Orlando Fishing Report Archives - Page 25 of 26

Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

June 9, 2012 by john kumiski · 2 Comments

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 6.9.12

On Sunday, friend and neighbor Karl Dienst joined me for a quick strike. We launched at Kennedy Point at 6 AM. We got to the fishing spot and no one else was there! Amazing.

The fish were not as thick as they were. We did not see a redfish. Karl got several nice trout on a white plastic worm, the kind you use for largemouth bass. I got a few on the Bait Buster. We also got a few nice ladyfish. Still looking for tarpon, still haven’t seen any.

The Bait Buster is a great lure for any mullet-eating fish.

The boat was on the trailer at 10AM.

Monday I went solo, launching at Marina Park. Got a couple trout and ladyfish on a Chug Bug, but it was slow. Saw one pod of redfish that would not let me near them. Switched to a Bait Buster and got a couple more trout.

I ran around much of Turnbull Basin and didn’t see much. On an ominous note, the nasty water we had last summer is showing itself again- found one large spot of dirty water on the west side south of the safety zone, and a big chunk of filthy water around Duckroost Cove.

After going to another spot I went wading, got four slot redfish on a black Clouser Minnow, quite satisfying.

Monday afternoon Sue and I brought son Alex to the airport, sending him off to Goodnews. It’s that time of year.

Tuesday morning Scott Radloff and I launched the Mitzi at Lee Wenner Park. It was overcast and windy, coming out of the west.

Scott got a small red on a Gulp on this third cast.

We got a nice trout on a DOA Shrimp in the next hour. It was too slow and visibility was not that great, so we put the boat on the trailer and went to Kelly Park, launching into the Banana River Lagoon.

I had gotten good reports about the BRL but we fished until 2 PM and got one trout that Scott convinced to take a Chug Bug. Not a lot of seagrass there any more.

Wednesday fly caster Darrin Prestangen met me at Marina Park. It was overcast and windy, terrible fly fishing conditions. Darrin, used to blind-casting in the streams of Colorado, blind-cast all morning. We did not get a fish. We did get rained on. We did see another boat pull in a 30 pound class redfish on the northwest side of the railroad trestle.

In the afternoon we went to where I had gotten the four reds a few days earlier. It was still very hard to see, but Darrin managed to sight-fish his first ever redfish (a small one) and a 20 inch seatrout, both on sliders.
The boat was on the trailer at 3 PM.

Darrin's first saltwater fish was this nice trout.

Thursday I did honey-dos. The weather was awful. It was a good day to stay home.

Friday Darrin joined me again, his last hurrah for this trip. We launched at Parrish Park. It was overcast but the wind was light.

We saw one tailing fish at the first spot, at which we did not get a shot. It did not tail very long.

We found a small school of fish at the second spot. We found them by running them over. There was a stampede.

We ran over several singles too. There were fish there but between the clouds and the dark bottom we could not see them at all.

We went back to the place where Darrin had caught his two fish the previous trip.

In a stunning turn of events there were more fish there than the previous day. Darrin got two reds and a fine black mullet on the estaz crabby thing fly. The fly goes into commercial production tomorrow! The reds at this spot run small, but at least we could sight fish.

Mullet, on fly!

The fly goes on sale tomorrow!

We went to another, similar spot and there were even more reds. Again, they were small, about 20 inch fish, but he got four more on a Son of Clouser. There were many refusals and blown shots. In spite of the clouds fishing was actually quite good. If the fish had been bigger I would have said it was excellent. At any rate we had a great time.

This red (and several others) fell for the Son of Clouser.

Although the fish ran small, at least we could sight fish.

The double spotted tail...

The boat was on the trailer at 3 PM.

And that is this week’s Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report.

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 2012. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report · Tagged: Bait Buster, Banana River, DOA Lures, florida fishing, fly fishing, Indian River Lagoon, john kumiski, orlando fishing, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, redfish, seatrout fishing

Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report

June 2, 2012 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 6.2.12

You may have heard about the proposed Pebble Mine. If not, the idea is to have a huge open pit mine, the world’s biggest, in southwest Alaska. Great idea, unless you care about trout and salmon.
This link- http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/262141/1a1f348b3c/1774503119/dd14000b65/
-contains other links and a call for action. With a pre-written letter you can express your opinion about the mine idea to the president, the head of the EPA, your Congressman and senators, etc.

Imagine this as a big open pit mine. Not much fishing would be going on any more.

