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Mosquito Lagoon and Port Canaveral Offshore Fishing Report

April 1, 2012 by · 2 Comments

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 3.31.12

Upcoming Events/Volunteers Needed
In celebration of Earth Day 2012, Anglers for Conservation are coordinating a series of Hook Kids on Fishing programs throughout the week of April 14-22. Volunteers are needed. This is the perfect opportunity to work within the fishing community while having a very rewarding experience. All volunteers’ will received a free Anglers for Conservation fishing hat! Contact Rodney Smith at 321-750-3374 or rodney@anglersforconservation.org.

Fishing this week- lots of fish, not many big ones.

On Monday, Matt Williams of Winter Park joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. We did some searching for redfish and did not find very many. Matt caught three on a Johnson Minnow, all out of the slot- on the low end. He got a lot of trout on the DOA Shrimp, but again many were short, with only a few in the slot. The weather was pretty nice too, a little breezy but otherwise a beautiful day.

There are manatees swimming all through the lagoon systems now. They tend to hang out in the deeper water just off the edge of the flat. Please avoid running your boat in these places, unless you like colliding with 2000 pounds of ugly-cute critter.

On Thursday Sam Sharata, his son Alex, and his nephew Luis joined me for some fishing, again on Mosquito Lagoon. Again, the weather was beautiful, a bit breezy. We started off fishing for trout, always a good strategy when youngsters are in the boat. They were biting the DOA Shrimp pretty well, although again, lots of shorts.

The dehooker is such a great device for removing these fish from the hook. It’s better for the fish, too- you don’t even need to touch them. There are several commercially made versions of this tool in the market, the best known of which is the ARC Dehooker.

Anyway, after a while we went searching for redfish. It took a while but we found a school of about 50 and managed to get two in the 24 inch range before they vacated the area. Then we fished trout again until our day was done. A fine day it was!

redfish from the mosquito lagoon

Alex (L) and Luis with Luis's first redfish ever.

redfish from the mosquito lagoon

Alex got his first redfish, too.

On Friday I was the guest of Dr. George Yarko for an offshore charter on Capt. Jeff Brown’s 29 foot Copout. There were lots of menhaden off Cocoa Beach, where we filled up the livewell. Then we went looking for king mackerel.

using a cast net to catch bait

Jeff Brown tosses a net to catch bait.

Apparently we missed them by one day, and did not raise one. So we went further out looking for dolphin. George got a small one that hit a trolled rigged ballyhoo. Another hour of trolling went by and not another bite was had, so we went bottom fishing.

The red snapper bite was hot, and Dr. Yarko had their number. There’s currently a moratorium in place on red snapper so we had to release all of the tasty critters, even the one that I caught. More for the next trip.

red snapper

George got bigger ones, but this was the best photo.

Working our way back in, we came across a lovely line of weeds. Jeff shut off the engines and let us drift along. Some flying fish erupted from the water and I spotted a dolphin swimming along. A cast with a pogie brought an immediate hookup. A second cast got another. Sadly the second fish broke off but the first one was gaffed and brought aboard. We saw a couple dozen more of the mahis, but could not convince them to take either a live or a cut bait, very strange.

A small mahi-mahi caught off Port Canaveral.

It wasn't real big but it was very tasty!

We were back in the Port at about 4:30 after a grueling ride back.

On Saturday Steve Kruska, has son Karstin, and his friend Adam Rosati joined me to do some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Karstin was nine years old so you know we went straight to the trout. And they were pretty cooperative, although again the average fish was about 14 inches, with maybe a half dozen fish in the slot being caught.

Small Spotted Seatrout from Mosquito Lagoon.

Karstin got a bunch of fish like this, which kept him busy.

We also got a ladyfish and a small red. Everything was taken on a DOA Shrimp.

Small Spotted Seatrout from Mosquito Lagoon.

Word on the street is these fish are more entertaining than walleyes.

I only poled one flat looking for reds and we did not see one. But we caught trout until the final bell.

And that is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon and Banana River 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.

Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Mosquito Lagoon and Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report

March 25, 2012 by · 4 Comments

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 3.25.12

Dad-Was-A-Bad-Influence Dept: son Alex passed his US Coast Guard Merchant Mariner’s exam today. He will soon be able to carry passengers for hire, just like the old man! Congratulations, son!

Tuesday the Brothers Klepacki joined me for some paddling and fly fishing in the no motor zone. I had been on such a good run. Tuesday crushed it. All the redfish that have been in the same spot for months left- zilch, zero, nada. We found some nice seatrout but I don’t do all that paddling for trout. On the other hand, a bunch of nice trout are way better than no redfish, which is how many reds we got.

Got a last minute cancellation on Wednesday. Stayed home.

