The Last 2013 Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

A happy, healthy, and prosperous new year to all. If I may be so bold as to suggest a a couple resolutions, resolve to get outdoors more often, and to have more respect for man and nature.

Blog Posts this Week:
–Cleanwaste Go Anywhere Portable Toilet- A Review
–Brothers, a guest blog by Darryl Benton
–Indian River Lagoon Paddle Adventure Epiblogue

This is the time of year to do inventories. Actually, they should already be done. Then you could have added what you need to your Christmas list. The paddle adventure set me back, though.

Inventories needed to be done around Kumiski’s stuff include:
-fly-tying materials, including hooks;
-flies;
-leader material;
-line, including fly lines;
-conventional lures and hooks;
-rods and reels.
Inventory your fishing gear, get what you need, and be ready for the new year.

Several reporters have indicated shad are in the St. John’s River. I will be checking that out this week.

OK, fishing. Got some done this week.

Last Saturday (12/21) son Maxx needed a fish to take to someone’s house for Christmas dinner. We went to Mosquito Lagoon. I did not know what to expect.

We found a few tailing fish right away. I got one on a DOA CAL shad tail.

We looked in several spots without seeing anything alive. Then we found a place where there we saw a few fish. After anchoring the boat we were pleasantly surprised to see the reds swimming all around us. Maxx got a couple by sight fishing with mullet chunks and I got another on a DOA CAL jig. Mission accomplished, we put the Mitzi on the trailer and went home.

Sunday Dr. Todd Preuss, a long-time and favorite angler of mine (“Where did you get this brain?”), joined me for a day’s fly fishing on the lagoon. The weather was pretty nice and the tailers were there again. Sadly, we did not convert what turned out to be our best chance of the day. We covered water from Haulover Canal to Eldora. While we saw fish here and there, nothing was strong. Our shots were fleeting and none were converted. Todd never had a strike. Merry Christmas.

On Monday Jesse Hill, a fly caster from Colorado, joined me out of River Breeze for some fly fishing by canoe. It was a little breezy but the sun was shining.

I poled the canoe a long way. We did not see many fish.

We came to a junction. I wanted to go right but there was a boat down there already, so I went left. We came to a big white spot in the grass and anchored the boat. The plan was to wade and blind cast.

I got two dink redfish, then cast my fly to Jesse. He cut it off and tied it onto his leader. A few minutes later he had his first-ever saltwater fish, a seatrout. He ended up getting three trout, including a decent slot fish, and a couple redfish besides. Hardly hot fishing but it certainly beat off the skunk.

This certainly qualifies as a dink redfish.

Friday morning I went to Mosquito Lagoon for some scouting before my afternoon charter. Using the DOA Deadly Combo I found trout in several locations, then went to visit a flat. It was windy and overcast and not much was expected. I was pleasantly surprised to find some tailing redfish and got one on my first cast with the CAL Shad, quite a nice fish. Then I went back to Haulover to pick up my sports.

This fish, however, was anything but dinky. Too bad he wasn’t thee when my anglers were.

Jed Simmons, his son Zander, and his cousin Anne graced Spotted Tail for an afternoon of Mosquito Lagoon fishing. We went back to the tailing fish spot. Of course an hour later we saw exactly none.

We spent the rest of the afternoon using the Deadly Combo and got about 30 trout. Most were dinks but we did get a few slot fish, and a good time was had by all. Jed emailed me, “Thanks for yesterday.  We really enjoyed it. Anne and David cooked up the fish and it was really very good.  Zander even tried it and liked it.” So that was a good thing. Thank you, sir- the pleasure was all mine.

Saturday Steve Campbell and his son Seth found themselves on Spotted Tail for a full day’s fishing. The weather was not nice, overcast and windy, although after a morning shower at least it didn’t rain any more.

We fished from south of Haulover Canal all the way up to Eldora. At the last spot we fished we saw five redfish, all singles. We did not catch one. We used the Deadly Combo all day and got about 40 trout. Every one was short.

Steve got a flounder on the Deadly Combo (!). It was also short. I got a whiting on a four inch CAL jerkbait. It was the first whiting I’ve caught in Mosquito Lagoon in at least 15 years. While it was decent size for a whiting, a giant whiting is only a couple pounds.

So we caught a load of fish and did not catch one over eight ounces.

That is the last 2013 Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report. I certainly hope 2014 fishing starts like gangbusters! Hope springs eternal from the heart of a fisherman…

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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