myself there at about 10 AM on Tuesday. The water was clean. I had shots at fish off and on until I left at 6 PM. I had a few fish look at a black bunny leech, but no takers. Window shoppers! I tried several different flies, all with the same result, and did not get a bite. I was happy to get some shots, though. It was wonderful seeing those fish.

If only all tarpon were this easy to see.

There were several other boats around. I didn’t see anyone else hook up, either.

Friday Dr. George Yarko and his son Shawn joined me for some redfishing on Mosquito lagoon. Like last week we got just three bites. Unlike last week we put all three fish in the boat, though, all above the slot fish with the largest being over 20 pounds.

Sean battles a Mosquito Lagoon redfish.

That's Sean hooked up again.

This was redfish #1, the best of the day.

And both Yarkos with a redfish double header.

The boat was back on the trailer just after noon. It was a good morning.

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Big Redfish in Mosquito Lagoon- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

June 4, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 6/4/11

Upcoming Events-
-June 11, free fly tying lessons at Mosquito Creek Outdoors, starting at noon. The Clouser Minnow is the fly of choice this time.

Bumper Sticker of the week department:

On Memorial Day my family drove to the Villages to spend the day with more family. It was Uncle Don’s 75th birthday! My two boys were the only adult males there who weren’t veterans. A moment of silence please, for all those who did not come home.

Party Day at Uncle Donald's. It didn't get real crazy.

Tuesday I went walking/running on the Florida Trail. Couldn’t help but notice numerous redbellies spawning in the Econ River.

Thursday Rick Roberts and I went out on the Mosquito Lagoon. He got a red on a Johnson Minnow. We got numerous trout on DOA Shrimp. All were small. I got a nice flounder on a DOA Shrimp and lost another one right at the boat.

Friday Dr. George Yarko joined me for a day on the Mosquito Lagoon. We hooked three redfish by using mullet chunks. Only one was boated, but it was a pig, about 30 pounds.

Dr. George battles a big redfish on Mosquito Lagoon

Mission accomplished!

The water in the Mosquito Lagoon is still very low and it’s getting kind of dirty- not as bad as the Indian River but not like winter time. Between the clouds and the murky water it’s getting hard to sight fish.

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando Area Fishing Report- One Fish, Two Fish, RedFish, BlueFish

May 29, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 5/29/11

Upcoming Events-
-June 11, free fly tying lessons at Mosquito Creek Outdoors, starting at noon. The Clouser Minnow is the fly of choice this time.

Last Sunday wife Susan and I went to Playalinda Beach, sans fishing tackle. I’m always looking, though. There was no bait along the beach, an observation reinforced by the fact we saw exactly one pelican there in almost four hours. Conversation with fishermen along the beach revealed that a few had caught a smattering of pompano and whiting.

Monday Rodney Smith and Rick Roberts joined me for a day’s search along the beach north of Port Canaveral. Based on my observations on the previous day I wasn’t expecting anything.

I got a flounder by the north jetty on a DOA CAL jig. Working our way north we didn’t see anything, but Rick got a nice whiting, also on a jig. A couple small jacks and a bluefish also fell prey to our approximately 10,000 casts.

North of Cape Canaveral there were quite a few menhaden but no fish eating them.
Back at the jetty Rodney got another flounder, again on a jig. The day was enjoyable but fishing wasn’t very exciting.

Tuesday I went kayak fishing, launching at River Breeze about 9 AM. I paddled along shorelines for miles. I found a few redfish off the shorelines in white holes. Blindcasting into a hole with a redfish worm I got a low end slot red.

I found one shoreline fish, a crawler, that gave me an excellent shot. It took the redfish worm and was released a few minutes later. It was about five pounds.
I had one other decent shot but the cast was less than perfect and did not work. It was a lot of paddling for only two shots but it was a gorgeous day and I had the whole place to myself. And I did get two reds on fly.

Cody Zimmer got this Mosquito lagoon redfish a few weeks back. I just recently got the image.

Wednesday afternoon I hiked up the Econlockhatchee and fished my way back, using a green foam spider. Because I switched to a six pound tippet I kept the same fly the entire way- amazing! Many redbellies popped that spider and at least a dozen were released but they were running small. One small bluegill was fooled too.

The river is very low right now, awesome for wading and fly casting. Maybe if I went at either end of the day rather than during the hottest part of it I would do better.