Thursday Tim and Lynn Dennin joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Tim did something you shouldn’t do if you want to sightfish for redfish. He forgot his sunglasses. We got quite a few seatrout on the DOA Shrimp. Our redfishing went for naught though. Tim just couldn’t see them without the glasses.

spotted seatrout from mosquito lagoon

The Dennins with one of their many seatrout.

The weather was awesome. We had a real nice day.

Saturday David Garcia travelled all the way from Fairbanks Alaska to fish for redfish. We had quite a few clouds and it was pretty windy. David learned fast though, and when he saw a fish the Johnson Minnow landed there, pronto. Three nice reds were boated along with a missed strike. We also got a couple dozen trout to about 20 inches on DOA Shrimp. It was a pretty good day considering the weather.

redfish, mosquito lagoon

Mr. Garcia came a long way to catch his first redfish.

mosquito lagoon redfish

David also got this one and another as well.

mosquito lagoon seatrout

The trout were pretty cooperative. This was one of many trout we released.

Sydney Katz, official girlfriend of son Maxx, is taking a course in Marine Biology and needed photos of various estuarine life forms- flora and fauna both. Today we went out on the Indian River Lagoon to get them. Maxx and I each caught a redfish and several seatrout. We also caught mullet, minnows, shrimp, crabs, horseshoe crabs, comb jellies, various types of alga, and generally made a mess of my boat. It was fun and a relaxing way to spend most of a Sunday.

And that is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon and Banana River 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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Weather or Not: the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

March 10, 2012 by · 10 Comments

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 3.10.12

First off I want to thank everyone who responded with kind words during my nightmare with the mailing list. There were way too many to respond to individually. I appreciate your patience and cooperation!

Next, last Saturday 10 brave souls attended my Show and Tell Seminar on the Merritt Island NWR. Here’s what a couple of them had to say:

-“Thank you for a great outing Saturday. Super informative and I feel much better prepared to do exploring on my own. You held nothing back and I look forward to putting your advice and counsel into action.” Doug Whitmer

-“Hope I thanked you for a very nice day last Saturday. Got a lot from it and you use your teaching background VERY well.” Dalen Mills

We had a good time and all of us learned something.

And now we get to the fishing. I was supposed to run an on-the-water seminar on Sunday. However, the lightning, rain, and 30 mph winds accompanying a cold front convinced me that would not be a good idea.

The water temperature, as measured by the gauge at Haulover Canal, dropped seven degrees Sunday due to that front.

Monday morning Sam and Dave (not the soul men), son and father, joined me for what turned out to mostly be a brisk morning boat ride. The air was chilly when we came out of Haulover in a largely fruitless search for fish. We did see a couple of redfish and Sam got a dink on the DOA Shrimp. That was it.

Since it was a half day I used the afternoon to go scouting. I found a few reds and managed to get two bites (both of which I missed) but the fish were widely scattered and hard to find.

Wednesday it was overcast and blowing 20 out of the southeast. Eric Hustedt, a fly fisher and Ph.D. from Nashville, wanted to go out anyway. We came out of Haulover and a wave came over the bow of the boat. The water was filthy, roiled up by the wind and waves.

Eric managed to get a trout on a rattle fly. It was a dink, to be sure, but he got it on a fly in those horrible conditions. He had the sense to switch to blind casting with a spin rod.

spotted seatrout from the mosquito lagoon

This was Eric's best trout of the day. Heck, it was the best trout of the week!

Using a DOA Shrimp he managed two redfish and several more trout, much to my surprise. We were out until 330.

Thursday Jim McDonall, a fly fisher and Ph.D. from New York, joined me for a half day. Given my success in the Mosquito Lagoon the previous two trips I did some gambling and launched at Parrish Park. The gamble did not pay off very well.

We did not see a fish in the first spot. Only found a few trout and exactly three black drum in the second. Nothing in the third. We flushed a small and spooky school of reds in the fourth, at which we did not get a shot. And in the fifth there were quite a few trout. They did not bite. There were also a few large redfish. They did not allow us into casting range before disappearing.

Then it was time to go. So Thursday was a big fat bagel.

Wind and developing lung crud prevented me from searching more in the afternoon. I slept much of the day Friday, coughing and sneezing while awake.

And that, folks, is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report. We’ve had better weeks!

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, Uncategorized · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

An Awesome Week- Mosquito Lagoon and Port Canaveral Fishing Report

March 4, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 3.4.12

Spring is breaking out in central Florida! Azaleas are blooming, trees are leafing out, oranges perfume the air with their blossoms.

Fishing has been fantastic.

Monday’s trip was a family affair. Pastor Louis Schulz, his son Chris, and the pastor’s brother Chris, joined me for a day’s fishing in the Mosquito Lagoon. It was overcast almost all day, and a soaking rain lasted for at least an hour. Fortunately there was very little wind.

