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Jumped a Tarpon Orlando Fishing Report

April 18, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Jumped a Tarpon Orlando Fishing Report

Blog posts this week-

–Mystery Tackle Box a Winner

–How to Tie the Electric Sushi Fly

Electric Sushi

Electric Sushi

Summer in Alaska is not too far off. One of the things I would like to do this summer is figure out how to catch salmon in the ocean on fly. If any readers have any insight into this, I sure would like to hear from you.

OK, fishing. Wednesday Scott Radloff joined me for an Atlantic Ocean trip out of Port Canaveral. The ocean was a little snotty, and there was a high rain chance. We went to the Cape. The acres of bluefish were gone. But the water along the beach was calmer than in Canaveral Bight so we stayed there. Casting jigs we got steady action from ladyfish, bluefish, and jack crevalle.

Scott put a ladyfish chunk on his big rod, hoping to get a tarpon bite. He hooked a shark in the six to seven foot range instead. We had to use the boat to chase it down. He had it on for at least fifteen minutes, but the fish finally snapped his 50 pound braid. He hooked two other sharks but they both cut him off quickly.

orlando fishing report

Scott battles the brute. The brute won.

I got another bite on the bucktail jig, but this time it was a real fish. Weren’t we surprised when a 70-80 pound tarpon came flying out of the water! I may have been a little undergunned with the outfit I was using, but the fish threw the jig on its third jump. But I jumped a tarpon on April 15, the earliest day ever for me on this coast.

Thursday and Friday I was part of a three boat charter arranged by Capt. Chris Myers, on Mosquito Lagoon. The water is definitely a brown color now. I did not see any clear water at all. That and all the clouds made sight fishing next to impossible- except when tails were showing. Fishing was not fast but by using cut ladyfish we managed two slot redfish and a bunch of hardheads. We got a few short trout on the DOA Deadly Combo, too. Not spectacular but better than a skunking.

Friday saw us out with the same crew, and Rock Man was with me again. He got the first red of the day, a pretty 10 pound fish, in the first 15 minutes.

orlando fishing report

Rock plays a fish on a spectacular morning.

 

orlando fishing report

Noah records Rock’s redfish for posterity.

 

orlando fishing report

Rock and his redfish…

He would end up getting three more reds and a black drum besides. Noah managed a slot red, too. And of course since we were using cut bait there were catfish involved. Again, not spectacular but certainly acceptable.

orlando fishing report

Noah got in on the action, too.

 

orlando fishing report

Just before we finished Rock boated this beauty.

It’s been raining this week, every afternoon. I went to check the Econ this morning, thinking about fishing there. It is blown out, the water having risen almost five vertical feet. Guess I won’t be fishing there for a while.

And that is this week’s Jumped a Tarpon Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

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.

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Acres of Bluefish Orlando Fishing Report

April 12, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Acres of Bluefish Orlando Fishing Report

Last week an attempt was made to almost poetically describe how lucky those of us who live and fish in central Florida are. This week again re-emphasises that fact. Fact! Not fiction! Not opinion! FACT!!!

So Monday the Sevylor inflatable kayak got pumped up and somewhat unceremoniously dumped into my favorite St. Johns River location. The Sevylor reminded me again how lucky we are to have fairly rigid plastic kayaks for most of the paddling we want to do. That thing paddles so badly. Anyway, the bite was not hot. Five bass came to hand, all on surface flies, in about four hours. The place was just too quiet. No surface activity, no alligators, it just didn’t look right. That’s OK, I’ll be back.

About noon on Tuesday the Ocean Kayak was dropped into the Econlockhatchee. Shortly afterwards I hopped in and we went off down the river.

Godzilla lives there, no kidding. There are some gawdawful big alligators there.

The bass bite again was not hot, although I certainly caught some. Once I switched to streamers I did a little better. Certainly the redbellies and stumpknockers were aggressive.

orlando fishing report

Redbelly on Electric Sushi. What else could happen?

 

orlando fishing report

How about redbelly on sexy fly?

At one point the kayak was pulled up on the bank so I could wade along a sandbar and cast to the shoreline. When the bar ended I turned and headed back upriver to where the kayak waited patiently for me. As soon as I had turned around a fat garfish glided gracefully across the bar, only about 15 feet away. The streamer landed a foot in front of him. One twitch and WHAM! He hit it like a barracuda, just an awesome strike. I actually hooked and landed him, one of two I got.

orlando fishing report

How about spotted gar on sexy fly??

