Two Days Fishing, Two BIG Lagoon Redfish

The Report from Spotted Tail 4/22/11

Upcoming Events-

-Space Shuttle Endeavour is targeted to launch 3:47 p.m. EDT, April 29. I am actively soliciting a charter for this date. Rumor has it that this will be the final Space Shuttle flight EVER. Watch the launch and fish, simultaneously!

-On May 7 I’ll be giving free fly tying lessons at Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka, starting at noon. We’ll be tying Clouser Minnows. Come out and see us, and walk out with some new flies!

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

Tuesday night at 9 PM I made a last check of the answering machine. There was a message on it that I immediately responded to. Because I did I had a charter on Wednesday with two delightful young men. Austin Warmus and his buddy Jonathan, both 17 years old, both from Raleigh NC, joined me for a day on the Mosquito Lagoon. Austin had been on several fishing charters prior to this one and had never really caught anything. Nothing like a little pressure on the guide.

For most of the day we did not have great success. Redfish were fairly scarce and those we did find were uncooperative. We got several trout (mostly small) on DOA Shrimp, a couple ladyfish, and a bluefish. I stashed the ladies for future reference.

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Austin Warmus, Jonathan, and a Mosquito Lagoon Trout. Don’t mess with these guys.

With 30 minutes left I went to a chunking spot, staked out, and chunked some ladyfish pieces. Pinfish ate us up. On the last piece, almost out of time, the rod went off. Austin grabbed it and the battle was on.

Austin won. Here he is with the conquered. The fish was released. Austin kicked his bad luck in the teeth.

orlando fishing, orlando fishing trip, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing guide

Austin was a little more animated after catching this specimen.

Friday morning I dragged my butt out of bed at 115 AM and drove over to Tom Van Horn’s house. On the way to the Indian River Lagoon we picked up Scott Radloff. We launched the boat before three and went plugging. I had several bites that I missed before we got a decent trout. Tom decided that since the surface plug bite was slow we should chunk. Good call.

orlando fishing, orlando fishing trip, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing guide

An intense looking Mr. Radloff with an Indian River Lagoon seatrout.

orlando fishing, orlando fishing trip, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing guide

Same fish, close-up of plug.

orlando fishing, orlando fishing trip, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing guide

Capt. Tom Van Horn shows off a handsome redfish from the Indian River Lagoon.

We got five reds, one in the slot, the rest well over, and one Buulll that I subdued with a new Stradic and an old Cape Fear rod.

orlando fishing, orlando fishing trip, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing guide

A big ugly Indian River Lagoon redfish and that fisherman ain’t so pretty either.

So I was only out two days and didn’t touch a fly rod this week. Still haven’t caught a fish on any of the new rods I bought a couple weeks ago. Have tied a lot of flies though!

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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A Mosquito Lagoon Seatrout for His Birthday…-Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

…but the redfish got away!  🙁

The Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 4/17/11

Upcoming Events-

-Space Shuttle Endeavour is targeted to launch 3:47 p.m. EDT, April 29. I am actively soliciting a charter for this date. Rumor has it that this will be the final Space Shuttle flight EVER. Watch the launch and fish, simultaneously! Call me soon- time is short! Early bird gets the worm, and all that!

Imagine yourself in this scene. April 29, be there!

-On May 7 I’ll be giving free fly tying lessons at Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka, starting at noon. We’ll be tying Clouser Minnows. Come out and see us, and walk out with some new flies!

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

I thought the Bang-O-Craft was ready to rumble, so I took it for a spin on Wednesday. It made it about 300 yards and then it dies. Had to pole back to the ramp. Arrrrghgghhh- so aggravating. No scouting accomplished.

Friday my fishermen were Shane Arline and his friend Lieutenant Colonel Big Ed, both from North Dakota. It was cloudy and windy, hard out of the southeast. We started in the Mosquito Lagoon. Ed caught a redfish almost immediately on a gold Johnson Minnow. Then we went a good while without a bite so we moved to deeper water and tried trout fishing. Using DOA Glow Shrimp we got quite a few, although they were all small. We also got a couple bluefish and a few ladyfish. I tossed a ladyfish into the bucket for future reference.

The bite slowed so I took the boat through the Haulover Canal and tried the east side of the Indian River Lagoon, thinking we could get out of the wind. HA! no chance. We fished all the way up to Griffis Bay with a few small trout and ladies to show for it.

