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Another Only Fished One Day This Week Port Canaveral Fishing Report

October 31, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

Another Only Fished One Day This Week Port Canaveral Fishing Report

I spent some time this week working on my van, as explained last week. I’m not done yet.

I spent some time this week publishing ebooks. See them all here: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

flamingo book cover 2 copy

The weather Thursday screamed “Beach!”, so I gathered up Scott Radloff and off we went. It said the same thing to lots of other people too- it was the most cars I’d yet seen at the new Port Canaveral boat ramp.

When we came out of the Port there were birds diving out along the buoy line about a half mile out. We went out there to look and fish were breaking sporadically. My first cast with a jig, some big fish took it and headed out to sea. My 20 pound braid broke before that first run ended, and I never saw what it was. The activity died.

There was a fleet in Canaveral Bight, as I expected. We joined it, netting some menhaden in the process. Bull reds are underneath the menhaden and that’s why everyone was there. It took me a while to figure out I need two ounces of lead on the leader to get down to the fish. Once that was done we got four reds and several bonnetheads. The fish were big but it was boring bait fishing.

port canaveral fishing report

Here’s a lovely sequence of events: Scott hooked up, fish near boat;

port canaveral fishing report

about to bring it into the boat;

port canaveral fishing report

pretty darned pleased with things;

port canaveral fishing report

showing his fish some love; and…

port canaveral fishing report

…making sure it swam away strongly. There would be more fish if everyone were this careful.

It was killing me watching guys hang those big fish off Boga-Grips, too, the worst thing you could do to the fish short of throwing it in a cooler. There were some big dead redfish floating out there. We left the craziness to see what else we could find.

port canaveral fishing report

The bonnetheads became a nuisance.

There are acres of fish off Cape Canaveral- big Spanish mackerel, bluefish, jack crevalle. There are lots of sizeable blacktip sharks in there with them. We played with those fishies for a while, using Haw River Tackle Sting Silvers (the fish are on the smoker as I write this), then went looking for tripletail and cobia.

We found some handsome weedlines, but all the trips we saw were junior-leaguers, not a legal one in the lot. We did not see a cobia. We did find a few tunny breaking, and I got one on a CAL jig.

So if we wanted to maximize our fish catching we would have stayed on the reds, or the Spanish. That wasn’t that important though. The hunt is where it’s at.

I brought a canoe I’ve owned since the 70s to the landfill today, a sad moment, that. See the blog here: http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/old-town-last-ride/

And that, my friends, is another Only Fished One Day This Week Port Canaveral Fishing Report. At least it was again an awesome day!

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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The Mid-October Saltwater Orlando Fishing Report

October 11, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

The Mid-October Saltwater Orlando Fishing Report

First, upcoming events-

-October 25, Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar. Learn more at http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

-October 26 Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, learn more at http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

The mullet are not in anywhere near as great numbers as I thought last week. Sadly.

The season’s first cold front came in over the weekend.

On Monday Rodney Smith and I went fishing out of Port Canaveral. I had a jacket on, since it was about 60 degrees when I launched the boat. The wind was about 10, NE. Our first order of business was to run north along the beach, looking for the schools of mullet I knew would be there. They weren’t. Off the cape we looked for the menhaden schools that had been there. They were gone.

Rodney started off fly fishing, using a small Clouser Minnow. He took a fish on each of his first seven casts. When that slowed we tossed jigs up into the surf line, steadily catching ladyfish, bluefish, small jacks, and a few Spanish mackerel.

After a while the smaller sized fish ceased being entertaining, so we went looking for bigger fare. Off Cocoa Beach there were some menhaden schools. They were thick, and I wanted to net some. It was too deep. My net doesn’t sink fast, and in deep water the pogies just swim out from under it when they see it coming.

We each put a finger mullet on and tossed them by the menhaden. It didn’t take long for my line to come tight. A Monster tarpon tailwalked past the boat, shaking its head, rattling its gills. The 80 pound leader, apparently damaged by a bluefish, broke.

We hooked several 50-100 pound class sharks, but had no more tarpon bites.

We checked for mullet along the beach again before we went in, but they were still not along the beach. Waaagh!

My first ebook, How to Catch Fish with the 3 Inch DOA Shrimp, is now available. Check it out at this link!  Please support your local author!

DOAShrimpCover copy

Wednesday I went to Playalinda and got my Golden Age pass , the best thing about aging. It gives you free access to all national parks and monuments for the rest of your life. I hope I live long enough to get my money’s worth from it!

