You are here: Home / Archives for Paddle Fishing Florida

My Week Around Central Florida Report

February 12, 2022 by · Leave a Comment

My Week Around Central Florida Report

Hi everyone, thanks for reading My Week Around Central Florida report. Again, got some fishing in this week!

Monday

Susan and I went to Merritt Island NWR, went hiking on the Oak Hammock and Palm Hammock trails, a grand total of two-and-a-half miles. A very nice two-and-a-half miles!

Lunch at Sunrise Bread, then off to the Enchanted Forest. Whoever heard of an Enchanted Forest being closed??? There ya go, this one is closed on Mondays. We went home.

Tuesday

Cold, overcast, windy. I went looking for new places to fish, ended up on Tosahatchee. Then it started raining, too. There’s an old borrow pit they call Lake Charlie, no motors allowed. I caught a bass there once about 40 years ago. Could warrant further investigation.

That’s such an awesome piece of property. I need to spend more time there.

Wednesday

Ended up going to CS Lee Park and launching the Bang-O-Craft to make my first shad fishing trip this year. I did not find any shad. The one bite I got was from a striper hybrid, on a Road Runner. Then, Bang-o-Craft motor wouldn’t start when I had enough. I started poling back. After 30 minutes or so I tried the motor again. It started. I left. Stupid motor. It needs professional help, I’m afraid.

Thursday

I took a kayak (on which the motor, while slow, ALWAYS works) out of River Breeze Park. Beautiful day! Found clean water for the most part. Found some fish, too. All tiddlers. Got six or seven reds, all less than 12 inches.

Got six or seven trout. A couple maybe would have held batter. Got a floundah, too, a little one. The water was low and I did not see another boat until I started back, always a nice thing.

Friday

After morning errands I went back to Tosahatchee, kayaked on Lake Charles, where I got skonked. I went for a walk in the woods and took some pictures. It was the first day of Hogs with Dogs season- lots of trucks with dogs and cages out there!

 

 

That was My Week Around Central Florida. Thanks for reading!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go paddling! Take a walk! Stay active!

John Kumiski, author of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide

Purchase a signed copy of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide at http://www.spottedtail.com/fishing-florida-by-paddle/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2022. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: central florida destinations, central florida fishing report, Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , , , ,

Everglades City Report

February 4, 2022 by · Leave a Comment

Everglades City Report

Hi everyone, thanks for reading this Everglades City report. Got some fishing in this week!

But first, something out of the ordinary for this blog. While watching musicians on youtube, I ran across a woman by the name of Jackie Venson. This lady can lay down some tasty guitar licks! I’ve never seen a woman play guitar like this. Not surprising, she’s a Berklee School grad. Anyway, check it out. If you don’t like it, just turn it off!

Her guitar work on this cut sends shivers down my spine!

If you like it, she’s got a couple concerts recorded on youtube. One of them is at this link…  If you like her, spread the word. She’s relatively new and could use the support…

Monday, went to the eye doctor. I have a bad cataract in the right eye, needs surgery. My Uncle Leo always told me, gettin’ old ain’t for sissies. Sadly, he is spot on.

When I got home, I packed my stuff and drove to Everglades City ranger station, got a backcountry permit for two nights on Jewell Key.

Tuesday morning, I packed the gear into the kayak and caught the outgoing tide all the way there. It was kind of windy. Before I even stopped to make camp, I went to the gulf side of the key and started fishing. I had to wade- it was too windy and rough to fish from the kayak.

I started with a spin rod, three-inch shad, trying to find out if anyone was home. Jewell Key has been good to me, but last time there, there were no fish. Before long I got a ladyfish, then a trout. I put the spinner away and started tossing a Clouser Minnow.

In this file photo from an earlier trip, Maxx holds a typical sized Jewell Key trout.

I worked my butt off. Did get a few more trout, though, and one diminutive snook. In the meantime, the water was rising, and I was getting hungry. I went to the campsite – no one else there! – and took care of all that camping business.

I laid around for a while, watching clouds and ospreys. Watching the clouds is an exercise in creativity. I see some strange things in those clouds!

I saw a chicken’s body with a seahorse’s head in this cloud. No chemicals involved.

I picked up the spin rod and started casting from camp. A Bite! A Puffer! Then I got a ladyfish, and then the best snook of the trip, not saying much. Maybe three pounds? I just let it go. A few hockey-puck-sized jacks attacked my lure, too.

Any day you catch a puffer is a good day!

Did a little kayaking on the lee side of the island. One trout, another dinker snook. Slow fishing. Watched three guys in a Boston Whaler, in the wind and current, not far off. I wasn’t going out there. They kept making the same drift. Fair amount of hollering going on in that boat. Good for them!

In this file photo from an earlier trip, Alex holds a snook of the size that I caught on this trip.

Back to camp. Pulled the boat up onto the island, got ready for night. Clouds made me think there wouldn’t be much in the way of stargazing, so I lit a campfire. First time in a couple of years. It was nice, watching the flames in their sameness and infinite changes, thinking about the chemical reactions going on in there, feeling the heat.

Built a campfire, first time in a long time.

Watched it get dark. I love watching it get dark. I love dark! Civilization’s fear of darkness makes me sad. I was at least 80 miles from Miami, but it lit up the night sky like a beacon.

