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Broken Trailer Orlando Fishing Report

April 2, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Broken Trailer Orlando Fishing Report

My aluminum trailer crapped out on me this week, thus the Broken Trailer Orlando Fishing Report.

News of the Week
My friend Rodney Smith attended the Brevard County Commission meeting this past week. My understanding of our telephone conversation is that almost four hours of citizen comments and discussion were spent as Brevard County citizens requested the Commission declare a state of emergency due to the condition of the Banana River Lagoon. One of the Commissioners made a motion to make such a declaration. That motion did not receive a second. The matter did not come to a vote.

One of the Commissioners was heard to say, “They’re still catching fish at Sebastian Inlet and in the Mosquito Lagoon.” Apparently all life in the lagoon system will have to die before the weasels will take action. No, they probably will not take action even then.

These were Mitchell Roffer’s comments to the Brevard County Commission, reprinted with his permission:

“I am Mitchell Roffer, President of Roffer’s Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service, Inc. of West Melbourne and I live on Melbourne Beach. I have my Ph.D from University of Miami ‘s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences in Biological Oceanography. Property owner [in Brevard County] for more than twenty years.

“We have a three billion dollar ($3.7B) ecosystem economic machine called the Indian River Lagoon. We have not done enough to maintain its upkeep and health. Its like your valuable car that you don’t do enough servicing on until a hose breaks and then you realize that the engine and transmission are blown too. It hurts to pay the bill, but you have to.

“Yes we have not been paying to maintain and protect the IRL. This is not a new problem. This has been going on for at least 15 years.

“So now prepare yourself to pay. Yes be prepared to pay on the order of 500 million dollars.

“The press releases I’ve read from certain government offices are a sad joke that insults my intelligence. If water quality was such a top priority in the state of Florida, then we would not be in this situation. The IRL has been under managed and understudied. Protection has been negligently weak.

“Yes the problem is obvious: Too much nitrogen and phosphorus.

“We must act. We must declare a state of emergency so that we can:

1. Get rid of the muck within five years.
2. End residential fertilizer use.
3. End septic tanks.
4. Remediate water entering the IRL.
5. Mandate the reduction of nutrients coming from agriculture including farms, citrus and cattle.
6. Improve water treatment infrastructure to modern tertiary and quartinary treatment, as well as, stopping sewage spillage.
7. Restore the ecosystem through sea grass planting, oyster and other bivalve culture and fish restocking.
8. Improve the monitoring and science.

“Yes we need state, federal and regional money. I think we need a large bond issue. Interest rates are low.

“Asking you to act. The Tampa Bay leaders acted and succeeded to repair and restore the Tampa Bay estuary. Be the leaders you were elected to be.”

They’re weasels, Mitchell, not leaders. It takes fortitude to act for the greater good, and those weasels don’t have it.

I expect there will be more major IRL fish kills in 2016 as the weather heats up. The problem has not gone away.

Fishing!
Oi, what a week.

Monday was cleanup day from the Everglades trip. I checked the Econ gauge online. Wednesday night before the trip to south Florida it read two feet. Monday morning it read eight feet. What?!!! It must be broken.

I hopped in the car and went down the street to check. The gauge is working properly. Weekend rains blew out the river, just when it was hitting the right level, too.

orlando fishing report

Quite a jump in just a few days, isn’t it?

Tuesday son Alex and his Lady Allison joined me for a day on the mighty Atlantic. As I was backing the trailer down the boat ramp I heard a disturbing grinding noise. The trailer had broken and was dragging on the ramp. We got the Mitzi into the water and went fishing. We got several bluefish and Spanish mackerel, most on jigs but a few on fly too.

orlando fishing report

It was really broken, snapped right off. I’ve done a little work disassembling here, but the corrosion is obvious.

After several telephone conversations (during our fishing) I determined my course of action. I would tie the boat to the dock at Blue Points Marina ($2/foot/night), effect such repairs on the old trailer that I could get it home, go buy a new trailer, and come back and get the boat the next day. That way I maybe could get my Wednesday charter in as well.

I would like to thank Allen McMillan at Central Florida Marine for making the purchase of that new trailer (a Continental) as painless and expedient as possible. Great work, sir!

How fortunate am I that after taking a 500+ mile trip with that trailer it breaks on the boat ramp at Port Canaveral, THE most convenient place it could ever have broken??

I am in the process of rebuilding the old trailer, an EZ Loader, and will be selling it. If you’re looking for a trailer please consider it. I will have an “official” for sale notice when I finish the job.

Wednesday Mark and Janet Soley met me at Blue Points for our rendezvous. The wind was out of the east at 15. We got to the jetty and turned around. That was that. I put the Mitzi on her new wheels and drove her home.

Thursday I may have been dreaming, or maybe I entered another form of alternate reality. In that dream reality I went paddling with Tim McFall. We found some clean water in the Indian River Lagoon system. In that clean water we actually found a few redfish we could see, and I actually convinced one to take a fly I had tied from rooster feathers, a Homer Rhodes Shrimp Fly.

orlando fishing report

An alternate reality redfish.