With a small bluegill popper or rubber spider you could easily have 40 or 50 fish days there right now. Please let me know if you’d like me to show you.

orlando fishing report

This bass took an ugly foam gurgler.

orlando fishing report

Same fish, different angle. It was a decent sized one.

Wednesday the Bang-O-Craft was launched at River Breeze for some scouting for my Thursday/Friday charter. The water is low, but in most places it’s also kind of dirty. I saw a fish here, a couple fish there, and managed to successfully sight cast two nice redfish into submission using a silver Johnson Minnow. I got a lot of fish on the DOA Deadly Combo but all of them were small ones. Still, enough fish were observed that I thought we had a reasonable chance of catching a few over the next couple of days.

Thursday Dr. Jim Colgan and Dr. Bill Thomas joined me for a day’s fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. Good guess if you said we launched the Mitzi at River Breeze. With the exception of a single anemic seatrout caught using the Deadly Combo, we got our only fish, a rather anemic-looking 15 inch red, at about 2 PM, on a Johnson Minnow. We maybe saw a dozen fish all day. Yeah, it was not a skunking but it was dangerously close, certainly a real tough day. The good doctors decided that they had had enough fun and declined the option on Friday.

With my newly opened up Friday I decided to use the kayak to really explore a place I had unsuccessfully dabbled in several years earlier. My Friday attitude was, “If there are fish here I will find them.”

The paddle was lovely with lots of birds. I got to watch skimmers skimming, coots cooting, and bald eagles bald eagling. The only fish I found, however, were Gambusia and mullet. The experiment, although extremely pleasant, failed.

 

My friend Tammy has a job and can only fish on weekends. Even though I don’t like fishing weekends I do like fishing with Tammy, so Saturday morning an 830 we launched the Mitzi at Port Canaveral and went out onto a somewhat snotty Atlantic hoping to find tripletail. We did not find one. But we did find acres of bluefish, with lots of crevalle jacks and a few big ladyfish thrown in. All these denizens of the deep attracted a load of big sharks, too. We lost a couple hooked fish to shark attacks and hooked several big sharks on chunks of ladyfish.

Tammy used a big ChugBug until a shark relieved her of it, then used a Mirrolure. A jack tore the back hook off and she kept right on catching fish with it. I used several Upperman jigs. I’m pretty sure anything with a hook would have worked. The fish were REAL numerous and REAL aggressive. We had a wonderful time.

orlando fishing report

The fish were plentiful and aggressive.

And that is this week’s Acres of Bluefish Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

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.

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Finally Got Cobia Orlando Fishing Report

April 3, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Finally Got Cobia Orlando Fishing Report

A blessed Easter to all the Christians out there.

Although it’s not saying much, we found way more fish this week than last.

It started on Monday, when on a solo trip the kayak was launched on the Banana River Lagoon. The wind was light and there were no clouds. In some clean water, holy cow, there was an honest-to-God school of redfish, at least 100. They were small ones, about 24 inches, but I got four- two on a pink Electric Sushi and two on a brown slider. Then they made themselves scarce.

Orlando Fishing report

For those wondering what Electric Sushi is, here’s a real bad picture of one.

Orlando Fishing report

Sushi would not be my first choice in redfish flies. This red did not know that.

Orlando Fishing report

Another red, on the more traditional Slider.

In the meantime I had seen some nice seatrout lying sunning themselves. The next several hours were spent sight-casting to fish that were averaging about 25 inches long. Four different flies were tried, all unweighted minnow imitations- Electric Sushi, Polar Fibre Minnow, EP Streamer, and SexyFly. All worked. It was an awesome day that came to an end too quickly.

Orlando Fishing report

Speaking of bad pictures, here’s one of a fly-caught seatrout.

Orlando Fishing report

The fish splashed water all over the camera, but you can see the Electric Sushi fly.

Tuesday the now retired Dr. George Allen joined me for a Port Canaveral excursion. The weather was awesome, light winds, hardly any clouds. A couple of weeks ago I had found a big school of black drum out there. I went back to the place because that’s what you do. It’s not like I expected the fish to be there weeks later. But to my surprise and joy they were. George got one, a brontosaurus-sized beast, on a jig.