Friday Dr. George Yarko joined me for some flats fishing on the Indian River Lagoon. We launched at Kennedy Point Park. Using DOA Shrimp we caught trout after trout. None would hold batter, as they were all short. We tried sight fishing for a bit but the water is real dirty and the clouds made it impossible to see. So we went back to trout fishing.
We also got a ladyfish and a bluefish. Although nothing of consequence was caught I’d guess we released two dozen fish. Thank goodness for the dehooker!

Cody got this trout the same day, same place, as the redfish above. George and I didn't get any like this on Friday.

Yesterday I helped Rick Roberts put together a powerpoint presentation for Angler Action (www.angleraction.org). This worthwhile endeavor is putting together an angler-owned database of fish population data so anglers will have their own data to use in shaping regulatory policy. Check out their website and consider submitting your catch data. It’s for the best of causes- fishing in our future.

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Hot Mosquito Lagoon Trout Bite This Week- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

May 14, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 5/14/11

Upcoming Events-

-Space shuttle Endeavour’s launch, Monday, May 16, 8:56 a.m.

-On May 21, Fly Fishing for West Coast Tarpon seminar at Mosquito Creek Outdoors, starting at 10 AM. Tom Van Horn will also be giving a tarpon seminar aimed at east coast fish.

Bumper Sticker of the Week Dept:

On Monday I finally got onto the Atlantic, accompanied by Scott Radloff. Our goal was to find some bait, then search for tarpon first and giant crevalle second.

We found bait, both mullet and menhaden, near and past Cape Canaveral. While we were fishing around the mullet we noticed a very dark spot moving north off the beach. It turned out to be a school of crevalle, not giants but rather fish of about five pounds. There were thousands of them.

We chased them up the beach for several miles. We didn’t count but we caught a lot on DOA CAL jigs.

When we finally gave up on them we fished around the menhaden schools they had led us to. The bluefish were thick, but there was not much else. We saw one shark and three or four barracuda, nothing more. All we caught were blues.

It turned out to be a 50 or 60 fish day, but nothing spectacular in the way of size. Still, it was beautiful out and even the smaller fish were quite entertaining.

On Tuesday I was back in Mosquito Lagoon, joined by fly fishing Canadians Mark and Cody Zimmer. We found loads of big redfish tailing. They would not take any of the flies we tried. We had a bright moment when Mark cast a crab fly into a small school of big tailers and his line came tight. The fish he caught was a red of maybe 16 inches. In the middle of all those big ones, too!

Cody wanted a fish bad so the last 30 minutes we chunked with mullet. He got a four pound and a six pound trout, then a red of about 15 pounds. I forgot my camera, so there are no photos of these fish. 🙁

Again, it was a beautiful day and tons of big fish were spotted, but it was frustrating not being able to convince them to eat anything.

Wednesday Steve Kas and Jim Trub came up from Boca Raton, bringing Steve’s Archer Craft. I joined them and we went looking for all the fish I’d seen the previous day. They flat out disappeared. We looked from Pelican Island to Georges Bar and saw one redfish all day.

On the bright side the trout bite was pretty strong. We got a couple dozen to about 20 inches by casting jigs around the outside of several different bars.

Jim Trub with one of the many trout we got.

Steve Kas with another Mosquito Lagoon trout

Still, they wanted redfish. It was maddening not being able to find any after seeing so many the previous day. Ya shoulda been here yesterday!

Spotted Tail was on the Mosquito Lagoon again on Thursday, joined by Karl Dienst and his friend Brad. Tossing DOA Shrimp and CAL jigs we got a lot of trout, ranging from eight inches to almost 20. There were a lot of ladyfish around, too. We concentrated on trout fishing most of the day. With about an hour to go we went looking for reds. We found a few slot fish and Brad got two on ladyfish chunks.

Brad got a bunch of these seatrout on the DOA Shrimp.

Every fishing guide loves scenes like this- ready to boat a Mosquito Lagoon redfish.

A cheesy grin for the best fish of the day.

On Friday Jim Shwartzentruber and his friend George, fly casters from Utah, joined me hoping to bag a big red or two. It was not to be. We searched all day, me poling and them blind casting with a black bunny fly, and saw maybe a dozen reds. Once the wind started cranking the fishing got very tough too. They did get three of four decent seatrout, but again, those were not the target.

I hope the reds start cranking again like they did on Tuesday. I have every day this coming week booked up.

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski

Home- Spotted Tail Outdoors and Travel

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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