Salmon used to be a common fish along both coasts of North America. Now all that’s left is a tiny remnant. Please help preserve that for posterity.

Fishing this week, ah yes. A lady named Beryl came to town early in the week and dumped on us for a couple of days. I was going to go fishing on Wednesday but a minor domestic problem prevented anything more than a trip to the Econ.

In last week’s report I asked about bass flies. While no responses came in, I have been doing some research and tied up a few flies based on that. I went to the Econ hoping to test them.

Beryl came to town. The Econ was up considerably, almost not fishable for a wading angler, especially one with a fly rod. But I found a couple of places where it was feasible.

I actually got two bites. On the second I watched the bass take the fly. I missed them both.

Two bites may not sound like much, but I’ve never gotten a bass to hit a fly there. So progress is being made. I know I’ll never figure it out, because it is fishing. But when I get a handle on it a full report will be filed. It may take a while- it’s rained some more.

Tom Van Horn picked me up at 5 AM Thursday morning. We loaded two kayaks into the bed of his truck and headed to the Banana River Lagoon. He had gotten some glowing reports and we were optimistic about our chances.

A light breeze from the southwest greeted us at the launch. The sun was just clearing the trees as we paddled to the first spot. I had tied on a Floozy popper, since the water there was up, and not terribly clean at that first place.

Second cast- Wham! Twenty-four inch trout. Good way to start the day. Fourth cast- Wham! Twenty-three inch trout. It tore the Floozy apart. Another was tied on, but it was the last one in the box.

I quickly lost track of how many casts were made or bites were had, but it was smoking hot for a while. Then it cooled down. It always does. Not to worry, we went somewhere else.

The trout tore the Floozy apart.

Tom was tossing a surface plug and had three nice trout before I could get organized. The Floozy soon started popping though and the fish were all over it. They soon tore it apart.

After Tom lost this plug he used a Bait Buster. The fish didn't care.

I switched to a Hot Head. The trout like it just fine.

The Hot Heads worked well, too.

The strikes were jolting. The tippet was too light. Only two Hot Heads were in the fly bag and I lost both of them. I had one Electric Sushi and lost that too.

In the meantime Tom had lost his plug and had switched to a DOA Bait Buster. The fish didn’t seem to mind.

I stopped fishing and made up a 15 pound tippet. That stopped the bleeding.

The bite slowed as the sun climbed. Since the wind was light and visibility was excellent we went looking for big redfish. Sadly, we did not find any at all.

We did find some slot reds. Using a black Clouser Minnow I got five or six, as well as some more trout.

The boats were back in the truck at 2:30. It was a hell of a day.

In general, the trout bite in the lagoons right now is as good as I have ever seen it for a sustained period. It’s been smoking hot for several months and shows no sign of slowing. And the fish are running a large average size, 20 inches or so. Get out and enjoy it- it’s sure to slow down!

That is this week’s Banana River Lagoon 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 2012. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Orlando Fishing Report · Tagged: Banana River, DOA Lures, Econlockhatchee River, florida fishing, fly fishing, kayak fishing, orlando fishing, orlando fishing report, redfish, seatrout fishing

Indian River Lagoon and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

May 25, 2012 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 5.26.12

Sunday found fly fisherman Bill Schell (from Washington state) and I floating around in the Mitzi on the Mosquito Lagoon. The sky was unmarred by any clouds at all- pretty rare for this time of year.

Bill could cast. For fly guides that’s usually the kiss of death. As a general rule, good caster = no fish. And so it seemed at the first spot, that I had just scouted three days earlier. Absolutely nothing there.

Hit spot #2 on a whim. There were some big trout there and Bill had one hit his sexyfly, but it came unbuttoned. No more bites, off the the next place.

Remarkably enough, the next place had quite a few fish, both nice trout and reds. And Bill managed to get one of each. Not great, but so many more than none. Then the east wind came up and although we kept fishing, the fishing had ended.

Bill's first Mosquito Lagoon redfish.

Monday found fly fisherman Bill Schell and I floating around in the Mitzi on the Mosquito Lagoon. Wind was light out of the south, just perfect. Again, no clouds. Someone must be living right.

We went straight to the third spot from Sunday. He had to blind cast at first since the sun was too low to penetrate the water. It’s not like the fish cooperated by tailing or anything.

He hooked and lost a trout, then caught a redfish and another trout by casting blindly with a PolarFibre Minnow.