The clouds cleared some, so I put out the fire and stargazed until I was almost too cold to get up. Some of my favorite constellations were almost straight overhead. Any Tauruses out there, reading? Geminis? Leos? On the US east coast, your stars are up there right now, as soon as it’s dark.

I crawled into my tent, my sleeping bag. It felt awesome! Checked my phone- 8:30! I’d catch up on some sleep tonight! I wish I had a video camera that could record my dreams. I could make such bizarre movies…

Wednesday was almost a carbon copy of Tuesday. I waded the entire gulf side of the island, fly casting in the wind. Hope springs eternal in the heart of a fisherman. I hit trout fairly regularly, the best being 19 or 20 inches. Never did get the killer strike, though. Got a small pompano. Did get to watch the sun make a complete arc across the heavens, too.

Got a small pompano.

Fished from camp again – nothing. Kayaked the lee side of the island – one trout. The guys in the Boston Whaler were back at the same spot, still hollering. Still good!

No clouds this night – stars should be out. As it got dark, Jupiter and the slimmest of crescent moons followed the sun to the sea in the west. Orion and all his friends came out. I saw a single satellite, pretty odd for the couple hours I laid out there to only see one, especially the way Elon Musk has been tossing them up there.

Jupiter and the crescent moon followed the sun into the sea…

 

The learned observer can find Orion, Taurus, Gemini, and Canis Minor in the photo. Leo was lost in Miami’s glare.

Went to bed, wanted to get up early. A little after eight…

Thursday, there were still stars out when I got up- the Great Bear and Scorpius were easily recognized. Packed everything into the boat, ate a simple breakfast (all my meals this trip were simple- no cooking), and hit it. I caught the tide getting out there. I’d have to fight it to get back. Then I had to drive home. So, no fishing this day. Hardly saw any fish, anyway.

That was the theme this trip – there was no bait. The water was cold! I was glad I had waders. But no bait, no fish. And it’s not like there were no fish, I got six species, but there were not many. Nonetheless, I had two full days of getting my nature on, and anything more than that is just a bonus at this point. I might just be a biophiliac…

That’s my Everglades City report. Thanks for reading!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go paddling! Take a walk! Stay active!

John Kumiski, author of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide

Purchase a signed copy of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide at http://www.spottedtail.com/fishing-florida-by-paddle/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2022. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Fishing Stories, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Two Days Out of River Breeze Report

January 22, 2022 by · Leave a Comment

Two Days Out of River Breeze Report

Hi everyone, thanks for reading this Two Days Out of River Breeze report. Thanks to everyone who bought some fishing rods! I’ll be donating the unsold rods to some charity, I suspect.

The talented Patrick Young has sent me another guest blog piece, about kids and camping. Read it here…

Last week I wrote, “Tuesday was even more exciting search for tile, orchestrated by Susan!” Needless to say, that story did not end there. I also wrote last week, “Thursday, more car maintenance.” That story did not end there, either.

Monday and Tuesday I started emptying everything out of my office to prepare it for the tile installers. There is no better way to clean a room, or a house, than by completely emptying it. My office is not completely empty yet, but it’s getting there. The installers come Monday, so I know some of what I’ll be doing over the weekend.

I botched the maintenance job I attempted on the van. The gents at Pep Boys made it right on Tuesday. As long as the van was there, I had them do the other job, too. Car should be good to go for a while.

Wednesday, a beautiful, crisp, cloudless day, I put the kayak in the water at River Breeze and paddled to Marsha’s Pond, where I intended to fish. When I got there, there were already two boats there. I pulled up on a shoreline anyway.

A small black drum on a white slider fly.

I was pleasantly surprised how clear the water was. I was also pleasantly surprised to see some fish! The water was cold and clear, there were other boats around, and the fish were not biting very well. I got a small black drum on a white slider, then spooked fish occasionally for a couple hours.

Then I saw something I never expected to, perhaps never again, in the Mosquito Lagoon- a school of redfish.

Granted, it was a small school, maybe two dozen fish. And unfortunately, I moved them by not-quite-running them over. I circled around, staked out the boat, grabbed the fly rod, and went wading, hoping they sat right down again.

They did not. After 30 minutes of looking, I gave up and got back in the boat. Standing with the spin rod in my wader belt, I went looking for them again, now standing in the kayak. Pretty amazing, I found them. A good cast with a DOA Shrimp garnered an immediate strike. This caused the school to vaporize, but I sight-cast to a school of reds and got one, by gar!

Redfish on DOA Shrimp.

Later, I got a rat red on the DOA Shrimp by blind-casting. That was it for the day.

Thursday I went back to River Breeze. Lots of trailers were parked there. I decided that Marsha’s Pond might be too crowded- the water is still high enough for skiffs to go anywhere.

When I got to the first spot I wanted to fish, there were three kayaks there.

When I got to the second spot I wanted to fish, there was a boat anchored there.

When I got to the third spot I wanted to fish, there was a boat anchored there.

When I got to the fourth spot I wanted to fish, there was no boat anchored there. Yay! There were no fish there, either. Boo!

I worked my way into a small tidal creek. Good current was flowing, and this place has been good to me. I got were two redfish which, laid to end, may have made one legal-sized fish. Yes, they were small. But they did take that white slider.

Yes, it defines “dink”.

