High Water Everywhere Orlando Fishing Report
There’s high water everywhere, so we have a High Water Orlando Fishing Report.
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I had a Sunday charter with Keith O’Donnell on the Indian River Lagoon. As many readers know the water is quite high right now and rather dirty in places. So I wasn’t sure what to expect.
We found some sporadic surface activity while heading to my first spot. I cast a Chug Bug and was rewarded with a smashing strike- by a gafftopsail catfish. Not expected, nor desired.
I was not expecting an alligator to make a beeline for my boat and follow us for a half mile while we looked for fish along the shoreline. But, one did. Extraordinary behavior. We finally noticed it had a piece of fishing line trailing from its mouth, so probably had one or more hooks in its gut. Sad. We did not feed it anything, though. I didn’t feel bad enough for it to do something that stupid!
An alligator like this one followed us around for an hour.
Still poling while looking for his first fish, I told Keith to sit down. We were almost on top of a manatee and I was expecting an explosion. Although we did not touch the beast, we were not disappointed. All this excitement and it was only 9 AM!
Keith sent me an email- “Thanks for a memorable day. There have not been many fishing trips where I have been pursued by an alligator, nearly rammed by a manatee, caught some good fish, lost some great fish, chased tarpon around a bay…”
The tarpon did not bite. We did not catch a lot of fish but the day was anything but boring.
Tuesday morning I launched the canoe on Lake Mills. I’d never fished there before and wanted to be able to say I’d caught a bass on a fly there. The water is high. It was oppressively hot and humid. There were very few signs of life. I did not get a bite. In an hour I was done. I’ve still never caught a bass in Lake Mills.
Wednesday Scott Radloff and I went out of Port Canaveral. Our fantasy, as always this time of year, was to find some tarpon. It did not include waves crashing over the tops of the jetties. The surfers must have been having a blast, though!
Other than the four to five foot swells the sea was pretty calm. We ran south down the beach, in the rain, as far as the steeple without seeing anything.
We ran back up to the jetties. There were a lot of mullet in Canaveral Bight and we looked for feeding fish. We did not find a goldmine, but by diligently casting live finger mullet we got a mixed bag of bluefish, ladyfish, crevalle jacks, and Spanish mackerel. We also got very wet, since it rained most of the day.
Last week I put in my report that I was looking for a canoe in the 12 to 14 foot range. A gentleman by the name of Tim Martino emailed me and told me he had a 12 foot canoe that he had built. He was moving. So if I came over and picked it up it was mine.
I went over Thursday night. Obviously a perfectionist, Tim was not happy with the way it turned out due to some minor cosmetic blemishes. I thought it a gorgeous little boat. And it only weighed 30 pounds! I couldn’t wait to try it!
It’s a beautiful little boat. But this was far as I got.
Friday I went to Peacock’s Pocket to take it on a test drive. Tim had told me it was tippy but I wasn’t expecting it to be completely unstable. I literally could not pick up the paddle. Even though I sat on the bottom of the boat I almost rolled it twice in four inches of water. Very disappointed, I just put it back on the roof of my van and drove home.
On the way I called Jay Herrington. Jay owns Fish on Fire in Orlando, and I thought a beautiful little boat would be an awesome piece of decor in his dining room. He agreed, so expect the little canoe to show up there soon.
And that is this week’s High Water Orlando Fishing Report.
Life is great and I love my work!
Life is short- Go Fishing!
John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
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