Bill got a couple of trout like this one.

Pass number two we tried a slider. Again, one trout, one redfish by blind casting. We were starting to be able to see but all the shots were in close and none worked.

Pass number three we could see well. Casts to redfish made with the slider were studiously ignored. Out came a crab pattern. The first fish he threw it to took it, as did the second. Then a couple refusals happened before a last fish took it.

The crab fly produced Bill's best fish- and at the end, how it should be.

Again, the east wind ended it for us, but it had been a good morning.

Wednesday I went to the Econlockhatchee for a couple of hours. A weird thing happened. I saw quite a few bass and became interested in trying to catch one. They ignored my bluegill bug, and would inspect but not eat the streamers I tried. If anyone has any good patterns for catching bass in the Econ, would you please share one with me?

Sunfishing was slow- only got a few modest redbellies.

Thursday Scott Radloff and I went to the Indian River Lagoon. Unlike me, Scott is a Gulp fan. He got a redfish on one within five minutes of my shutting the motor off. He would get another a few minutes later.

I hooked and lost three nice trout on a Chug Bug.

We saw a lot of both trout and redfish that wouldn’t look at our offerings. Literally. They would see them and either turn around or make a wide circle around them.

We saw a lot of fish but ended up catching one nice trout, two slot reds, and a couple of ladyfish.

John Riggle joined me on Friday. We again fished in the Indian River Lagoon. The weather was spectacular, with a very light breeze from the north.

John started the morning tossing a Chug Bug. A slot redfish was his first victim, followed by trout after trout. The constant bites on the surface plug were wonderful to see.

One of many trout caught by John Riggle on Friday.

I was able to set the skiff on an easy drift, parallel to the shoreline, and fish a little myself. Tossing a DOA Bait Buster I got a slot red and several trout too.

We caught at least a dozen trout. The smallest was 17 inches, the largest 23. Five or six reds were caught too. There were a lot of missed strikes.

Once the wind cranked up, about 10 AM, the bite slowed way down. The boat was on the trailer about noontime.

That is this week’s Indian River Lagoon and Mosquito Lagoon 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 2012. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report · Tagged: DOA Lures, florida fishing, Indian River Lagoon, Mosquito Lagoon, mosquito lagoon fishing report, Mosquito Lagoon redfish, orlando fishing, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, redfish, scott radloff, seatrout fishing

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

May 18, 2012 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 5.19.12

Upcoming Event- Inaugural Space Coast International Surf Fishing Tournament, Memorial Day weekend, May 25-27. For more information click here http://internationalsurffishingtournament.com/

Sad News- Vic Dunaway passed away on Thursday. Vic was the original editor at Florida Sportsman magazine and guided that publication to a pre-eminent position among American fishing magazines. Vic bought the first article I ever wrote, a piece about fishing at Lostman’s Key in Everglades National park, for which I will ever be grateful to him.

His daughter Mari writes, “His wishes were that there be no funeral. He just wanted to be cremated and his ashes scattered in the Gulf of Mexico. If you wish to honor his memory, please send a contribution to the Coastal Conservation Association of Florida, P. O. Box 568886, Orlando, FL 32856. As I’m sure you know, the preservation of Florida’s coastal waters was important to him.”

I’m sure the next issue of Florida Sportsman will run a glowing tribute to him, which will be well deserved. Florida sportsmen will miss him, and should honor his legacy.

To all you discoers, Donna Summers also passed on Thursday. She worked hard for the money!

Fish of the Week- still the Spotted Seatrout!

My boat trailer is an aluminum frame EZ Loader. Aluminum or not, it had some galvanized parts and leaf springs, all of which were getting very rusty. Whoever said, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” obviously never had a boat trailer.

Tuesday I brought the trailer to EZ Loader in Port St. Lucie for some refurbishing action. After I dropped it off, I drove to Jensen Beach and met Mark Nichols for some fishing action down the south end of the IRL.

We went wade fishing. Fishing was good. Steady action from slot trout with the occasional crevalle and bluefish thrown in kept us entertained. The lure of choice, as might be expected, was a three inch DOA Shrimp.

It was great to see Mark and spend some time with him. The fish were a gift from God.

Wednesday I went to the Mosquito Lagoon to do some scouting. I had a fly charter on Thursday and wanted to show the guy some fish.

I started at the south end of Tiger Shoal, using the trolling motor to save some time. I went almost all the way to the north entrance with a couple of small trout to show for it. All the reds and big trout that had been up there were gone. So sad.