There were no fish at the next spot. I crossed an empty flat to another small creek, deeper than the first. Good current, again. Wadable. I staked out and went wading, after tying on a Clouser Minnow. I’d cast to the far bank and swing the fly, like fishing for salmon. I kept getting “pinfish bites.” I finally stuck one, a small ladyfish. There were lots of them- I probably caught fifteen. I wore out three Clousers in that creek. The ten-inch reds were in there, not thick, but enough I got ten or so. So I was getting bites, if all small fish.

This was a real one, though.

Then a real fish took. It actually pulled drag! It was the first of a pair of five-pound trout I got. Made my day! Got four or five smaller, in-the-slot trout, too.

The barb on all my fly hooks is crushed down, so I’d like to think I didn’t hurt any of the fish too much. I did not take either of those big trout, beautiful fish, out of the water. Better a live fish and a crappy photo than a great photo and a dead fish!

The weather was awesome, I found a place that had fish, I had it to myself. Fantastic! When the current stopped running the bite stopped. It took me an hour and a half to get back to River Breeze. Aye, ’twas a full day, laddie…

Friday Susan and I went to Blue Spring State Park. The sign at the entrance said there were 431 manatees there that day. I thought one of the rangers had a weird sense of humor (something I know quite a bit about), but there were actually that many there. Incredible, beautiful.

Plenty of beef in the spring run!

The spring run looks great. The water was almost limpid. There were loads of fish in there, including tarpon and snook. There were also tilapia and Plecostamus. There were many hominids on the bank, too.

The entire run comes from this boil.

 

I could not tell what these were.

 

Knew this one, though!

 

 

Kayak tours and rentals available.

After walking to the spring and back, we had a little picnic, trying to plot our next move. We decided to go to nearby Hontoon Island State Park, somewhere we had never been.

We walked three miles.

 

A short ferry ride (free!) took us out to the island. We took a three-mile loop, walking to an Indian mound at the far end of the island. It was a fine day for a walk, partly cloudy, not too hot. And after all that, we hopped in the van, and were home for supper. Another fantasmalyshtical day!

That’s my Two Days Out of River Breeze Report. Thanks for reading!

OH! I have a box of flies (a couple hundred at least) that belonged to the late Bob Stearns, many tied by Bob. It’s a mixed bag of saltwater streamers and poppers, with lots of classic Keys-style tarpon flies! I’m offering them for sale, $25 for the batch. If you can’t come get them, I’ll mail them if you pay the shipping. Contact me if you’re interested, please. home phone- four zero seven nine seven seven five two zero seven

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go paddling! Take a walk! Stay active!

John Kumiski, author of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide

Purchase a signed copy of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide at http://www.spottedtail.com/fishing-florida-by-paddle/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2022. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: central florida destinations, Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Paddle Fishing Florida, travel blog · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Econlockhatchee River Fishing Report

January 14, 2022 by · Leave a Comment

Econlockhatchee River Fishing Report; Rods for Sale

Hi everyone, thanks for reading this Econlockhatchee River fishing report, and my attempt to sell some more fishing rods. Like last week, subscribers get first shot at these rods, both spin and casting models.

First, a call to action!

The Tongass National Forest, of Southeast Alaska, is America’s Salmon Forest, one of the last few places on earth where wild salmon, steelhead and trout still thrive. Join us in urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s to reinstate roadless protections on the Tongass.  www.americansalmonforest.org/takeaction   #AmericanSalmonForest   #TongassNationalForest   #Tongass77   #AKroadlessrule

Son Alex with a coastal cutthroat trout in the Tongass.

These roadless areas are the underpinnings of Southeast Alaska’s robust fishing and tourism industries, important recreation and subsistence lands, and are essential to the local way of life. This year, the U.S. Forest Service has announced they have a new vision for Southeast Alaska, and that includes putting an end to industrial scale old growth logging. To begin this effort, the USDA Forest Service has launched a 60-day public comment period to reinstate the Roadless Rule on Alaska. The last day to submit comments is January 24, 2022.

Susan with a silver salmon, also in the Tongass.

Take action NOW, please! http://www.americansalmonforest.org/takeaction.html

This is how thick the salmon get in the Tongass! Please take action to help keep it this way!

Now, the week including fishing.

Monday was an exciting day at Autonation Toyota Winter Park. Rocinante needed maintenance!

Tuesday was even more exciting search for tile, orchestrated by Susan!

Wednesday, I put the kayak in the river and started casting a new (for me) floating snakey-looking-foam-and-bunny-strip fly, in spite of the cool temperatures. Many casts were made where the thought was, “That one should get a bite.”

Over an hour went by- no bites. Saw a big alligator. Saw an otter- we had a bit of a staring contest, most extraordinary. But no fish. It was time to change the fly. Went for an ugly hackle fly that had been collecting dust in the box for years.

The ugly fly quickly caught this fish.

Of course, it quickly caught a fish, a nice little bass. Then a redbelly hit it. Then I got a big tilapia! Then, another bass! And then, because it sinks, it got caught on a submerged branch and was lost.

Tilapia on a fly.

It was the only one of those I had, but the box had quite a few wooly buggers. A black one was tied on. Several more redbellies, and a truly dinker bass. Time to paddle back.

On the way back, an enormous alligator slid off the bank as I approached. Some of these Econ gators must be pushing 1000 pounds.

Yes, it was very stanky.

