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Memorial Day Orlando Fishing Report

May 27, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

Memorial Day Orlando Fishing Report

Please take a moment right now for a small prayer for all the men and women whose sacrifices we should be remembering this weekend.

This Memorial Day Orlando Fishing Report details trips to the Mosquito Lagoon, St. Johns River, and Atlantic Ocean.

Sunday

orlando fishing report

Nile with one of the redfish he caught.

Matt and Niles Smith, father and son, joined me on Spotted Tail for a Mosquito Lagoon outing. Three tarpon rolled next to the boat as we idled through Haulover Canal, the first tarpon I’ve seen this year.

orlando fishing report

Not to be outdone, Matt got one, too.

We were happily fishing for trout when I spotted redfish tails. We got on them without attracting the attention of the many other boats around, getting five nice reds before they vacated the area. DOA CAL shad were the bait of choice. Oh yes, the trout fishing was pretty good, too.

Monday

orlando fishing report

Tammy shows off a mini-bass. It’s as big as they get that size!

 

orlando fishing report

Channel cat on fly!

Tammy Wilson led me on a St. Johns River excursion. The river is ankle-deep in many places. We did not get any big fish but got five different species of fish on mostly surface flies. We also found three dead cows. They stink is a most foul manner.

orlando fishing report

Got me sum bass, two!

 

orlando fishing report

The river valley has some exquisite places…

Tuesday

orlando fishing report

This silly fish ate an Alaskan fly.

John went back to the St. Johns River by himself in an attempt to capitalize on what he learned the previous day. He stuck to subsurface flies (a black egg-sucking bunny leech worked quite well) and got largemouth bass, bluegill and red-breasted sunfish, three channel cats (!), four bowfin, one spotted gar, and one tilapia. Didn’t get the crappie or Plecostomas.

orlando fishing report

The bowfin, a fish in need of some love.

A large, aggressive alligator get much too close for comfort. Something about that gar splashing attracted it. I left the area post-haste.

orlando fishing report

Bull bluegill on a purple bunny leech. I lost all of the egg-sucking leeches I had.

Speaking of gar, what they need is some good PR. From now on I’m referring to them as garlin in what might be a misguided attempt to make them more popular among anglers.

Mudfish need PR too. Anyone have a good, appealing, alternate name for the mighty bowfin??

Wednesday
Ray Rowe was my guest on Spotted Tail. Although it was windy the fish were biting well. We got a lot of slot seatrout, although the big ones eluded us.

Thursday
Ray Rowe was again my guest on Spotted Tail. It wasn’t as windy as Wednesday but it was colder. Fishing was tougher, but we still got about 20 trout, mostly slot fish. The best of the day measured 22 inches. Thank you again, Mr. DOA CAL shad. And of course Mr. Rowe, too.

Friday
Found John at the helm of Spotted Tail, searching the mighty Atlantic for denizens of the deep. In an ideal world he would have found gobs of big tarpon. As it was, eight hours of diligently searching turned up some northern sennet, a few bluefish, a couple ladyfish, the smallest little tunny I have ever seen, and to top off the day a mighty mongo jack crevalle. I tried to get one on the twelve-weight but they were not having that nonsense.

orlando fishing report

The jack crevalle, different from channel cats.

As always, I would like to thank everyone who fished with me this week.

That is the Memorial Day Orlando fishing report!

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 2017. All rights are reserved.

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

Spotted Seatrout Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

May 19, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Spotted Seatrout Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Our featured fish this week is the Spotted Seatrout, Cynoscion nebulosus. Because it’s pretty much all we caught this week, and we only fished the Mosquito Lagoon, we have the spotted seatrout Mosquito Lagoon fishing report!

The following information on seatrout comes from Wikipedia-

Contrary to its name, the spotted seatrout is not a member of the trout family (Salmonidae), but of the drum family (Sciaenidae). Adults reach 19-32 inches in length and 3-15 pounds in weight. This fish is closely related to the weakfish, Cynoscion regalis.

The average size of spotted seatrout is 1-2 pounds, but in most areas fish up to 5 pounds are fairly common. Fish weighing 8-10 pounds are rare. The world record is 17 pounds 7 ounces.