We wanted redfish. With the exception of a school of maybe two dozen fish that did not hang around very long, we did not see any. But the trout were really on.

I don’t know how many they caught. It was a lot. Most were caught on DOA Shrimp, but at the end of the day we found a hole full of trout and short reds and they used live shrimp there. All of the reds and many of the trout were short, but eight trout were in the slot and two were over 20 inches. It was a wonderful day.

 

On Tuesday Mike Webber, his girlfriend Judy Votta, and his friend Mike from New Orleans joined me for a day’s fishing on the Mosquito Lagoon. It was cloudy and windy, not nice at all, although in the afternoon the sun finally broke through.

It was almost a repeat of the previous day. The DOA Shrimp produced a lot of trout, some short, some in the slot. Live shrimp produced a few more, and some short reds. The one slot red they got came on a mullet chunk.

seatrout Mosquito lagoon

Judy had the hot rod all day long.

The sun finally came out. It turned out to be a lovely day.

 

Wednesday Father Rick Voor and his long-time friend Steve joined me for some kayak fishing, launching at River Breeze. It was a search mission, as I hadn’t been there in weeks.

The weather was awesome, the water was low, and conditions were great. We did not see any fish for about an hour. Then we found a school of reds in a large white hole.

Father Rick had never caught a red on a lure before. Steve had never caught a red at all. They got quite a few- most on the DOA Shrimp, one on a Johnson Minnow. With the exception of a couple shorts, all were in the slot. It was a blessed day.

steve's first redfish

steve's first redfish

father ricks's doa redfish

redfish doa

This redfish wanted the DOA Shrimp.

 

Thursday son Maxx and I launched the Mitzi at Port Canaveral. Winds were SW at close to 15, almost at the limits of the Mitzi’s ability to handle on the open ocean. But there were no clouds at first.

We ran down to Satellite Beach, then went out a couple miles and started to idle back. Close to two uneventful hours passed before Maxx said, “There’s a fish!” He fired a jig out towards it and the fish was all over it. It was close to 20 pounds.

cobia

Maxx's first cobia in quite a while...

That gave us more confidence, although another long lull followed. Then I spotted a tripletail. I fired a live shrimp out in front of it. How could it say no? It was around five or six pounds.

tripletail

The tripletail- lover of shrimp.

A while later I spotted a cobia, coming in fast. He ate the jig but in spite of my striking him three times he came right off.

A while later Maxx spotted another cobia. He followed, but did not eat, the jig. I tossed a live shrimp and he was all over it. We released that one.

We bagged it shortly after that, but ran another cobia over on the way back. The boat was back on the trailer before 2 PM.

Saturday 10 fine folks attended the Show and Tell seminar. We drove all  around the Merritt Island NWR and talked fishing at every stop. We didn’t finish until almost 6PM. Great group of guys, great day.

The weather blew out Sunday’s on the water show and tell. We will hold it next week instead.

And that is this week’s Mosquito Lagoon 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 2012. All rights are reserved.

 

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hot Fishing This Week- Mosquito Lagoon- Banana River Lagoon Fishing Report

February 18, 2012 by · 2 Comments

The Orlando Area Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 2.19.12

Upcoming Events Dept-
-Merritt Island NWR Show and Tell Seminars- March 3 and 4. Read More Here… 

Four days were spent on the water this week.

On Monday Pat Macginn and Richard LongItalianName (no, I can’t do any better than that) joined me for some paddling on the Banana River Lagoon. Actually they mostly pumped their legs with the Hobie kayaks. We got to the first fishing spot and there was a big redfish.

Kayak charters can be difficult. If you lead the anglers so they know where to go you get all the first shots. If you have them go first they don’t know where they’re going. So- there was the big fish, right in front of me. I fired a black bunny leech out and it inhaled it.

Pat passed me and spotted four reds. He fired a jerk worm out and one of the fish inhaled it. It was by far the biggest red he’d ever caught. So we’ve been fishing for thirty minutes and have two pushing-twenty-pound reds photo’d and released already.

Big redfish, banana river lagoon, florida

Pat was real happy with this redfish!

I would like to report it stayed that way but that would be a large exagerration. However, at least a half dozen reds in the slot were caught, as well as a dozen or so trout that were mostly over the slot. The lures of choice were a 3 inch DOA Shrimp, and a Skitter Walk. All the fish were released.

It was an awesome day all in all.

Tuesday I spent hundreds of dollars at the auto repair shop. 🙁

Wednesday John Pusateri joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. The weather was incredible. The fishing was not. I hadn’t been out there in 10 or 12 days and the fish have mostly moved. The first two spots did not show a single fish. Then we had some fly shots (a black bunny leech) at a big school of black drum. They just gave us the fin. We tried for almost an hour without a sniff and gave up.