Then I noticed a dead and decayed alligator carcass hanging from the branches of a blown-down tree. Macabre. Took a pic to share. Not a beautiful photo by any means.

Thursday, more car maintenance. Couldn’t afford to have it all done at AutoNation. And there’s still another job to do.

Friday, took a short before-lunch hike on the Florida Trail.

Glorious FT morning!

 

Love the mud bridges!

Then I took an after lunch paddle on the Little Econlockhatchee, where I found an abandoned golf club. You really have to love winter in Florida. I lost two flies to snags, did not see or touch any fish other than guppies.

That’s my Econlockhatchee River Fishing Report. Rods are below! Thanks for reading!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go paddling! Take a walk! Stay active!

John Kumiski, author of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide

Purchase a signed copy of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide at http://www.spottedtail.com/fishing-florida-by-paddle/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2022. All rights are reserved.

Fishing Rods for Sale!

All rods have been used- many were my guide rods. Priced to sell!

Spin Rods

Daiwa Sealine Graphite SG624, 7.5′ Medium Heavy Saltwater, Lure 1-3 oz., Line 12-30 lb.
I have two. Great rods for big tarpon, big jacks, sharks, etc. $50 for the pair.

Daiwa Sealine Graphite SG623, 7′ Medium Heavy Saltwater, Lure 1-3 oz., Line 12-30 lb.
Great rod for big tarpon, big jacks, sharks, etc. $25.

Daiwa Sealine Graphite SG213H, 7′ Medium Saltwater, Lure 3/4-2 1/2 oz., Line 15-25 lb.
Sporty rod for big tarpon, big jacks, sharks, etc. $25

Striker Graphite SPR704, 7′ Light saltwater, Lure 3/8- 3/4 oz., Line 8-17 lb. Redfish, trout, snook, largemouth bass, etc. $25

Daiwa Power Mesh Procaster PR213, 7′ Medium Light Saltwater, Lure 1/2- 1 oz., Line 6-17 lb. Redfish, trout, snook, largemouth bass, etc. $25

Shimano Stimula SI-070PMB, 7′ Light Saltwater, Lure 1/8-1/2 oz., Line 8-17 lb. Redfish, trout, snook, largemouth bass, etc. $25

Shimano Compre CPS70M, 7′ Light Saltwater, Lure 3/16-1/2 oz., Line 8-17 lb. Redfish, trout, snook, largemouth bass, etc. $25

The El Rod Custom-Built Spinning Rod, 7′ Light Saltwater, Lure 3/16- 1/2 oz., Line 8-17 lb. Redfish, trout, snook, largemouth bass, etc. $25

Casting Rods

Daiwa Power Mesh Procaster PR52-T5, 6 1/2′ Extra Heavy, Lure 3/4- 1 1/2 oz., Line 14-40 lb. $25

Browning Gold Medallion Graphite MC-56M, 6 1/2′ Medium, Lure 1/4- 3/4 oz., Line 8-17 lb. $25

Lew’s Laser TXS, 6’10” Medium Heavy Freshwater, Lure 3/8- 5/8 oz., Line 10-20 lb. This baby almost glows in the dark! Shows signs of wear. $10

Rhino Titanium RHTC 602M, 6′, two-piece, Medium, Lure 1/4- 3/4 oz., Line 8-17 lb. $10

Thanks for looking!

Filed Under: central florida destinations, central florida fishing report, Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , , , , ,

Happy New Year Fishing Report

December 31, 2021 by · Leave a Comment

Happy New Year Fishing Report

Happy New Year Pie, by Cheryl Kumiski

Happy New Year! Thank you for reading this Happy New Year Fishing Report. I wasn’t going to write one this week, but weirdly enough, I missed it. I miss my readers, my friends!

Since it’s January first, we all need to start hoping for a strong shad run. The advance scouts should already be here.

The weather has been incredibly nice! I lost track of the days!

We gotta back up. The Sunday before Christmas I drove to Hillsborough River State Park, an unpleasant drive of about three hours, no matter how I go. The park is almost worth it, though. I was supposed to meet Nick Colantonio, famous the world over as the Comatose Angler, a real treat for me. I beat him there, though, so decided to scout the river.

I paddled upstream until I came to a fallen tree that blocked further (easy) access. I rigged my fly pole (4-wt), tying a mouse fly on the end of the leader, and began floating downstream.

It took all of four casts to hook a bass. They came pretty steadily, and a few of those aggressive little stumpknockers managed to impale themselves on that hook, too. The day’s best fish jumped off, of course. All in all, a splendid afternoon.

Nick and I repeated the process the next morning. The fish weren’t as bitey, and the ones I caught were smaller. After the previous day it was all house money anyway. Beautiful day on a beautiful river with great company, and I didn’t need the 1st aid kit! Any fish were a bonus!

A few days later I went paddling on the Indian River Lagoon. I saw three redfish all day, only got one shot, and the fish spooked off the fly. Good thing the birds and weather were both incredible. Pepe Le Pew came home with me.

Christmas came. It was less festive around here with our boys (men, now) in California. We muddled through!

A few days later I went paddling on Mosquito Lagoon. For hours without seeing anything. I stood up to rest my bum, and there was a redfish up ahead of me, rooting around. I sat again, dropped the fly, and bam! Got him! So rare to convert that first fish of the day. I made sure it didn’t happen again…

I took my jonboat up the Econlockhatchee from the St. Johns, past the cabin, and fished my way part-way back down. Got two dink bass on plastic worms, which beats no cheese. The river looked lifeless. It’s still too high for my tastes.