We ran back to the Mosquito Lagoon and put out a couple of cut ladyfish lines where we had seen a few reds earlier. The action wasn’t hot but we got two more to about 28 inches. Considering the weather I thought it was a pretty fair day.

Today, Sunday, John Ramsey bought the birthday boy Alejandro aboard for a nice birthday present of a fishing trip. Alejandro was 14 years old today- Happy birthday, buddy! We started by fishing for trout, again using DOA Glow Shrimp. It was a pretty good bite. Although most of the fish were undersized, we did get a few decent ones. There were no blues today, but a few ladies came aboard. I again threw one in the bucket for future reference.

One of the many seatrout Alejandro got for his birthday. The redfish escaped, however.

Toward the end of the fare I poled in close to shore and tossed a couple ladyfish chunks out. Alejandro was rewarded with a strong bite from a surprising large redfish. I was considering chasing it, as the fish ran a long way and the line level on the spool got dangerously low. However, and very sadly, the fish broke off before I could put my plan into action. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how we ended our fishing trip.

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.

Three Ways to NOT Catch Flats Fish

Learn a few sins to use when you wish to scare off every fish on any flat.

Big Mosquito Lagoon Redfish

You'll never catch fish like this one if you're noisy.

Clothing
If you can see them, you should assume they can see you, too. Flats fish can see bright clothing, especially brightly colored shirts or hats, more easily than more subdued shades. My friend Barry Kent was disgusted with himself one day while we were fishing together, saying his white hat had spooked several fish. White, bright red, and bright yellow are definitely colors to avoid when chasing skinny water fish. Wear subdued earth tones to avoid becoming a neon DANGER sign to your quarry.

For the ultimate in flats camouflage, Aqua Design makes a line of technical clothing printed with computer enhanced images taken from underwater photographs looking through the water’s surface. If you make it harder for the fish to sense your presence you ought to get more good shots at fish.

Noise
Fish in shallow water respond negatively to noise, even the human voice. They hear everything you do with your feet. The following two examples illustrate this.

One recent morning three of us were stalking a school of about 200 redfish from my boat when my angler moved the Fly Lane Tamer, trying to get it into a better position for casting. The Tamer’s base bumped the lip that goes around the edge of my casting deck. The school, almost in casting range at that point, immediately stampeded and never slowed down as long as they remained in sight, pushing a receding wake for at least a quarter of a mile. A golden opportunity was lost because of one small bump.

On another picture perfect morning (the kind fishermen dream about) I was wading with a friend. We were surrounded by tailing redfish, literally hundreds of them, in water less than knee deep. My friend decided he needed to tell me something, even though he was 100 yards away. After he shouted over to me, every tail in the vicinity immediately disappeared.

If you want more shots at fish while on the flats conduct yourself as though you are stalking wary wild animals that are intent on surviving, because that’s exactly what you are doing.

Hesitation
An old proverb says that, “He who hesitates is lost.” Flats fishing proves this adage true over and over again. If you hesitate once the fish is in casting range, the fish either moves too close and sees you or else it moves too far away and you can’t reach it. It’s better to do anything, screw up, and learn from your mistake than stand there wondering what to do and let the opportunity disappear.

Fly fishermen often ask me, “How far will I need to cast?” In most flats fishing speed and accuracy of delivery will be more important than distance. Fifty feet, on target and right now, will usually do the trick.

There are more common sins. They will be the subject of upcoming blogs.

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog including text and photos copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights reserved.

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A Week of Not Catching Redfish- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

The Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 4/10/11

Upcoming Events-

On May 7 I’ll be giving free fly tying lessons at Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka, starting at noon. We’ll be tying Clouser Minnows. Come out and see us, and walk out with some new flies!

From the Mailbag-

“We enjoyed our trip last Friday! Thanks! Photo attached.” -Paul Parker

mosquito lagoon redfish guide

Mike with his first redfish ever.

This week, the fishing was wonderful. Catching, on the other hand…

On Monday fly fishers Gifford Hampton and Alan McDonald joined me on the Mosquito Lagoon. The day started windy and got even more windy. I thought it was blowing 25 mph, coming out of the south. I was wrong, it only hit 23. We saw decent numbers of redfish but only had a couple shots, and did not score. In that wind it was very tough fishing.

Tuesday thunderstorms came through and I did not fish.