Orlando Fishing report

George and the brontofishsaurus.

We went along the beach looking for surface activity. Spinner sharks kept jumping out of the water. We saw a ray swimming. I got one cast off before the ray dove. That cast did not get a bite. Did not see much else.

After a few hours of looking without success, we tried blindly casting towards the surf. Bam! Bam! Ladyfish, bluefish, jack crevalle, all on bucktail jigs, steadily. No big fish, but some solid action. I kept four bluefish for the smoker.

Finally we reversed course, moving farther out off the beach. I spotted a ray and moved to intercept. It dove. George spotted a ray and we moved to intercept. It dove. They were very spooky. We couldn’t get close enough to cast at them. I spotted a ray and moved to intercept. It maintained its course, and a well-placed cast resulted in a nice cobia coming up and eating the jig, plainly visible to us, a beautiful thing to see. George fought the fish up to the boat where I netted it and bingo- we finally got cobia, the first of the year, a nice fish of 30 pounds or so!

Orlando Fishing report

Coe-Bee-Ahhhh!

Wednesday the Brinkman was busy, as I sat there and fed it charcoal and wood chips for four hours while the fish smoked. Yum-mee! We’ll be eating smoked cobia and smoked fish dip around here for a little while, at least.

Thursday the Reverend Jay Bergstresser and his brother Hank the Mercenary joined me for a half-day’s fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. We were taking it easy, just fishing for seatrout. We used DOA Deadly Combos in some of my favorite spots. The bite was not on. We caught quite a few fish, but all but one were undersized. Still, the weather was nice and the company was good, and we enjoyed ourselves. Hank got de-stressed, an important consideration. And of course we all got closer to God, a real important consideration.

On Friday the USGS gauge on the Econlockhatchee at Snow Hill Road read just over two feet. Time to go fishing!

While the river was low and clear and the weather was awesome, the bass bite was relatively slow. Although I missed a couple strikes, I got three bass in five hours. I also got a sunfish slam, and a spotted gar, all on a white foam popping bug. The river is so beautiful…

Orlando Fishing report

You have to love how aggressive the stumpknockers are.

Orlando Fishing report

The best bass of the day.

Those of us who like to fish are lucky we have such a wide variety of fishing we can do in central Florida. Even with the continuing onslaught of progress there’s still lots of incredible fishing here.

And that is this week’s Finally Got Cobia Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

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.

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Not Covered Up With Fish Orlando Fishing Report

March 28, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Not Covered Up With Fish Orlando Fishing Report

I can’t say we were covered up in fish this week.

Last Saturday Mr. Mike Conneen and I went looking for cobia and tripletail out of Port Canaveral. The weather wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty darn nice. We went down to Patrick AFB and back up to the cape. We saw one fish that I could not clearly identify. Mike saw it and said it was a cobia. We saw one tripletail. I put a live shrimp on his nose and he ignored it. I got a two pound jack off the cape. That was it, for eight hours invested.

Back at the dock the FWC girl was doing creel survey. She told me 75 percent of the boats coming in had not caught anything at all. “It’s a virtual biological de-sert!”

Orlando Fishing Report

Roland with his best trout.

Monday Mr. Roland Gerencer and his eight-year old son Roland joined me on Mosquito Lagoon for a half day. The goal was to keep the boy entertained. It was cloudy and windy with intermittent drizzle. We had to work at it, using DOA Deadly Combos, of course. We got a few small trout and a ladyfish. The young man was happy.

Tuesday I went to the Banana River Lagoon, which I had been wanting to do. When I got there the lagoon was white-capping below a low ceiling of clouds. I said no. There was a spot on the Indian River Lagoon I had been wanting to check, so I drove up to the Merritt Island NWR. The Haulover Canal bridge was closed so I could not get over it. I gave up and went home.

Wednesday the famous horse veterinarian Dr. Mark Cheney joined me for a day’s fly fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. We literally were in fog most of the day, terrible visibility. Somehow we saw a few fish but did not get a single shot until on the way in I spotted a tripletail on a crab buoy. Mark made a good cast and the fish just sank out of sight. The skunking was pretty thorough.

orlando fishing report

A crappie, on a crappie jig. We get the shad on these, too.