I stopped at the beach and talked to some gentlemen who were fishing there. One, a fly caster from the Seattle area, had gone through lots of flies and had a blast with jacks, ladyfish, and Spanish mackerel, right from the beach.

I launched the boat at the south end of Mosquito Lagoon and explored it pretty thoroughly. In spite of the glowing reports I had been getting I saw very little and did not get a bite.

After pulling the boat I drove to Port St. John and launched in the Indian River Lagoon to check it out down there. The result was identical. In both places the water was high and dirty. If you prefer to sight fish you’re pretty much out of luck. Most years at this time the power plant is killing it but I did not see a fish or get a bite there, either.

Friday I met angler Steve Gibson and we launched the boat at Kennedy Point, intending to fish the Indian River Lagoon. We worked it hard for six hours, and Steve did get some kind of slam, getting a redfish and a snook on a Zara Spook and a seatrout on a streamer fly. We won’t go into their size, but we did not take any pictures. Suffice to say all three together would not have made much of a meal.

So although I didn’t exactly kill it this week, that is the Mid-October Saltwater Orlando 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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The Mullet Run Kick-Off Port Canaveral Fishing Report

October 4, 2014 by · Leave a Comment

The Mullet Run Kick-Off Port Canaveral Fishing Report

swimming mullet2

All Hail the Mighty Mullet!

First, upcoming events-

-October 11th-18th Third Annual SPACE COAST SURF FISHING TOURNAMENT. Learn more by going to: www.scisft.AnglersForConservation.org.

-October 25, Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar. Learn more at http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

-October 26 Mosquito Lagoon On-the-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, learn more at http://www.spottedtail.com/mosquito-lagoon-on-the-water-show-and-tell-fishing-seminar/

Although they are coming in fits and starts, the mullet appeared along Brevard County beaches this week. There are two mullet flavors-

-The silver mullet (“finger” mullet) are the smaller species, rarely reaching 12 inches long. These fishies are cold intolerant and migrate south, like snowbirds from New York, along the beach and through the lagoons every year at this time. These are the mullet that we who use such things use for bait.

-The black or striped mullet are the larger species, reaching weights in excess of five pounds. I have used these for bait but you need a LARGE hook, and it’s real hard casting a bait that weighs over a pound. These fish can be filleted and fried, or broiled, or smoked, and are quite good if eaten when very fresh. They are more tolerant of cold water than the silvers, but are aggregating to spawn now.

port canaveral fishing report

You can imagine a mullet like this might be hard to cast.

Predators love both types, and both types are easily caught with a cast net when they are in the giant schools we find at this time of year.

To have maximum mullet run success, find a school of mullet that has an obvious escort of large predatory fish. You’ll be able to see the evidence, believe me! Cast the lure of your choice or your live baits into the mullet school, either live-lined or on an egg-sinker rig.

port canaveral fishing report

This is an example of a large predatory fish.

Things change real fast from day to day along the beach at this time of year, depending on air and water temperature, wind speed and direction, and bait movement.

On Monday Joe Bak and I did some scouting out of Port Canaveral for my Tuesday charter. The charter wanted tarpon and redfish so that’s what I was looking for. We found a few tarpon down by Patrick AFB, hanging around the menhaden schools that were there. I managed to catch one about 80 pounds using a live menhaden for bait.

There were lots of sharks there and after losing a half-dozen hooks we decided to try something else. There was Sargassum in the water so we went looking for tripletail. We found lots of weeds, but no fish at all.

We ended up in Canaveral Bight. Silver mullet were working down the shoreline and were being mightily harassed. We got ladyfish, bluefish, crevalle jacks, and Spanish mackerel of DOA CAL jigs and Chug Bugs. No redfish were seen.

port canaveral fishing report

A modest sized ladyfish, one of the rod-benders along the beach right now.

Approaching weather chased us off the water at about 1 PM.

Tuesday at 7 AM I launched the Mitzi at the Port, joined by Sherman Harris and his brother-in-law Brent. A toss of the cast net at the boat ramp yielded a day’s supply of mullet for bait. Then we went fishing.

A 45 minute stop at the north jetty yielded jacks, bluefish, and ladyfish, although nothing of any size. We then headed south.

port canaveral fishing report

There are LOTS of bluefish around.