At the last spot we tried John was tossing a 3 inch DOA Shrimp into sandy potholes and got a couple nice trout and a couple reds, salvaging an otherwise very slow day.

spotted seatrout, mosquito lagoon

This trout got the skunk off us.

I filleted one of the reds and did a stomach autopsy. It had three or four small blue crabs in there.

Thursday found me in the Banana River Lagoon again. In my canoe was Ed Redman, a fly fisher from North Carolina. In the kayak was Todd Redman, official son of Ed, likewise a fly fisher.
We gurgled up a few trout, then went on the hunt for redfish. It is not uncommon for anglers who attempt wading in the mucky lagoon mud to fall down. So it happened with Ed. I walked him around in the canoe and talked him into the biggest redfish of his life, which took a wool crab.

Big redfish from the banana river lagoon, florida

Big Ed got this redfish to take a faux crab.

Then it was Todd’s turn. Using the same fly he threw to a pair of reds. One swam off, one swam over and inhaled the fly. It was also the biggest red he’s ever caught.

big redfish from banana river lagoon, florida.

Todd fooled this fish with the same fly that his dad used.

We had shots more or less all afternoon but those were all the bites we had.

Friday Ed joined me in the canoe again. Todd was in Roger Cook’s canoe. Again, we gurgled up a few trout and then looked for redfish. Roger scored first. It was (are you ready for this?) the biggest red he’d ever taken on fly.

big redfish from banana river lagoon, florida.

Roger carefully releases his best fly-caught redfish ever.

Ed then hooked one on the crab fly. He got a little too impatient and straightened the hook. He soon had another bite but missed the strike.

spotted seatrout, banana river lagoon, florida

He missed the redfish but gurgled up some seatrout.

I saw what I thought was a huge herd of fish, and poled over their as fast as I could. If we’d had a lettuce fly we could have thrown to a half dozen manatees that were my “fish.” Not the first time that’s happened to me…

Todd and Ed switched boats. It took a while but Todd stuck a red that took a wool crab. I grabbed the leader but the fish wasn’t ready to be grabbed and I had to let go Then the fish came off, so no photo of that one.

Then Todd and I went gurgling again and got a half dozen trout before bagging it for the day.

spotted seatrout, banana river lagoon, florida

We ended our day by gurgling up a few more trout. They're not as exciting as the big reds!

Altogether a wonderful two days, lots of fish, real nice weather, awesome people. This is why 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, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mosquito Lagoon Redfishing Consistent This Week- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

November 25, 2011 by ·

The Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 11/26/11

The week was solid, if unspectacular.

Monday morning found me launching my kayak at River Breeze, none too early I might add. At the boat ramp the water looked too deep for successful kayak fishing as practiced by me.

At a spot where I seldom see fish I heard one crash along the bank. I had shots at three of the six redfish I saw there, getting the third on a #4 Estaz Crab. Getting out of the boat so I could see exactly what was going on was the key here.

I paddled quite a few miles, searching shorelines. The water was too deep and there were intermittent clouds all day. It was hard to see. I ran over a few, and found a few working the shoreline. Of these shoreline fish I had a shot at one, and again the Estaz Crab turned the trick. I like that fly.

Tuesday sons Maxx and Alex joined me, again launching at River Breeze, although we used the Mitzi this time. We were on a simultaneous scouting and meat fishing mission. We needed a fish for Thanksgiving dinner. The first place we looked, which had been full of fish just a few days earlier, had none. We moved.

The second place we looked, which had been full of fish a week earlier, had only one as far as we could tell. Maxx spotted it and dropped a DOA Shrimp (clear with gold glitter) right in its face. The fish obliged, unfortunately for him. One mission accomplished.

The DOA Shrimp works wonderfully well for sight fishing for redfish.

We checked another spot. The fish were lying in white holes, and in spite of casting over the holes with the DOA and a Johnson Minnow we kept running them over and blowing them out. They were there but we didn’t get one.

At another spot we found six separate, single redfish cruising along the bank. Alex got fish number four to take the spoon.

At this point, well into the afternoon and with both missions accomplished, we headed back to the boat ramp.

The redfish had the well digested remains of a crab in its stomach, nothing else.

Wednesday Dennis and Charlie Knight, father and son, and Seth Spielman, in-law, joined me for a day’s redfishing on Mosquito Lagoon. All three of these fine gentlemen were Ph.D.s, something I had never had happen on my boat before. We had an interesting day conversationally!

There was some wind but it was manageable. We had solid clouds all day long. Sight fishing was impossible except for the solitary tailing fish we found late in the afternoon, a fish we did not catch.

They rotated among two spin rods, tossing Johnson Minnows (one gold, one silver) all day long. In doing so they managed to get one dink trout, the ice breaker, and six fat slot reds. They released all but number six.

Seth convinced this redfish to strike a Johnson Minnow.