Thursday Warren Wnek and Mark Soley saw some shad action on the St. Johns River with both shad and crappie, getting a couple dozen fish using both fly and spin tackle. Doubles, even! Steve Baker, your shad flies were the ticket!

orlando fishing report

Warren, angler-at-large. The lure is a Pixie spoon.

Saturday the wind was pushing good out of the northwest and a front had dropped the morning temperature to about 60 degrees. That first ride with John Iufrate and his friend John was chilly! Using DOA’s Deadly combo they got a couple dozen trout to 20 inches and a couple redfish, one shown in the photo. It was a decent if unspectacular day, catch-wise.

orlando fishing report

John holds John’s redfish.

And that is this week’s Not Covered Up With Fish Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

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.

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Vernal Equinox Saltwater Orlando Fishing Report

March 20, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Vernal Equinox Saltwater Orlando Fishing Report

Pagans everywhere! Celebrate the Equinox!!!

For disturbing news you won’t get on TV (like we need any more disturbing news), this summer’s algae bloom is already in full swing in the Indian River Lagoon system around Titusville. Two reports came in that it’s bad from Max Brewer Causeway south past NASA Causeway. On Sunday’s On-the-Water Show and Tell I circled Mosquito Lagoon twice. Water that was crystal clear last week is muddy brown now. The south end is just plain brown. This is not a good harbinger for summer fishing, or future fishing for that matter, in the lagoons. I hope to check the Banana River Lagoon this week coming.

Speaking of the show and tell, I got a little feedback-
-“I enjoyed them both very much and I think I learned a great deal.”
-“Thanks for the seminar, John. It was informative and enjoyable. I had been wanting to go on one for years.”
The next one is in October. Don’t miss it!

Casey Borland, who I fished last week, made a short GoPro video of our trip. It’s good. It made me laugh!

Fishing report, oh yes! Sunday, no fishing, the show and tell happened.

Monday I fished the brothers Gardner, Kevin and Joe, from Tallahassee, Florida. We went out of the Port with hopes of finding and catching tripletail and cobia. We ran south almost to Patrick AFB and then idled north a couple miles past Cape Canaveral. We did not see any fish other than a few hand-sized tripletail- not at all what we had in mind. The weather was awesome, the seas a little sloppy for the Mitzi.

They had to drive back to Tallahassee, so we started heading back to Port around 2:30. On the way back we ran into a large school of large black drum, hooked a half-dozen, and boated two. Not what we expected but I never look a gift horse in the mouth while fishing.

saltwater orlando fishing report

Joe got this drum on a swimbait.

 

saltwater Orlando fishing report

I don’t like the Boga Grip but it’s the only way Kevin could hold the beast.

Toosday I had a doctor appointment. Afterwards I met Michael Parks and his son Landon, from Atlanta. We used paddle vessels to go fishing on the Indian River Lagoon. We found a few tailing fish and Landon hooked and caught a very nice one, one of two reds he got.

saltwater Orlando fishing report

Landon does battle from the Dagger.

 

saltwater Orlando fishing report

It was his biggest fish to date.

Wednesday Michael and Landon joined me again. This time we used the Mitzi and fished in Mosquito Lagoon. The water looks bad. Lots of Rhodophyta floating around and covering the bottom. We saw five redfish, no dice as far as catching them goes. They did get a few trout on the DOA Deadly Combo, though. They had to drive back to Atlanta so we were off the water at 3 PM.

Thursday and Friday I got ready for the celebration of the equinox. Maybe I’m part Druid…

And that is this week’s Equinox Saltwater Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

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.

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Fished Around Central Florida Orlando Fishing Report

March 6, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Fished Around Central Florida Orlando Fishing Report

Upcoming Events

Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Seminar March 14

Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Seminar March 15

Only one week until the show and tell seminars, but there is still room both days!

 

My preference is to fish during the week rather than on weekends, but Sunday I had an itch to fish. To scratch it I took a bag of Culprit worms and a spin rod and checked out some retention ponds in Oviedo. You may be familiar with this type of pond. As you drive by you ask yourself, “I wonder if there are any fish in there?” Then you tell yourself, “I need to check that out.” Sunday was the day. I checked out two ponds in three hours and got three bass, the largest (not pictured) which was about 14 inches long. It sure beat watching men’s figure skating on TV. Can’t wait for baseball to start!

orlando fishing report

Lots of bass like this can be found in a retention pond near you.

            Yes, there are fish in that pond.