Small trout eat large amounts of shrimp and other crustaceans. As they grow larger, their diets shift toward fish, the larger, the better. Studies in Texas and Mississippi show that really big trout strongly prefer to feed on mullet; a large trout will find the largest mullet it can handle and try to swallow it. Often the mullet is half or two-thirds as large as the trout.

Spotted seatrout have a long spawning season from spring through summer. It takes between one and two years for seatrout to reach 12 inches, and between two and three years to reach 16 inches. The maximum age of spotted seatrout that have been caught is estimated to be 12 years old, though that is rare, and the oldest fish caught on a regular basis are closer to four or five years old.

By the end of the first year, spotted seatrout are about 10 inches long and about half of them are mature enough to reproduce. They reproduce in shallow, grassy areas of estuaries.

******************************************

Blog post this week-

My Favorite Alaska Photo s- A Photo Essay

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Tammy and her smaller trout. I did not get a photo of the better one, silly me.

Monday the incomparable Tammy Wilson was my fishing partner. First we went scouting for my Tuesday and Wednesday trips. Tammy caught a solid trout on a fluke. Then we went fly fishing. Tammy caught a very nice trout, five pounds or so. Unfortunately I did not get a photo of that fish.

Tuesday Paul Glaser and his friend Trey joined me. We launched at River Breeze, and in six hours only fished two spots, catching slot trout regularly of DOA CAL shad. We saw some big ones but could not make a sale!

Wednesday Tom Finger was my guest on Spotted Tail. Although it was pretty windy the fish were still biting well. Again we got a lot of slot fish, and again the big ones eluded us.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Tom with one of the dozens of trout he caught.

One nice thing about the lack of redfish right now is it’s cutting the number of boats out there way down. A ray of sunshine in an otherwise bleak situation.

Thursday son Alex and his buddy Drew joined me. You know what happened- lots of slot seatrout. I got one on fly that was pushing four pounds. Drew hooked something we never saw that pulled a good amount of line out and then came unbuttoned. That was it.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

The fish, the fly. My best of the day.

As always, I would like to thank everyone who fished with me this week.

That is the spotted seatrout Mosquito Lagoon fishing report!

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 2017. All rights are reserved.

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Mother’s Day Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

May 13, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

Mother’s Day Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

Happy Mother’s Day to all those who have given birth. What a miracle, to be able to bring another being into the world, to nurture and teach it until adulthood! This is the Mother’s Day Mosquito Lagoon fishing report.

Summer just may have started here. The afternoon light has that blasting everything quality to it. It was 94 degrees this afternoon (Wednesday). The water in the lagoon is quite low, surprisingly so for this time of year. It’s also still quite clean. I expect that to change with this summer’s installment of Algae Bloom. Let’s all pray that John is wrong on this one.

There are stupid numbers of manatees out there. Boater’s don’t seem to be paying any attention. I found a dead manatee today, a small one. I reported it by telephone to Officer Jane Whaley.

The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge has apparently had enough of bank fishermen littering along the Haulover Canal, something that has been a big problem for years. This week these new signs were observed along the south side of the canal, in both English and Spanish:

mosquito lagoon fishing report

SUNDAY
Fly fisher and New Yorker Anthony LaBarbera joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. It was hardly fish-slamming time. We got the first bite around 11 AM, a nice enough trout that took a streamer. The rest of the day yielded two more strikes and one more trout. We saw quite a few, but for a change it wasn’t windy. Of course the fish were spooky, a trend that continued for the rest of the week.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

We worked hard for this baby!

MONDAY
Good friend Tammy Wilson and I went a-kayakin’ on the Indian River Lagoon. We ran over maybe a half-dozen fish before Tammy had a good shot at one, which she converted. You’re so professional, Howie! I later got one blind-casting a black bunny leech, a sure case of the blind pig finding an acorn. There were not a lot of fish around. But it’s always fun fishing with Tammy.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

The woman, the fantasy…

TUESDAY
Brent Chapdelaine and his friend Tom joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Throwing our old friends the DOA CAL Shad and the RipTide Sardine we hit trout pretty steadily if not exactly rapid-fire.