I looked in quite a few other places. The best I found was moderate numbers of single reds in shallow water, which I did not fish. There was a lot of barren territory.

When I get a new fly rod I do not take the plastic off the handle until that rod catches a “real” fish. I have had a new Temple Fork rod for at least a month that still had the plastic on the handle, which was beginning to irk me. I stopped at a bar on the way back to the boat ramp and got three trout there on a black and purple streamer, the first of which was 24 inches long.

The plastic is finally off the handle.

Thursday Shaun Waterman, a fly fisher from Ontario, joined me for a day’s fishing. He’d never fished in saltwater before. It wasn’t windy at all, but it was very gray. As I headed to the spot I found the fish on Wednesday I was praying they would be tailing.

Of course they weren’t. We did see the occasional tail, but it would be up, down, and no more. In addition to the clouds, the water where we were fishing was kind of dirty.
We ran over quite a few but never got any kind of real shot. We just couldn’t see. I had him try blind casting with a spoon fly for a while but that didn’t work either.

After a couple frustrating hours I decided to see if we could find anything better. We didn’t.

After a while I brought Shaun to the bar where I had caught the trout the day before. There were two people wading there. I gave them wide berth and we started fishing the bar about halfway up, blind casting the streamer to the edge of the dropoff.

We ran over a couple nice fish but no bites.

In a brief interlude with sunlight I thought I saw a fish on the inside of the bar. I wasn’t sure what it was because it was motionless, and facing right at us, but I pointed it out to Shaun. He dropped the fly about a foot in front of it and what turned out to actually be a fish zoomed up and immediately ate.

It was a redfish about 20 inches long. Not huge to be sure but Shaun’s first saltwater fish on fly. Congratulations, sir!

It was the only bite we got. We went back to near where we started. The fish had started tailing, not hard, but enough to keep us busy. Shaun had one great cast I thought sure would work but the fish never responded to it. Then the east wind came up and we never saw another fish.

It rained hard Thursday night and my roof started leaking. No more fishing until that problem is fixed.

That is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report.

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 2012. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report · Tagged: DOA Lures, florida fishing, Indian River Lagoon, Mosquito Lagoon, mosquito lagoon fishing report, Orlando Area Fishing Report, orlando fishing, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, redfish, seatrout fishing

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

May 12, 2012 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 5.12.12

Upcoming Event- Inaugural Space Coast International Surf Fishing Tournament, Memorial Day weekend, May 25-27. For more information click here.

Fish of the Week- The Spotted Seatrout!

Tuesday Chris McClemmon joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. I hadn’t been out there in over a week. The numbers of redfish seem to have thinned some, at least where I had been fishing them. But the trout were on fire. Using a DOA CAL jerkbait Chris got 15 or so to 20 inches, with no shorts. Gotta like that!

Jim Lewis, a fly caster from Colorado, joined me Wednesday. We saw reasonable numbers of redfish. They were very spooky- it was hard to get close enough for a cast. We fished the same places as Chris and I had on Tuesday, but Jim only had one bite, a small trout. At the end of the day we fished along a bar and saw good numbers of trout and some reds, but did not get a bite, in spite of trying four different flies.

We got a late, 10 AM start on Thursday. Rodney Smith, son Alex, and I went to the same bar where I had seen the trout the previous day. We fished it by wading with fly rods. I did not get a bite. Rodney got a trout, Alex missed one. We wrapped it up at noon.

That is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report. Don’t forget Mother’s Day!!

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 2012. All rights are reserved.

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

This Week’s Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

April 28, 2012 by john kumiski · 1 Comment

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 4.28.12

Monday- John Napolitano and son Alex joined me for a day on the Mosquito Lagoon, launching at River Breeze. What a day it was! Cold (high in the low 70s), windy (20-25 from the NW with gusts), it was a good day to fly a kite, not so good for fishing. I was cold all day, wearing my raincoat with the hood up trying to stay warm.

To my surprise we saw a reasonable number of fish, even a few tailing reds. You needed a good cast- you were only going to get one chance before we blew by. Of course with that wind a good cast was real hard to make. We got a few trout to 20 inches, on DOA Shrimp.

Tuesday- Met fly fisherman Dan Johnson at River Breeze. Unseasonably the air temperature was 49 degrees when I launched the boat. It was still windy, but not as much as the previous day. As we idled down the ICW I predicted we wouldn’t see much until the water temperature started rising, as it had dropped into the high 60s, almost ten degrees, in two days.