The beneficiary of a good weather forecast on Monday, I took the kayak to the Banana River Lagoon. When I pulled up to unload my stuff a cock cardinal landed on my rearview mirror and proceeded to do battle with his reflection. Most extraordinary. Beautiful, silly little bird!

The cardinal landed on my mirror...

The cardinal landed on my mirror…

 

...and proceeded to duke it out with his own reflection.

…and proceeded to duke it out with his own reflection.

 

cardinal3

            The fog was thick and I found the spot with some good luck. I couldn’t see anything until a tidal-wave sized wake started moving away from me. After staking out the boat I went blind casting with a black bunny leech. The fish pictured below took the fly on the second cast. It was a nice fish- the photo does not do it justice.

orlando fishing report

Definitely not a bad start to the day.

            After releasing it I went blind casting again and hooked a significantly larger fish. It took me deep into my backing and then broke off. A piece of my heart may have broken off a second later.

            I could not find the fish again, and so moved along.

            There was nothing at the next place. In the meantime the fog cleared and the sun appeared in a cloudless sky, making for excellent sight fishing conditions.

            At the next spot I saw nothing for a while. Then I almost ran over a bunch of drum. After staking out the boat I went searching for them, now armed with a black and green Clouser minnow. A single was spotted. The cast was decent, and the fish obliged.

orlando fishing report

No one accuses black drum of being beautiful.

            That was the only black drum that cooperated, although several more shots were taken.

            Through the day two more redfish bit. One broke off on the strike (perhaps we need a beefier tippet), the other was about ten pounds, also on a black bunny leech.

            All in all a very enjoyable day.

Tuesday Mr. Joe Nourigat joined for a day’s paddle fly fishing on the Indian River Lagoon. Although calm in the morning we again had fog. When it blew away there were clouds up there so we never got any good sight fishing light.

            The fish were not very active. For every one we had a cast to, we ran over a half dozen others. Joe had a limited number of shots at tailing fish, only got a single eat, and as so often happens when your luck is running that way we missed it.

            We tried blind casting, which yielded exactly nothing.

            We did have a wonderful, day-long conversation about books, and music, and a smattering of other topics. But when the boat was back on the car we had not caught a fish. It’s a good thing the birds were awesome. Joe was pretty cool, too.

Wednesday Fernado Fonseca, Mr. Orlando Mobile Marine, visited me to do an annual service on the Yamaha. The job is done, the money is in his bank, and see ya next year!

Fernando doing his thang.

Fernando, doing his thang.

Thursday afternoon I dusted off the cobia tackle. The water temperature is hitting the right spot. If the wind ever dies and the sea ever calms down I am going out there. Hopefully that will be next week.

Friday I needed to scout, so in spite of the clouds and wind the Bang-O-Craft and I went fishing on the Mosquito Lagoon. No kidding, I caught a trout on the first cast. Often that’s the kiss of death. Not this day. The trout bite was steady by using the DOA Deadly Combo.

orlando fishing report

The Deadly Combo was, well, deadly.

As often happens there were quite a few little ones but I got six or eight in the slot. Some more trout and a couple junior league redfish also fell for a DOA CAL Shad tail. In four hours at least 20 fish were released, certainly entertaining if not spectacular.

orlando fishing report

The little bitty reds were out on Friday.

 

orlando fishing report

The trout were smacking the shad tail, too.

And that is this week’s Fished Around Central Florida Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail.

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.

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Belated Valentines Day Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

February 16, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Valentines Day Orlando Saltwater Fishing Report

Upcoming Events

Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Seminar March 14. Visit this link for more information or to register!

Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Seminar March 15. Visit this link for more information or to register!

Redfish on the Fly is now available as an ebook! It’s available in various formats at this link , through iBooks, and as a kindle file at this link…

I only got out two days this week. Monday I took the kayak back to the Indian River Lagoon spot that gave me such an incredible day last week. It was way more subdued this time. I had a couple dozen shots at redfish. All but one spooked off the various flies. I brought a camera this time and did something I’ve never done before to hold the fish for the picture (it certainly can’t be called a photograph)- I used my feet.

orlando fishing report

Holding the fish with my feet was not that easy to do.

 

orlando saltwater fishing report

The fish took a Trout Bite.

If you have any unusual ways of holding fish for photos we all would love to hear them.

orlando saltwater fishing report

Not exactly the fish of the trip, but a fun catch due to its novelty.