Before we reached the pier we found a school of hundreds of seven and eight pound crevalle. Chug Bugs, jigs, and of course live mullet all worked, with Chug Bugs being the most fun.

South of the pier fish were breaking all along the beach, mostly small jacks with bluefish and ladyfish mixed in. Chug Bugs and DOA CAL jigs accounted for many fish.

We finally got to where the tarpon had been the previous day. Although the menhaden were still there, the tarpon were gone. Keeping an eye on the building clouds we went further south.

Schools of big mullet were working down the beach at Patrick AFB. Tarpon and sharks were exploding on them. We hooked a few sharks and one big tarpon, landing none of them.

A shrimp boat was working about a mile off the beach. We went out to investigate. No pelicans, no dolphins, and no fish, very disappointing.

Rain showers were now appearing all around us. I headed back north up the beach.

We ended up in Canaveral Bight. Silver mullet were working down the shoreline and were being mightily harassed. We got ladyfish, bluefish, crevalle jacks, and Spanish mackerel of DOA CAL jigs and Chug Bugs. No redfish were seen.

port canaveral fishing report

The Spanish mackerel is a personal favorite. They are delicious broiled or grilled.

Back at the boat ramp we ran into Capt. Rick Banks, who I had not seen in years. Rick makes a unique line of high quality lures. See them at this link…

Thursday son Alex and John Napolitano joined me for some beach fishing. After netting some mullet we headed south, and found what were probably the same school of eight pound jacks I’d found on Tuesday. They were not quite as cooperative, but we did get a couple, one on a mullet and one on a Chug Bug.

Again there were some breaking fish along the beach- jacks, ladyfish, bluefish, and Spanish mackerel, but not as many or as widespread as on Tuesday.

We got to south Cocoa Beach and the menhaden were all gone. Sorry boys, no one is home.

We went further south, hoping to find them. We did not. We did find a massive school of black mullet, which was being harassed by sharks and tarpon. We hooked one of each, losing both.

The mullets were big and thick.

The mullets were big and thick.

We went down along Satellite Beach, finding nothing. There was a lot of Sargassum, so we went out looking for tripletail.

The weeds were thick in places. The only tripletail we found were on things other than the weeds- a board, a plastic jug, a couple crab trap buoys. All the fish were very small. We caught one about a foot long on a chartreuse DOA Shrimp. We let the fish go of course.

We ran north again, ending up in Canaveral Bight. There were no mullet along the beach. There were some menhaden and we got some bluefish around them on jigs and Chug Bugs.

The mullet will be along the beach for a few more weeks, after which the run will be over until next year. Get out there and take advantage of this long, live chum line!

And that is the Mullet Run Kick-Off Port Canaveral 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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Ponce Inlet and Port Canaveral Fishing Report

September 13, 2014 by · 1 Comment

Ponce Inlet and Port Canaveral Fishing Report

You know, if you’re gone from your home for three months, when you get home you might have some work to do. Yard work, painting, a new garage door opener, and more, all lots of fun. I’m not complaining. Really. ‘Cause now my garage door works and my wife is happy with her newly redone kitchen. Happy wife…

In spite of all the fun around the house, I managed to get out a few days this week. On Tuesday Scott Radloff and I launched the Mitzi near the north causeway in New Smyrna Beach. When we got to Ponce Inlet there were lots of ladyfish busting over the shoals (it was high tide) inside the inlet. We caught four and kept them for future reference. This time of year a ladyfish or two can come in real handy sometimes.

There were giant balls of glass minnows in the inlet. Nothing was molesting them that we could see.

There were birds diving all over the place outside the inlet, along with a couple of shrimp boats. There were very few fish under the birds, which I thought odd. We checked the shrimp boats. One was not under way. The other was being followed by troops of dolphins and phalanxes of sharks. We wanted to find tarpon, so we left the vicinity of the inlet and ran south down the beach to the beginning of the national seashore. We saw nothing.

We went out to sea and ran back north, to the vicinity of the inlet. Along the way we saw nothing. A couple miles out of the inlet there were diving birds, and breaking tunny under them. It was run-and-gun fishing, and many of the runs were fruitless. However, enough worked that we had a couple tunny doubles, and boated eight or so. I was using a six-weight, quite sporting. Even broke one off. Scott was using a DOA CAL jig, I a craft fur minnow.

once inlet fishing report

The tunny stretch the string…

ponce inlet and port canaveral fishing report

ponce inlet and port canaveral fishing report

This is an incredible light tackle fish.