They took it home entire, so I do not know what it had been eating.

Thursday close to forty guests visited Casa Kumiski. All of us ate too much. It was delicious, and wonderful. One of the things I’m thankful for is Thanksgiving!

On a windy Friday morning Bob from St. Louis and his two sons Ben and Erin joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishin’. Kids on board, any fish will do!

The first chunking spot quickly produced a small flounder and a slot red. The kids were excited! It was the biggest fish they had ever seen!

These boys had never seen a fish this big before. It's as big as they get that size!

The bite stopped so we went and tossed the DOA Deadly combo for trout for a while. We only got one bite, but it was a solid fish, about 20 inches. Trout season is closed, so fishie was released.

Ben used a DOA Deadly Combo to fool this nice trout.

Further mullet chunking didn’t produce a lot. We got another small red, a hardhead catfish, and missed a couple of bites. We were having fun though. Before you knew it we were out of time. On the way in we watched some dolphins and manatees.

When I cleaned the redfish its stomach held six small mud minnows.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Kayak Redfishing This Week- Indian River-Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

November 15, 2011 by ·

The Indian River-Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 11/15/11

The gauge was at 1.5 all last week. I like it at 0.5 or lower, especially for paddle fishing. It has dropped the past couple days, though- good news!

Why paddle all week? I had a kayak charter on Friday. Scouting was needed. Besides, I really like paddling.

Wednesday found me at one of my favorite paddle spots on the Indian River Lagoon. Of course the water was too high. That’s been a recurring theme. The water was also very dark. I lost sight of the paddle blade about halfway down. And it was windy, out of the north. Then just to complete the picture, it got overcast.

In spite of all that there were fish blowing up along the shoreline.

I couldn’t see them, even when I tried wading. They kept spooking off of me. After changing flies five times I finally had one eat on a Mosquito Lagoon Special. I was so surprised I pooched it. That was the extent of my catching.

Thursday found me at a different spot on the IRL. The water was still high and dirty but the wind was less, and it was gloriously sunny. The bird life was rich and varied, and there were loads of mullet around. But in three hours of paddling I saw zero fish, although I ran over two. Didn’t even make a cast.

My trip Friday was an afternoon half day. A front came through Thursday night, dropping the water temperature to 67 from 71, not a good thing. The wind was blowing 20 out of the north. The water level dropped to 1.3, a little lower but still too high. At least the sun was out!

When I left the house I still didn’t know where we were going to fish. We (Patrick Gallagher, a fine Irish-American lad) ended up launching at Eddy Creek, fishing the north side. The water was very green and ridiculously high. I wondered after we got there if the wind hadn’t piled up the water at the south end of the lagoon. If so I certainly erred going there.

We rounded the point and fought the wind up into Galinipper Basin. We had a nice lee shoreline at the north end. Patrick was tossing a Johnson Minnow, mostly catching grass. We saw a minnow skip and he dropped the spoon there, I mean right now. A fish bit and he pulled in a nice flounder. It was the only fish (other than mullet) that we saw, and we were out until sunset.

Saturday I was part of a two boat trip with Capt. John Turcot. We picked up our anglers at 9AM at JB’s Fish Camp, giving the air a chance to warm first.

My anglers were Nadim and Terry. As their daughter says, “My dad is from Iraq and my mom’s from Arkansas!” Needless to say it was an interesting and entertaining day. They were a wonderful couple.

The weather was outstanding. We began searching shorelines and lo and behold- there were redfish working them. Our first was a little 12 inch rat, caught on a piece of mullet, as were all of our fish.

Shortly, Nadim hooked an in-the-slot red. Unfortunately for the fish, it never made it out of my boat alive.

Nadim the engineer with his redfish dinner on the fin.

Terry’s red came into the boat a while later. It joined Nadim’s fish in my cooler.

The second half of the redfish dinner, this one served up by Terry.

Once Terry realized that she couldn’t keep any more fish, she didn’t want to fish any more. I was able to use almost an hour of our time to scout for the next day’s trip.

When I cleaned the fish one of them had an empty stomach. The other had a fairly large (for the size of the fish that is) blue crab in it.

When I washed the boat I also washed the cooler. I forgot to put it back in the van and left it at the car wash. Dang!

John Turcot and his family could use some prayers for those of you who have some to spare.

Sunday morning I met Joseph Modrano, an angler from Seattle, at River Breeze. We mounted up on the Mitzi and went forth seeking the elusive red drum. Again, the weather was outstanding.

We fished about a half dozen spots over the course of the day. The water at the north end of the lagoon is way cleaner than at the south end, and actually looks just like it’s supposed to in many places. We found fish everywhere we looked except for one spot.

Joseph battles and photographs at the same time. And people say men can't multitask.