I got about a dozen trout too, the best one maybe three pounds. Synthetic streamers were used. I also got what for me was quite an unusual catch- a spotted gar that took a seaducer. It photographed well. All fish were, as per usual, released. I got nice and wet on the back end, caught in the rain by an incoming cold front.

orlando saltwater fishing report

This modest specimen was the best trout of the day.

 

orlando saltwater fishing report

It ate a synthetic minnow and splashed water all over the lens.

Tuesday and Wednesday there were small craft advisories. All the boats stayed in the yard. I watched the trees rock back and forth, releasing mass amounts of pollen.

Thursday Matt Ohley and his son Noah joined me for a half day on the Mosquito Lagoon. We left the dock with high hopes. The lagoon proceeded to crush them.

There were no fish at the first spot, where last time there were hundreds of black drum and some redfish. No fish. None. Not even mullets.

The second spot had some fish, mostly trout, pretty nice ones. They were very spooky and would not bite. I staked out the boat and tried soaking bait. No, that did not work either. So we left and tried door number three.

There were quite a few fish there, mostly nice-sized trout but a few redfish too. Again, they refused all our offerings, including some soaked pork chops. They left lovely wakes as they sped away from us, though.

I’m going to have to go to six pound braid with twelve pound leaders and simply cast a mile to where I think they are from now on. By the time I can see them they just won’t bite because they already know we’re there.

Friday I drove up to Ocala and set up my booth at the Ocala Sportsmen’s Exposition, where I spent Saturday and Sunday (explaining why this report is delayed). Met some good people, saw some old friends, yes, the Gatorman!, got some flies tied, it was a good trip. Maybe some bookings will come from it, one can only hope.

Looking at the weather forecast for this week was not very encouraging. We’ll see what reality brings.

And that is this week’s Orlando Saltwater fishing report from Spotted Tail.

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.

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Filed Under: Fishing News, Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Two Day Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

January 31, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
mosquito lagoon fishing report

Who is that masked man, and what is he doing with that fish?

Two Day Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Monday morning I climbed in the chariot, hit I-95, and drove to Pinehurst to visit Steve and Bonnie Baker. It had been years. Steve walks with a cane now, but seems fine otherwise. Bonnie looks great. It was fantastic seeing them both again. I’d like to thank them both for their hospitality.

Wednesday I had errands-uh.

Thursday I strapped the kayak to the roof and went to River Breeze. I stopped to use the bathroom. Afterwards the car wouldn’t start, and then the alarm started firing. O meu Deus. Next thing the van is on a tow truck. We went to Myron’s Auto Repair in Edgewater. The problem was minor, a $50 repair.

I got the boat in the water about noon, paddled to the first spot. Ran over a few fish, so I got out and started wading, blind-casting. Got a redfish the first cast, and another on the third, using a brown sparkle crab. Ended up getting a dozen or so, all short but one 24 incher. Checked a couple other spots but did not see anything else. All in all, even with the car problem, a lovely day.

Friday George Allen joined me for some skiff fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. There were schools of fish in the first place we went. They were not very bitey, but George got a black drum on a mullet head?! What’s that about? We were in fish most of the day, had two bites on a DOA Shrimp, hooked and lost one nice trout and caught another. It’s the most fish I’ve seen in one day for a while, but they were not eating very well.

And that is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon fishing report from Spotted Tail.

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.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Saltwater Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail

January 24, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Saltwater Orlando Fishing Report from Spotted Tail

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Can’t get enough of this sticker…

Things seem to be looking up in the fishing world. We didn’t catch a lot of fish this week, but finding them became a lot easier.

On Monday Rob Boman and David Cline joined me for a day’s fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. We saw two schools of redfish right away. They were spooky enough that we could not get a cast to either. We continued on our way.

Spot number two yielded nothing. We did not see a fish there.

At the third spot we kept blowing out fish. Dave got a redfish on a RipTide Weedless Shrimp. Went through again. No bites. Staked out the boat and tossed a couple mullet chunks out. Rob got a 16 inch trout, released it.

Tried another spot. There were a lot of fish there, both trout and reds. They did not want to eat our offerings, and we did not get a bite. Yes, we were changing lures. No, it did not seem to matter. On the way out I spotted a school of reds lying at the edge of the flat. We had several good casts to them and Dave had one nail the weedless shrimp. It was a n-n-n-nice fish, 28 inches of glorious copper-colored Scianops. We released it.