One of the shrimpers was still there, so we hooked a couple of sharks for some savage amusement.

ponce inlet and port canaveral fishing report

Scott putting the finishing touches on a 50 pound shark.

We fished the length of the north jetty with no meaningful results, then ran through the waves in the inlet and loaded the boat. Great weather, beautiful day.

So we got tunny on our last four trips. Of course if you have a charter and he wants one you can’t get it done. On Thursday fly fisher Dr. Aubrey Thompson of Jacksonville was my guest. We went out of Port Canaveral. Based on the number of fish we caught last Friday I thought it would be a better and certainly a safer bet.

The bait was still there. A lot of the fish were not showing themselves. The ladyfish, jacks, and bluefish were all MIA. We saw quite a few and caught a few Spanish mackerel, using craft fur minnows. We saw very scattered tunny breaking, not that we ever got a good shot at them. We followed weeds for miles, and saw four tripletail, the largest of which might have gone 12 inches. Then a northeast wind freshened and blew us off the water. The whole day was about being a minute late and a dollar short. The boat was on the trailer at about 1 PM.

And that is this week’s Ponce Inlet and Port Canaveral 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

October 20, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Upcoming Events-
-Mosquito Lagoon Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, October 27. Click here for more information/registration
-Mosquito Lagoon On-The-Water Show and Tell Fishing Seminar, October 28. Click here for more information/registration

Blog Posts This Week-
 -My Views on Politics
-A Short Walk in the Woods
-Tiny Tarpon (guest blog by Paul MacInnis)

Bumper Sticker of the Week-

Fishing was a tailingfest this week.

Tailing Redfish Mosquito Lagoon

It was tailingfest this week.

Sunday night Chris Myers emailed me, asking me if I wanted to fish with him on Monday. So Monday morning found me in Chris Myers’ boat. We went down to the south end of the Mosquito Lagoon. There was nothing there.

Chris Myers. searching for fish.

Then he took me to where he’d been fishing as of late. There were redfish tailing everywhere. I was not particularly competent, but managed to get three fish on a small grizzly Seaducer.

I poled Chris for a while. He got three fish bang-bang-bang. Much more efficient than I he was.

The weather was incredible and I really enjoyed the day. Thank you, Chris.

Wednesday Tammy Wilson and I launched kayaks at River Breeze. It was overcast but there was no wind. We got to the first fishing spot and there were redfish tailing everywhere. I even got pictures.

Mosquito Lagoon Redfish

Tammy with one of several redfish she fooled.

Between us we got about a dozen fish. Tammy was using a small green and yellow Clouser Minnow, I a black and green one. Two of the fish were trout that ate when we threw to tailing reds. What’s up with that?

I got the last three fish I threw to, making me think that maybe I was getting my groove back.

We didn’t see many fish at all in any of the other spots we checked.

Thursday brothers Eric and Ian Rauch joined me for some fly fishing on the Mosquito Lagoon. We launched at River Breeze and went right to where Tammy and I fished the day before.

It wasn’t quite as good. But there certainly were tailing fish there, and they managed to get five between them. There were lost fish, missed strikes, and refusals, too.

This was the first redfish Eric had ever caught.

We checked several other spots. Some were barren, others held a few fish. But we did not see any more tailers once the first spot slowed down.

Friday the wind was forecast to be 5 to 10 out of the west. Scott Radloff and I launched at Port Canaveral, hoping to find tarpon or other exciting fishies.

We ran south all the way to Patrick AFB. We saw absolutely nothing. At Patick I turned left and ran out three or four miles, hoping to find some flotsam, diving birds, whatever. We looked around an anchored tanker. We looked around the mackerel net boats, all the way north to the buoy off Cape Canaveral. We saw exactly one tiny tripletail, nothing else.

We headed in to the beach to look around the Canaveral Shoal. Near the beach I saw a tarpon roll. We anchored the boat and started fishing.

There was a load of fish there. Jack crevalle, ladyfish, and bluefish were mostly what we got, on finger mullet, jigs, and Gotchyas. I also got a croaker and a nice Spanish mackerel, which we ate for supper Friday night. We saw a couple more tarpon, but they were scarce and widely scattered- no bites there, sadly.

SpanishMackerel

Scott shows off a nice, and delicious, Spanish mackerel.

And that is this week’s 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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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,