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.
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