Have you ever heard that saying, “Don’t leave fish to find fish”? These fish weren’t biting so I went to another spot where I had seen fish last week. There were hardly any there. Given time to think about it, and getting close to the end of the day, I went back to the previous spot. They still weren’t biting very well, but Rob got a 20 inch red on a four inch DOA CAL jerkbait. So, it had been a slow, tough day, but we saw quite a few fish. I thought things were finally looking better as I loaded the boat.

Dave was kind enough to send me this email- “Thank you for the great day fishing.  You put us on all kinds of fish and that is all a person can ever ask for.  I like that you bypass all the latest doo dads and fishing gadgets/gimmicks and concentrate on hardcore fishing.   I think we did pretty well considering the lockjaw that seemed to be so prevalent.  Robbie and I learned a lot too.”

Thank you Dave, for the kind words.

 

Tuesday Patrick Phillips joined me for some fly fishing, also on Mosquito Lagoon. We brought waders with us. I parked the boat and we got out and waded for a while. I can’t say fishing was hot but we got three trout and a red between us, on a gurgler and a streamer.

The wading was not fun because the bottom was gooshy. We got back in the boat and fished from it the rest of the day. Patrick had a lot of shots from both trout and reds. They sneered at everything we tried. The last fly he tried was a crab pattern. The final cast of the day was into a school of reds. They blew out.

So once again, the fish were there, but getting a bite was a tough proposition. But we were in fish the entire time.

black drum

A gratuitous black drum photo.

Wednesday I went kayaking on the Banana River Lagoon, all by my lonesome. I do some of my best work when I’m alone. Not this day. I found several schools of huge black drum. I only tried two flies, the wool crab and the black bunny leech. I easily had 100 great shots, but got only one bite, on a brown and olive green wool crab.

I hooked the fish solidly. I could not break it out of the school. My line went slack and I pulled the now fly-less leader in. It was broken cleanly, not at a knot, a mystery break. I speculate another fish swam into it, but really don’t know what happened.

All I know is I only saw a few trout, a couple dink reds, and excepting two puffers did not get another bite. The day was magnificent, the water clean. The fish caused some frustration, but it was an awesome paddle.

Should have gone fishing Thursday, didn’t.

Friday and Saturday I had no work and the weather wasn’t nice, didn’t fish.

The St. Johns River is still very high. Saturday’s rain won’t help it drop. Reports of scattered shad catches are coming in, but I’ve heard this year we have a shad walk, not a shad run.

And that is this week’s Saltwater Orlando fishing report from Spotted Tail.

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.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Is Spring Here? Orlando Fishing Report

January 17, 2015 by · Leave a Comment

Is Spring Here? Orlando Fishing Report

It’s only the middle of January, so asking if Spring is here may seem silly. But the red maples have already flowered and gone to seed. They are starting to leaf out. I saw some orange blossoms yesterday. The water levels in the lagoons have not dropped to usual winter levels. I am beginning to doubt that they will. We had heavy rain this week that raised the level of the Econlockhatchee River four feet. That does not bode well for the shad run. Going up the St. Johns I cannot negotiate the Econ. The channel is indistinguishable from the surrounding pasture.

I published a new ebook this week- Orlando- A Great Fishing Destination! Please check it out!

Sunday and Monday I gave fly casting instruction. Tuesday Mr. Michael Depple joined me for a half-day of fly fishing on the Indian River Lagoon. As seems to be the trend, in those spots where we found fish there were not very many, and some spots had no signs of life. Was it the wind, the clouds, or us? We went fishless.

Thursday I took the kayak out on Mosquito Lagoon, to a spot I hadn’t visited in several years. It looked awesome. The birds were incredible- ducks, and coots, and egrets. I saw four bald eagles. In spite of the cold wind, the heavy overcast, and the spitting rain I enjoyed the paddle tremendously. But I did not see a single fish and blind casting yielded nothing.

I postponed Friday’s trip because of the weather, although it turned into a beautiful day. I ended up taking a hike on the Florida Trail.

The water temperature at Port Canaveral is 64 degrees. Is it too early to be thinking about cobia??

And as bad as it is, that is this week’s 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.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: , , ,
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