Dan got his first fish just before lunchtime, a fat flounder he found by blind casting. We had seen perhaps a half dozen fish to that point.

The flattie chased off the skunk.

After lunch we had shots at both trout and redfish pretty steadily. The fish were not very aggressive. Dan got a personal best trout at 24 inches, and missed one other strike. But most fish fled in terror when he showed them the fly.

Dan's best seatrout to date...

Thursday- I picked up Ed and Ian Normand and their friend Justin at Turtle Mound at 7 AM. It was chilly but a beautiful day with a forecast high of 87. There were no clouds and not much wind. I thought we would kick fish butt. We did not.

We looked on every flat and hole around Oak Hill, seeing one fish here, three fish there, no fish there. It was a major search mission. We only had five or six bites all day, and caught one redfish and a couple of trout. Although we had a good time, I wanted these folks to do well and the result was disappointing.

Friday- Dr. George Yarko and I launched the Mitzi at Haulover at 7 AM. At the first spot we found two schools of tailing reds. Where were they yesterday? Using a gold spoon and a jerk bait we hooked three, putting two in the boat. Both were handsome fish of over 30 inches.

We poled quite a way before we saw any more fish, and they didn’t bite. We went back to the first spot and while they had moved we found them again, getting three or four more. Four boats (!) poled in on us, so we left. I hate fishing in crowds!

mosquito lagoon redfish, mosquito lagoon, florida

The Doctor is IN the fish- again.

At the last spot we had shots at several reds and big trout, and got one more red, along with 10 or 12 trout on a DOA Shrimp. The weather could not have been any nicer, just a perfect day.

Saturday- Dr. Mike Sweeney and Colonel Mike Sweeney, father and son, joined me for a day’s fishing on the Mosquito Lagoon. Again, I hoped for a respectable day. The Doctor is one of my neighbors and the Colonel just got home from his eighth overseas deployment, commanding a brigade of Marines in Afganistan. Didn’t he need a good, relaxing day?

The fish were not suicidal but there were good numbers around. We couldn’t fool the reds with metal or plastic so we resorted to meat in the form of mullet chunks. That didn’t work great, but it worked well enough to put five or six into the boat.

The Colonel gets a break from combat by getting some redfish.

We then went trouting with DOAs. That was slow. We only succeeded in getting a few shorts. Fortunately, the puffers, who have been out in force, weren’t biting either.
After a lovely day and reasonably successful session we knocked off at about 2 PM.

That is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon 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 2012. All rights are reserved.

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

Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

April 21, 2012 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 4.21.12

Cheryl, the official sister of Spotted Tail, was visiting from New Hampshire until Thursday of the week just past. While it was great seeing her, she cut into my fishing time.

On Monday she and I floated the Econ (read the blog post here). The redbellies are bedding. Although I didn’t hit it hard I had a ball catching them, using a three weight and a foam spider.

Got a late start Thursday, wanted to scout the Indian River. Went to the dredge hole on the northeast side of NASA Causeway and worked the flat to Morse Creek. Saw some nice trout and a few redfish, but not nearly enough to make me want to go back.

Friday’s scouting was out of River Breeze. Searched shorelines for nearly four hours. Got two reds and two trout on a jerk worm, all slot fish. Did not find any concentrations of fish, strictly one here, one way over there. Saw some slot reds and some serious trout. My best fish was a 25 inch red, although I was more concerned with finding some than catching them.

Back to business next week.

And that is this week’s Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon 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 2012. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, Uncategorized · Tagged: DOA Lures, florida fishing, Mosquito Lagoon, mosquito lagoon fishing report, Mosquito Lagoon redfish, orlando fishing report, redfish, seatrout fishing

Mosquito Lagoon and Port Canaveral Fishing Report

April 15, 2012 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 4.15.12

Happy Income Tax Filing Deadline Day!

Upcoming Events/Volunteers Needed
In celebration of Earth Day 2012, Anglers for Conservation is coordinating a series of Hook Kids on Fishing programs throughout the week of April 14-22. Volunteers are needed. This is the perfect opportunity to work within the fishing community while having a very rewarding experience. All volunteers’ will received a free Anglers for Conservation fishing hat! Contact Rodney Smith at 321-750-3374 or rodney@anglersforconservation.org.