Again, all the fish we caught were in the slot, actually, towards the lower end. We’re not seeing six and eight pound fish. I don’t mind the smaller fish, heck, it’s way better than it had been! But I want to find some bigger fish too.

Joseph Modrano. Redfish. A good combination.

I was also encouraged to see quite a few seatrout. They took a severe beating in that winter freeze a couple years ago. It’s good to see some decent ones up on the flats.

Modrano used a Johnson Silver Minnow all day. He was pretty darn good with it, and he had never been sight fishing before. We pretty much had shots all day long, putting four or five fish in the boat. All managed to make it out alive.

Monday I had the pleasure of fishing Capt. Chris Myers, one of my favorite people to fish with. We launched at River Breeze and fished north of Georges Bar. Again the weather was superb. The water had dropped a few more inches, we found lots of clean water, and saw good numbers of fish all day long. We actually caught several redfish while using those dangfangled fly poles, Myers with a black Redfish Worm and me with a small (#4) tan crabby, shrimpy looking thing.

In the afternoon after the breeze kicked in Myers switched to a spin pole and proceeded to get a few more using a three inch DOA Shrimp. It was an outstanding day.

The week started kind of slow but picked up a good head of steam. The water is slowly dropping, clean water is available, and there are fish around. They are eating. It’s an encouraging trend. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.

Embrace simplicity.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mosquito Lagoon Redfishing- Returning to Normal?

November 8, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Mosquito Lagoon Redfishing Report from Spotted Tail 11/7/11

We needed to scout on Monday, having been away for two weeks. Rain poured down most of the day. We didn’t go.

Tuesday an east wind of 20-25 met me at the ramp. Still the sun was out, so off I went.

I actually found some fish. The water had dropped since my last visit and in a few places it showed signs of clearing up a bit. Redfish were working along a few shorelines. I tried fishing while simultaneously poling. Never easy to do, it’s even harder when the wind is howling. Still, tossing a Johnson Minnow, I got three bites and put a slot red in the boat (released it).

I was supposed to be scouting, not fishing, so I stopped fishing and continued looking. I didn’t see much anywhere else.

Wednesday Mike, Tom, and Gunther joined me looking for some redfish on spin action. The water had come up a couple inches, but the fish were still where I had left them- cruising the bank, crashing minnows, even saw a couple tailers.

Mike got the first red on a DOA CAL shad tail. The fish was almost under the bow of the boat when Mike stuck him. I haven’t had one bite so close to the boat in years. It was quite extraordinary. It wasn’t a big one, 22 inches or so, but it was a redfish and I was darned glad to see it come aboard. It posed for a photo and was released.

This apparently suicidal redfish took the lure right at the bow of the Mitzi skiff.

Mike had the hot hand, as a while later he made a beautiful cast in front of a cruising fish. The fish ate the CAL tail and a few minutes later 25 inches of redfish was being photographed. It was also released.

The DOA CAL shad tail, detailed to show rigging.

We had several other shots which were not converted and our half day ended much too quickly.

Thursday I cruised the wildlife refuge looking for gremlins that might booger up the show and tell. The main one was that all the dike roads except the Gator Creek- Peacock Pocket road are closed, even Biolab.

Friday Nick Colantonio and John Carnacchia (spelling probably wrong on that name), fly fishers from Tampa, joined me for some redfishing in the Mosquito Lagoon. The water was a foot higher (see the graph here) and two degrees cooler than it was on Tuesday. The wind was again fairly howling, this time from the west.

The fish were NOT cruising shorelines, and believe me we looked. After four hours we had seen four fish and only had a shot at one of them. We came to a small hole in the area where I had been seeing the fish on Wednesday. “Would you guys indulge me for 15 minutes?” I asked.

After staking out the boat I chucked two pieces of mullet containing circle hooks into the hole. I asked Nick to let me know when 15 minutes was up.

At six minutes one of the rods went off and John reeled in a slot red. We released it and set the baits again. Six minutes later one of the rods went off and Nick reeled in a slot red. We released it and set the baits out again. Fifteen minutes went by without another bite so we pulled the lines in and went fly fishing again.

We ran over a few fish but the water was too deep and dirty for us to see them until they blew out. Nick got one shot at the end of the day but the fish spooked off the fly. With that we wrapped up a tough day.

Saturday we had the show and tell and Sunday the on-the-water show and tell. Both went well. Wish you’d been there!

Today son Alex and I went redfishing together. Actually Alex fished and I poled. The water is even higher than it was on Friday and it is still rising. We had a couple half baked shots, the kind where you try to make a hurried nine foot cast. The water is too high and dirty for sightfishing. Hopefully it will drop some this week. We need a west wind to blow some water offshore!

Embrace simplicity.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Tying the Hot Head Fly

October 29, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Everyone loves a new fly pattern. The hot, new pattern is the Hot Head! It’s sure to become a classic for everything that swims.