It was a fantastic experience. Sadly, I don’t expect it to ever happen again, at least in my lifetime. I so hope I’m light years off base with that prediction.

Friday I returned to normal reality. I took the Bang-O-Craft scouting out of River Breeze. The water looks awful. In spite of that I actually saw in the murky stuff that now passes for water four redfish, alive and swimming, a group of three and a single. I cast a DOA CAL jig at the group and one of them slammed it with zero hesitation. The single spooked off the same lure.

orlando fishing report

A redfish from the current reality of the Mosquito Lagoon.

Three dink trout were taken by using the DOA Deadly Combo. That was the total catch in about five hours of hunting.

And that is this week’s broken trailer Orlando fishing report from the Spotted Tail.

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
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing News, Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, port canaveral fishing report, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

A Rare (for me) Flamingo Fishing Report

March 28, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

A Rare (for me) Flamingo Fishing Report

Ken Shannon and Bob Stearns were both on my mind a lot this week, as I fished out of Flamingo with my son Maxx (thus the Flamingo Fishing Report). It would have been nice to have either or both of those gentlemen with us. I’ve had many great trips down there with Ken, and learned more fishing there one day with Bob than I had in a dozen trips on my own. Great human beings, both of them.

And of course, a blessed Easter to all.

News of the Week
The year 2016 is shaping up to be the roughest yet for the Indian River Lagoon system. There was a total fish kill in the Banana River Lagoon this week. My understanding is that the biological collapse was nearly complete. Zero dissolved oxygen in the water asphyxiated everything there that needs to extract dissolved oxygen from that water to stay alive- all the fish and shellfish, all the other invertebrates, all the rooted plant life that had managed to survive to this point. Air breathers like dolphins and manatees won’t be faring too well either, as there is absolutely nothing left for them to eat there. Interested readers can get more information here: http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/environment/2016/03/23/what-we-know—-and-dont-know—-fish-kill/82163574/

A tragic bit of news.

Fishing!
Tammy had given me a glowing report of her Econ trip last Saturday. I went by kayak on Tuesday and managed two sunfish in almost five hours, an ill omen for my charter the next day.

On Wednesday Wisconsin fly fishers Vic Gulla and his son Daniel joined me for a St. Johns/Econlockhatchee trip. Fishing was embarrassingly slow. In an all day trip they got a few sunfish, two gar, and two small bass. These guys are good anglers, too.

Early Thursday morning I pointed the chariot towards south Florida with the Mitzi in tow, meeting Maxx in Florida City at about 930. At Flamingo we got our backcountry permit, although we could not do what we wanted, which was to set up a base camp on the Oyster Bay chickee for three nights. No, we had to break camp and move every morning, a big waste of time and fuel, but park rules is park rules.

Our first night was at south Joe River chickee. Fishing in that area we got a couple ladyfish, a couple snapper, a small trout, a trophy lizardfish that I wish I’d photographed (don’t have any lizardfish photos), a few puffers, and some big, ugly gafftopsail catfish. The catfish would be a recurring theme on this trip.

flamingo fishing report

Maxx casts as the sun sets at south Joe River.

 

flamingo fishing report

Be it ever so humble. And they just cleaned the port-o-potty, too.

In general the water down there looks terrible and Coot Bay, which in my experience had always been clear, looks how the Mosquito Lagoon currently looks. I’m glad our state government is doing everything it can to keep Florida’s water quality at its historically high levels. Anyway…

Day two was spent moving camp to campsite B. We fished along the way, nabbing several more handsome sailcats. While casting a shoreline along which I was poling, Maxx also got a nice 27 inch snook on a pot-gut jig Bob Sterns had given me.

flamingo fishing report

Maxx about to boat his snook.

 

flamingo fishing report

A happy young man with a handsome fish.

We dropped off our gear at the second campsite and went looking for tarpon, the main focus of our planning for this trip. We found some, big, happy, rolling fish. One soon nailed my black and purple streamer and tried to kick my ass. It took thirty minutes of straining and grunting but Maxx finally leadered and lipped it, after which we used the trolling motor to revive it enough until Maxx couldn’t hold it any more. Awesome!

Maxx jumped an even bigger one on a deep-running DOA Bait Buster but it only stayed on for a couple jumps before tossing the bait.

flamingo fishing report

Tarpon on fly, it does not get any better!

 

flamingo fishing report

Yes, it was a solid fish.

Night two was spent at the Shark River chickee. There Maxx and I experienced the heaviest no-see-um concentration that I personally have ever been fortunate enough to witness. I got utterly devoured while making supper. We jumped into the boat and rode around while eating our spaghetti and no-see-ums (I guess we got them back just a little bit there) just so we could relax, after a fashion of speaking, in bug-free comfort.

The bugs were waiting for us when we got back.

