Election Week Central Florida Fishing Report
This is the Election Week Central Florida Fishing Report.
Rain and the Lagoons
Back a few weeks we had a near-miss from Hurricane Matthew. Several people asked me if the storm’s heavy rains would have a clearing effect on the lagoon. The short answer- no, it won’t.
The drainage area of the Indian River Lagoon system has increased three-fold since Henry Flagler built his railroad around the turn of the 20th century. That increase in watershed size has come mostly from drainage ditches that drain sugar fields, orange groves, and cattle pastures, drainage ditches that drain subdivisions and shopping areas, storm drains, etc. All that freshwater draining into the lagoon carries loads of nutrients and pollutants. So the rain, rather than increasing the water quality in the lagoon, actually decreases it.
If the water were pure rainwater it would be great. But it’s polluted storm runoff. It won’t be clearing the lagoon, ever. Rather than solving the problem it just makes it worse.
Outside Reading
Reid Bryant has a brilliant essay about social media’s blurring effect on fly fishing reality in the November/December issue of American Angler. It’s worth getting the magazine just to read it.
Blog Posts This Week
Go Macro Macrobars Review- http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/gomacro-macrobars-review/
CEP Merino Socks Review- http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/cep-outdoor-ligh…ino-socks-review/
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FOR SALE
Still trying to find a good home for my old EZ Loader Trailer- http://orlando.craigslist.org/bpo/5764303987.html
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Yes, we did go fishing this week.
Mr. Conneen works the Lox.
On Monday Mike Conneen drove and I rode along to Jupiter, Jonathan Dickinson State Park, to fish the Loxahatchee River. Beautiful mangroves lined the river with pine trees right behind them. The water was dark but pretty clear. High water. We saw a half dozen or so tarpon, no takers. We did not see any snook, the main reason we went. We did not see much else in the way of fish, and rare in a Florida waterway, no manatees.
We saw lots of birds of various water kinds of species, and some alligators, and caught maybe ten crevalle between us. Mike got the lion’s share of those.
It was a pleasant enough day to be paddling on a lovely river. Fishing was disappointing though.
Tuesday errands called, not the least of which was early voting. Man, I’ll be glad when the election is over, regardless of what happens. I digress. A small retention pond lies near the polling place. Thirty minutes of casting a red shad culprit worm netted me one small bass. Then the errands continued. Thank you, little fish! Please discharge your civic responsibility by doing some research and then voting!
You may have pieces of water you drive by all the time on your way to fish elsewhere. Thursday found me undecided about where to fish. High, dirty water in the lagoon makes me not want to fish there. The Econ is still very high. The St. Johns is still high. Some time looking at maps gave me an idea. “You drive past here all the time and have never stopped. Go check it out.”
I hooked up the Bang-O-Craft to the chariot and rode off to joust with windmills at the new spot (two in one week!). The new spot was beautiful, near SR 46 but surrounded by marshes. There were fishies breaking all over the place. I could not catch one on spin or fly and never figured out what they were.
Deciding to ignore them I started tossing a Culprit worm (same one as on Tuesday). Boom! Boom! Boom! Three yearling bass in quick succession. A long dry spell followed. Looking at the place you just knew there were fish there. But I couldn’t find any more.
Three yearling bass in quick succession…
I stumbled into a small creek with a little bit of current. The fish were “stacked up like cordwood” in there (I have waited a lifetime to honestly use that old cliche.) The Culprit worm got torn apart. The the DOA CAL worm I put on got torn apart. Then the DOA CAL shad I put on got torn apart, although what was by far the biggest fish I hit (three pounds, maybe a little more?) took that and tossed it, heartbreakingly, on the first jump.
It finally dawned on me that I had a fly pole and this might be a good place to use it. For close an hour I caught a bass on almost every cast on a cream-colored Matuka Bouncer. Yes, the fish were small, 12″ ones. But it was a bass on every cast. It has never happened to me before. It was fun. It was fabulous. It was by far the most bass I ever caught in one day in a lifetime of fishing.
The place was Loughman Lake. It must have some bigger fish and I’ll be going back.
Friday George Allen joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Speaking of little fish…
We got numerous trout on DOA CAL jigs, only one fish in the slot. We went looking for redfish. We found some spooky tailing fish and never really got a good shot at one. We poled some shorelines. Shortly before we left George hit one while blind casting. That fish maybe went 18 inches, took a DOA CAL shad tail, and was the only red we got.
Redfish on the DOA CAL Shad, an awesome little bait.
The manatees are still everywhere. Please navigate with caution- GO SLOWLY!
You may have restaurants you drive by all the time on your way to eat elsewhere. There’s a relatively new place on US 1 in Titusville called Loyd Have Mercy. Soul food, seafood, and Bar B Cue. Susan and I went there Firday evening, not really knowing what to expect. I got garlic butter crabs with cole slaw and carrot souffle. Sue got shrimp with the same sides. OUTSTANDING! My only complaint concerned crab size- they were kind of small. But as far as the quality of preparation, everything was wonderful. We’ll be going back. Do your taste buds a favor and check it out.
What’s left of the crabs after I got going…
And that is the Election Day Central Florida Fishing Report!
Life is great and I love my work!
Life is short- Go Fishing!
John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
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All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.
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