I took my kayak down the Econlockhatchee from SR 419. No fishing tackle involved. There are some freaking DINOSAUR-sized alligators in that stretch, very impressive creatures. Small ones slide into the water as you approach. The big ones just eyeball you as you float by because they don’t see you as a threat. I had to wonder if they saw me as a snack. Other than the reptiles, the river still looked lifeless.

Thursday, went to a different spot on the IRL. Saw a redfish on the shoreline right away. My weighted fly plopped too close to him. I changed the fly, to a Seaducer. A few minutes later, something blew up some mullet. I dropped the fly on the spot, and Bam! Snook, to my surprise, about 22 inches and very feisty!

It was the 30th of December, and I saw at least two dozen tarpon roll, altogether amazing. It’s not like we’re in the Keys or the Everglades. Although none bit my flies or lures, I did get a decent trout while throwing to the rolling tarpon, on a DOA Shrimp. Saw a few more reds too, but did not get another shot, mostly runovers. Fishing wasn’t great, but the day was.

I found this boat abandoned in the marsh, if anyone needs a reclamation project for 2022. The paint is nice.

That’s all I have. Thanks for reading!

Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go paddling! Take a walk! Stay active!

John Kumiski, author of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide

Purchase a signed copy of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide at http://www.spottedtail.com/fishing-florida-by-paddle/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2022. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: central florida fishing report, Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , , , , ,

Fishing News, Fishing Report

October 9, 2021 by · Leave a Comment

Fishing News, Fishing Report

Thank you for reading this week’s Fishing Report. Got out three days this week, all solo trips by kayak. Tried to find new places to fish. Hard to do- I’ve been at it a long time!
———————————————

Fly Tying

Last week I wrote, “I … got ready to tie up some delicious offerings for fish.” The results of that little tying spurt are shown below.

A deliciousness of electric sushi.

The pattern, originated by the late Mike Martinek, is called Electric Sushi. I am a huge fan! You can see the tying directions at this link- http://www.spottedtail.com/tying-the-electric-sushi-fly/

Reds like sushi.

 

Trout do, too.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ve been writing recently about the redfish worm and the fuzzy or wooly redfish worm. It’s a great fly! I haven’t shown a photo in a long time. Picture below, wooly on top, plain on bottom. Not a lot of difference.

hook- mustad 3407 #4
eye- small or micro lead dumbell, or bead chain, or plastic, depending on desired sink rate.
tail- I prefer arctic fox but will use marabou or a bunny strip. I prefer black, but use whatever.
body- medium ice chenille or cactus chenille. again, I prefer black.
hackle (if desired)- grizzly neck hackle, tied Palmer.

The redfish worm is one of my favorite drum flies, too.

Buena suerte! Boa sorte!
————————————————————

Fishing News- Haulover Canal Gauge

For years this blog has related water levels in the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon to the USGS Gauge at the Haulover Canal. The URL, and the gauge format on the webpage, for that gauge is changing. The new URL is https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/02248380/#parameterCode=00065&period=P7D

As I write this, the gauge reads well over 1.0. Every whole number equals a foot of water. I like for the gauge to read at 0.5 or below. I’ve seen it above 3.0 (after a hurricane) and below 0.0 (bars exposed everywhere). That webpage is an extremely useful tool for planning fishing trips in those lagoons!
————————————————————-

The MULLET RUN

Anyone have any news???

Will we ever see this again?

FISHING (and other) Report

Monday
Went paddling on high, murky water Mosquito Lagoon. Found a flowing culvert, where two trout, a snook, and a redfish fell for my flies. That was a good find! Ran over a couple fish, but it was very hard to see anything, in spite of the extraordinary weather. The water will most likely be high into December, maybe January. I doubt that I’ll ever see it clean again.

Culvert trout on Clouser minnow.

 

And the redfish! Note how murky the water is.

Tuesday
Susan and I visited the Orlando Museum of Art to see an exhibit of Clyde Butcher’s work. Highly recommended!!! One of my favorite Butcher photos is of the beach at Cayo Costa. I learned on Tuesday he waited there for a month to get the light he wanted. Waugh!

An example of the master’s work…

Wednesday
Dentist. News could have been better. Losing a tooth. 🙁

Visited Dr. David Demetree, chiropractor. Always feel a lot better when I leave there!

Visited the new digs of Mud Hole Tackle.

Put a new heating element in our clothes dryer.

Not a very exciting day.

Thursday
Went paddling on the high and murky Indian River Lagoon, place I had not visited in quite a long time. Looked for new nooks and crannies, got a trout and a little snook on fly.

Friday
Went paddling on the high and murky Indian River Lagoon. Again looked for new nooks and crannies. Relearned something I already knew from hard experience- first boat through a narrow spot gets all the spider webs. Got a couple trout and a small black drum on the rubber shad. Lightening chased me off.

No one likes getting one of these in the face.

Don’t know that I found new spots but had fun looking!

That’s what I got. Thank you again for reading this Fishing Report. Life is great and I love all my readers!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go hiking! Take a walk! Do SOMETHING!