An assortment of Hot Head flies, tied by your intrepid blogger.

With the hyperbole out of the way, it is a good looking fly. Marcia Foosaner has been using them around Stuart and has been catching seatrout, jacks, bluefish, snook, and other stuff with it. Jacks and bluefish will hit an acorn. Trout and snook are a little more discriminating.

The Hot Head requires the use of a Hot Head, a cup-like soft plastic head from DOA, designed to be used with their lines of shad tails and jerk baits. Marcia and I have found a fly tying use for it that makes tying a handsome baitfish imitation quite simple.

Here’s how I tie the Hot Head. Feel free to modify, and please feel free to share your successes.

Materials
Hook- Gamakatsu SC-15, size 2/0
Tail- three pairs of hackle feathers
Flash- small amount of pearl colored Wing ‘n’ Flash
Cheeks- one complementary/contrasting pair of marabou feathers
Collar- one red hackle feather wrapped around the hook
Head- DOA Hot Head

1. With hook in vise, wrap thread to bend of hook.

2. Match three pairs of hackle feathers. Tie them in at bend.

3. Take a small amount of Wing ‘n’ Flash and tie it in just in front of the hackle feathers. It should trail back past the tips of the hackles.

4. Tie in one marabou feather tip on each side of the hook, just in front of the Wing ‘n’ Flash.

5. Tie in the butt of the red hackle feather in front of the marabou and take four or five wraps around the hook shank. Tie it off.

6. Take a 6″ piece of medium chenille (if you want a slow sinking fly) or a six inch piece of medium lead wire (if you want it to sink faster) and tie it in in front of the hackle feathers. Build up a big head onto which you will slide the Hot Head. Tie it off and whip finish the head.

I have tried using Zap a Dap a Goo to cement the Hot Head into place but it doesn’t hold. I will be trying other adhesives, or may conclude that cementing it into place is unnecessary. It occurs to me as I type this that if the Hot Head isn’t glued on you can change colors instantly while fishing.

7. Use a hook point of bodkin and poke a hole in the front center of the Hot Head. Slide it onto the hook over the eye.

Voila! Your Hot Head is ready to fish. Boa sorte! Three languages on one line!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Tips, Flies and Fly Tying · Tagged: , , ,

Stuart, Sugarloaf Key Fishing Report

October 27, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

The Stuart, Sugarloaf Key Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 10/23/11

Upcoming Events- Show and Tell seminar on November 5 and 6. The 6th will be an on the water seminar. Details and the signup are now posted at this link- http://www.spottedtail.com/category/Schools-and-Seminars-13.

My apologies for the late report. In the Keys and Everglades I had no internet access. I spent my time fishing rather than searching for an internet cafe.

October 17, 2011
Dear Diary-
My alarm clock was set for 4 o’clock. I woke up at ten to three and couldn’t fall asleep again. After having some cereal and a cup of tea I woke Alex. We left for Stuart at about 4:40.

I had to fight to stay awake the whole way. Must have been because I wasn’t in bed. Alex was no help. He slept the entire distance.

We met Marcia Foosaner at the boat ramp a few minutes after seven. We left the boat and drove to Bathtub Beach. With a solid east wind the surf was UP. There weren’t a lot of mullet, or much obvious activity at the Bathtub. Still, we all managed a snook and several crevalle by tossing shallow running DOA Bait Busters.

We went to several other beach access points with no results. The wind was hard from the east, and it spit rain all morning. I’ve had great fishing along these beaches this time of year, but today was an off day.

We had lunch at the new bagel place. Mark Nichols joined us. He had Morris the Dog with him. Then we all went to DOA World Headquarters. Marcia and I both needed some Hot Heads for our new lines of flies. (A new blog with photo and tying directions coming soon!)

Alex and I are at River Palms now. He mustn’t have gotten enough sleep ’cause he crashed as soon as we finished supper. I’m hoping to watch some of the football game tonight, but I’m pretty sleepy myself.

Tomorrow we go fishing with both Mark and Marcia- a double feature!

October 18
Dear Diary-
We woke up to torrential rains, pushed by a strong southeast wind. In spite of this both Marcia and Mark were right on time. We launched the Mitzi at the Jensen Beach ramp and Mark navigated us to a flat on the south side of the Jensen Beach causeway.

We got out and waded in the pouring rain and chilling waters for three hours. Marcia threw a jerk bait, Alex a DOA Glow Shrimp, I a jig, and Mark a prototype of a new bait he’s working on. Between us we got four small jacks in three hours.

By this time I was starting to shiver, soaked through in spite of the raincoat. We wisely decided to call it and went to have breakfast.

Alex and I then hit the turnpike and drove to Sugarloaf Key, where we met Mike Gorton. It rained most of the way, and started raining very heavily after we got here.