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

See this trout? We didn't catch any like this this week.

On Monday son Alex and I went to Port Canaveral. We had to pick up the Mitzi from the mechanic (annual service on the Yamaha), who had forgotten about me. So we got a late start.
There was a school of menhaden over a mile long off Cocoa Beach. We fished there for a quite a while. Did not get a bite. Saw exactly one Spanish mackerel. Did not see any other fishermen. You don’t have to hit me in the head with a brick. We left and went on a search mission, going out as far as four miles.

We saw two small tripletail all day, and did not get a bite. A very thorough skunking was had.

We could have gone north of the Cape and gotten smaller fish but we were thinking big. Just didn’t work this time.

Wednesday Dick and Karen Hendricks joined me for a morning’s fishing on Mosquito Lagoon fishing. The fish were very uncooperative. We saw quite a few redfish, even a nice pod of tailing fish. They didn’t want anything to do with us.

We found quite a few nice trout. They were equally fussy.

The Hendrickses got one redfish, two trout, and one ladyfish in four hours. All were small.

The weather was quite lovely and we had a good time.
Friday afternoon I wanted to go to the Econlockhatchee River. The bluegill fly box hasn’t turned up yet so I had to tie up some new flies first, making a couple of small (#6) white gurglers with chartreuse tails and rubber legs.

Both the redbellies and the bluegills liked them. The bass ignored me, as they always do. One of these days I’m going to have to target them. The sunnies are so much fun and so beautiful that except for when I actually see a bass I don’t really care about them.

Saturday morning found me at Kiwanis Park on Merritt Island at a Hook Kids on Fishing event, where I met Ron Conner, Key West fishing guide and Spotted Tail subscriber. He had driven up from the Keys to be a volunteer after reading my volunteers needed post the past couple weeks. Pleasure meeting you, sir!

It was cloudy, windy, and threatening rain, but about 70 kids and their parents showed up for some quick fishing lessons and an hour of fishing. My job was to give a 10 minute lesson on boating safety, which I did six times. Then all the volunteers supervised and assisted the new fishermen.

Fishing wasn’t too good. I only saw two pinfish caught. But all the kids received rods and reels, and everyone had fun.

Volunteers are still needed for next week’s events. It’s not too late to get in on the action!

And that is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon and Port Canaveral 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 2012. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report · Tagged: mosquito lagoon fishing report, orlando fishing report, Port Canaveral

Mosquito Lagoon and Port Canaveral Offshore Fishing Report

April 1, 2012 by john kumiski · 2 Comments

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 3.31.12

Upcoming Events/Volunteers Needed
In celebration of Earth Day 2012, Anglers for Conservation are coordinating a series of Hook Kids on Fishing programs throughout the week of April 14-22. Volunteers are needed. This is the perfect opportunity to work within the fishing community while having a very rewarding experience. All volunteers’ will received a free Anglers for Conservation fishing hat! Contact Rodney Smith at 321-750-3374 or rodney@anglersforconservation.org.

Fishing this week- lots of fish, not many big ones.

On Monday, Matt Williams of Winter Park joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. We did some searching for redfish and did not find very many. Matt caught three on a Johnson Minnow, all out of the slot- on the low end. He got a lot of trout on the DOA Shrimp, but again many were short, with only a few in the slot. The weather was pretty nice too, a little breezy but otherwise a beautiful day.

There are manatees swimming all through the lagoon systems now. They tend to hang out in the deeper water just off the edge of the flat. Please avoid running your boat in these places, unless you like colliding with 2000 pounds of ugly-cute critter.

On Thursday Sam Sharata, his son Alex, and his nephew Luis joined me for some fishing, again on Mosquito Lagoon. Again, the weather was beautiful, a bit breezy. We started off fishing for trout, always a good strategy when youngsters are in the boat. They were biting the DOA Shrimp pretty well, although again, lots of shorts.

The dehooker is such a great device for removing these fish from the hook. It’s better for the fish, too- you don’t even need to touch them. There are several commercially made versions of this tool in the market, the best known of which is the ARC Dehooker.

Anyway, after a while we went searching for redfish. It took a while but we found a school of about 50 and managed to get two in the 24 inch range before they vacated the area. Then we fished trout again until our day was done. A fine day it was!

Alex (L) and Luis with Luis's first redfish ever.

Alex got his first redfish, too.