John Kumiski, author of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide

Purchase a signed copy of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide at http://www.spottedtail.com/fishing-florida-by-paddle/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2021. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Flies and Fly Tying, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Trying to Get Back to Normal

September 10, 2021 by · Leave a Comment

Trying to Get Back to Normal

Thank you for reading this week’s post, Trying to Get Back to Normal. Whatever normal means!

I post this on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in which almost 3000 people were killed, triggering nearly unanimous and well-deserved outrage from the American people.

Over 600,000 Americans have died as a result of COVID, and we still have cretins not wearing masks or getting vaccinated. I don’t understand it…
———————————————

Readers may know I’ve been writing a travelogue for Global Outdoors. You can see some of those posts here- https://blog.globaloutdoors.com.
———————————————

Traveling Epilogue, by the numbers

On our trip around the USA, which lasted 153 days (give or take one or two), Susan and I traveled a total of 15,783 miles in our Sienna van. The van used 702.5 gallons of gasoline to do that, which cost me $2271.91. The fuel economy for the entire trip came out to 22.5 miles per gallon. The miles per dollar amount was just under seven miles per dollar.

We used roads in 29 different states. Additionally, I flew to Alaska.

We did not count how many state and national parks we visited. It was quite a few!

The trip, a huge learning experience for both of us, was an epic adventure from any standpoint! We hope to do more trips in the future, so stay tuned…

——————————————————-
Responses to the Rant

Last week’s post generated the biggest response of any post I’ve made over 11 years. Need I say, not all were positive? I had numerous unsubscribes. Seeee ya!

Positive responses, on the other hand, were more numerous than the negatives. I would like to thank first all of you who did not unsubscribe, and then especially those of you who wrote comments of encouragement. Thank you!

Some of those comments-

“Your rant is very much on target. Kudos to you for speaking up on your website. The selfishness and stupidity out there is incredible. And the fact that people in high political office are promoting this is unforgivable. I had to let you know you are not alone in your beliefs.”

“Amen, amen. Keep on ranting—sadly, though, it seems to change the minds of fewer than 5% of my Alaskan friends. Some of the worst are the ‘personal liberty’ proponents who don’t seem to realize that they give up personal liberty for the common good ten times a day when they stop at a traffic light.”

“I agree with all you said in your rant. Having troubles these days praising Florida as my home state.”

“Appreciate the rant. I’m pretty sure my politics are to the right of yours (I’m a hopeless conservative.) But I am stumped by the stubborn, callous leadership of a governor who is charged with helping the people of his state flourish and by the decisions (and information sources) of some of my friends for whom I have great respect. Vaccines and social mitigation techniques have proven effective. Full ICU capacity populated by unvaccinated patients should be enough motivation for all. We’ve lost our minds.”

“The ‘we’re free to do whatever the hell we want’ argument is also flawed. No one has the right to walk around with a gun pulling the trigger while they point it at people all around them, thinking it’s unloaded. Essentially that’s what they’re doing if they’re unvaccinated. COVID can be lethal and the unvaccinated are playing Russian roulette with other people’s lives.”

“that was one of the best stated cases for being vaccinated that I have seen, well done and I pray it hits home with some of your friends and followers.”

“I also enjoyed the rant. All I can say is ‘Amen’. I live in Lake County and I think we are regressing instead of progressing. I have two grandchildren in public school and a great granddaughter in preschool. I want them safe and a mask is such a simple thing to wear.”

I’ll let it go now. Hopefully all my readers and their loved ones will stay COVID-free.

FISHING-

Labor Day weekend- I never fish, or even venture outside much. I hibernate until the craziness is done, then cautiously venture back out again.

Dawn Patrol

Tuesday– Mike Conneen and I had a dawn patrol trip (it’s still summer in Florida) on the Banana River Lagoon. Mike did OK with the spin rod, tossing his favorite lure, the Vudu shrimp. Trout, snook, and a redfish fell to the bait. He mostly cast around schools of rain minnows.

I mostly watched him, catching only two small trout and one smaller ladyfish on a redfish worm fly until Divine Intervention happened in the form of a pair of tailing reds. The cast was true, the fish responded like one hopes, and a short time later I released a fish near the top of the slot. Made my day.

Mike and River the Wonder Dog

It still gets real hot here under that sun come midday.

Wednesday– went to the beach on a dawn patrol trip, hoping for some action. I got it too- in the form of big rollers. Apparently there was a hurricane off the coast. The surfers were having a field day. It’s a fantastic time of day to be on the beach!

I, however, only hooked and lost three small bluefish on a jig. After an hour and a half of fighting waves fruitlessly, I went to the Indian River Lagoon, where Divine Intervention happened again, in the form of a tailing redfish. Again the redfish worm did the job, and I got a photo of this one.

A colorful redfish on a drab black fly.

Thursday‘s weather forecast kept me home, and Friday was an errands and maintenance day. Hope to do more fishing next week!

That’s the report for this week. Thank you again for reading the post, Trying to Get Back to Normal. Life is great and I love all my readers!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go hiking! Take a walk! Do SOMETHING!

John Kumiski, author of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide

Purchase a signed copy of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide at http://www.spottedtail.com/fishing-florida-by-paddle/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2021. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Southwest Florida Travel Post

March 6, 2021 by · 1 Comment

Southwest Florida Travel Post and Photo Essay

Thank you for reading this week’s Southwest Florida Travel post.