At one point my astonished eyes noted a school of redfish moving, with occasional busts and tailing happening. We moved to intercept. Brent made a perfect cast, and, as he should have been, was rewarded with a fine 26 inch red. He says it was the biggest fish he’s ever caught, and it certainly was the day’s most exciting moment.

WEDNESDAY
Ken Schanze and his friend Dennis joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Throwing our old friend the DOA CAL Shad we hit trout sporadically, getting six in the slot and one over. We saw very few redfish.

For weeks I whined about the wind. It has not been blowing this week and conditions have been gorgeous if somewhat warm. But the slick conditions combined with the low water have made the fish very, very flighty.

THURSDAY
Rick Busch and his friend Seng from Cambodia joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. We had a light northeast wind. The trout bite was steady if not spectacular, all on DOA CAL Shad. Seng caught the largest fish of his life! Spotted Tail had that happen twice this week, awesome!

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Rachel and a handsome trout.

FRIDAY
Matt Leonard and his lovely bride Rachel joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. We had a light northeast wind. The trout bite was steady if not spectacular, all on DOA CAL Shad. They caught a few fairly nice trout. We did not see a redfish, did not see one yesterday, did not see one Wednesday. I’d love to know what happened to all of them.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Same woman, different fish.

SATURDAY
My least favorite day to fish, this one wasn’t too bad because of the weather forecast. Josh and Cody joined me. We looked briefly and unsuccessfully for redfish, then fell back on the unspectacular but steady trout. They caught a few good ones.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Josh. Trout. DOA CAL.

Ordinarily cloudy, windy days are killer trout days. This one was pretty much like the rest of the week.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Cody. Trout. DOA CAL.

As always, I would like to thank everyone who fished with me this week.

That is the Mother’s Day Mosquito Lagoon fishing report!

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 2017. All rights are reserved.

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Another (mostly) Mediocre Week Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

April 29, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

Another (mostly) Mediocre Week Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

The wind still won’t quit. This is another (mostly) mediocre week Mosquito Lagoon fishing report.

It still blew like snot most of the week.

Monday
Kevin Linehan joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon scouting. My mission was to figure out where the fish went. The wind and clouds made that mission much more difficult. We saw some nice fish, but did not catch any, getting maybe a dozen trout to 16 inches on shad baits.

seatrout on DOA CAL mosquito lagoon fishing report

The DOA CAL shad is still producing fish for me.

Tuesday

mosquito lagoon fishing report

I worked it hard with meagre results.

I rode to the Econ, figuring the low water would aid my fly fishing efforts. I tried unweighted streamers, weighted streamers, and surface flies. Four hours of casting netted me two small bass, one big warmouth (big for a warmouth, that is) and one spotted gar. All fish were taken on a popper, for whatever that’s worth.

warmth mosquito lagoon fishing report

The warmouth, so aggressive we’re lucky they don’t get very big. If they did they would try to eat us.

The red-tailed hawks were doing lots of screeching. A large alligator was growling, hopefully not at me. It was really a pleasant outing, fishing notwithstanding.

Wednesday
The Stefansky brothers, Jerry and Paul, joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. The wind wasn’t howling! (at first)

We found fair numbers of redfish at the first spot. They could not have been less cooperative without not being there at all. We did not get a bite, although Paul got a nice trout on a Riptide Sardine.

seatrout on riptide sardine mosquito lagoon fishing report

The Riptide Sardine is also producing fish for me.

There were four boats working the next spot. We declined joining them. The alternate did not produce a fish.

The third spot was the hot spot of the day, producing about a dozen trout to 20 inches or so, most of them in the slot. Jerry did most of the damage with a DOA CAL Shad.

At this point the wind came up and the fishing mostly shut down. We got three or four more trout before trailering the boat.

Friday
One of Benjamin Ashworth’s birthday presents was a day with me (?!), fishing in Mosquito Lagoon. Girlfriend Chely was along too. Amazingly, the wind was blowing but not too hard (at first).

No one was home at spot #1.

Some seatrout, hovering around the 15 inch mark, were caught at spot #2. We are still using the three inch shad tails with good result.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Benjamin and Chely seemed happy with this fish!