Wednesday fly fishers David Frost and Thomas Reay gave it a go. It was blowing between 15 and 20 out of the east and again it was a tough day. We found quite a few redfish but were not able to get so much as a bite.

On Thursday Herb and Pat Jones, brothers from Gainesville, joined me. The wind was not blowing hard, although there were some clouds. It was a pretty nice day all in all. The first school of redfish we found were deep and could not be effectively targeted. The second school already had two boats working it. We did not linger.

We finally found another school and worked them for close to an hour. They were very spooky, many times moving off before we got into casting range. Casting range with a jig and a Johnson Minnow is fairly far. Just showing a bait to these fish was difficult.  Herb got one hit on a Johnson Minnow. The fish came off. Herb got one dink trout and that was the total catch for the day, for the week.

Ouch.

After this week I think I’ll write a blog post on “The Top Three Things to do to Not Catch Redfish.”

On Saturday friend Karl Dienst returned my cleaned up, now running, Johnson 15 to me. The Bang-O-Craft may ride again this week! Thank you, Karl!

Also on Saturday I went to Mosquito Creek Outfitters to give fly tying lessons. There was no one to give lessons to, so I just tied myself some flies. The store is beautiful and well worth the visit, especially if you haven’t been there before.

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.

Why Won’t That Redfish Bite?

“They’ve gotta eat sometime.” We’re talking about fish here. Fish we want to, but can’t, catch. Uncooperative fish.

Compared to mammals, fish are simple creatures. A redfish brain, about the size of a garden pea, is not real good at analyzing things. In spite of this apparent simplicity, their behavior is maddeningly unpredictable sometimes. Have you ever asked yourself, “Why won’t they eat?”

When a redfish hatches from the egg it is hardly visible to the human eye. In three years it’s grown to 27 inches long and about seven pounds in size. Clearly, they must eat quite a bit in order to do this.

Favorite items of the redfish diet include shrimp, crabs, and small fish. Sometimes they feed very aggressively on anything that moves. Other times (and many guides have told me they’ve seen this many times) you can toss a live shrimp into a school of redfish and not get a single taker. Why won’t they eat?

A friend of mine once told me that when the US Government makes the tide predictions that it uses in the Coastal Pilot, it feeds 16 separate factors into the computer that is making the model. There are six others that are not considered significant enough to consider. Tides are a purely physical phenomenon.

A fish is a biological entity. I can’t even begin to comprehend all the factors that must affect its behavior. Water temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, turbidity, current, wind, waves, atmospheric pressure, moon phase, boat traffic, fishing pressure, these are just a few of the things that affect the behavior of fish.

Unlike us, fish are cold blooded. We have to eat constantly just to maintain our body temperature. Fish don’t. When the water is cold they can go days without eating.

In my line of work I fillet quite a few redfish. I always check their stomachs to see what they’ve been eating. About 25 percent of the time they haven’t been eating anything.

So, why aren’t they eating? The fish aren’t talking, so I don’t know. Trying to figure it out is part of what makes fishing such a fascinating endeavor for us.

But they’ve gotta eat sometime.

Capt. John Kumiski (407.977.5207, http://www.spottedtail.com) has been guiding fishermen for over 20 years. His most recent book is titled Redfish on the Fly.

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

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Orlando area saltwater fishing report

The Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 4/3/11

Upcoming Events-

On April 9 I’ll be giving free fly tying lessons at Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka, starting at noon. We’ll be tying wooly worms and wooly buggers. Come out and see us, and walk out with some new flies!

It’s April! Tarpon season is just around the corner and reports of caught keys and west coast fish have already come in. Spotted Tail will begin its month-long ode to the silver king at www.spottedtail.com/blog. Read the already posted blog about the Tarpon Box.

A free swimming tarpon gulps some air.

I’m looking for that big sardine,
the one that makes you jump and scream.
I’m looking for that big tarpon.
Just give me my prize and I’ll be gone.

From the Mailbag-

“Thanks for the great day on the water. Photos attached.” -John Stafford, Columbia, MO

Mr. Stafford's first fish of the day was fooled by a DOA CAL jerkbait.

“By the way, I read your blog this morning. You forgot the part about getting lost in the fog and your angler getting out to help push…(kidding……just a friendly jab).”
-Ron Schomer, Orlando, FL

Thanks, Ron. With friends like these, how can I go wrong?