On Friday I was the guest of Dr. George Yarko for an offshore charter on Capt. Jeff Brown’s 29 foot Copout. There were lots of menhaden off Cocoa Beach, where we filled up the livewell. Then we went looking for king mackerel.

Jeff Brown tosses a net to catch bait.

Apparently we missed them by one day, and did not raise one. So we went further out looking for dolphin. George got a small one that hit a trolled rigged ballyhoo. Another hour of trolling went by and not another bite was had, so we went bottom fishing.

The red snapper bite was hot, and Dr. Yarko had their number. There’s currently a moratorium in place on red snapper so we had to release all of the tasty critters, even the one that I caught. More for the next trip.

George got bigger ones, but this was the best photo.

Working our way back in, we came across a lovely line of weeds. Jeff shut off the engines and let us drift along. Some flying fish erupted from the water and I spotted a dolphin swimming along. A cast with a pogie brought an immediate hookup. A second cast got another. Sadly the second fish broke off but the first one was gaffed and brought aboard. We saw a couple dozen more of the mahis, but could not convince them to take either a live or a cut bait, very strange.

A small mahi-mahi caught off Port Canaveral.

It wasn't real big but it was very tasty!

We were back in the Port at about 4:30 after a grueling ride back.

On Saturday Steve Kruska, has son Karstin, and his friend Adam Rosati joined me to do some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Karstin was nine years old so you know we went straight to the trout. And they were pretty cooperative, although again the average fish was about 14 inches, with maybe a half dozen fish in the slot being caught.

Small Spotted Seatrout from Mosquito Lagoon.

Karstin got a bunch of fish like this, which kept him busy.

We also got a ladyfish and a small red. Everything was taken on a DOA Shrimp.

Word on the street is these fish are more entertaining than walleyes.

I only poled one flat looking for reds and we did not see one. But we caught trout until the final bell.

And that is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon and Banana River Lagoon 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 2012. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report · Tagged: DOA Lures, DOA Shrimp, Mosquito Lagoon, mosquito lagoon fishing report, Mosquito Lagoon redfish, Orlando Area Fishing Report, orlando fishing report, redfish, seatrout fishing

Mosquito Lagoon and Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report

March 25, 2012 by john kumiski · 4 Comments

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 3.25.12

Dad-Was-A-Bad-Influence Dept: son Alex passed his US Coast Guard Merchant Mariner’s exam today. He will soon be able to carry passengers for hire, just like the old man! Congratulations, son!

Tuesday the Brothers Klepacki joined me for some paddling and fly fishing in the no motor zone. I had been on such a good run. Tuesday crushed it. All the redfish that have been in the same spot for months left- zilch, zero, nada. We found some nice seatrout but I don’t do all that paddling for trout. On the other hand, a bunch of nice trout are way better than no redfish, which is how many reds we got.

Got a last minute cancellation on Wednesday. Stayed home.

Thursday Tim and Lynn Dennin joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Tim did something you shouldn’t do if you want to sightfish for redfish. He forgot his sunglasses. We got quite a few seatrout on the DOA Shrimp. Our redfishing went for naught though. Tim just couldn’t see them without the glasses.

The Dennins with one of their many seatrout.

The weather was awesome. We had a real nice day.

Saturday David Garcia travelled all the way from Fairbanks Alaska to fish for redfish. We had quite a few clouds and it was pretty windy. David learned fast though, and when he saw a fish the Johnson Minnow landed there, pronto. Three nice reds were boated along with a missed strike. We also got a couple dozen trout to about 20 inches on DOA Shrimp. It was a pretty good day considering the weather.

Mr. Garcia came a long way to catch his first redfish.

David also got this one and another as well.

The trout were pretty cooperative. This was one of many trout we released.

Sydney Katz, official girlfriend of son Maxx, is taking a course in Marine Biology and needed photos of various estuarine life forms- flora and fauna both. Today we went out on the Indian River Lagoon to get them. Maxx and I each caught a redfish and several seatrout. We also caught mullet, minnows, shrimp, crabs, horseshoe crabs, comb jellies, various types of alga, and generally made a mess of my boat. It was fun and a relaxing way to spend most of a Sunday.

And that is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon and Banana River Lagoon 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 2012. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report · Tagged: Banana River, DOA Lures, john kumiski, Mosquito Lagoon, mosquito lagoon fishing report, Mosquito Lagoon redfish, orlando fishing, orlando fishing charter, orlando fishing report, redfish, seatrout fishing

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