Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report
We fished four days and took three fly fishing trips on the Mosquito Lagoon this week.
Sunday Joe Wishcamper, fly fisher from Maine, joined me. We fished six hours, saw a mixed bag of large trout and slot reds. Changed flies a few times. Got a few decent shots. Did not get a bite.
Monday Russell and Brenda Otis, fly casters from Virginia, chased fish around for six hours. In terms of number of fish seen it was by far the best day this week. We saw hundreds of redfish. In terms of weather it was also the best day. Got a few decent shots. But they did not get a bite.
Wednesday Jim Coraci, fly caster from New Jersey, joined me for five hours on the Mosquito Lagoon. Wind and clouds made it hard to see until the fish pushed up wakes while fleeing from us. Saw numerous schools of reds. Got a few decent shots. Did not get a bite.
On Thursday Dr. George Yarko and his brother John joined me. When we started the wind was blowing at about 15 knots. It proceeded to increase in strength until we left. Clouds added to the ambiance.
We missed our first two strikes, probably because of surprise at getting them. But then John caught a slot red that nailed his DOA CAL jerkbait.
A happy John Yarko has a fish on.
By now it was blowing well over 20 knots. The lagoon was covered in whitecaps and the water was getting very muddy. I put out the power Danforth anchor and proceeded to soak a couple of mullet chunks. Four more reds and two hardhead catfish joined our little fish fest. All the reds were in the slot except one fatty at 29 inches.
John is still happy because his fish is bigger than George’s.
We decided discretion was the better part of valor just after noon. We only took one wave over the bow on the ride back to Haulover Canal.
And that is this week’s exciting version of the Mosquito Fishing Report.
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 2013. All rights are reserved.
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It’s like that everywhere!
I read your latest post and had to laugh, because it reminded me of our recent trip to Belize. Four fishermen, 6 days of hard fishing (11-12hr days), boated 2 permit and one tarpon. Guided by Bruce Leslie and his sidekick Ian. No one could have worked harder to put us on fish.
Having said all that, it was a spectacular trip. We fished three days on the coral cayes and flats north and east of Placencia. The tides weren’t good, but we saw a lot of permit, had some shots, some “follows”, and caught a couple. About average for permit, in my experience.
But the tarpon! On man! I’ve never seen so many tarpon in my life. We had hundreds of shots per day. No exaggeration. The fish were feeding on huge schools of tiny baitfish. As nearly as I could tell, the tarpon just opened their mouths and rushed through the schools taking whatever got in their way. You can imagine that it’s hard to “match” that kind of bait situation. We jumped a few, all in the 30-50lb range; but we were using big lead eyed clousers, and the tarpon had no difficulty in throwing them.
Probably the neatest thing we caught on those coral cayes was yellowtail snapper—an incidental bycatch when casting to tarpon. These were nice solid 1-2lb fish, and I was amazed at how hard they fought on the 10wt. Broke my heart to throw them back. Not much eats better than yellowtail.
We fished 3 days in the Ycacos Lagoon/Deep River area south of Monkey River. That place is magical. Miles and miles of mud flats, which often hold permit and bonefish. But not on this trip. Relatively deep jungle rivers with rolling tarpon in the 10-20lb range. A lot of blind casting. Monkeys and exotic birds. Very much the “heart of darkness” scene, and absolutely lovely.
Jack crevalle saved the trip for us. They were cruising the flats waking just like redfish or permit. The significant difference was that they would aggressively take any fly anywhere near them. A 5lb jack in a foot of water on the 9wt is as much fun as anyone needs!!
So the fishing was outstanding, although the catching was slow. Placencia is a beautiful place to visit. Great food and the friendliest people I ever met anywhere in the world. I think there must be something about living in paradise that soothes the soul and makes for open, friendly attitudes towards everyone and everything.
E. Aubrey Thompson, Ph.D.