Yours truly was a guest on the Fish Untamed podcast. I listened to it half expecting to be embarrassed and was pleasantly surprised that I came off as well-informed and perhaps even thoughtful.

Thanks for having me on the show, Katie!    https://fishuntamed.com

——————————————————-

Monday morning found me driving to Everglades City in the wee hours of the morning. I wanted to catch the outgoing tide all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, and low tide was at 11 AM. I mostly made it.

The kayak on the return trip, after eating and drinking for a couple days.

Paddlers need to know how to time the tides. Paddling against the current isn’t hard if the current doesn’t run fast. The moon phases where the highest volume of water moves are the new moon, closely followed by the full moon. Much less water is moving on quarter moons.

Another good thing to know is that 1/12th the total water volume moves during the first hour of the tide. One-sixth the volume moves during the second hour. During the third and fourth hours, half the total volume that’s moving does so. During the fifth hour the flow slows again, with 1/6th the total volume moving. And during the last hour, 1/12th, all that’s left, moves.

So if you must paddle against tidal flow, the best time to do it is on a quarter moon, near the top or bottom of the tide. If only the wind speed were so predictable.

I got out to Jewell Key near mid-day. Other campers were there, but there was plenty of room for me. After setting up camp I tried fishing. At my favorite spot the water was too deep to wade, and too rough to fish from the boat. So I tried other areas.

My favorite spot at low tide. These rocks usually hold fish. Not this time…

It was slow. I managed a couple each of jacks and ladyfish and one small snook, all on plastic shad.

Same area, same tide, different angle.

By the time sunset came around, I was ready to get horizontal. It had been a long day!

Sunset, into the Gulf.

Tuesday morning’s low tide found me in my favorite place. I worked it hard, both on foot and from the boat. The fish were not there. I managed four trout in four hours, and it’s not like they were big ones. I tried several other spots, and got nothing. By then it was high tide, when I typically don’t do well anyway. So I returned to camp and took a nap.

Did some stargazing and star photography.

That evening I stayed up and did some stargazing, always an enjoyable pastime. The wind was sufficient that the bugs were near non-existent.

Praise the Lord for a new day!

Wednesday the wind was blowing hard, and the sky looked like rain. After the previous day I figured fishing would be a wash. Bag it, John! Go see something new! I paddled back to Everglades City, then drove to Fakahatchee Strand, where I had never been.

Lots of clouds around for the sunrise.

The Big Cypress boardwalk was a tremendous one-mile walk. Most cypress in Florida are second-growth. But this place has massive, virgin cypress trees. My regret was the walk wasn’t longer.

The boardwalk.

 

Beautiful, big cypress trees.

 

The strangler fig killed this cypress.

 

Little blue? tri-color? heron along the trail.

From there I went to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, another place I had long wanted to visit. I got there and the gate was chained. Oops!

I ended up in Cape Coral, camping in son Alex’s driveway.

Getting ready for the tour.

Thursday I took an three hour ecotour with Kayak-Excursions. It was fun and educational, and the mangrove tunnel at the end was one of the nicest I’ve seen, just awesome. I highly recommend their services, https://kayak-excursions.com.

Launching!

 

Paddling amongst the pelicans.

 

In the mangrove tunnel.

Friday? Clean-up on aisle 4. After that trip the van was trashed. Now it’s nice and clean, as is all my gear.

Thank you for reading this week’s Southwest Florida Travel post!

Life is great and I love life!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! or take a kayak ecotour!!

John Kumiski, author of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide

Purchase a signed copy of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide at http://www.spottedtail.com/fishing-florida-by-paddle/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2021. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida, Photo Essays, travel blog · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Paddle Fishing and Hiking Report

January 16, 2021 by · 1 Comment

Paddle Fishing and Hiking Report

Thank you for reading this Mosquito Lagoon paddle fishing and hiking report.

For the small audience that was interested in my Sienna van conversion, I have renewed that project, since the holidays are past. I posted a link about the start of the second phase (solar power installation) here-
https://www.spottedtail.com/blog/sienna-camper-van-conversion-phase-2-starts/

FISHING

I’ve had better weeks catching.

Monday- I went fly fishing by kayak on Mosquito Lagoon on Monday. I hoped the cold would have cleared the water. It did not. But it was low, 0.4 feet on the Haulover Canal gauge, so I could see a little.

I had three shots. Got the first fish, a red, on a brown slider, was ignored by the other two. Good thing the weather was awesome. Long day getting only three shots otherwise.

Thursday I took a five mile walk on the Florida Trail, from Barr St. to Snow Hill Road. Beautiful walking day, temperatures in the 50s. Trying to keep moving, so I can keep moving.

Friday I launched the kayak at River Breeze for the first time in almost a year, I had heard that the water was clean up there, and for the most part it was. There was no grass anywhere.

I paddled pretty hard, covering ground, looking for fish. I hit many of my favorite spots. I was thinking I’d be running another picture of Pepe le Pew in this post when, to my utter surprise, I got a bite while blind casting into a hole. It was a trout, close to 20 inches. A few minutes later I got another, smaller, one. I was spin fishing, using the 3″ shad.

Not huge, but it chased the skunk.

That was it for the day from a catching standpoint.

There was very little life in the water. I ran over a single redfish. Mullet were scarce. There were no crabs, no baitfish. All my favorite holes (with that one exception) were barren.