Got rained out Monday. Tuesday’s fishermen read the forecast and postponed to next week. It turned out to be the nicest day of the week. But I stayed home and got my taxes done. 2010 was pretty dismal economically speaking.

While I was doing taxes the hummingbirds were having dogfights around the feeder. You would think that they could share, since the feeder has four stations. But two tiny birds used up a lot of energy keeping each other from feeding. When a third bird showed they both zoomed after it, then returned to their private aerial attacks.

Wednesday Sue and I went for a walk on the Florida Trail. We got and ate some tangerines. On the way back we raided one of our neighbor’s mulberry tree. The fruits are ripe and I probably ate a pound of berries. Yum! Urp. Excuse me!

The intent was to go scouting on Thursday. We awoke to lightning, thunder, and heavy rain, which continued all day. Didn’t go.

On Friday Alabamans (?) Paul Parker and Mike Baumgaudner joined me for a windy but otherwise beautiful day on the Mosquito Lagoon. We fished two separate schools of reds, getting exactly one bite on a Johnson Minnow. The fish weren’t too aggressive. The hooked fish broke off in one of those mystery breaks that you can’t figure out why it happened. In a different spot Mike got a nice slot red while blindcasting a Johnson Minnow. It was his first ever, and damn fine work. Paul got a trout that may have been in the slot on a DOA CAL, four inch.

It wasn’t a great week fishing-wise, although I did purchase four, count ’em, FOUR, new fly rods. Ooh yeah!

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 3/19/11

The Report from Spotted Tail 3/19/11

Upcoming Events-

On April 9 I’ll be giving fly tying lessons at Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka, starting at noon. We’ll be tying wooly worms and wooly buggers. Come out and see us.

Don’t know how I got on his e-mailing list but I get a weekly blog from a fellow by the name of Bruce Turkel. It’s often interesting and thought provoking. This week’s was especially relevant. You can read it at this link: http://turkeltalks.com/index.php/2011/03/14/whats-even-better-than-being-lucky/

Fishing was pretty solid this week. The week had the most perfect weather I’ve seen well, maybe ever.

Monday fly caster Warren Pearson joined me for a day’s fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. We had a good time. The weather was fantastic, and we were in fish most of the day. In spite of being a weak caster Mr. Pearson got himself a couple fine reds and missed several strikes.

On Tuesday the scene was repeated with John Stafford. Mr. Stafford preferred spin tackle. On about his fourth cast of the day a 16 pound red inhaled his DOA CAL jerkbait. If I said it got better after that it would be an exaggeration. But it stayed pretty darned good and eight or nine reds and trout were released.

Wednesday luck went south though. Mike Rudy and his friend Jim joined me, again on Mosquito Lagoon. We found a big school of fish right away and couldn’t get a bite on anything, including mullet chunks. Jim hooked a fish from the second school we found, only to break it off. We found a third school and could not get a bite, and ended up with one break-off and no released fish, in spite of seeing hundreds of reds. The weather was beautiful, and we had a good time. But it was a frustrating day from a fishing standpoint.

Thursday fly fisher Jose Colon, president of New York’s Salty Flyrodders, joined me. Again the weather was awesome, and again we saw loads of fish. Again they were not biting very well. This week had the fullest full moon of the year, since the full moon coincided with the lunar perigee. I wonder if that had anything to do with the redfish behavior the past couple of days? Anyhow, Jose did get one on a brown redfish worm, and missed a couple of strikes. He had hundreds of shots. Both of us enjoyed the day tremendously.

A redfish virgin no longer. Sr. Colon and his fish.

I had Friday off. What does a fishing guide do on his day off? He goes fishing! Scott Radloff and I went out of Port Canaveral looking for tripletail and cobia. There were lots of tripletail out there, although most we saw were small. We did get a 22 inch fish on a DOA Shrimp. We spent hours looking for cobia. Finally this enormous black shape materialized briefly. I cast a home-tied jig at it and hooked up immediately. Some minutes later a 30 pound class cobia was netted by Scott. I’ll be firing up the smoker later today.

No one wants to see pictures of me, but the fish is nice!

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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Working the Fly

Reader flyfishtom wrote, “I would like you to mention how to work the flies you tie. Might help us transplants catch a few more fish.”

OK. First of all, Lefty Kreh wrote an entire book about “Presenting the Fly.” In my book, “Redfish on the Fly” there’s an entire chapter about presenting the fly.