Spots 3 and 4 produced several nice trout in the 20 inch range, as well as three redfish. We also encountered a school of black drum, but they wanted nothing to do with the juicy frozen shrimp we offered. About this time Mr. Wind decided to join the party, and a sea of whitecaps was the result.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Chely was REAL happy with this seatrout!

Spot 5 produced several more trout- one nice one and a bunch of shorties. And at the final spot we did not hit a fish. It was by far the most productive day all week.

Once again, I would like to thank everyone who fished with me this week. You folks are awesome!

That is another mediocre week Mosquito Lagoon fishing report!

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 2017. All rights are reserved.

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A Mediocre Week Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

April 22, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

A Mediocre Week Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

The wind just won’t quit. This is a mediocre week Mosquito Lagoon fishing report.

It still blew like snot most of the week, especially at the end of it.

Monday
Ian Clemens and his friend Rick joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Those guys worked it hard, tossing both DOA CAL Shad and RipTide Sardines. Rick also had his own supply of “flukes”, on which he got several fish. They got 30 or so trout to about 24 inches, although many were short. Ian also managed a single black drum. We saw very few redfish. Still, action was pretty steady.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Ian with his black drum, the biggest fish of the week.

Monday afternoon Terry Roe and his grandson Luke joined me for Round 2! By now the wind was up and the fish were not as cooperative. They managed a dozen fish, all trout, none particularly large, although most were in the slot.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Luke got his self a fish!

Tuesday
Newcastle England flycaster Dave Swan and his two lads, Ben and Matthew, joined me after detouring all around Florida because of smoke-closed roads. Amazingly there was hardly any wind! I didn’t know what to do!

Out of the gate we found a huge mass of redfish. Wasn’t I surprised! It was all for naught though. We could not get near them, did not get a shot, did not get a bite, and left them in a state of frustration.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Ben with the morning’s only fish.

We got a single trout all morning. The boys were wonderfully patient.

Running south there was a puff of smoke and a burst of flame from the Space Center. A rocket launch! I shut off the boat and we watched the launch. Talk about a day saver!

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Matthew got a few, too. These boys were more patient than most adults, just great!

The afternoon wasn’t great but anything would be better than the morning. We ended up with a dozen trout or so, and a single lonely ladyfish.

Wednesday
Paul Berube, a fly fisher from Fort Kent, and his friend Al, found themselves in Spotted Tail. The wind was back and I figured the redfish might not be there. There were a few, and they let us a little closer to them than the previous morning, but it was early and they weren’t tailing. We ran over a few, they spooked the rest, and we had the same result as the previous day. Again, we got only a single trout all morning.

There was no launch to bail me out this time.

I found another school of redfish and chased them around for 30 minutes before losing them. Again we did not get a shot.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Al from Fort Kent worked hard all day for this one fish.

We fished hard all afternoon and came up with one more trout. Ouch. It was a really tough day.

Friday
Tammy met me at the Port. Every boat in central Florida appeared to be there- the parking lot was completely full! The forecast was wind SE at 5-10. The weatherman pranked us again.

We got out, made about a 1/2 mile loop, and went right back in again. Too rough already, and if it gets worse….

We went to Mosquito Lagoon. The wind did get much worse. We fished three spots, got four trout at the second, and that was it. The lagoon was covered in whitecaps when we left.

That is a mediocre week Mosquito Lagoon fishing report!

I’d like to thank everyone who fished with me this week.

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 2017. All rights are reserved.

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Week of the Black Drum Fishing Report

April 1, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

black drum fishing report

Week of the Black Drum Fishing Report

We caught other kinds of fish this week, but black drum were the stars. Thus the black drum fishing report.

Thank You!
Many thanks to all those folks who responded to my question about eastern Tennessee. I got more information than I could handle in a busy week!

Alaska
Mike Adamson shared this link by email- https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/03/150-years-ago-today-the-us-bought-alaska-from-russia-for-72-million/521340/?utm_source=nl-atlantic-weekly-033117 . Definitely worth the few minutes it takes to check it out.