We are in a house, very nice. Alex got a little tarpon in the canal behind.  I hope the weather gets better.

Alex got this baby tarpon on a DOA Glow Shrimp.

October 19
Dear Diary-
The house was shaking all night from thunderclaps. It was fitful sleep, with lightning going off every 30 seconds and all the thunder. It’s still raining as I write this but at least the sparks have subsided. We’re going to Mike’s now to see what he’s up to.

October 20
Dear Diary-
Mike saw my boat and said it needed gel coat work. Next thing Alex and I had sanders in our hands. We sanded the interior deck for hours. It was not fun. We were not fishing. I’m still itchy. On the other hand my deck is newly gelcoated and looks nice, plus it’s waterproof again.

Once the new gel dried we put the boat in the water. I netted a few pinfish and we went to a creek to go snapper fishing. It took me a while to find it. Then when we got there the water was milky. It was running at least eight knots. The wind was blowing right onto us at about 20. My anchor didn’t hold the first time. We finally got set and tried to fish.

It was ridiculous. I was going to move the boat to a calmer spot but more rain was coming, and it was getting dark. I’d say we were there about 20 minutes, had one bite (missed), and then ran out of there with our tails between our legs.

Today we went out of Key West with Jack Walker. While it was good to see Jack, we shouldn’t have bothered trying to catch fish. The water was milky dirty around Key West. We couldn’t find any bait. We finally had to sabiki up a few blue runners.

We got out to 200 feet of water and the water was still all milky. In four hours of bouncing around we had one bite. Alex got an amberjack of about 20 pounds, his first ever. It beat a sharp stick in the eye but was pretty pathetic, not at all what you think of when planning your Keys trip.

A solid amberjack for Alex, first he'd gotten.

Tonight we’re going to try night fishing for tarpon and snook. I so hope we get a few fish!

October 21
Dear Diary-
We met Jack and Willie and went to the Key West pier, getting there about 10 pm. Three friends of Jack’s were already there. The tide was low, the water was dirty, and not one bite was obtained between seven of us.

The reality of fishing is that sometimes it’s not too good. We traveled down here during a massive storm, and it’s boogered things up. But today is another day. We’re going out with Mike. We’ll see if that changes our luck.

Hope springs eternal in the heart of a fisherman.

October 22
Dear Diary-
We picked Mike up at his dock at about 10 AM to better catch the tide right. We went through a maze of creeks and ponds to oceanside. While the flat looked great, other than sharks it was devoid of life.

We fished for sharks for a while. I got a bonnethead on a bonefish fly and Alex got a small blacktip on a wiggle jig.

We kept hoping that the incoming tide would bring warmer water and some bonefish but no, that didn’t happen.

We went to a back country spot and looked but there weren’t even sharks there.
We went to a couple of different backcountry spots and fished for snappers for a little while. We missed a couple, got one little one, and gave up around 4 PM.

We’re going out with Mike in his boat today. He says the fish will start showing as it warms up again.

October 24
Dear Diary-
Permit are hard to catch. I have heard people say that they’ve caught them on fly. I’ve never seen it done. I’ve certainly never done it. After the past two days I think they’re all just making it up.

Mike showed us a lot of fish. We had shots at dozens of permit. Alex and I took turns with the fly rod and with a spin rod baited with a live crab. It didn’t much matter what we threw at them. They ignored us or fled in terror. Either they’re impossible to catch or we are really, really bad. Probably a little bit of both.

We spent two days searching for and casting to fish and didn’t get a bite.

Today Alex and I are going out in the Mitzi. We intend to target everything we see- sharks, ‘cudas, jacks, snapper, whatever. I want to hear the drag go out before I die.

Last night the Gortons had a barbeque at their house. It was Goodnews south- Mike, Kim, and Faith, Charlie Mudfoot and his girlfriend Lauren, Jack Walker, Willie, and Alex and me. It was good to see everyone together, not in Alaska. Hey, we exist elsewhere! What a discovery!

October 27
Dear Diary-
Mike led and Alex and I followed in the Mitzi. Charlie and Lauren rode with Mike. We had 25 knot winds out of the north and actually tried to find some bonefish. No success there!

Giving up on that idea we went to some creeks to fish for snappers. We got some pretty nice ones, a few crevalle, and at least everyone caught a few fish. Alex got to run the boat in some really crappy weather, too.

Miss Lauren got this nice snapper in a creek in the Keys backcountry.

As the Keys portion of our trip wound down we realized we had hit some terrible conditions. Nine inches of rain changed the salinity and dropped the temperature of the water by 11 degrees, and it boogered up the fish. We didn’t catch a lot, but Alex got a small tarpon, and an amberjack, and we got some snappers, and had shots at a bunch of permit. I’ve had worse trips.

Coming up- road trip, installment two.

Embrace simplicity.

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 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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