But the water was clean in most places I passed.

I passed a gentleman in a motorboat who told me the water temperature at that spot was 59F, the warmest he’d found that day. He hadn’t see much either. Now 59 is cold, but I’ve found and caught reds in colder water than that. I think that after six years of algae, no grass, etc, the food supply is mostly gone. No food, no fishies. Sad.

So it’s not an encouraging report, but that’s life and fishing in Florida in 2021.

Thank you for reading this Mosquito Lagoon paddle fishing and hiking report.

Life is great and I love life!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! or walk on a trail!

John Kumiski, author of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide

Purchase a signed copy of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide at http://www.spottedtail.com/fishing-florida-by-paddle/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2021. All rights are reserved.

 

Filed Under: Fishing News, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , ,

Everglades National Park Report and Photo Essay

December 4, 2020 by · Leave a Comment

Everglades National Park Report and Photo Essay

Thank you for reading this Everglades National Park report and photo essay. I’m afraid it may be rather lengthy.

To paraphrase Lynyrd Skynyrd- They call me Mr. Cold Front…

Drove down to the Gulf Coast Visitor Center in Everglades City on Saturday to pick up our backcountry permit. Met my associate in mild insanity, Mike Conneen, Sunday morning. He was accompanied by River the Wonder Service Dog. I had hoped to launch the boats by 7 AM so as to catch the last of the outgoing tide to Jewell Key. HA! We paddled against the current the entire way. It was still a lovely paddle with great weather.

Mike and River, on the way to Jewell Key.

After unloading our vessels and setting up our new temporary home, we went on a fishing expedition. The Gulf side of Jewell Key boasts an extensive live worm rock reef. While I enjoy sight-fishing over the reef, when we got there the tide was too high for this. Blind-casting with a plastic shad netted me several trout and ladyfish and a redfish. Mike prefers a Vudu Shrimp, the new weedless version. He got what I got and a few snook too.

Trout…

 

…and redfish made up my catch.

Late in the afternoon, on the falling tide, I switched to the fly rod. Using a plain chartreuse and white Clouser minnow I got more trout and ladyfish and a snook too, giving me what turned out to be my only slam of the trip. It was beautiful out there. I fished until after sunset.

Got one on!

 

And then it was released.

Monday morning it was blowing like snot, coming off the Gulf. We fished on the inside, the lee side, of several islands, with a few small fish to show for it. Mike wanted to range further. I thought it was a bad idea with a front on the way. We worked our way back to camp.

Here comes the front.

 

Here we are waiting for it.

 

Got some nap time in.

 

My tent kept the water outside, where it belongs.

Good thing, too. The front blew in with hard wind and heavy rain. It continued to rain on and off into the evening. We spent a lot of time in our tents.

Surprisingly, Tuesday morning was not that cold, although it blew like snot. I left Mike and River in camp and went walking the now uncovered reef, intending to cast from the edge.

The uncovered by low tide worm rock reef.

There were a lot of raccoons working that reef.

Silly raccoon, thought it was hiding.

One would expect that when a human being approached a raccoon on a wide open area, the raccoon would flee for the woods. Certainly, many of them did exactly this. But several just kept doing what they were doing. When I got close, they would attempt to “hide” in the rocks. It was hilarious. Watching where I was walking, I nearly stepped on one. Had I been carrying a decent camera, some fine raccoon photos might have been had. As it is I used the point and shoot to get a few snapshotty pics.

The rising of the Beaver Moon.

That evening the Beaver Moon rose. We got to watch an awesome sunset, then an awesome moonrise, within an hour of each other. Jewell Key allows one to do both, which is very accommodating on its part.

Sunrise from Jewell Key. Thank you, God, for another glorious day!

Wednesday morning was cold. The wind still blew, too. Mike and River spent the entire day in camp. I spent the entire day walking the reef. Fishing was hard- remember the cold front? I did kill two trout that we fried up for dinner. They were SO delicious!

Mike and River spent the day in camp.

More sunset watching and moonrise watching happened. Some stargazing got thrown into the mix, too.

The sun has set on another day.

For me, fishing is the prime reason for making a trip like this. But enjoying the sunrise, watching the birds, the dolphins, the raccoons, stargazing, all of that stuff is at least as important as fishing. I enjoy moving my boat by my own power. I just love the elemental nature of moving and camping out in remote areas!

Watching the birds, a wonderful way to spend some time.

We decided that, rather than getting up before sunrise on Friday and fighting the outgoing tide to get back to Everglades City, we would leave at the bottom of the tide on Thursday and fish the incoming all the way back. It was a good strategy for the well-rested Mike, who got a nice red and a nice snook, too!

Mike and River collaborated to get this snook.

After loading up we had dinner at the restaurant-that-used-to-be-the-Oar-House. Then we hit the road. I pulled into my driveway at 9 PM. My messy car and gear are sitting out there right now, waiting for the clean-up.

All things considered, it was a pretty spectacular trip.

Thank you for reading this Everglades National Park report and photo essay blog!

Life is great and I love life!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! or paddle!

John Kumiski, author of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide

Purchase a signed copy of Fishing Florida by Paddle- An Angler’s Guide at http://www.spottedtail.com/fishing-florida-by-paddle/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2020. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Fishing Stories, Paddle Fishing Florida, travel blog · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »