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Orlando Area Fishing Report

May 24, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando Area Fishing Report

It was a weird week. And even though I do not like to fish on weekends, especially Memorial Day weekend, fishing Saturday made up for almost all of the other weirdness.

Monday was a no fishing day and at this point I can’t even remember why not. On Tuesday morning I met Tammy and we paddled to a Mosquito Lagoon fishing spot. Fishing was not hot. I did get a seatrout of five pounds of so on an Electric Sushi streamer. I missed the three larger fish that bit prior to the one I caught. There were also blown shots and fish that weren’t spotted in time, etc.  I was not on top of my game.

Wednesday morning I went to the Econ. I had a new fly, a sexyfly tied in a fire tiger color, I was sure would kick bass butt. I got one bite, a bass that, if I were being generous, I would say was a foot long. Two others followed the fly but did not bite. The experiment did not work, although to my credit I stuck with it until I left at about noon.

Lighten Up for Black bass

These are some of the flies I throw for bass. The fire tiger one that failed is on the lower right.

Wednesday evening, Thursday, and Friday I had the pleasure of sitting in Florida Hospital with my mom and her husband, only to be told in the end that they couldn’t find anything wrong. She’s home again doing what she was doing before the hospital stint. If you should find yourself in this situation bring LOTS of stuff to do. And a sweater. You could hang meat in there.

Scott Radloff and I got to Port Canaveral at about 7 AM Saturday morning. The parking lots were already almost at capacity and it was a zoo at the boat ramp. Anything less would have been disappointing.

We got the Mitzi in the water and the car parked and went looking for bait. From a half-mile south of the Cocoa Beach pier south to Patrick AFB the menhaden are solid all along the beach. The first toss of the net came up empty but the second had more fishies than I could lift. We let most of them go.

I would have been happy with anything but I was looking for tarpon. We put six in the air and leadered four, along with bites from several moderate to large sized sharks of various types. The weather was warm and sunny. The best part was, all those hundreds of boats that had been launched were nowhere near us. I don’t know where they went but no one bothered us.

orlando area fishing report

There goes one hospital day!

 

orlando area fishing report

There goes another hospital day!

Catching four tarpon will make up for a lot of strangeness, that’s what I know.

orlando area fishing report

What hospital???

And that, gentle reader, is this week’s Orlando area 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

May 10, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there. We wouldn’t be here without you.

T-shirt of the week-

DSCN0622

This week we feature a Mosquito Lagoon fishing report with side orders of Indian River Lagoon and Econlockhatchee River, and lots of photos!

It’s pretty rare to hook a seatrout and have it go on a hot run that peels line off the reel. That happened a few times this week! But once again I get ahead of myself…

Sometimes I wonder why I go scouting. I went last Friday to find fish for Sunday’s paddle flyfishing charter with Dr. Ron and Colby Crabtree, father and son from Texas. We went to the places I found the fish Friday and they were gone. We probably put in seven miles, saw maybe a half dozen fish, and did not get a shot at any of them. Verily, the skunk was upon us…

Monday at 7 AM I was in the seat of Jill, my lovely dental hygienist. As soon as I got out of there I went home and hitched the boat trailer to the van, picked up Scott Radloff, and went to the Indian River Lagoon to scout for my Tuesday/Wednesday trips. Not an early start.

We found some redfish, caught two on jerkbaits. We found a lot of big trout that would not eat much of anything. Scott hooked a couple on a swimbait, but both shook off. The puffers were thick and we went through a lot of baits. I got a crevalle of a couple pounds, my first this year. The day was stunning, not a cloud in the sky, always tough weather for trout.

Tuesday morning I met Dr. Aubrey Thompson and his doctor buddy, Steve Widen, fly casters both, at Haulover Canal. We got nothing at the first spot, nor anything at the second. The third though, would provide a day and a half of sight fishing for gator seatrout.

Mosquito lagoon fishing report

Aubrey opened the festivities with this fish.

Aubrey opened the festivities with a couple of modest 20 inch trout. Steve got a modest sized redfish. Then we started seeing the big trout, which just kept fleeing away from us. The intrepid guide suggested that with bright sun and spooky fish wading might be a better option. Aubrey is from Texas and Steve lives there now. They didn’t need any convincing.

Even wading, this is tough fishing. The fish are hard to see and most casts result in refusals. However, both gentlemen managed to get a trout in the six or seven pound class, both on streamers, and had shots at many more. The trout Steve got was the biggest he’s ever gotten on any kind of tackle.

Mosquito lagoon fishing report

This was the biggest trout Steve has ever caught.

As the day ended and we prepared for the road, Aubrey suggested we start earlier the next day “to catch the topwater bite.”

Mosquito lagoon fishing report

Aubrey’s trout was pretty respectable too.

The Mitzi was in the water at 6 AM the next morning. For the most part the topwater bite did not materialize. I got a dink trout. Aubrey got a couple of jacks and ladyfish. Steve, whose day it turned out to be, got a 27 inch trout on a Floozy popper though, certainly worth the price of admission.

I had switched to an Electric Sushi streamer and was looking for a fish when I spotted the tips of a couple tails. The fly hit the water and the fish nailed the fly. It was modest, but a redfish nonetheless, my fish for the day.

Mosquito lagoon fishing report

My token fish. Sorry Mr. Redfish, I didn’t mean that!

Aubrey and I made a thousand fruitless casts between us, but Steve kept getting bit. He missed a number of strikes but got another slob trout on a small Clouser Minnow.

Mosquito lagoon fishing report

At least I helped with the hooked fish.

Mosquito lagoon fishing report

Steve got three fish like this one on the second day.

I saw the biggest snail I’ve ever seen that was not a queen or helmet conch and took some pictures of it. It was the Methuselah of snails, with an entire ecosystem growing on its shell. I thought of Dave Caprera right away.

Mosquito lagoon fishing report

The biggest snail I’ve ever seen that wasn’t a queen or helmet conch.

 

Mosquito lagoon fishing report

It was an entire ecosystem unto itself.

The day ended too soon and we headed back to the ramp, loaded up at 3 PM.

Aubrey had this to say about our two days together: “John, we had a great time! All anyone could possibly ask for. We had plenty of shots at trophy fish, Steve caught a personal all-tackle record trout. Fishing is about quality time spent with congenial souls, and I don’t know what would have made that trip any better. Well, maybe a few more, just a few, of those humongous trout on the rod; but if it were about numbers I’d leave the fly rod home.”

Friday morning I went to the Econ for a little kayak fly fishing for bass. It was not as good as it’s been, although I caught three on a popper and missed four others. They’re easy to miss when the fly is behind you, there’s slack in the line, etc. I feel like I learned a couple things, though, and certainly enjoyed the morning.

 

And that is this week’s Mosquito Lagoonfishing 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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St. Johns River and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

May 2, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

St. Johns River and Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Blog Posts This Week-

-Saturday on the ‘Goon

-The Continuing Saga of the Bang-O-Craft

-Casting for Recovery and Typhoon Tackle Join Forces to Fight Breast Cancer

This week we feature a joint St. Johns River and Mosquito Lagoon fishing report. It’s pretty rare to hook a seatrout and have it go on a hot run that peels line off the reel. That happened this week. But I get ahead of myself…

Monday I went back to the chiropractor. When I left he still had not fixed my back. I don’t think I will be visiting that particular chiropractor again.

After I left the doctor’s office I went to the St. Johns River system to do a little bass fishing. When I got there it was slow. No bites on a couple different surface flies. Did not see any activity. I switched to a streamer. It wasn’t hot fishing, but I got two decent fish.

St. Johns River fishing report

Two bass were caught on this fly.

I saw a couple fish pop something on top, so I switched to a white gurgler. You know, gurglers are kind of stupid-looking flies, real easy to make. They work like crazy for everything. I got about a dozen bass to three pounds and three bluegills on this one before it was time to leave. Turned out to be a real nice day, even with the back problem.

st. johns river fishing report

I got more fish on the gurgler, and it’s more fun to use.

Tuesday a number of things happened, none of which directly involved wetting a line. I put a new axle on the trailer of the Bang-O-Craft. I wanted to get the wheels on too, but nowhere I looked had the parts I needed.

I found those parts Wednesday at Tractor Supply, and got the wheels on. Then I took the boat to the car wash and blasted it. Although a huge improvement it will need another major cleaning before it’s ready to use. The new fuel tank came on Wednesday, too. Now all I need is a motor and the Bang-O-Craft will be back in business. I am so looking forward to using that boat again.

Thursday son Alex and I went to Mosquito Lagoon to do a little scouting, getting somewhat of a late start, almost 9 AM. There were lots of clouds and quite a bit of wind, AND the water is already at summer levels, 1.3 on the gauge .

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Alex was hot, getting eight or ten trout like this one.

What does all that mean? It means sight fishing was real difficult. However, fish were biting. We got about a dozen trout. While none were big, only one was short. They were running about 18-20 inches, decent fish. We got them on DOA CAL jigs and also on 5.5 inch jerkbaits. I also got two reds on a RipTide weedless jighead with a four inch DOA CAL jerkbait affixed to the hook.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

The jig-and-jerkbait combo works well.

Tammy was supposed to join me for Friday’s scouting but couldn’t make it, something about her windshield having Montezuma’s revenge? So I went by myself.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Cloudy, windy, high water. Tough to see, so I blindcast a 5.5 inch DOA CAL jerkbait. The first bite was the trout that ripped the line off the reel, a fat, beautiful fish that was every bit of seven pounds. I selfied us and let it go.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

This is by far my best trout this year.

The second one was a bit smaller, but the hook tore one of the gill arches loose and the fish was dead when I brought it into the boat, which made me sad. I did not want to kill it, but that’s what happened.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Aye, ’tis a handsome fish!

I checked a spot that had the occasional tailing redfish so I broke out the fly rod. After using the eight foot three-weight for bass fishing that seven-weight was like a rocket launcher. I had three shots and blew all three by casting too far. I cast blindly for about 20 minutes while I watched the weather coming, hoping to get a trout before I had to leave. Didn’t happen. Rain and lightning drove me back to the dock, where the boat was trailered at noon.

And that is this week’s St. Johns 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Saturday in the ‘Goon

April 28, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Saturday in the ‘Goon

Guest Blog by David Caprera

Did you ever get a tune stuck in your head while paddling? How about while paddling in a crowd? I launched a bit before ‎7am and caught a ‎24 inch red at ‎7:30. By ‎2 when I called it a day, I had still caught a red at ‎7:30. With apologies to Chicago and sung to the tune “Saturday in the Park.”

Saturday in the ‘Goon
I think it was a boaters’ convention
Engines raring, JB’s blaring
Ear plugs are a good invention.

People swimming, people sailing
The water is the color of tea
A boat staked out on every point
I couldn’t find a place to pee.

Saturday in the Goon
Isn’t there a race at Daytona
Men with guts, but women with breasts
Big enough to give you a bonah.

The weatherman said “‎2 to ‎4”
Building in the afternoon
By ‎2pm a guy was surfing
On the white caps in the lagoon.

Saturday in the Goon
I think that the fish are all gone
If you must fish on a weekend day
Plan to be launched by dawn

Can you dig it (Yes I can). Fade out.

In addition to his career as a poet, David Caprera has had a moderately successful career in law. He guest blogs for us now and again.

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando Area Fishing Report

April 25, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando Area Fishing Report

Blog Posts This Week– Bananas and Boats 

Other People’s Recommended Blog Posts This Week (Read this one first, though!)-  Decline in Angling Because Fish Don’t Taste Like Chicken

Yes, we fished around this week, had some great fishing, and some ill luck in other ways.

On Monday Mr. Eric Israel and his friend Justin joined me for some fly fishing on the Mosquito Lagoon. There was a small craft advisory. The lagoon surface looked like a washing machine, not exactly a great fly fishing day.

We did not see many fish. We did find a few tailers, though, and Eric managed to catch one on a slider. It was the only bite we got.

orlando area fishing report

This fish chased off the skunk.

Tuesday I gave a fly casting lesson, and then sold the Maverick. I couldn’t sell the Mitzi so I sold the Maverick instead. Not what I wanted to do, but there you go. I can’t keep two boats that do essentially the same thing. So the Mitzi is no longer for sale.

Wednesday I joined Tom Van Horn and Danny Mello for some ocean fishing. It started off really slow. We had to go all the way to Patrick AFB just to catch some menhaden. Then we went on a major search mission, which turned up exactly one undersized tripletail. We gave a few half-hearted casts at it and gave up.

It’s reptile mating season. We saw some large turtles doing the nasty out in the ocean. How does the she-turtle breathe? I guess they have big lungs.

Tom spotted some commercial kingfishermen. We went out and joined them and got two nice kings by slow trolling. Then a cobia came swimming by. Danny got that, too.

orlando area fishing report

This fish is not having a good day.

orlando area fishing report

orlando area fishing report

This was Danny’s first cobia ever. Not a bad way to start.

In the afternoon it was manta ray city. We found 10 or 12 rays. Not all had fish on them but enough did that our day became borderline epic, with a half dozen cobes to about 50 pounds boated. Fantastic.

orlando area fishing report

This one will be a tough act to follow.

Thursday morning all I wanted to do was go bass fishing. Could I go? No! I had a flat tire. After jacking up the car I could not get the wheel off. I pulled out the rivet that caused the flat and patched the tire while it was still on the car, pumped it full of air, put the lugs back on, and dropped the car back down. It seemed to work, so then I went fishing.

Fun with cars...

Fun with cars…

I seem to have hurt my back during the tire wrestling, though.

I just went to the Econlockhatchee for some close-to-home kayak fishing. While it did not help my back, the fishing was good. I got about 20 bass to three pounds, and a sunfish slam (bluegills, redbellies, stumpknockers). I had a blast, with all fish caught on gurglers or poppers. I still don’t understand what a three inch long stumpknocker is thinking when it hits a gurgler tied on a #2 hook but I guess you have to give them credit for trying.

orlando area fishing report

The Econ is a lovely stream, although less litter would be awesome.

It’s reptile mating season, and Godzilla is there along the Econ. In one place I flushed two monsters off the bank. Have to assume it was gator love. Wish I’d seen it.

I could not lift the kayak to get it back to the car, and had to drag it up there. I barely was able to load it on the roof. Once home I just climbed into bed.

Friday morning I could barely walk, so instead of going fishing I went to the chiropractor. He did not fix the problem.

And that is this week’s Orlando Area 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Port Canaveral’s Giant Jack Crevalle

April 16, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Port Canaveral’s Giant Jack Crevalle

MaxxBigJackLR

It was one of my most memorable fishing charters. The surface of the Mosquito Lagoon was slick. We’d been on a school of redfish for two hours and gotten one bite, which was missed. I said, “We should go to Port Canaveral.” So we left the reds, pulled the boat out, and drove to Port Canaveral.

The wind had come up by the time we got there, but by the grace of God we found a long string of jack crevalle only a half mile from the south jetty. These weren’t little hockey puck jack crevalle, or even nice, healthy 10 and 12 pounders. These were the big, mean, break-your-back, take-no-prisoners 30 and 35 pound jack crevalle.

We had four ten pound spinning outfits on board. As I tied a one ounce jig onto the line of one I told my angler, “This is like hunting elephants with a spitball shooter.” I threaded a five inch chartreuse jerkbait onto the hook of the jig and handed him the rod.

We idled around briefly until we found the fish again. Mike started casting. In short order he made a good cast and a cooperative jack nailed the jig.

By this time the sea breeze had kicked in. We had to chase the fish into the waves, which were pouring over the bow. I had serious concerns that Mike would be going swimming, so I had him get behind me and use the poling tower as a lean bar. This had the advantage of slowing down the flood coming over the bow. I told him, “If you catch this fish it will be a miracle.”

The guy was a solid angler, and before too long the fish was beneath us. Mike would pull him in close, and the fish would take off again. Mike had to work around the poling tower, and the pushpole, and the motor. The Mitzi was rocking and rolling, waves were still coming in, and the bilge pump was running non-stop. It was true combat fishing, an awesome battle between two equally determined antagonists.

Read the rest of this story here…

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Another Orlando Area Fishing Report

April 11, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Another Orlando Area Fishing Report

Blog Posts This Week- The Peruke Fly

orlando area fishing report

Last Saturday I accompanied my bride to the Home and Garden Show. It was not very good, BUT, there was a booth (the proprietor was not there) that had fish art made from stainless steel, very cool stuff. The artist’s name is Armando Hevia, his website is metalfish66.com. Check it out.

Didn’t fish Monday. Went for a walk on the Florida Trail. it was lovely. However I got about 15 chigger bites and a single tick, not lovely at all. Pulled the tick off on Friday, when I found it. Think I’ll stay out of the woods until October or so.

Tammy Tuesday got rained out. It poured.

Wednesday I went bass fishing on the Econ, something I’d never really done before. I was such a dumass. It was good, once I figured it out.

I had this demented idea I was going to catch the biggest bass of my life so I brought a five-weight and threw a big bunny eelworm for two hours. I got exactly one bite from a twelve inch bass. I finally lost the fly on some submerged lumber.

orlando area fishing report

The eelworm bass.

I switched to a hideously ugly foam frog I tied, and the bites just kept coming. I don’t know what a redbelly is thinking when it hits a three inch long frog but I got a couple that managed to impale themselves on the stinger hook. And I got about ten bass to three pounds or so, not great but definitely entertaining. The strikes are just awesome!

orlando area fishing report

If anyone out there knows what this guy was thinking I would love to hear from you.

orlando area fishing report

This is more like what I wanted.

Thursday son Alex was supposed to go fishing with me but he wouldn’t get up (after 9 am, I wasn’t trying to smoke him or anything) so I went back to the Econ. I got 20 or so fish, a few redbellies and the rest bass. The biggest was maybe three pounds, but again, quite fun with surface flies, which was all I tried.

orlando area fishing report

These fish will smack some ugly flies…

Friday Dr. George Yarko joined me for some R&R on the Indian River Lagoon. He hadn’t been out for months! We found a school of redfish almost immediately, and got five on DOA CAL shad before they gave us the shake, nice fish, 24 inches or so.

orlando area fishing report

Then a few trout fell to the Deadly Combo. Then we went back to the place where the reds had been caught hoping to find them again. George got five blind casting the CAL Shad, unbelievable. As the east wind pushed us toward the edge of the manatee zone I tossed a Chug Bug, got a couple strikes, and got a nice trout of three pounds or so.

orlando area fishing report

So ended our day, and my week.

A couple weeks ago I showed a photo of the result of jousting against a pushpole with a fly rod. I got the new rod today- sixty bucks! Ouch.

And check out the link below between fly fishing and sex. Great stuff!

And that is this week’s Orlando Area 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Orlando Area Fishing Report

April 5, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando Area Fishing ReportOrlando Area Fishing Report

The Mitzi is still for sale!

Blog Posts This Week– Poppers for Seatrout

It’s April and I’m thinking about tarpon. Friends on the west coast have already seen some.

On Monday I went bass fishing. I threw the same bluegill popper I threw last time I went, with much the same result- three or four bluegills and about 20 bass, mostly little ones with a couple decent specimens thrown in for variety. It was a beautiful day and a very enjoyable several hours.

orlando area fishing report

 

 

orlando area fishing report

Tuesday was Tammy Tuesday, so let me just copy her facebook post:

“Yesterday’s original plan was to fish the lagoon. Last second change had us going offshore. My faithful companion and mentor and friend John Kumiski had some issues getting across the bridge to port because of a bad accident.
“Change of plans again. He called and we decided to fish the IRL instead. So I left the port and headed to Port Saint John and we launched. Got into some jacks and trout and talked about what a beautiful day it was. As we could see the bridge from where we launched we saw traffic moving again. Next thing I know John is motoring to the ramp. Boat back on trailer and off to the port we go.

orlando area fishing report
“It was a long day of hunting for anything out there. A whole lot of nothing until a lone undersized tripletail appeared. We finally caught and released it. We looked everywhere and found nothing. Finally john decided to pull a Hail Mary and head to a spot a good bit away but likely unbothered yet for the day.

orlando area fishing report
“The lone tripletail on that structure was dinner last night. Just as we were giving up and admitting to and accepting the suck, though…. Divine intervention in the form of a huge ray leaping from the water 100 yards away.
“One rod set up and one cast made. A few minutes later there was much celebration aboard the Mitzi. We looked for that ray again hoping to pull another cobia off of it but it was not to be. So glad john never gives up! Another adventure toosday with John Kumiski in the books.”

orlando area fishing report

In spite of the beautiful weather, did not fish Wednesday.

Thursday Brad and Greg joined me as part of a two boat trip on Mosquito Lagoon. It was slick when we got there and although we saw a decent number of fish we could not get near them. In the third spot we tried Brad got a bluefish on a DOA CAL Shad. We then tried the DOA Deadly Combo out at the edge of the flat and got a few trout, small ones. At the last place we looked we found a school of big reds. In spite of having cut mullet in them numerous times over the next 45 minutes we did not get a bite. Stomachs growling at us, we gave up, ran up to Goodrich Seafood, and had quite the delicious lunch, after which we returned to the dock and pulled the boat.

Friday Scott and Ryan joined me for a half day on the Indian River Lagoon. Ryan got a rat red right away of the CAL Shad. Then we just spooked a bunch of fish. Ryan wanted to try fly fishing so I took them to the small trout spot and gave him a lesson. He was good enough to get two or three while Scott railed them with a barb-pinched-down DOA Shrimp.

We changed spots and saw some nice, spooky reds and trout. Ryan got a hit on the CAL Shad from a nice red but missed it. On the way back to the dock we saw birds diving. Breaking fish, how lucky was that? Ladyfish and bluefish, we got a few of each before the frenzy stopped. We were happy to have run into a bunch of fish to end our day.

And that is this week’s Orlando Area 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 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Poppers for Seatrout

April 2, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Poppers for Seatrout

poppers for seatrout

Lovely when alive, tasty on the table, spotted seatrout are one of Florida’s favorite saltwater fish. The problem is, unless you find a really big one (not easy to do) trout are weaklings at the end of your line. They just don’t get the adrenaline going. But you can make trout fishing more fun by using poppers for seatrout.

There’s the visual aspect of using the plug. You can see the lure, and you can see the fish hit it. There’s the very satisfying “Smack!” sound when a good fish takes it. Believe it or not, the missed strikes are fun, and sometimes a fish will hit it four or five times in a row until the hook finally sticks, or doesn’t.

As in all things in fishing there are a variety of plugs on the market that will work. For most of this type of work I like a popping plug, and the Chug Bug (made by Storm Lures) is probably my favorite. Not only does the “pop” of this lure attract the fish, but it has rattles inside for extra attraction power. It calls the fish to it from quite a distance and there’s something almost magical about its appeal to seatrout. Of course, redfish, snook, tarpon, and crevalle will whack it too. I’ve even caught snapper with them.

poppers for seatrout

Storm’s Chug Bug comes in three sizes. All are effective lures for seatrout.

Another excellent surface lure for seatrout is the DOA Shallow Running Bait Buster. This soft plastic mullet imitation features a single hook, great for when floating grass or other debris makes using a lure with gang hooks impractical. While you don’t get the “bloop!” of a Chug Bug you fish it much the same way.

Seatrout on DOA Bait Buster

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

During the summertime (coming right up!) your best strategy is to get out early (before sunrise) and find a flat that’s about two feet deep with a bottom that has a mixture of sand and grass. Lots of mullet in the vicinity are a definite plus. Working around the edges of bars or docks is also a very good idea. If you’re in a boat you can drift, use a trolling motor on slow speed, or push the boat with a pushpole. Waders can have good success too, though.

Cast the lure as far as you can, and work it back to you. How fast should you retrieve? How hard should you pop it?

Only the fish can answer this question, and experimentation with your retrieve is the best course of action. When you find what they like best, keep doing it until it stops working.

One time when I had Michael Grant out in my boat we were both tossing Chug Bugs. I was using small, steady pops, reeling at a moderate rate, and was getting the occasional bite. Michael was using great, loud pops, reeling slowly. He was getting bites every second or third cast. Of course I changed my retrieve to imitate was he was doing and my success rate went right up.

So if you want to make trout fishing more entertaining, try to using poppers for seatrout.

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2014. All rights are reserved.

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What to DO When the Big Fish Swims Under the Boat

March 27, 2014 by · 1 Comment

What to DO When the Big Fish Swims Under the Boat

tarpon boatside

OK, today’s lesson deals with what to do when a big fish swims under the boat. For some reason most fishermen want to lift the rod when the big fish makes its dive. I’ve watched too many guys do this. The result is always the same. The line rubs against the hull of the boat, increasing friction and virtually assuring a break-off. Since big fish don’t come along all the time, when the line breaks so does your heart. OOOhhh that hurts.

So, what is the correct response when the big fish makes its dive? You simply thrust the tip end of the rod down into the water. How far down? Far enough down to ensure that the line does not touch the hull or motor of the boat. If the fish is beefy enough to extend its run away from the “wrong” side of the boat, you simply walk the rod around the bow of the boat. As soon as the line clears the hull you can lift the rod out of the water and continue the battle in a more conventional fashion. On a particularly big, nasty fish you may have to perform this maneuver more than once.

We’re assuming here that the boat is small enough to allow you to do this. Honestly, although I would certainly like to I’ve never had the problem occur while on a Hatteras 48 or similar vessel. If any readers can expound on this I would love to hear from you.

So, to sum up what to do when the big fish swims under the boat- rod lift bad, rod thrust into water good. Keep this straight and catch more of those big fish.

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2014. All rights are reserved.

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Thanks to Ricky Dee for use of the photo!

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