Manatee Reclassified

Manatees Delisted
In a move guaranteed to generate controversy, the US Department of the Interior has removed the West Indian manatee from the endangered species list. You can read the entire press release here- http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/manatee-reclassified-from-endangered-to-threatened/Solo Skiff
Tom Mitzlaff posted a video that has gotten six million views! See it here- https://www.facebook.com/SoloSkiff/videos/1274846345945765/

 

Fishing!

black drum fishing report

Bass on RipTide.

Sunday I went to a pond in Oviedo and in the howling winds managed to spin fish my way to a handful of bass. The lure was the RipTide Sardine.

black drum fishing report

No trophies- the best fish of the afternoon.

Monday fly fisherman Jeff Leishman joined me for a fly fishing trip on the Banana River Lagoon. The weather was spectacular, a chamber-of-commerce kind of day.

black drum fishing report

Jeff with one of many black drum.

We weren’t out very long when we spotted a tail, and then another, and then the whole place was loaded with tailing fish. Jeff, tossing a crab imitation, did some serious work with those fish. We had five or six double hookups. If only every day were like that…

black drum fishing report

One of our doubles…

Tuesday’s kayak fishing trip happened out of River Breeze, with George White and his friend Mike. They were tossing those little shad tails I’m so fond of, and got a mix of seatrout and redfish. The fish made us work, though, no suicidal ones this day. There are long stretches of fishless water out there. And that water is beginning to rise again. It’s getting deeper.

black drum fishing report

Mike had never caught a redfish before.

Wednesday and Thursday I had the pleasure of hosting Jerry and Alex, a father-son team from the Chicago area, on the Mosquito Lagoon. Alex will be pitching for the Cubs in the World Series in another 15 years or so. But I digress…

black drum fishing report

Alex got this trout on a DOA Deadly Combo.

Wednesday the weather again was picture-perfect. The fish, however, were incredibly spooky. Redfish wouldn’t let us within two cast-lengths away. Since you can only cast one cast-length, we just couldn’t get a bite. We got a fair number of trout. All but one were short. We got one redfish, which may have been barely legal. We got a real nice puffer. We got to watch a herd of manatees in clear, shallow water. A beautiful day, kind of tough fishing-wise, though.

Thursday young Alex started us off with a fine 23 inch seatrout he got with a DOA Deadly Combo. BANG! Several more nice trout followed. Then we found a herd of black drum. Double!

black drum fishing report

More black drum doubles in a black drum fishing report week!

The fish let you know when they’ve had enough by swimming fast and not biting any more. We took the hint and tried a few other spots, getting another trout or two. We hardly saw any redfish. Yes, it was windy, but visibility was pretty good. I just couldn’t find any. We returned to the drum spot. They were still there and we got three more. At that point the wind was blowing close to 20 knots, so we called it a day.

That is the week of the black drum fishing report!

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 2017. All rights are reserved.

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Vernal Equinox Lagoons Fishing Report

March 26, 2017 by · 2 Comments

Vernal Equinox Lagoons Fishing Report

Monday was the vernal equinox. North of the equator length of day is now longer than length of darkness. It’s springtime, baby! So we have a Vernal Equinox Lagoons Fishing Report.

Ongoing Events-
The Save the St. Johns: Activate the River campaign aims to get people out on the water. Until April 2, 2017, boat tours, paddling trips, hikes and biking adventures are available from the headwaters of the St. Johns to the mouth. We are asking YOU to #GetYourFeetWet and explore the river somewhere new. Bring a friend, register today, and upload pictures using the #ActivatetheRiver to share your experiences! Visit www.savethestjohns.org for more information.

A Question for You
I have an assignment to write an article about fly fishing in eastern Tennessee, a place I’ve never been (but am making plans to visit). Does anyone have any information on this area that they could share? Use the “Leave a Comment” link above, or send an email to john(at)spottedtail(dot)com. Thanks in advance!

Fishing!
Between the small craft advisories and Susan being off this week I only got out two days.

lagoons fishing report redfish

Anthony got this red on a DOA CAL shad.

On the equinox Mr. Anthony Mason and his 83 year-old father, Mr. Rex Mason, joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon kayak fishing, out of River Breeze Park. Although the weather was beautiful the fishing was a little slow. They managed three redfish and two very solid trout between them.

lagoons fishing report redfish

Not to be outdone, Rex got this one!

Rex was pretty inspirational- I sure hope I’m still kayak fishing at 83, if I’m not already pushing up daisies!

lagoons fishing report seatrout

Nice trout, too!

Thank you for fishing with me, gentlemen!

On Friday, in spite of the forecast 20 knot east winds, I went scouting at the Banana River Lagoon. Gee, the forecast was correct. The lagoon looked like a washing machine.

Fishing was not fabulous, even though I opted for a six-weight. I did manage three reds on Steve Duckett’s bouncer shrimp fly, and had one fish who took the fly three times. Yes, I missed him all three. He finally realized something was wrong and vacated the area.

lagoons fishing report redfish

The bouncer fly certainly works.

The water was quite clean and there are even a few sparse tufts of manatee grass here and there, trying to mount a comeback. Finger mullet are starting to show up. Although conditions were less than optimal, I did not see a lot of fish, and had some pretty long stretches where I saw little or nothing. Maybe if the weather were better…

That is the vernal equinox lagoons fishing report!

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 2017. All rights are reserved.

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Cold Front Orlando Fishing Report

March 18, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

Cold Front Orlando Fishing Report

We had a cold front come through on Tuesday and the temperatures were like those typically associated with January. By mid-March Florida standards, it was COLD, baby! And so we have a cold front Orlando Fishing report.

Upcoming Events- 
Activate the River- The Save the St. Johns: Activate the River campaign aims to get people out on the water to save the river. From March 18 to April 2, 2017, boat tours, paddling trips, hikes and biking adventures are available from the headwaters of the St. Johns to the mouth. We are asking YOU to #GetYourFeetWet and explore the river somewhere new. Bring a friend, register today, and upload pictures using the #ActivatetheRiver to share your experiences! Visit www.savethestjohns.org for more information about the various events and opportunities for you to experience this magical yet imperiled waterway and show support for its protection.

Fishing!

Monday Canadian Ted Sinfield and his friend Darryl joined me on a cloudy, wind-swept Mosquito Lagoon. For the most part sight-fishing was impossible. We stuck to lee shorelines to stay out of the waves and muddy water.

orlando fishing report

Ted with one of the several nice trout he got.

By blindly casting DOA CAL shad the Ontario natives were fed a steady diet of spotted seatrout to four pounds or so, with a couple modest redfish thrown in for good measure. Fishing was decent by any standard.

orlando fishing report

Ted and Darryl with another nice fish.

Tuesday I went to the St. Johns River, and found myself on Lake Harney. In so many ways I was not prepared for what I found there. It looked like the ocean- wind, waves, diving birds, breaking fish. Johnny did not have enough clothes on- a foul weather yachting suit would have been appropriate.

orlando fishing report

I didn’t have enough clothes on. The bass didn’t seem to mind.

With chattering teeth I repeatedly cast a quarter-ounce jig was around the birds (as closely as possible). The bass responded as well as one could hope. The best fish was around four pounds. On the verge of hypothermia I left them and loaded the boat up. In spite of the cold, an awesome morning.

Thursday‘s forecast high was 60 degrees. In spite of that I launched a kayak at River Breeze at about 10 AM. The wind was a solid 15 MPH and it was cold.

orlando fishing report

The fly accounted for close to 20 fish before one busted it off at my feet.

The fish were where I hoped they would be. They were reluctant at first, but as the sun warmed the water they got positively stupid, very aggressively smacking the synthetic minnow pattern I offered. The only difficulty was casting the three-weight in that wind. Both trout and slot reds were in the mix, with the best fish honors a tie between a five pound trout and an eleven-spot redfish. Fishing was so good, I thought it was the old days!

Expecting cold on Friday we took it easy all morning. Much of this report got written then. Around noon I wired a fishing rod to the frame of my bicycle and went riding off to the Econ.

neighborhood walk

On the way I stopped at a neighbor’s loquat tree and had a delicious snack. Ripe loquats have this reporter’s highest recommendation.

Some of my neighbors have never been to Disney World…

A pickup truck towing a trailer full of cattle passed me. We can reasonably assume the cows were not headed to Walt Disney World.

A flash of insight while I was pedaling- it reminded me of how I used to go fishing before I had a driver’s license- pedal my bike to the local fishing spot! I might have been going to Wright’s Pond, or Upper Mystic Lake. I can almost hear Patti Cefalo yelling at me, “Why don’t you grow up, John!!” Some things really never do change.

orlando fishing report

First fish of the day was a rather aggressive crappie.

I got to pedal, clamber, amble, ramble, scramble, scrabble, climb, walk, cast, see some alligators, watch an armadillo roll around on its back like a dog (who knew?), see some cowboys (on horseback, of course)- what an afternoon! Beautiful spot, awesome weather, a few fish, life sure is good!

orlando fishing report

I bet life is difficult for little gators like this. They’re like tootsie rolls for the larger lizards.

 

orlando fishing report

This bass was the best fish of the day, though.

Saturday found Brian and Lacey Rosedale in Spotted Tail, shivering in some too crisp weather as we motored up the St. Johns River in the fog. I thought it painfully cold. What was even more painful was the lack of breaking fish at the breaking fish spot. At least eight other boats were similarly disappointed.

orlando fishing report

Brian and the sunshine bass. Sounds like the name of a garage band.

We fished our way back to Mullet Lake Park, got exactly three bites along the way. Brian got a modest largemouth and a nice sunshine bass, both on a Culprit Fat Max worm. Lacey hooked and lost a fish on a DOA CAL shad. It turned into a gorgeous day but the fish weren’t happening for us.

That is the Cold Front Orlando fishing report!

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 2017. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hot Again Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

March 11, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

Hot Again Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

An interesting and busy week, with some very good fishing. So it’s the hot again Mosquito Lagoon fishing report.

Monday was a late half day with Daniel and his father (maybe Pete?), on Mosquito Lagoon. Anyway, it was blowing hard, around 20, out of the SSE. Realistically all we could do was soak bait on lee shorelines. It was not fabulous. We got a bunch of catfish including two catfish doubles, and got two stingrays, but also managed two nice redfish, and had some interesting conversation. Certainly not great, but we have all had worse days.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Daniel and his redfish, which had a big scar.

Tuesday was a morning half day with Jeff Limato and Pastor Ed Hlad, Jersey boys both. Fishing Mosquito Lagoon we tossed DOA CAL shad and Riptide Sardines and did some damage on seatrout that averaged three pounds or so, very solid fish and fishing. And they got four slot reds, too. Most of this was blind casting, as it was quite cloudy most of the morning. All the fish were released.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Jeff got this red and several other fish too.

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

The magic lure of late has been soft plastic minnows like this Riptide Sardine in a variety of colors.

Wednesday Rick Callahan and I paddled the Econlockhatchee. I knew we would see a load of fish because we did not bring tackle. And the water was low and clear, so of course we did see a lot of fish. Species we observed included:
-American shad
-bluegills
-chain pickerel
-channel catfish
-largemouth bass
-mullet
-redbreasted sunfish
-spotted gar
-spotted sunfish
-tilapia
-various minnows, guppies, chubs, etc

Mr. Calahan doing that paddle thang!

We also observed quite a few turtles, and some very large alligators. It was an awesome paddle that I need to do again with a fishing rod.

orlando fishing report

Just a reminder that Godzilla lives at the Econ.

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Ray was deadly on trout like this, with a DOA CAL shad this time.

Thursday Ray joined me, back on Mosquito Lagoon. Again we tossed DOA CAL shad and Riptide Sardines and again did some damage on seatrout that averaged three pounds or so. There were quite a few reds around, schooled up, tailing, and most important, EATING. I thought it was the old days! We did really well all day, fishing just a short stretch of shoreline the entire time. It was really productive, just great. All the fish were released.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

He waren’t too shabby on the reds, either.

Friday found me doing a double half day. The morning trip was with Joe Bonato and his wife Sonia. Fishing a number of spots and using both cut mullet and the shad tails we got four redfish and two trout, not bad at all (I thought) considering how crowded the water was. There were boats everywhere.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Sonia, with a redfish and a dazzling smile!

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

The lady got some trout, too!

The afternoon trip was with Lee Nguyen and Angel Mercado, from South Carolina. The wind had come up pretty hard out of the west-northwest. I brought them back to the hot spot from the previous day, tossing the same lures- NOT HOT! Lee got one redfish where the day before we had caught and released at least 20 fish. I got in a lee and soaked mullet chunks long enough to get two catfish, quickly ending that little experiment.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Lee and Angel were very happy with their redfish.

We went to a spot I hadn’t fished in a long time, and to my surprise and delight there were some fish there. We got three or four reds and a couple of nice trout using the shad tails, not as good as I would have liked but certainly better than nothing. All the fish were released.

Saturday I got to run last week’s postponed On-the-Water Show and Tell seminar. It gave me the chance to run most of the way around the southern basin of the Mosquito Lagoon, down the west shoreline from Haulover to behind Pelican Island, around the Whale Tail, back up the eastern side to the north entrance to the pole-troll area, and finally back down the ICW to Haulover.

The water is clean everywhere.

A shocking amount of seagrass is gone.

If we get another algae bloom this summer (and this reporter feels it’s inevitable) I fear that will be it for the remaining seagrass. My estimate is that 2/3rds of it has already been lost- better than the Banana River Lagoon, better than the Indian River Lagoon, but still tragic. The seagrass directly drives the productivity of those waters. Stay tuned for future developments…

That is the hot again Mosquito Lagoon fishing report!

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 2017. All rights are reserved.

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Blowing Winds Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

March 4, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

Blowing Winds Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

A small craft advisory was posted Thursday (for Brevard coastal waters) until at least Sunday. So we have a blowing winds Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report.

Last week I asked, Did the storms and the rising water cause all the fish to move? As anyone might have guessed, the answer to that question was yes, and no. Such is fishing. Explanation below.

Sunday afternoon found me at the local bass pond again, this time with fly rod in hand. The shoreline vegetation (tall cat-o-nine tails) and blustery winds made fishing challenging. Two bites in four hours yielded two very modestly-sized largemouth bass, one on a small popper and one on a streamer. Maybe I need a new pond…

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Tom’s best trout of the day.

Monday morning Tom Van Horn joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon scouting. I was looking for an answer to the question posed last week! All the fish were gone from the first spot.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Fish on!

They may have all moved to the second. We found a couple hundred redfish there. However, we did not get a bite. We did not work it very hard, though, since we were scouting.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

This fish was tailing. Tom nailed the cast.

The third spot had some nice trout lying in sandy potholes. We found a tailing red and Tom, casting brilliantly in the now breezy conditions, convinced it to eat his DOA CAL jerkbait.

We tried two more spots, caught a few fish at both. So the fish moved from some spots, and stayed at others. Altogether a beautiful and productive day, spent with a fine human being!

Driving over the Max Brewer bridge in Titusville lately I have been saying to myself, “You haven’t been out on the Indian River Lagoon in a long time. You need to check it out.” Tuesday Kevin Linehan and I did just that. All the grass is gone. There were very few fish. I do not need to check it again, maybe ever. Heartbreaking.

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Fish on!

Wednesday Capt. Paul Darby, fly fisher and raconteur, joined me for a day on Mosquito Lagoon. I would like to report that we caught fish all day long. That would be a rather large exaggeration, however. We saw fish more or less all day long. The wind was not our friend, and we only got a single redfish. Still, one is so many more than none!

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Capt. Paul and his redfish.

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

While Paul makes spoon flies, he got this one on a Clouser Minnow.

 

mosquito lagoon fishing report

Nice tail!

Mr. Darby makes (among lots of other things) spoon flies. They are very nice, and he says very durable. See photo…

mosquito lagoon fishing report

I lost Thurday’s and Friday’s trips because of the wind. After getting home Friday I got on the bicycle and went to the Econlockhatchee. Wasn’t I surprised to see TJ Bettis and his friend Todd, who had also ridden bicycles to the river! And they were using fly rods in spite of the 25 mph wind. I hope they did better than my one small bass and one small spotted gar. At least I got out, and if you weren’t trying to fish the weather was gorgeous.

Apparently the wind will continue through Sunday. Last time I checked the small craft advisory lasts until then.

That is the blowing winds Mosquito Lagoon fishing report!

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