We got into the tent as fast as we could. So we would have something to do in there about 800 of the tiny bloodsuckers came in with us. It was about an hour until dark, and we killed diminutive, biting nuisances the entire time, actually ending up with a relatively bug-free sleep.

The bugs were waiting for us when we woke up. Several clouds of no-see-ums, each with thousands of individuals, hovered outside our tent. The diabolical midges knew we had to come out, I guess. There was no wind to disperse them, so they just bided their time.

We broke down camp in record time but in that time they bit the snot out of us. A fast boat ride blew them all away. All that was left were the welts.

We went back to where the tarpon were the previous day. Most of them were gone. We sat down to wait, a nice breeze keeping the bugs away. A school of fish came, obviously going someplace. We followed and fished them for about thirty minutes, without a bite, then gave up and returned to the “spot” and waited.

Another school came. Maxx jumped one on the Bait Buster. Two jumps and it was off. We followed and fished them fruitlessly for about 20 minutes, then returned to the “spot” and again waited.

Another school came. I got a bite on a Bait Buster, a big fish. One jump and it was off. We followed and fished them for about 20 minutes, then returned to the “spot” and again waited.

No more came. We eventually gave up, since we had to go to the Joe River chickee for our final night.
On the way we caught a few seatrout, keeping two 16 inch fish for supper. The catfish again made an appearance. No shortage of catfish down there, that’s for sure.

Joe River chickee has a double platform. Our neighbor this night was an 83 year old gentleman who was down there fishing by himself. Right on, baby! I can only pray that will be me in 20 years, and there will still be such a thing as wild fish to fish for.

flamingo fishing report

Joe River sunrise, Easter morning.

And that, dear reader, is this week’s Flamingo fishing report from Spotted Tail.

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
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Demand Clean Water Now

December 20, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Demand Clean Water Now

Most of my readers are fishermen. For obvious reasons they need clean water. But all humans and most other organisms require clean water. Since our elected and appointed officials are in many cases taking liberties with that vital resource, it’s time all responsible citizens demand clean water now.

demand clean water

Should Florida’s citizens have to put up with this? Is it a sewer or a river?

On December 1 the Indian River Lagoon Paddle Adventure kicked off. One of the reasons we made this paddle voyage is to highlight the plight of the most biologically diverse estuary in North America. What plight, you ask? Algae blooms have badly fouled lagoon waters the past two summers, caused by nutrient overload in the north half of the lagoon. Nutrient-laden fresh water discharges from Lake Okeechobee have wreaked havoc on the south half of the lagoon for years.

No Drinking Water

Coming soon to a faucet near you?

It’s got to stop.

There are similar problems going on in water bodies state-wide. Coral reefs in the Keys are dying. What happened to the bonefish??? Springs are losing flow. The Floridan Aquifer is becoming polluted. Click on this link to see the hot spots in your community (and there probably are some). Click this link to see photos of the nasty stuff. Is your favorite fishing hole here yet?

If we don’t take action the quality of life we so often take for granted will continue to spiral downward.

The Indian River Lagoon has gotten bad press for the past two years. “Toxic algae blooms”, “fish kills”, “dead dolphins and manatees”, “loss of seagrass”, “a dying lagoon.” It’s affected the economy of the region. Tourists don’t want to visit or go fishing on a dying lagoon.

No one needs to re-invent the wheel. There already exists a core of clean water activists. Help them by offering support in any way you can. You can volunteer at this link…

One easy way to offer support is by signing the Floridian’s Clean Water Declaration.

FLORIDIANS’ CLEAN WATER DECLARATION

In recognition that:

Clean water is essential for healthy people and a healthy economy. Florida water quality and quantity are inseparably linked.

Florida waters are held in public trust by the State of Florida for the benefit of its people and the maintenance of natural ecosystems.

We the undersigned hereby declare:

The people of Florida have an inalienable right to:

  1. Clean drinking water whether that water is drawn from public sources or private wells.
  2. Safe lakes, streams, springs, rivers, canals and coastal waters for swimming and fishing.
  3. Protection from water pollution and its effects.
  4. Know the sources of pollution that threaten Florida’s waters.
  5. Protection from water privatization and its effects.
  6. Abundant water for drinking, fishing and recreation.

The people of Florida, the state government, and the industries that benefit from Florida’s natural resources have the responsibility to:

  1. Stop pollution at its source rather than allowing it to enter our waters.
  2. Protect Florida’s waters, as well as the people who depend on them, fromoverconsumption and privatization.
  3. Protect the natural environment which is critical to the health of Florida’s people,wildlife and economy.
  4. Provide clean water for future generations.

By signing this declaration, we agree to its principles and resolve to work together in good faith to ensure that the future of our waters will be driven by the concepts contained within this FLORIDIANS’ CLEAN WATER DECLARATION.

If you agree with this statement and want to sign on, please visit this link NOW…

It only makes sense that we all demand clean water now.

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2013. All rights are reserved.

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