So Tom, there’s not a simple, or single, answer to what you want to know. Every cast is different.

To give the simplest answer I can, let’s assume you’re throwing at a redfish you can see. Your job is to anticipate where the fish is going and put the fly there. If you guessed right, don’t move the fly until you’re sure the fish is close enough to see it. Then just give it a gentle hop off the bottom.

If the fish sees it he’ll either flee in abject terror, come over, sniff, and swim off, or come over and eat it. Assuming he’s not aware of your presence, he will almost always respond to your offering. You’ll know if he saw it or not.

Thanks for the question. I hope that helps.

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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More Stupid Ideas from our Legislators

Mr. Bill Gunn of Melbourne sent me this as an email. It’s important enough that it needs to be passed along and responded to by all Florida readers.

Greetings.

Sportsmen have a long history of supporting conservation. States fund fishery and game enforcement, research and conservation through user fees raised by selling licenses. The attached link is an article from Florida Today regarding a Florida State Senator who is proposing that Florida eliminate the requirement for both fresh and saltwater fishing licenses within the state.

Florida fisherman and hunters are a very lucky lot. I lived in Connecticut where license fees go into the general fund. Their legislature is not mandated to earmark those funds toward programs impacting our sport and they skim off user fees for other purposes. But in Florida the funds are dedicated.

Note that Federal Law calls for states to administer Saltwater fishing licenses or the feds will impose a national licence requirement. If this proposal passes we will have no freshwater license and a federal saltwater license. Florida will loose funding for FWC, conservation, research and enforcement.  Please take a moment to read this article and voice your concerns to the State Senator sponsoring the bill. I believe he is misguided.

Stay hooked,

Bill Gunn
President, FFF Florida Council

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110213/COLUMNISTS0308/102130328/1067/SPORTS05/CCA-will-fight-Senator-s-plan-kill-licenses

Orlando Kayak Fishing- Orlando area fishing report 1/30/11

The Report from Spotted Tail 1/30/11

Upcoming Events

On February 22 I’ll be speaking to the Florida Fly Fishing Association in Cocoa.

*******************************************

Sadly, the Mitzi sat in the yard all week. The Ocean Kayak lived on the roof of the van all week, though!

Monday we went to the Banana River Lagoon, launching at about 9 am. The water surface was like a sheet of glass, reflecting the low overcast in the sky. I paddled to the first spot, where not a sign of life showed itself.

The second spot was a large flat that had a few, widely scattered large redfish tailing on it. I got a decent shot at exactly one and he fled in terror when the fly (a black and green clouser minnow) moved.

The third spot beckoned.

Upon arriving there I again found widely scattered tailing reds. The first one I threw to spooked off the fly. The second was cruising in water so thin its back was showing. Even with the overcast I could see it plainly and managed to get the fly right in his face. He ate it.

He couldn’t get good purchase in the thin water so he didn’t fight very well. But he was fat, around the 20 pound mark. It was around noon and certainly nice to finally deskunkify, especially with a fish like that.

In the next hour a couple more shots followed. I convinced another tailer to eat. He was smaller, around 14 pounds, but fought harder in slightly deeper water.

By now the sun had come out and it was easy to see it was well into the afternoon. There was a long way to go so I turned the bow of the kayak south and started the return trip. I only had three unsuccessful shots the entire way and with some sore buns put the ‘yak on the roof of the van at about 430. No black drum and only a handful of trout were observed the entire day.

Friday again saw ‘yak and I at the Banana River Lagoon, launching at about 10 am. The sun was out, gloriously so. Not a single cloud marred the sky. The breeze was chilly and at the edge of practical kayak fly fishing, speed wise.

Found a tailing red within sight of the van, wasn’t ready. By the time I got so the fish had disappeared.

Shortly afterwards I found a big slob red tailing in about a foot of water. I waded to it and cast a bunny booger about a half a dozen times. Missed every one, and finally spooked the fish. It turned out to be by far the best shot of the day, and set the tone for the day too.

Hours later I found some black drum in dirty water, hard to see because they weren’t tailing. I finally got a bite from one and missed it. It was the only bite of the now rapidly aging day.

I saw a few tailing reds on the way back but did not get a shot. No trout were found. No humans were found, either. Altogether a glorious, if not fish-filled, day.

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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